Letter sent to Victoria City Council on June 25, 2014:
Dear Mayor Fortin and Councilors,
It is our understanding that council will review the Public Realm and Landscape Design Strategy for the Johnson Street Bridge at the upcoming Governance and Priorities Committee meeting.
While written submissions from the DRA for were acknowledged within the “Summary of Community Input – Appendix A” the DRA remains quite concerned that priorities for Downtown Residents put forward in our submission have been largely ignored. Specifically is the need for greenspace downtown and the opportunity to create usable greenspace within the JSB approaches. The plazas as proposed have remained essentially unchanged from the original design despite residents concerns that the proposals are substantially hard surface and are designed essentially as thoroughfares and not usable plaza or park spaces. Additional concerns are how the southeast plaza space will relate to the street and the proposed Northern Junk project as the current design details a substantial elevation cut with steep sidehills. The Plaza fronting the Janion also appears substantially hard surface with no planters or trees specified.
Owners of the Northern Junk Site and their Architect Paul Merrick share the same concerns and have produced drawings which propose an eloquent plaza design concept, very much in line with what the DRA has requested several times over the last two years. There is an added bonus that the proposed concept would achieve the desired results at a significantly cheaper cost!
Please take a few minutes to scroll through the attached drawing alternatives and request that your staff make efforts to amend the design.
Best regards
Ian Sutherland
Chair DRALUC