The City of Victoria has created an excellent proposal for turning the Inner Harbour into a showpiece 鈥� as long as it ditches the part about paving over a chunk of the legislature lawn.
The plan is to complete David Foster Way so a five-kilometre walkway threads from Ogden Point to Rock Bay, punctuated by what it calls 鈥渟pecial places鈥� for concerts, outdoor events and relaxation. At a cost of $33 million to $40 million, it would realize much of the potential of the harbour and entice both residents and visitors to enjoy what could become a signature element of the city.
When the scheme was unveiled Tuesday, many people couldn鈥檛 see past the illustration on page 10 showing Celebration Place, which turns the area along Belleville Street in front of the legislature building into a terraced plaza for large events like Symphony Splash and the sa国际传媒 Day fireworks.
It includes ripping out the legislature lawn from the street to a point just past the giant sequoia tree and paving it. The reaction to that part of the plan has been dismay 鈥� not surprisingly.
Downtown Victoria has no shortage of pavement, and doesn鈥檛 need more, even if it has a maple leaf/dogwood pattern in it. The plaza would be used for a few major events a year, and the rest of the time it鈥檚 a place for people to stroll or sit. Strolling or sitting on grass is better than on hard pavement.
As Ken Johnson of the Hallmark Society pointed out, that lawn has been a feature of the Inner Harbour since 1870.
Once we scrap that part of the proposal, we can talk about the merits of the rest, which are substantial.
The rest of the Celebration Place would include a small stage and a series of tiered stairs and ramps from Belleville down to the Lower Causeway. Together, they would offer a viewing area and seating for large events. Belleville Street could be temporarily closed with bollards to open up more space.
With the steps sweeping up from the causeway, and the legislature lawn and buildings in the background, the plaza would be an impressive setting for events and a popular gathering spot the rest of the year.
The plaza is designed as the centrepiece of the David Foster Way, but the other 鈥渟pecial places鈥� are important parts of the plan. Ship Point would host a site for performing-arts events and festivals. Barclay Point near Rock Bay would have a boathouse for non-motorized boats.
At several sites, the shoreline would be restored and tidal pools created.
The walkway would fill in the gaps that prevent people from walking all the way around the harbour. These days, visitors might not realize how to get from Ship Point near the floatplane terminal to the nearby parking lot below Bastion Square. The path in front of the Canoe Club ends at the water. Barclay Point is inaccessible from the shoreline.
The remaining blot on the landscape would be the Belleville Street Terminal, where the Coho and the Clipper tie up. The city deserves a better portal for visitors from Seattle and Port Angeles than that eyesore.
Rejuvenating the terminal requires negotiations. Indeed, the whole project will take negotiation with governments and many other players. A total of 97 properties are affected by the walkway, and the city owns only one of them: Ship Point.
At this point, the walkway is a vision, but it鈥檚 one that deserves serious consideration from residents and businesses in the coming months, because it would crown the decades-long effort to make the Inner Harbour all that it could be.
