An apology and a promise to do better. That’s all residents of Mann Avenue and the surrounding area got Monday night from the District of Saanich, which plans to continue installing protected bike lanes on the street despite neighbourhood opposition.
Mann Avenue residents claim they had no warning the $475,000 project would start in September.
Saanich Mayor Dean Murdock said he and council take responsibility for how the project was rolled out.
“The buck stops with mayor and council. I acknowledge that and I apologize for the impact this has created and the stress that this may have caused,” Murdock told a council chamber filled with Mann Avenue residents. “This was not good enough and I apologize for that.”
Dozens of residents told council they were blindsided by a project that will result in the loss of all on-street parking along Mann between Wilkinson Road and Glanford Avenue.
Some said they found out about it through a mail-out two days before work started.
Others acknowledged the project was alluded to in planning documents for the district’s active transportation plan as far back as 2018, but argued there were no details and little suggestion all on-street parking would be removed for that stretch.
Alex Cook, who lives on Vanguard Place, just off Mann Avenue, said in an interview Tuesday he intends to keep up the pressure on council. “I think if they’re going to tear up your streets and remove your parking permanently, you should have a say.”
He said area residents are open to some active-transportation infrastructure but not at the expense of all on-street parking.
Cook said the parking loss will hurt those with home-based businesses, or tenants and anyone who wants to have family and friends over. The result will be cars filling up side streets or people parking on their lawns, he said. Harley Machielse, Saanich’s director of engineering, acknowledged the district did not provide enough notification to residents, and that a new policy will be established to ensure residents get at least one month’s notice for these kinds of projects.
Several residents said they believed the project was to have been paused two weeks ago when council asked to have it brought back for discussion.
But Machielse said there was no direction from council to pause the project, which also includes pavement maintenance and resurfacing work and new raised crosswalks. “The project had a timeline and had commitments with contractors in place.”
Troy McKay, Saanich’s senior manager of transportation and development, said the project will create an all-ages-and-abilities connection to Camosun College and the Vancouver Island Technology Park and improve road safety for all.
He noted walking, cycling and public transit are the three priority modes for Saanich. Not included in the Official Community Plan, he said, “is any mention of road expansion or improvements to facilitate better conditions for personal vehicle use or personal vehicle storage.”
Several people spoke Monday in favour of continuing the project, while there were dozens of emails in support of expanding bike lanes in Saanich. Many argued it would send the wrong message if council decided it was more important for people to have extra parking than bike lanes.
Coun. Zac de Vries said there are bound to be strong feelings in cases like this, when one group feels it is losing something.
With limited road right-of-way to work with, he said, the district has two options when it comes to creating active-transportation routes: reallocate road space or “quintuple the cost of a project.”
“What I always try to put forefront in my mind is what is the best for Saanich as a whole?”
Active transportation, he said, has a net community benefit that’s significant.
The project is expected to wrap up by the end of this month. The raised crosswalk at Mapleton Place is under construction, while signs and line painting are in progress and bike-lane barriers are expected to be installed Oct. 28 to 30.
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