n order to ensure Sooke voters are informed when casting their ballots at the upcoming municipal election, here is a quick summary of council’s work during the last three years.
Positives:
Multi-use trail down Church Road and along the first phase of the connector.
Sidewalks extended on Townsend Road.
Rezoning to allow for Knox Centre expansion.
Neutral:
Pump track at Seaparc: feels isolated. The access trail has been improved but this probably won’t be good enough to make this area family-friendly. Should have been in John Phillips Memorial Park.
First phase of the connector: doesn’t add much value on its own and questions have not been answered as to why it was moved from the north to the south of Wadam’s farm. Just more stop signs to contend with, some alarming blind spots, and clearly an attempt by council to “pick the low hanging fruit.” Should be useful once the last two phases of the connector are completed.
No round-about yet in front of Evergreen Centre.
Little effort to beautify the town core.
Negatives:
Council cancelling the contract with Lidstone and Company for legal services, then paying much more than the contract on an ad-hoc basis.
Loss of key district staff members largely due to micro-management of staff by certain councillors.
Loss of the Sooke Triathlon: leadership of both the District of Sooke and Juan de Fuca Regional District share the responsibility.
Amending the zoning bylaw to allow gas bars, auto service facilities, car dealerships, and car washes in the town core.
Continued attempts by certain councillors to rezone M2 to allow waste transfer stations. Councillor arguments supporting this are frankly lame. This is a clear case of favoritism. In the meantime the waste transfer station proponent continues to illegally accept garbage.
Tom Myrick
Sooke