If the Squamish Downtown Neighbourhood Association (SDNA) has its way, locals will be seeing a lot more green space downtown. The group responded to a draft version of the Downtown Neighbourhood Plan produced Feb.1 by asking for more protected green space downtown. The SDNA has created its own park plan with several suggestions for improvement.While the park plan may seem ambitious, SDNA member Peter Harker said it is time the district picks out its parkland first, then lets development move in around it.The SDNA plan calls for continuous green space running east from Stan Clarke Park on Second Avenue to the waterfront. Although intersecting streets would fragment it, the extended park would create a visual corridor from Municipal Hall to the Mamquam Blind Channel.For the concept to work, a residential project proposed for the BC Rail lands on the Mamquam Blind Channel would have to be adjusted to make room for a 100-foot easement of parkland.The plan also asks that 50 per cent of the Oceanfront Lands be set aside from development as an oceanfront park.Harker pointed to the results of a downtown community forum Dec. 1, where about 75 residents gave their input on what is at risk in downtown Squamish. Wild and public green space came out as one of the top concerns.Planner Heather Evans said the district would host an open house on the draft Downtown Neighbourhood Plan in mid-March before it goes into bylaw form. But Harker said the district is making it harder for residents to voice these opinions, adding that he felt uncomfortable with an open house on the Official Community Plan draft last November when the traditional question-and-answer component of the presentation was scrapped for one-on-one discussions with staff, and comment forms.Squamish Environmental Conservation Society president Catherine Jackson has expressed a similar objection to the OCP open house.On Feb. 5, she made a presentation to council, urging them to get more feedback on the community's interest in preserving green space. "The process has not engaged the average citizen," she said. "Final open houses must include a chance for final citizens to step up to the microphone and speak to everyone."Evans discussed options for the open house with the Community Advisory Committee on Monday (Feb. 18). Members agreed to have two presentations, one in the afternoon and one in the evening, to help people with different schedules understand the draft.The group brainstormed ways the meeting could attract new faces that may have missed community meetings in the past."What were really in our dreams of dreams want to do is see people we don't normally see," said committee member Peter Gordon. "We have to dream up something that's scandalous so we can get people up."Evans said she would look into creative forms of advertising and would be sure to include a group question-and-answer period after each presentation.
