Re: “Oil and lube proposed for entrance to downtown Squamish.”
First, I would like to say thank you to Councillor Susan Chapelle for standing up against this project. I am not against new business, and I think it would do well in an appropriate place, but I will not support this type of business in that location. I will fight this until there is no fight left.
I feel as if the District of Squamish (DOS) has failed Squamish Elementary School. How in previous years could you not have seen that teardrop land adjacent to the school as a vulnerable area and rezone it to give the school an appropriate distance from any development?
How can you not say no to an application and state it’s because its not in the best interest of the community? Isn’t that what you are doing when you say no the LNG (which I am not for, either)?
It’s unfortunate there was no long-term vision. Here are my specific concerns:
1. The parking lot is always full during drop-off and pick-up and there is a lineup to get out the school. How will having the business not affect that in an adverse way? And how is it OK for the DOS to allow cash in lieu of parking spaces? Where will they go? What if there is a fatal accident on the easement of a car and child? Or car and car? What if there is an emergency at the school?
2. What about congestion on Buckley? Who did the traffic studies? Will you be conducting your own traffic studies? The parking lot is at capacity; the average wait to leave the parking lot is nine minutes. (I timed it one morning.)
3. The school property is at a lower elevation than the oil and lube and their raingardens will be draining into our lower level. Who will deal with the compounding problems of this?
4. The safe routes to school from downtown and Dentville just got busier. Why would parents choose to walk their kid to school or allow them to walk alone, with all the risks? How do you convince parents to not use their vehicle when there is no safe alternative?
5. Construction impacts, noise during construction, safety as they are building directly on the property line of the school and beside the playground are other concerns.
You should say no to this project because it does not fit into the community plan that a school should be a safe environment.
Can we not come together as a community, with the school board, parents, district and BC Rail, and find an appropriate use for this land? A greenhouse and teaching kitchen for the school and community, with a garden that can make money for the school, for example?
I am disappointed in the lack of problem solving, foresight and courage by the district in this whole endeavour.
Roslyn Semjanovs
Downtown Squamish
