With questions about housing and key projects like the Beacon Wharf on the horizon, two familiar faces — including the town’s former mayor — are running for seats on Sidney council, hoping to have a hand in shaping the town’s future.
Steve Price was Sidney’s mayor from 2014 to 2018 and a two-term councillor before that, while Cam McLennan served on council from 2014 to 2018.
With no opposition, current Mayor Cliff McNeil-Smith will be acclaimed, while nine people, including incumbents Sara Duncan, Scott Garnett, Terri O’Keeffe and Chad Rintoul, are vying for six council seats.
The other council hopefuls are Richard Novek, Steve Duck and Eric Diller.
Asked why he was returning to municipal politics, Price said Cliff McNeil-Smith “is doing a pretty good job, so there’s really no reason to replace him but he could use a little support on council.”
“Most of the experienced councillors have left, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to have somebody there with some past experience just to try to move things through with the mayor’s agenda.”
That spirit of co-operation stands in stark contrast to the sparring match Price and McNeil-Smith had in 2019 over a commemorative plaque made for Sidney’s new Community Safety Building. McNeil-Smith destroyed the $3,000 plaque, as it only recognized Price and his council, rather than all who had contributed to the new building.
This week, Price said the town cannot afford to keep deferring decisions on major projects like refurbishing Beacon Wharf. “By pushing off these projects, they can be fixed, but for double the cost,” he said.
The wharf, which extends from the end of Beacon Avenue and houses a fish market, restaurant and lookout, has been a staple in the town for more than 100 years, but needs a massive investment to extend its life beyond 2028.
It had its last major renovation 60 years ago, and since Sidney took control of it from the federal government in 2006, the town has spent about $400,000 to make it safe.
McNeil-Smith said a new condition assessment is due next year that will guide council’s actions on the wharf.
Aside from the wharf, McNeil-Smith said, this campaign has been focused on the same issues that have loomed large over council for the last four years, — housing, climate change and active transportation.
“We’ve seen a steady stream, with the current land use and zoning we have in Sidney, of new housing — purpose-built rental, townhouses, missing middle — and there’s already more on the books coming forward,” he said. “Can we do better? Certainly. But there’s a lot of motion at the moment.”
McLennan, for his part, said his key issues include housing and attracting younger families to the area.
There’s a long to-do list for the next council, as it must now work with a renewed Official Community Plan, determine priorities for the recently adopted climate action plan, complete the active transportation plan that started under the previous council and continue to work on the town’s relationships with the Peninsula First Nations.
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