Following a March 3 public meeting to discuss developments regarding the establishment of street lights along the Maple Drive corridor, Cariboo Regional District (CRD) Area A Mary Sjostrom is still determined there will be lights on this busy road in 2021.
Calls for the erection of streetlights along Maple Drive began pouring into the Cariboo Regional District after an engineering assessment completed by the City of Quesnel deemed the Johnston Bridge was deemed unsafe for heavy industrial traffic. This decision in October 2018 saw the industrial traffic headed to the West Fraser Plywood Plant forced to use alternate routes, including the Maple Drive corridor.
Community members living around the Maple Drive corridor were concerned that the increase in industrial traffic, combined with the lack of any lighting along the street, posed a significant safety risk. Tragically, a life was lost as a pedestrian fatality occurred on Maple Drive in 2019. That incident, along with the construction of a new middle school on Maple Drive starting in 2020 which will only increase both pedestrian and vehicle traffic in the corridor, had residents doubling their efforts in getting a street light project approved.
The project proposed by the CRD would see 22 street lights added to existing B.C. Hydro poles along Maple Drive between Plywood Road and Highway 97. The total capital costs for the will be $12,000, with running costs coming in at $6,000 yearly.
Sjostrom announced during the public meeting, held March 3 at Quesnel Junior School, that she was able to secure a grant through ICBC for $12,000 towards the capital costs of the initiative, bringing the project one step closer to fruition.
The CRD lobbied the Province to cover the costs of installing and maintaining street lights along the corridor, stating they are necessary for the public’s safety and therefore are the responsibility of the provincial government. To date, the Province has declined to cover the costs of the street lights.
Therefore, to cover the yearly maintenance costs, the CRD proposed that a tax be collected from the 125 residential properties that fall along the Maple Drive corridor at a rate of $36.33 per $100,000, or around $8 per month.
While the general consensus of the close to 80 residents at the public meeting was in support of the project, there was concern that more then just the 125 households on Maple Drive would benefit from the street lights and that the tax should be spread amongst a wider catchment area to lower the cost.
“I heard the people, and I am right there with them regarding their passion for the safety on the corridor and the use of the corridor, and I respect the fact that they believe that it should be a bigger catchment area that can help support and pay for this, and that’s where we are going,” said Sjostrom. “We are going back to the drawing board — we will identify a new catchment area, and sooner than later, I want to come back out to the public and see if the revised plan better suits their needs.”
Sjostrom says she and the CRD will continue to work on the initiative and present a new plan to the public in the near future, and they are still determined to have the lights in place in 2021.
“That is my ultimate goal, that we will be seeing lights on that corridor in 2021,” said Sjostrom.
READ MORE: Cariboo Regional District will revisit Maple Drive streetlights with MOTI
editor@quesnelobserver.com
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