White Rock council is looking at establishing a pedestrian-controlled lighted crosswalk at Parker Street and Marine Drive to increase pedestrian safety in the East Beach area, following concerns voiced by neighbourhood residents.
June 15, council unanimously endorsed a motion from Coun. Christopher Trevelyan that called for a staff report on costs and implications of establishing a new crosswalk there.
Included in the motion, through discussion, were amendments requesting comment on three parking stalls on Parker on the east side being established as resident-permit only, and also the possibility of constructing a speed bump between Kent and Kiel streets.
“We’ve had at least one petition, possibly two, from the residents; we’ve had emails from residents in that neighbourhood; we have a long history going back months and months and months,” Trevelyan said.
“What I’m hearing very clearly from those residents is they want to see some action taken… it’s a very busy area.”
In moving the amendment concerning the Parker parking stalls, Coun. Helen Fathers said that while the stalls have been recently classed as public parking with a three-hour limit, they have recently seen greater use as “a stop-and-hold for people using the Indigenous Bloom store” on Semiahmoo First Nation property across the street.
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Coun. Anthony Manning noted there is “a desperate need for a lighted crosswalk down there – we’ve talked about this many times.”
But he said he didn’t think the crosswalk alone would calm all the traffic in that area, suggesting the amendment to include the speed bump between Kent and Kiel to slow traffic coming down the hill before they get to the crosswalk.
“There’s a lot of speeding coming down the 8th Avenue/Marine Drive hill, and to expect someone to stop right before the crosswalk is a little unrealistic at some of the speeds I’ve seen coming down there,” he said.
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