Council dug in its spurs when municipal staff recommended downsizing a proposal to showcase the community's wooden history in front of the Squamish Adventure Centre.
On Tuesday (Jan. 28) at Committee of the Whole, district staff voiced concern regarding a plan to move 14 large tree trunks carved with descriptions of province's forestry history from storage at the West Coast Railway Heritage Park to the Adventure Centre. The nine-foot-tall log books' pages could obstruct sightlines and raised safety concerns for pedestrians viewing the structures adjacent to Highway 99, district planner Sarah McJannet said.
Staff recommended council consider placing some of the structures around the centre, while moving the remaining pages across the street to the proposed site of the Forestry Centre building or along the Discovery Trail.
The Ministry of Transportation will be involved either way, McJannet said. Any structures in front of the Adventure Centre need an encroachment permit because they would sit on highway right-of-way.
District officials have debated the log books' home for a long time, Coun. Patricia Heintzman said, adding she wasn't convinced the pieces would impact the view of the Adventure Centre.
I am tired of debating the perfect solution that is not out there, she said.
She put forward a motion to back the plan to place all 14 log books around the Adventure Centre. With the exception of Coun. Doug Race, council passed the recommendation. Race said he was concerned the wooden pages would clutter the view of the Adventure Centre.
A lot of thought, time and money went into the proposal, society president Ken Pickering said. If council had opted for an alternative plan, the society would have been back to square one, he said.
We put a plan together we thought would work, Pickering said.
