Atwell: Cloverleaf could lead to better park
The partial cloverleaf design of the McKenzie interchange, which a majority of Saanich councillors voted against due to its damaging effects on Cuthbert Holmes Park, could very well lead to an improved park, Saanich Mayor Richard Atwell said. And Saanich parks committee chair Susan Brice agreed.
The future health of the urban wilderness area led Saanich council to vote 6-3 early Tuesday to ask the province to seek a less intrusive design for the $85-million interchange — a request that Transportation Minister Todd Stone vetoed within hours. The cloverleaf option Stone announced April 26 entails using 1.4 hectares of the 25.6-hectare park — land that will be replaced by TransCanada Highway right of ways.
Atwell, who voted not to abandon the partial cloverleaf, said he believes the B.C. Transportation Ministry is willing to do significant work to restore and improve the park, and provide more than a one-to-one replacement for the land. “I think there is a potential here for the public to get a much better park in the end as a result of this project.” It will suffer from construction and trees will be cut down, but the province is offering to improve other areas of the park, he said.
Nearly a fifth of the park space earmarked for the cloverleaf is a parking lot of 33,000 square feet, he said. “Those things have to be weighed and taken into consideration. I believe there’s opportunity here for enhancement in the park that will be done as an exchange with this corner, which is going to provide for the safety improvements and the traffic flow improvements.”
He said he has faith that the ministry “will do the right thing and enhance the park overall.”
Julian Anderson, a member of the Friends of Cuthbert Holmes Park, who feels “gutted” by the cloverleaf design, said it’s “hard to fathom that reducing the size of a park will in any way make it better.” The cloverleaf area supports a stand of uncommon trembling aspen trees and many healthy Garry oaks, he said.
“The cloverleaf will push a disturbance closer to the interior of the park,” he said. “The parking lot will no doubt be replaced somewhere else in the park, which adds to the impact that the cloverleaf option will have.”
Coun. Brice said “working with the province will result in significant improvements to Cuthbert Holmes Park.”
Those improvements include transfer of land along the north edge of the park and land held by the disbanded Provincial Capital Commission to Saanich ownership. “These land transfers would help us meet a long-term vision of consolidating all these bits of land into park protection in perpetuity,” she said.
Saanich staff will approach the ministry to finance an operating budget and legacy fund for future land acquisition or projects within the park or surrounding natural environment, she said.
The ministry confirmed Wednesday that to reduce the impact of construction, it will re-install trails and replant vegetation.
It will also identify “potential enhancements” such as improved storm water drainage and ensure buffer zones during bird breeding season, to prevent sediment or contaminants from reaching the water.
“Doing what they’re required to do isn’t going to get me jumping for joy,” said Anderson, noting that the park is home to the largest great blue heron colony on Vancouver Island as well as a river with a wild salmon run.
But he acknowledged that the ministry’s plan to reduce the environmental impact of construction “would go a long way toward ensuring that what remains of the park is respected into the future.”
He called the ministry’s consul- tation process “a sham” given its most recent environmental assessment came out April 5, while the consultation window closed March 18. An “extremely important natural area is being sacrificed for a Band-Aid solution” that chiefly enables single- occupant vehicles using the highway, he said.
The Transportation Ministry will unveil final design elements at a May 18 open house, 3:30 to 7:30 p.m., at St. Joseph the Worker Parish Hall, 753 Burnside Rd. W.