Driftwood Road Beach Access
Project Update
The contract for the Driftwood Road Beach Access improvement project was awarded to Milestone Equipment Contracting, with target completion by mid-November, 2018. The project includes an aluminum staircase to the beach, which will improve access, safety and help lessen bank erosion at this location. The project cost is $38,235 and will be funded by the Electoral Area A Community Parks Budget.Background
Following the 2014 Beach Access Inventory for Electoral Area 'A', the Parks, Recreation and Culture Commission re-visited some of the priority water accesses to discuss and determine which should be considered first. At the regular Commission meeting in June 2015, the Commission identified the Driftwood Road beach access as a priority site for improvement. Currently the trail ends at a bank above the beach, which is seeing erosion from people scaling down to the beach.A geotechnical study was conducted and design drawings for the addition of a staircase to the beach were prepared.
In the fall of 2017, parks staff met onsite with neighbours in the area to discuss the project and listen to neighbour comments and questions about the proposed project. Just over half responses received were supportive of the stairs, with most not wanting any other improvement (e.g. parking). Just under half the responses received did not want the RDN to construct stairs at this site. A full summary of the feedback is here.
At the Regional Board's regular meeting on April 24th, 2018, the decision was made to proceed with the final design, permitting and construction of the Driftwood Road beach access trail improvements in 2018 and not plan for additional parking at this time.
Should you have any questions or comments, please contact Kelsey Cramer, Parks Planner.