Why is it that councils have a hard time making a decision and sticking to it?
Sooke has been wondering what to do with John Phillips Memorial Park for the past 10 years, at least.
What to do with it has always been controversial. It was a golf course which was divided and half sold off for development. That development hasn’t happened yet and people are still a little sore about it.
There have been any number of proposals for the park including a bike skills park, an off-leash dog park and a horseshoe pitch. Anything short of a local space port, none of those uses came to fruition.
Now the latest is to put a new 10,000 sq. foot library in the park. One needs to remember that Sooke doesn’t own the whole park, at least not the space where the old Mulligan’s sits.
In addition to that, the ownership and management of the new library itself will be under the command of the Vancouver Island Regional Library – so it’s not like the District will be calling the shots with that, either.
Council and the community needs to make a firm decision on what goes in the park, if anything, and stick to the plan. Make a plan, create a vision.
No more wishy washy swaying back and forth. Council can’t- and will never- please everyone, because no matter what, only one side will be chosen in the end. And that will, invevitably, have its own set of perks and consequences. C’est la vie, n’est-ce pas?
Point is, council needs to come up with a viable plan for the park, take it to the public for input and get on with it. Either leave it alone as greenspace or develop something on it.
But, this needs to be done with the best interests of the public in mind. It is not solely a council decision, it’s a community decision.
