Net Marlatt ah Yat? ad wae’ Debrecen Ae itt hid > A, RAR vd EN NOE 2d wrt Tat mah nah Dt RETO NR Ne Dik SN tt Opinion Sidney waterfront: Cant plan in isolation Opponents to Sidney’s waterfront development have another opportunity to be critical of the waterfront development at the Port of Sidney. Contrary to an agreement the Town of Sidney signed with developer Sidney Pier Holdings, there is no Third Building on the site. But a letter from the developer brought to council Monday gives more than adequate reasons for the hold-up. And comments from council members make perfect sense about why patience is necessary if the community is to get maximum benefit from the project. Originally, the Third Building was delayed so talks and investigation could be done on the possibility of incorporating a civic/conference centre as part of the site. Talks were held and there seemed to be support for the idea. Sidney Pier was willing to design their building so a centre could be incorporated into the design. The only party that seemed to be holding the project up was the provincial Ministry of Transporta- tion, who would provide funding by virtue of its expropriation of the Sanscha Hall property. Now, the scenario has changed. Opinions differ on the board of directors of the Memorial Park Society, no one knows how much money could come from the sale of the Sanscha property, (presuming the Beacon inter- change goes ahead) and Sidney Pier has joined a line of people who have lots of ideas but no desire to commit to one. That’s not a bad thing and by the actions of Sidney Pier it is actually turning into a good thing because the public is getting involved. AS a private corporation, Sidney Pier could go ahead and build the Third Building according to plans that have already been submitted and approved. That would leave Port Sidney Development Corporation with the dilemma of having to design and build a hotel on the neighboring property in isolation as well. And it would likely leave the idea of a public facility like a civic/conference centre out in the cold. It’s well worth the extra time involved to look at all proposals for a comprehensive development that all the community can enjoy. That’s really what Sidney Pier is banking on, but the community can use win-win situations. Incoming members of council have been critical of what the present council has done with the waterfront development. One of the new council’s greatest chal- lenges will be to make the community a winner out of what are now just ideas. Volume 76 Issue No.48 TheReview Wednesday, November 14,1990 — A6 ——_—____.,] —__——_| secreted ——_] HTT WE CAN'T GO ON ~ MEETING LIKE = > Hie ny a 5 Spa (eal letatelestae lal WELCOME | To NOTH SABNICU x itil Letters to the editor must be signed and contain the writer's address and telephone number. Letters should not exceed 500 words in length and may be edii- ed for clarity, legality or taste. TheReview Serving The Saanich Peninsula Since 1912 9781 2nd Street Sidney, B.C V8L 4P8 or PO. Box 2070 Sidney, B.C. V8L 3S5 Second Class Mail Registration #0128 Published every Wednesday 656-1151 : Publisher: Vic Swan Editor: Glenn Werkman AN ISLAND PUBLISHERS NEWSPAPER cCNAY 3 PRIZE WINN Fag Com poVak MU on Miry NERIFIED CIRCULAT.ON Where LRT goes, so will population Editor: The transit-option needed to save Saanich Peninsula from the freeway-building mindset of the Highways Ministry is Light Rail . Transit, or LRT. This, according to the report from the Victoria Elec- tric Railway Society. I am a strong supporter of LRT as an efficient, attractive, environ- mentally superior form of mass transit. However I disagree that an LRT line between Victoria and Swartz Bay would save the Saa- nich Peninsula. The reason is that a high passen- ger capacity light rail line serving a transit corridor along the Penin- sula would inevitably bring about pressure for urbanization along its. route which simply could not be resisted. To justify capital costs and oper- ating expenses of LRT, a much higher population density than is proposed in any Peninsula munici- pality’s community plan would be needed. Suburbanization of rural or agri- cultural lands as well as major redevelopment in Saanichton and Sidney would result from an LRT line. Recent elections showed that all Peninsula municipalities wish to preserve the rural aspect and remain low density. LRT and the intended Pat Bay Freeway would both have serious consequences of drastic change for the Saanich Peninsula as we know it today. Furthermore, LRT could not replace the need for highway capacity for tucks or commercial vehicles, nor in a low population density situation can LRT provide flexibility in the orngin and destin- ation of passenger service. Because LRT is an excellent mass transit people-mover it is ideal where there is a demand for commuter travel and where popu- lation density is expected to increase substantially. This is not the case on the Peninsula and passenger only service for B.C. Femies can be handled easily with high capacity buses. On the other hand, LRT appears to be an ideal answer for the Western Communities where pop- ulation figures and growth poten- tial are sufficient to warrant pre- liminary planning for light rail SeTVICe. As in all planning issues, many different elements are inter-related and the solutions to particular ones such as LRT cannot be con- sidered in isolation. Where LRT goes, so will future population growth. Therefore the decision that has to be made first is where we want to have growth and development. That will determine if or where light rail transit is the right answer. Rod Clack Sidney Unorganized polling station Editor: Having seen, in other circum- stances, the results that apathy can cause, I felt that I could not sit back without commenting on the recent municipal election. Never have I seen anything so disorga- nized. As new residents in Sidney, my husband and I were anxious to do our civic duty and vote, but I was almost put off by the situation at the polling station. There was very little parking available in the area. Lines of prospective voters snaked around the small room and out into the parking lot. Many people were heard to say “Forget it. I’m not waiting in that line-up.” I am sure that if it had been raining at the time, even more people would have left without voting rather than stand outside in the rain. After waiting almost half an hour, my husband and I estimated we were still about 20 minutes from the table at which we would receive our ballots. Having a meet- ing to attend for which I was already late, I left deciding to come back later. My husband did indeed wait over 20 minutes to get to the table so he could vote. When I returned at about 5 p.m., the line-up was minimal, however the lines were so confused that I (and several other people) found myself waiting in the wrong line and had to switch. I waited about 15 - 20 minutes to get to the table. The booths where the actual voting took place were so close to the line-ups that anyone looking over could see who was voting for whom. After marking one’s ballot, one approached the unprotected ballot boxes to deposit said ballot. Where were the scrutineers and the usual Bible over the slot which is moved aside so you can deposit your ballot? Anybody could have dropped anything into the ballot box and. without a scrutineer, it is entirely possible that ballots were put in the wrong boxes. I realize that the turnout was probably much heavier than any- one had anticipated — in fact, my husband and I calculated from the number of votes that there was an almost 70 per cent tum-out. However, those in charge of airanging such things should always anticipate that hopefully a large number of the population will tum out to vote. My suggestions for future municipal elections are: A much larger facility — or even two polling stations, convenient park- ing — even special on-street park- ing in areas where it is not usually allowed, more clearly defined _ lines within the building, two peo-~ ple to each table to speed up the process of signing people in and giving them their ballots, polling booths more distantly separated from the lines of voters and scru- tineers at the ballot box. Hopefully future municipal elections will be better organized. Alix Day Sidney Mafia term is criminal « Editor: = A quandary, difficult to believe ~ or explain, persists in North Saa- nich. Clearly, we are in an upside- down Orwellian world where good is bad and bad is good. I feel for the selfless, devious persons who have devoted a lot of time and effort to preserve our preferred lifestyle. For their good deeds, their reward is to be referred to as the bad mafia. In parallel, we have the actions of a strange group who promote themselves as virtuous @& and heroic in protecting agricul- tural land. cee A cartoonist, once in jest, Continued on Page A8