Participants at a public meeting about a town clock proposal for a vacant lot appear to favour a park-only concept.
MABA (Marine Area Business Association) has proposed to locate a town clock on the lot at the southeast corner of Marine Avenue and Alberni Street. The City of Powell River owns the lot, which is currently undeveloped but is used for parking.
While MABA’s plan is to create green space, city planning officials developed a plan that includes 11 parking spaces, landscaping and the clock on the outermost corner.
The city held a public meeting about its proposal for the corner on Tuesday, January 15.
Cathy MacDonald, MABA president, said the people who attended the meeting were in favour of having the clock. “From what I see, they’re mostly in favour of having it as parkland, without parking,” she said. “That’s what MABA would like to see as well, but we also don’t want to see it turn into a gravel lot again. We’ll have to work with the city to get the best plan that we can for it.”
MABA would like to see the clock in place this summer for the 30th anniversary of the Blackberry Festival, MacDonald pointed out.
The clock will cost about $35,000 and so far MABA has raised about $10,000, MacDonald added. “I have two grant applications sitting, ready to roll,” she said.
MABA needs city approval of the project before it can send in the applications. “We want to move ahead with it and have a park,” MacDonald said.
The Max Cameron High School class of 1970 was one of the first supporters of the project. “We thought it would be an excellent meeting place,” said Bridget Bigold, a member of the group who attended the public meeting. “I think it’s a great idea for a meeting place in town, plus it cleans up a corner that is sort of an eyesore.”
Anna Hindle, a MABA director and owner of Hindle’s Camera and Stationery Ltd., said she understands why some people want parking in the lot, because the area needs parking. “However, I think if we’re allowing too many spots, I’m concerned that we may lose the idea of a park setting,” she said. “You want to maybe have some parking, but we have to be careful that we don’t have a clock lost in a parking lot.”
That is important to her, Hindle said. “I don’t want to go forward and spend all this money and then have people say that it’s an eyesore still. I think that is something that we really have to work toward and make sure that in the end we do get the clock in a nice park setting. If parking can be done, maybe hidden somewhere, a few spots, I think that’s a good thing too.”
Hindle also said she thinks it’s a fabulous location for a town clock. “It’s a crossroads, a well-travelled corner, not just for our community, but also for tourists. You will be able to see the clock from every direction. I’d like to see it there. I think we should make that work.”
Councillor Russell Brewer also attended the public meeting and stayed until the end. “The consistent feedback I received from those I spoke with was preference for a full park concept rather than a mixed use concept,” he said. “I’ll wait until a report from staff regarding the consultation, as it will include the rest of the feedback including written submissions, but at this point I’m inclined to agree based on the feedback I heard.”
Some of the points people raised to him, Brewer said, included: a full park is more consistent with sustainability initiatives, such as promoting walking/cycling behaviour rather than vehicle-reliant behaviour; a full park better suits a vision for a public gathering place or a public square; a town clock park mixed with parking is seen to be incongruous; the concerns regarding a lack of available parking are felt to have been overstated, as parking tends to be by business owners and staff rather than visitors and customers; and there are existing pedestrian safety concerns with vehicles parking there and exiting, which are likely to be exacerbated with the creation of a mixed use area.
Carlos Felip, manager of development services, said the estimate to develop the site is about $80,000 using the mixed-use concept. For a park only, the estimate is “a little more,” he said.
Staff will prepare a report for council about the public meeting. “We’ll ask them to provide a direction for us to proceed,” Felip said.
