Tempers are still flaring in Central Saanich, where a dispute about commercial traffic on rural roads has reportedly escalated into name-calling, threats of a blockade and police involvement.
Residents on Hovey Road and other rural thoroughfares say trucks hauling pallets onto the nearby Tsartlip First Nation are ruining the roads and making them fear for their safety, even after a ban on tractor-trailers was extended two months.
VI Pallet Recovery moved from Wain Road to the Tsartlip territory last fall. The company says its drivers are co-operating with council to reduce the impact of traffic.
Central Saanich police have received a spike in calls to the area, including reports that traffic bylaw signs and traffic counters installed to monitor traffic on the road had been damaged or taken down.
“Emotions are running high with the neighbours, for sure,” said community engagement officer Cpl. Dan Cottingham. There have been no reported threats of violence, he said.
The community made some progress at a stakeholders meeting last week, said Central Saanich Mayor Ryan Windsor. However, some reported a heated discussion, including a threat by one attendee to blockade the Patricia Bay Highway.
On May 21, council extended a ban on tractor-trailers and semi-trailers on Hovey Road and Tomlinson Road through July 21. It is also working with VI Pallet to negotiate an extraordinary traffic agreement; however, the terms have not yet been determined.
“We’re looking for support for that and … working with the Tsartlip to see if there are alternatives,” Windsor said.
An engineering report deemed the roads unsuitable for heavy commercial traffic, he said.
VI Pallet owner Kevin Gray said the company has stopped using tractor-trailers. Instead, it uses one five-tonne truck and several one-tonne pickup trucks.
“We’ve made every concession that we can. We cannot spend any more money on this,” he said.
Residents say their streets are not part of a designated truck route and should not be treated as such by large commercial trucks, especially considering the roads do not have sidewalks and are flanked by narrow shoulders with deep ditches.
Replacing tractor-trailers with a one-tonne truck doesn’t fix the problem, they said.
“These trucks are really big — picture a big moving truck — and are too heavy for the road and are damaging it, and are just as wide, with big blind spots as well,” Eva Jaycox said in an email. “These trucks still squeeze pedestrians off the road and force local vehicles to move off the road so they can pass.”
Cathy Berndt said children, seniors and horseback riders are among those facing “extreme hazards every day.” She hopes to see council ban all commercial trucks, with the exception of farm, emergency and local delivery vehicles.
Tsartlip Chief Councillor Don Tom could not be reached for comment.
— With files from Katherine Dedyna
