mayor@colwood.ca; stewartparkinson@colwood.ca; gordielogan@colwood.ca; dougkobayashi@colwood.ca; deanjantzen@colwood.ca; cynthiaday@colwood.ca; michaelbaxter@colwood.ca
To the Mayor and Council of Colwood,
This email is in response to the recent news published on the Colwood.ca website and reproduced by local social media sites with respect to the new parking restrictions in effect along the Coburg Peninsula, affectionately as ‘Esquimalt Lagoon’.
This park is frequented by thousands of visitors from all around the CRD, the vast majority of whom engage in lawful, civilized and respectable use of the park. I personally visit at least twice a week during the day, often to walk the section between the bridge and washrooms, and occasionally in the late evening to enjoy some solitude with a nice cup of tea.
The news of the new parking restrictions making it unlawful to park along the Peninsula 1 hour after dusk saddens me. In the winter months, this can be as early as 5:00pm.
The news release states "The intention is not to prevent someone from coming to the lagoon beach for some quiet reflection or to practice their night time photography skills," said Colwood Mayor Rob Martin. "It allows officers to take action if there is inappropriate activity taking place."
Unfortunately, the bylaw as written in the Parks Management Bylaw makes no such exception or exemption for parking while engaging in reasonable, civilized behaviors. Instead, it specifically prohibits it.
As someone who occasionally visits in the late evening hours to enjoy some peace and quiet while listening to the waves lap the shoreline, I can appreciate the intention to prevent raucous or illegal activities from taking place. Given the location of the park, it’s impossible for most who do enjoy visiting at night to do so easily by any mode of transportation other than car.
Removing the ability for people to park at Esquimalt Lagoon in the evenings effectively prohibits the reasonable, lawful use of the park by thousands of visitors.
If the intent of the bylaw is to deal with unsavory behavior taking place at the park, then word it as such. Limiting access to a public park, for the lawful enjoyment of the public, is unreasonable.
Please consider removing or reworking this bylaw so that the current, reasonable, lawful actions of the members of the public don’t subject them to penalty.
Sincerely,