Landscape

Alternative approval process completed for Maple Drive street lighting

The alternative approval process (AAP) for the proposed installation of streetlights along Maple Drive in Electoral Area ‘A’, immediately south of the City of Quesnel was completed on Monday, November 16 and approved by the CRD board on December 4. Now the regional district will be working with BC Hydro to have 23 streetlights installed along Maple Drive. Residents along the corridor (see accompanying map for the location of the streetlights and AAP eligible voter boundaries) will pay $7.31 per $100,000 of assessed home/property value annually for the service. The Insurance Corporation of BC has committed $12,000 towards the capital cost of the project, as part of its funding of road safety initiatives.

“I am delighted to see this project move forward,” says Area ‘A’ Director Mary Sjostrom. “Our research and survey work before the AAP began showed strong local support for streetlights on Maple Drive. It’s great to see our decision to utilize the alternative approval process validated by this result. It has saved the CRD and its taxpayers the considerable expense of taking this long-awaited project to referendum.”

An AAP is a ‘reverse’ form of public assent where a proposed initiative goes ahead unless at least ten per cent of the eligible voters submit a signed Elector Response Form saying they are against the proposal. Over a thousand residents or property owners were eligible to respond to the AAP. Six elector response forms in opposition to Maple Drive streetlighting project were received.

Maple Drive Streetlighting Background:
An increase in industrial traffic and a pedestrian fatality early in 2019 highlighted the need for safety improvements to the Maple Drive corridor. In addition, the construction of a new middle school, starting in the fall of 2020, will soon be bringing increased vehicle and pedestrian traffic to the neighbourhood.

The Cariboo Regional District was asked, via resident requests to Electoral Area 'A' Director Mary Sjostrom, to look at ways to improve safety along the Maple Drive corridor. With the conclusion of the AAP, the installation of 23 street lights on existing BC Hydro poles can now proceed.

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