Victoria council will consider a proposal next week to permanently ban cars from the paved loop at the southern tip of Clover Point Park and create a seaside pedestrian-only zone with picnic tables, lounge chairs, public art and painted asphalt.
Thomas Soulliere, director of parks, recreation and facilities, recommends the change in a report going to councillors on Thursday.
The 4.2-hectare park has been closed to vehicles for more than a year during expansion of the Clover Point wastewater pump station by the Capital Regional District.
Over that time, the area has become an important destination for pedestrians, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic, Soulliere writes in his report.
“Transitioning the southern area of the park from a parking lot to a pedestrian priority space will greatly improve the value of this recreational area,” he says.
Soulliere isn’t recommending a public consultation process before council makes its decision. But he said in an interview that the city has heard repeatedly from community members in recent years about the importance of enhancing pedestrian access to the waterfront.
“That just has been emphasized over and over in planning initiatives — from the corporate strategic plan to the parks and open space master plan to the Fairfield neighborhood plan,” he said.
“And so we feel that this is probably a good time to take this interim step while we have construction wrapping up in the spring with the CRD [project.]”
If council approves the plan, the public will get a chance to influence the park’s permanent design during a future planning process.
In the meantime, city officials are proposing a series of amenities including benches, picnic tables, lounge chairs and painted asphalt as well as space for food trucks, community gatherings and the orca sculptures that used to be in Centennial Square.
The proposal calls for a modest parking lot at the northern end of the loop with 17 spaces, including four accessible parking stalls and a larger drop-off and pick-up zone.
There were 90 parking stalls in the park before it was closed to construction, so closing the loop will result in a net loss of 73 spaces, officials said.
City staff say the work can be co-ordinated with ongoing construction at the site for a total cost of about $250,000.
Joanne Neubauer, president of the Action Committee of People with Disabilities, had yet to read the full report, which was posted on the city’s website mid-afternoon Friday.
But she said the changes, if approved, will pose a barrier for some seniors and people with disabilities who will no longer be able to drive around the loop or sit in their cars and enjoy the view.
“I’ve gone to Clover Point and it’s not the warmest spot,” she said. “The majority of people like to just go there and maybe get out of their car for a few minutes. But it’s more to be away from the city lights and … see the ships that come by and any ocean wildlife that might happen to pop up.”
While some people may decide to bundle up, leave their vehicles and venture down the point in their wheelchairs, she said, the changes “will exclude more of us than include us, that’s all.”
She also expressed doubts that four accessible parking stalls will be enough, given Victoria’s large seniors population.
Mayor Lisa Helps said she thought city staff “really knocked it out of the park” with their work on the project.
“To me it doesn’t feel like closing a road,” she said. “Closing a road would be putting up the gate and just leaving the pavement as it is. But I think what staff are proposing is going to be quite a spectacular public space and one of the nicest places in the city.”
She said that city staff had worked hard to address any possible accessibility concerns.
“We’ve accommodated that,” she said. “There are four fully accessible parking spots with lots of room to get out of a van into a wheelchair or out of a car into a wheelchair, right at the top of the loop. So people will be able to roll down and visit the ocean.
“Everyone will have access and we’ve been very deliberate about that.”
Don Monsour, president of the Fairfield Gonzales Community Association, declined comment until he’s had a chance to read the report and hear what residents think.
