A deal that’s being seen as a way to mend relations with a First Nation could bring dozens of trucks a day to a short street in View Royal.
Residents of the area, which includes Admirals Walk shopping centre, say having 100 trucks a day rolling past will be unhealthy, noisy and inconvenient.
But View Royal Mayor David Screech said the deal will benefit both the region and the Esquimalt Nation.
Under the agreement, the Esquimalt Nation would be able to use Hallowell Road, which belongs to View Royal, as a trucking route to bring supplies to their land.
In exchange, the Esquimalt Nation would allow the Capital Regional District to complete a gap in the E&N Rail Trail on the First Nation’s land.
View Royal staff have drafted an agreement with the First Nation, which council will receive at its meeting today.
Resident Allan Bagelman said turning the quiet, two-lane road into a trucking route would change the character of the neighbourhood.
He said the neighbourhood has already been disrupted with dust from a landscape-supply lot on First Nation land. In addition to worries about traffic and property values, he said he and his neighbours, many of whom are seniors, considered the increase in trucking to be a health and safety concern. “The amount of airborne particulate from that single operation caused enough of a problem for us. We had to shut our windows in the summertime.”
Bagelman said there has been no meaningful consultation with people on the street. “We’re not against development and change. It’s just that they need to be reasonable and they need to engage the people affected by it,” he said.
“It feels like this plan is being shoved through with no real consideration of the impact it will have on the community. … There’s this intense feeling of frustration and hopelessness right now.”
According to a staff report, the issue was discussed at six council meetings, three committee-of-the-whole meetings, two open houses and in six email notifications.
Unlike a rezoning application, there is no requirement for a public hearing.
The deal has been in the works for about 18 months, Screech said. A staff engineering report said time is critical, as the Esquimalt Nation has a funding opportunity from Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada of $1.3 million for road construction. The CRD has grant funding that is time-critical for completion of the E&N Rail Trail.
Screech said it marks significant progress from the animosity and bad blood of 2004, when the town put a locked gate on Hallowell Road to keep trucks from using it to access the First Nation land illegally. “We went from literally blockading that road 12 years ago to having reached an agreement with the First Nations partners. And to me, that’s a huge step forward.”
He said the trucks currently use nearby Thomas Road, which is slated to close because improvements to Admirals Road will affect elevation.
Under the agreement, the E&N Rail Trail would run up Hallowell Road, along Admirals, then back down through Esquimalt Nation land. It currently ends at Maplebank, then picks up again at the foot of Hallowell.
Screech said making an agreement also avoids unnecessary costs and building.
“[The Esquimalt Nation] could have built their own road completely parallel to Hallowell on their property and we would have seen none of the benefits of the rail-trail being allowed to be completed. And it would have been a far greater cost for them, taken away more of their land … and so we have been anxious to work and find an agreement and arrangement for all parties,” Screech said.
“I fully understand our residents’ concerns about the trucks. It will be a change and it will take some getting used to, and we will do everything we can to mitigate those impacts.”
Esquimalt Chief Andy Thomas could not be reached for comment.
