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Region’s busiest transit routes to go under the microscope Study aims to identify inefficiencies in system Elena Yovovich revisits the Wharf Street Marina, where until April she lived on her boat with her partner. Her complaints about living conditions for live-aboards at the site are making waves.
Erin McCracken News staff
Roszan Holmen/News staff
Living under the radar Wharf Street marina too close to aerodrome: former resident Roszan Holmen News staff
Mere metres from an airport is no place to call home, according to one recent resident of the Wharf Street marina. Elena Yovovich and her partner first moored their boat in the marina in the summer of 2008. “(We moved in) because there was nowhere else to go and I did not know how bad it would be,” she said. Noise at the marina, wedged between
the Hyack Air and Kenmore Air terminals and Harbour Air and West Coast Air terminals, never ceased for more than 10 minutes at a time, she said. “You can’t actually breathe outside,” she said, demonstrating how she used her sleeve to filter the fumes created by the float planes. Yovovich’s complaints have sparked a series of reactions, including an investigation into live-aboard vessels at the marina by the City of Victoria and a review by the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority. Yovovich is not opposed to the working harbour. But the harbour authority needs to better accommodate residents at its marinas, who are charged a live-aboard fee, she said. Her complaint to the city – the zoning
authority on the waterfront – alerted planners to a conflict. Live-aboards are not actually permitted at the Wharf Street marina, confirmed senior planner Jarret Matanowitsch. “Now that it’s come to our attention … we’re doing our research to see what our jurisdiction is.” When it comes to the harbour, however, jurisdiction is far from clear. “There’s so many different levels of governments; we’re working to clarify that issue,” Matanowitsch said. For Yovovich, her irritation came to a head last fall when the city rezoned a water lot to allow Harbour Air to reconfigure its floatplane docks. PLEASE SEE: Live-aboards, Page A7
Five major corridors in the Capital Region will soon be studied to identify ways to reduce travel delays, better serve existing B.C. Transit passengers and attract new riders. Sections of Douglas Street, McKenzie Avenue, the Trans-Canada Highway, Island Highway and Pat Bay Highway in Victoria, Saanich, View Royal and Colwood will be examined over the next 10 months at a cost of $250,000. With 17,000 to 23,000 people per day riding the bus on Douglas, from Belleville Street to Hillside Avenue, “improving that corridor has the biggest bang for riders,” Victoria Mayor Dean Fortin said during Tuesday’s Victoria Regional Transit Commission meeting. By comparison, buses travelling on Douglas Street from Hillside to Saanich Road carry between 6,000 and 10,000 riders each day. The studies will lead to the development of time-saving solutions, from simple transit scheduling adjustments to roadway changes that would require construction. Examples range from more advance turn signals and bus priority signals to side-street parking bans and the construction of bus-only lanes and extended bus stops. “There’s a way ... to deal with the amount of traffic that is existing on these corridors, to move (passengers) more efficiently and, in effect, have much more capacity because of it,” said commission chair and Saanich Coun. Susan Brice. PLEASE SEE: Transit, Page A14
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