City opens up on Centennial Square
In bid for greater transparency, councillors opt to provide better access to plan
New online links will be added to the City of Victoria’s website to provide better access to a plan for transforming Centennial Square and to the results of a 2018 survey about the project.
Council was split on the idea of making it simpler to find information on the controversial project — a heavily amended motion passed 5-3.
Coun. Marg Gardiner, who brought forward the initial motion, ultimately voted against it after it was pared down. She had wanted the links to include more information, including staff presentations, reviews of previous steps, and summaries of actions and plans already published.
Gardiner said she had hoped the city would bring all of the information together so the public can see it. “This has been a contentious issue. We need transparency. Telling people to go search and do all kinds of links is not really a transparency and it also does not give discussion.”
Coun. Stephen Hammond agreed, saying the amended motion made it appear “as though we are trying to do everything we can not to be transparent.”
Gardiner said it was in the public interest to have a fulsome public discussion before the city moves forward on the redesign of the square and the future of the Centennial Fountain.
Victoria council approved $750,000 last year to cover consulting and design fees to revamp the square beside Victoria City Hall. In January, the city chose design firm Dialog to take on the work.
Dialog is expected to return with a concept design for the square in the late spring, when it will be presented to council alongside a report on the plans. The firm will also provide cost estimates and construction administration for the project, which has been in the works for six years.
The original redesign was to include a water feature, play elements, a commercial kiosk, better accessibility, new seating and better infrastructure to house larger events, but Dialog has been given freedom to consider other options.
That means new plans could include leaving the existing fountain and monoliths, a controversial centrepiece of the square, where they have stood since the mid-1960s.
Historians, architects and others have been urging the city to preserve the fountain, a gift from Saanich, Esquimalt and Oak Bay in 1965 for Victoria’s centennial celebrations.
On Thursday, several councillors disagreed with Gardiner, pointing out all the information she had been asking for is readily available online, there has already been a lot of consultation, and the staff time required would mean delays to the Centennial Square plan.
“There is no loss of transparency here,” said Coun. Dave Thompson. “The information already exists. What this motion does is it provides an easier way for the public to access it. This did already have a huge public consultation, including the concept of entirely removing the fountain.”
Coun. Matt Dell said he didn’t want anything to further delay and increase costs for work on the square.
“I don’t know what the ideal outcome is, and I’m actually supportive of keeping the monoliths, perhaps in another location. But that’s what the design firm is doing right now,” he said.
“I think the next step for us is just to follow what we’ve already agreed on, try to avoid delays wherever possible and to see what the professionals bring back to us.”