My Vision of Fulford - Harold Page

1. It seems a pity that the Inn, the churches, Hall, & marina could not be included within the "village" if consequent further commercial development could somehow be avoided.  These are all very much a part of what we think of as the village.
 
2.There needs to be a general cleanup (again) of the area around the docks and floats.
 
3. It is pretty obvious that better inspection and correction of sewage and drainage systems around the village is sorely needed.
 
4. Commuter parking.  I can`t see why Fulford should be expected to provide free parking for those who merely use it to leave their vehicles while they go somewhere else.  There should be an off-road lot allocated for this use- likely paid parking.
 
5. I am not one who believes that the Ferry Corp should be solely responsible for ferry parking and passenger pickup and dropoff.  Ferries (tries) to provide for the traffic that we Islanders present to it; in other words, it is we, not Ferries, that are creating the problem.  This should be an important issue that Islands Trust considers when it looks at development proposals.  It is a land use issue, and as such, Trust planners need to work with Ferries and the communitry to find solutions.  I wrote a proposal quite a long time ago and gave it to Bruce Patterson (since he`s in the middle of all this) which suggested acquiring a large lot across from the former Lacy property to be a parking lot and holding area for ferry traffic. No parked vehicles would be allowed on the hill. The existing ferry parking lot would be used as an "expansion tank", filled from the holding area in increments - like packet switching as a telecom analogy - controlled by electric traffic signals operated from the ferry terminal.  While not filling the "tank", the road down the hill would be used for normal vehicle traffic. I am quite aware that all this sounds kind of complicated, but how else does one create space where there is none ?? 
 
6. We certainly agree that Fulford village should retain its rural (funky ? ) character, and not become a "destination resort" area.

Harold Page
05 March 2008