Letter CRD re Cycling & Pedestrian Safety on Pender

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Preserving Island communities, culture and environment 
        Bowen  Denman  Hornby  Gabriola  Galiano  Gambier  Lasqueti  Mayne  North Pender  Salt Spring  Saturna  South Pender  Thetis 
 
 
North Pender Island Local Trust Committee 
200-1627 Fort Street 
Victoria, BC V8R 1H8 
Telephone:  250.405.5151 
 
Email: NorthPenderIslandLocalTrustCommittee 
           @islandstrust.bc.ca 
Web:  www.islandstrust.bc.ca      
 
January 21, 2020          File No. 5595-30  
 
Capital Regional District Board 
625 Fisgard Street 
Victoria, British Columbia 
Canada, V8W 1R7 
 
Dear Capital Regional District Board of Directors: 
 
Re: Pender Island Cycling and Pedestrian Infrastructure 
 
I am writing on behalf of the North Pender Island Local Trust Committee (LTC) to encourage the CRD to 
expedite implementation of the Gulf Islands Regional Trails Plan.  We also ask that the CRD focus attention 
on ensuring that the North Pender section of that plan moves forward expeditiously.  
 
The LTC’s interests in safe pedestrian and cycling paths are regional interests. It is the LTC’s perception 
that the CRD Board’s tendency has been to focus on urban areas. Meanwhile, the Southern Gulf Islands 
are a regionally appreciated and promoted destination. The CRD’s “Experience the Gulf Islands” website 
promotes everything the islands have to offer including hiking and biking on the Pender Islands (North and 
South). We are encouraged to see that the “Experience the Gulf Islands Concept Plan” identifies building 
“sustainable low-carbon, inter-island transportation connections and linkages that limit or lower on-island 
car traffic” as a key focus. However, we have yet to see action taken on North Pender to support this goal. 
 
The LTC feels that accelerating implementation of the Gulf Islands Regional Trails Plan is necessary given 
the need for drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, the increasing lack of safety for pedestrians 
and cyclists on the Pender islands’ roads, and the existing and increasing opportunities for funding from 
senior government for multi-modal infrastructure (e.g. the Province’s Active Transportation Infrastructure 
Funding). Given the jurisdictional nature of the Islands Trust, the ability for North Pender to address 
challenges and take advantage of opportunities is very dependent on the initiatives of the CRD and the 
Province.  
 
As a local trust committee, we have, and continue to, take steps to support safe walking and cycling on 
our Island. We have also written to the Province to ask that they take immediate action to remediate 
dangerous sections of our roads with focus on accommodating the development of pedestrian and cycling 
infrastructure with all road improvements. North Pender has a clearly laid out cycling and pedestrian route 
in its Official Community Plan. The “Magic-Ferry Bicycle-Walking Route” connects the BC Ferry dock at 
Otter Bay with commercial areas and our largest populated area (Magic Lake). This is consist

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