The restoration plans at Kings Community Nature Space are in jeopardy if Victoria Hospice builds on the upstream floodplain; improving the pathway to Royal Jubilee Hospital to increase accessibility to nature for all hospital patients, visitors and staff requires flood mitigation to succeed.
Twenty years of technical study, collaboration and local community planning have gone into the Bowker Creek Watershed Management Plan and Blueprint. According to the Daylighting Feasibility Study and Companion Report, the Lansdowne South property plays a key role in long-term flood mitigation. As one of few viable locations for a stormwater management facility along Bowker Creek, the property is critical to mitigating flooding downstream, and the ability of the watershed to adapt to the changing climate. The Hospice proposal would hamper the ability of this site to reduce downstream flooding and is inconsistent with the community’s vision for the future of its watershed.
Island Health and Hospice have been communicating about increasing bed capacity across the region and where that expansion will occur. Sources within Island Health believe Hospice plans to construct corporate offices at the Lansdowne site, not patient beds.
Why not build administrative offices on developed land so we can protect the remaining urban greenspace for all to enjoy. There is no need to choose one over the other.
Deanna Pfeifer
Victoria
