A year after the City of Langford opened The Langford Station accessibility advocates say their concerns remain largely unaddressed, despite measures the city says it has taken to make improvements.
Tanelle Bolt, a wheelchair user and advocate who lives near the station, said she has been voicing her concerns about the design of the amenity since it was first announced. These concerns include a lack of accessible parking, tables and an inability to access any of the shipping container businesses.
A year on, she said some of those concerns have been somewhat addressed, while others remain unchanged.
She said one accessible parking spot was added to the gravel parking lot, but only a small portion of the spot was paved to allow wheelchairs to access it safely. The lack of painted lines also mean vehicles often park too close to allow a ramp to access the vehicle, she said.
One permanent seating area was built to accommodate a wheelchair, but the cutout is narrow enough to cause issues for those with larger chairs, and only a single movable picnic table was designed to accommodate a wheelchair.
READ MORE: Accessibility advocate concerned with newly opened Langford Station
“Other than those two things, they haven’t done anything,” said Bolt. “I was told to remove the ramp that I tried to gift a business because ‘it didn’t go with the look of the station’ … since I was at the station a year ago, I’ve never gone back. I have friends that have businesses there that I don’t visit. I’d like to participate in the community events there, but it visibly says ‘don’t come here.’”
The City of Langford sent the Goldstream Gazette a written comment highlighting several design decisions incorporated into the site in order to make it accessible.
“The Langford Station project includes bathrooms designed in accordance with the BC Building Code regarding accessibility, various accessible tables including a purpose-built accessible picnic table, interlocking brick along the entire plaza, and lowered customer service windows on both artist studios and business units,” the city wrote.
Bolt contends the interlocking brick surface is problematic for small wheels, the lack of accessibility in the container businesses and artist studios precludes people with mobility restrictions from being a tenant, and the lowered windows are not low enough for those who sit in a wheelchair.
Perhaps most frustrating for Bolt is the lack of response she has received from the city on her offers to provide her professional accessibility consultant services.
Instead, the city said it has retained the services of an accessibility consultant chosen “based on their experience with government facilities, expertise in the field, cost ($1,600), and turnaround timeline.” The city said it expects to receive the consultant’s report in “the coming weeks.”
Bolt is not the only person on the West Shore who has offered to advise the city on how to design and improve the station with accessibility in mind. The Intermunicipal Advisory Committee on Disability Issues has been active in the area with representatives from each West Shore municipality since 1989, and committee chair Marnie Essery said they have been in touch with the city in the past on the project, but are not involved in the current consulting efforts.
“We really thought the concept of The Langford Station was fantastic,” said Essery. “Unfortunately, since it was put in place, we have received a number of complaints from people about the lack of access. I personally haven’t gone there yet because we have heard so many complaints from people that it really was not set up with accessibility in mind.”
Essery said she remains concerned about the site’s accessibility, despite some small improvements the city has made, and she hopes the hiring of the consultant will lead to more meaningful improvements.
“We certainly would welcome a chance to work with the accessibility consultant because there is definitely room for more improvements at that site to make it more inclusive, more accessible for all age and ability levels. There is great potential there, but it is just not functionally accessible for people with any kind of mobility challenges.”
READ MORE: West Shore accessibility committee breaks down barriers
@JSamanski
justin.samanski-langille@goldstreamgazette.com
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