The City of White Rock has hired a landscape company to devise a plan for replanting its waterfront hillside.
But the news, shared Tuesday at city hall, did not come without criticism from a member of the city’s environmental advisory committee.
“I’m kind of surprised that there isn’t a plan, and there wasn’t a plan before you started,” volunteer John Lawrence told Greg St. Louis, the city’s director of municipal operations, at the committee’s inaugural meeting of 2016.
Clearing of the hillside – known to many as the ‘hump’ – has been a point of contention in the city since work began early last May.
It took many residents – and at least two councillors – by surprise, with some speculating it was done to improve the views of residents who live along Marine Drive from the pier to Johnston Road.
City officials maintain the work was for slope stability, to increase line of sight and to eradicate invasive species; in particular, Himalayan blackberry.
In the wake of last year’s criticism, Mayor Wayne Baldwin conceded that more should have been done to inform the public about the work beforehand.
Tuesday, Lawrence – a former tree planter in his second year on the committee – said he had expected to be reviewing a plan that afternoon, not simply hearing that one was being worked on.
“I think you need to get on it. I thought that was the agenda, to review a plan.”
St. Louis described the replanting as “a priority in my department to get working on this,” and noted additional funds are proposed in the city’s budget for the work over the next two years.
In response to questions, St. Louis said the retaining-wall stability work is complete, barring an 80-foot-long section near Totem Plaza that falls under the responsibility of land-owner BNSF. Any failure of that section would not impact the road and is “their problem,” St. Louis said.
The planting plan has been tasked to Vancouver-based Diamond Head Consulting Ltd., the same company that is assisting the city in preparing a 20-year Urban Forest Management Plan.
St. Louis cautioned that the plan for the hillside – which will focus on erosion control, habitat and esthetics – must also pass muster with BNSF.
“What we propose, they may not buy into at the end of the day,” he said.
Committee chair Gary Saunders requested an additional EAC meeting be scheduled specifically to give members an opportunity to review the revegetation plan and make recommendations. A tentative date was set for March 15.