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Sidney residents to have say on Gateway at Sept. 12 hearing

A major public hearing Sept. 12 in Sidney will go a long way to determine whether the town council votes for bylaws that would pave the way for the proposed $35-million Gateway Shopping Centre at Beacon Avenue and the Patricia Bay Highway. The B.C.
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The proposed Gateway development, including a pedestrian bridge, bottom left, crossing the Pat Bay Highway.

A major public hearing Sept. 12 in Sidney will go a long way to determine whether the town council votes for bylaws that would pave the way for the proposed $35-million Gateway Shopping Centre at Beacon Avenue and the Patricia Bay Highway.

The B.C. Ministry of Transportation said it is still working with developer Omicron on the “potential impact on surrounding traffic and how that would be mitigated.” But the ministry’s conditions are not sufficient to derail the timing of the hearing, said town administrator Randy Humble.

The ministry has approved the rezoning based on the town’s referral, but will not provide details associated with the traffic requirements until a detailed application has been received through the Victoria Airport Authority, said Sidney Mayor Steve Price.

Omicron vice-president George Sawatzky said Tuesday there has been “plenty of public consultation” about roadway improvements relating to the development still under review and that provincial support for rezoning 10 acres of airport land is conditional on those traffic plans meeting the ministry’s requirements.

“We anticipate the details of the traffic measures will be finalized soon,” he said in an email.

Omicron undertook a consultant’s report that specified several recommendations.

The hearing will get underway at 7 p.m. at the 300-seat Shoal Centre on Resthaven Drive, with community residents having their say in convincing council whether or not to give third and fourth readings to a rezoning amendment for 10 acres of airport land given first and second readings on July 11.

“Given the high level of importance of this decision, it is essential that every effort is made to ensure all of council is able to attend this meeting,” said a posting on the town’s website.

One of the most contentious aspects of the proposal is its impact on the downtown’s main street of independent businesses, where there are already dozens of empty storefronts. An Urbanics study, paid for by Omicron at the request of the town, determined that the Gateway project would have a net economic benefit in terms of job creation, tax coffers and attracting shoppers to Sidney with outlets such an electronics retailer, not already there.

But there will be a negative impact on established businesses. “The proposed Gateway development does compete with existing retailers to some degree and will inevitably result in some transfer of sales dollars in some retail categories,” the study said.

The controversial proposal sites a 100,000-square-foot shopping on land leased from Ottawa by the airport. The authority will issue a development permit to Omicron only if it meets all of the transportation ministry’s criteria, said vice-president James Bogusz, who expects remaining issues between the ministry and Omicron to wrap up soon.

“There has been considerable work on traffic throughout this process and plenty of public consultation on the re-alignment of Stirling Road and proposed round-about on Galaran [Road] and Beacon,” he said. Approval for bylaw amendments Sept. 12 would solidify Omicron’s plan to construct a pedestrian overpass at Beacon Avenue as part of the development, Bogusz added.

Price has highlighted the advantages of a $3-million pedestrian overpass at Beacon and the Pat Bay Highway as a way to protect pedestrians from high-speed ferry traffic and reconnect the two sides of town divided by the highway decades ago.

But in a letter to Price, copied to the deputy minister of Transportation, the airport authority, Omicron and members of Sidney council, area resident Cam Rawlinson takes issue with the location of the overpass.

Rawlinson contended the proposed overpass is to serve Gateway shoppers and does not properly address the needs of school children who need an overpass to the north at James White Boulevard. “Children will not and do not live at the west end of this proposed overpass,” Rawlinson wrote. “To attend Sidney Elementary they will also have to enter three crosswalks at the highway interchange to get to school ... and Beacon will be busier and more crowded than ever given the added traffic sprawl that would come with this mall.”

Price told the Times Colonist he agrees with another overpass at James White, but that a Beacon Avenue overpass would still be “heavily used.” Price suggested the ministry will close the surface crossing at the Pat Bay/Beacon traffic lights for safety reasons and make the overpass the east/west crossing point. “School kids and everyone else in Sidney will be using it daily,” Price said.

The concept of a crossing at James White has been “on our radar for years,” he added, saying he plans to continue to lobby for more safety infrastructure from the ministry.

Rawlinson contended that the Gateway overpass is aimed at “a developer and his clients rather than our community and residents” and that Sidney should make the Gateway development contingent on locating the overpass between the elementary school and the area it serves.