I’m writing in regard to the proposed expansion of the Mount Douglas Court complex at 1550 Arrow Rd.
Phase 1 of the project would entail building a three-storey structure to replace the existing two-storey building, and expanding the capacity from 80 to 100 units. Phase 2 would have an additional four-storey structure built on the site, allowing for 240 units altogether.
Arrow Road, from Cedar Hill Road to Bow Road (and beyond), is unsafe with the existing traffic volume. It is narrow, barely wide enough for large vehicles going in opposite directions to pass without easing onto the shoulders. It has no sidewalks: A slightly raised shoulder and a painted white line on one side only simply doesn’t cut it. The combination of rat-runners avoiding a traffic backup at Cedar Hill and McKenzie, and local area residents treating it as their own personal Indy race track, make being a pedestrian anywhere along Arrow Road a challenge. In poor light or at night, it’s downright scary.
The increase in traffic that a 240-unit complex at that location will bring would elevate ‘unsafe’, ‘challenge’ and ‘scary’ to bloody dangerous.
Unless the District of Saanich, in concert with the developers, has a plan to simultaneously upgrade Arrow Road, expropriating property to create real raised sidewalks and a properly designed and engineered piece of road, this project should be given a “No” by Saanich council.
Chuck Laidlaw
Saanich