Padgett improvements
A project to widen Padgett Road is going ahead with the infusion of more funds from the Powell River Regional District’s community works reserve.
Directors passed a motion at the August regional board meeting to approve an additional $11,000 for the initial phase of the project.
Electoral Area B Director Stan Gisborne said both sides of the road will be widened. “One will be a bicycle lane and the other will be just wider than what it is right now,” he said.
The first phase of the project stretches from Myrtle Avenue to Gunther Drive. Work is slated to take place from Monday, September 16 through to October 11, between 8 am and 4 pm. There will be controlled access for all traffic including bicycles and access to driveways on Padgett may be temporarily restricted. Drivers are advised not to enter the construction zone without assistance. There could be delays of up to 20 minutes as well and drivers not residing within the construction zone are advised to consider an alternate route.
The regional board allocated $150,000 in the 2013 budget for the project, with funds coming from the community works reserve.
According to a report from Al Radke, the regional district’s chief administrative officer, subsequent negotiations with the ministry of transportation and infrastructure brought the estimated cost of the project to $240,029, an amount that included an additional $7,500 for milling. The ministry was prepared to contribute nearly $100,000 toward the project this year, Radke wrote, but it experienced a 13 per cent claw back of its funds. The project was in jeopardy without the additional $11,000 in funding.
While Padgett widening is going ahead, a plan to widen Gillies Bay Road on Texada Island will not go ahead.
Regional district directors voted at the same board meeting to suspend the project this year and wait for potential additional funding in 2014 from both the regional district and the ministry of transportation and infrastructure.
Texada Director Dave Murphy said there had been community works funding set aside to go ahead with the project. However, there were some questions about whether both the Gillies Bay and Padgett projects were eligible to use community works funding. In the end, the regional district found a way to use the funds and the Gillies Bay project appeared to be back on track.
When regional district staff looked at the funding again, they determined it wasn’t enough to finish the project, Murphy said. Since the ministry had committed to contributing to Padgett Road, regional district staff recommended waiting a year for the Gillies Bay project in the hope that the ministry would contribute to it as well.
“Even though I wanted to see some initiatives start this year, it would be prudent and possibly financially advantageous for us to wait another year,” he said.
Pot campaign
Sensible BC started its 90-day referendum campaign to decriminalize marijuana this week. Petition sheets for the initiative to amend the Police Act were issued to proponent Dana Larsen on Monday, September 9.
The group needs signatures from 10 per cent of registered voters in all of BC’s electoral districts to force a referendum. Elections BC has established the signature thresholds in each of BC’s 85 electoral districts. In Powell River-Sunshine Coast, the campaign must collect 3,763 signatures.
The group wants to pass the Sensible Policing Act, which would stop police from searching or arresting people for marijuana possession. If the group and their volunteers gather enough signatures, it would trigger a referendum in September 2014.
In order to sign the petition, individuals must be registered on the provincial voters list as of September 9. The proponent must return signed petition sheets to Elections BC by December 9.
