There needs to be a solution to the McKenzie Avenue/Highway 1 intersection, but the plan put forward by the Ministry of Transportation is the wrong solution.
There is a much better solution to the problems of the intersection which has been presented by Rob Wickson. The plan from the ministry is not sensitive to the community nor to the importance of Cuthbert Holmes Park, to not only the neighbourhood but to Saanich as a whole.
The wishes of the Gorge Tillicum Community Association were completely ignored even though that association represents a majority of residents in the nearby neighbourhood. Any ‘consultation’ was done without taking into account the local residents’ wishes and better ideas for the intersection. The ministry has said they heard from 1,000 people in support. How many of those people were from Langford and Colwood who don’t have the needs and concerns of the nearby community in mind? They refuse to tell anyone.
The ministry has totally ignored the importance of green space and parkland. We must protect parkland in Saanich, and the ministry’s plan destroys a large part of Cuthbert Holmes Park. It will eliminate needed natural environment for future generations as our community urbanizes. We will lose sensitive ecosystems that are currently endangered. There is a better plan supported by the local community. In the prescient words of Joni Mitchell, they plan to “pave paradise to put up a parking lot” and “you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.”
This big highway intersection must not be built on parkland when there is a better plan available that the ministry refuses to consider and will not give any reasons for refusing.
Bill Williamson
Saanich