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Spallumcheen residents launch petition against access road for adventure park

Sep 5, 2019 | 4:53 PM

A nine-page petition signed by over 100 residents has been sent to the Township of Spallumcheen against the use of Eagle Rock Road as an access route to the proposed Wood Mountain Adventure Park.

Petition organizer Debbie Huckabay told Vernon Matters the issue stems around safety.

“The safety, even for tourists, is going to be really bad because if you come around that corner those trucks are coming down, they can’t see you and somebody is going to get killed,” Huckaby said.

(Tiffany Goodwein/Vernon Matters Staff)

The residents argue Powerhouse Road should be considered instead.

“There’s one residence on there, they go across. We have a lot of people on the road, we have no shoulder anymore. It just makes it really hard because it’s not fair for us, it really isn’t,” Huckabay said.

In an interview with Vernon Matters, the proposed adventure park applicants Patti and Jack Wood said they chose Eagle Rock Road as the access point during their application because it seemed logical at the time.

“Powerhouse Road has two entrances and exits as well, so the issue would be the same whether it’s Powerhouse Road or Eagle Rock Road. With Eagle Rock Road being it’s going through the commercial end on that North end already, it just seemed logical to us rather than going through any residential [areas] if we can avoid it,” Patti Wood said.

(Tiffany Goodwein/ VernonMatters Staff)

The Ministry of Transportation has advised township staff they would approve the project’s first phase if signs were installed to direct southbound vehicles to the south Eagle Rock Road intersection with Highway 97A.

If signs don’t go up, then a traffic impact study would be required.

“The Ministry of Transportation has told us that if we don’t put up signage saying that traffic can go to the south end of Eagle Rock road, then they will require some sort of study for the north end of Eagle Rock Road,’’ Mayor Christine Fraser said.

“We are going to go back to them and say council’s preference is that we want it to be the North end of Eagle Rock Road and we are not going to put up signage,” she said.

The applicants said a traffic impact study on Eagle Rock Road is something they support.

“I’m actually glad that the council has made a recommendation to do some study or incorporate more information on Eagle Rock Road into this process. I never wanted traffic to flow all the way down Eagle Rock Road,” Jack Wood said.

The petition is expected to be brought forward at a later council meeting.

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