Even should the decision remain the same, the topic deserves some more discussion.
North Cowichan Mayor Jon Lefebure has moved to bring back before council the issue of a 1.6-kilometre trail that was originally planned to run parallel to the Trans Canada Highway from the end of the dike trail near Beverly Street in Duncan to the BC Forest Discovery Centre at Drinkwater Road.
The province put in $472,000 from its BikeBC Fund for the then-estimated $972,000 cost, with North Cowichan set to pick up the rest of the tab. But since the initial costing for the project, the bill climbed to $1.3 million, and council decided to give the trail project the axe and return the province’s grant. This was a perfectly reasonable decision. However there is a lot to consider with this project and we lose nothing as a community by revisiting some of those points before putting the issue to bed once and for all.
First, it would be a shame to lose a provincial grant to help with this project. Second, having a multi-use trail in this location is very desirable as it would create a safe and beautiful way for people to be able to walk or bike from Duncan to the developing Drinkwater area without putting themselves in the way of high speed traffic. Third, with the hospital set to be built in that direction it makes sense to develop this kind of infrastructure. Fourth, most of council seemed to feel this is a worthwhile project and didn’t want to discard it altogether, just perhaps put it off in order to save some more funds. However staff made it clear that the cost of the project will inevitably rise as time goes on, in the range of 10 per cent to 15 per cent per year.
On the other hand, the cost overrun on the project is significant. Taxpayers are feeling stretched to the limit. Is this something they want to allocate funds to?
More discussion costs nothing. It’s worth a second look.