Maintaining SuperNatural BC for Our Children - CoalWatch Comox ...

stewardship isn’t just a matter of good citizenship; it’s also a matter of goodbusiness.” When Microsoft established its new gaming centre in Victoria, acompany spokesman said that the city’s liveability was one of two reasons forlocating there – and pointed out that creative people “pay attention to theirenvironment.”Clearly, protecting community green space addresses critical human,environmental and economic needs.As we face a provincial election, an important question arises: Does anybodyhave a comprehensive plan for protecting urban green space, and our qualityof life?Now is the time for the province to bring the same vision that saved the SteinValley to the vanishing wetlands of suburban Kelowna. The same energyand imagination that protected the Walbran and the Carmanah needs to beunleashed to create greenways in Chilliwack and Campbell River. And theprovincial government that saved the Khutzeymateen now needs to focus onthe vanishing open spaces in the Nanaimo-Comox urban corridor.Much needs to be done if we are going to avoid becoming California North– and losing the quality of life that attracted us here in the first place. In theprevious chapter, Deborah Curran pointed out the critical need for regionalsustainability strategies. In addition, the following actions should be taken toexpand parks and protect other green space near our homes.Creating Greenways for the 21st Century ProgramThe province should set the goal of completing a greenways network in everyBC community over the next 10 years. New green corridors would connecteach community’s open space: parks, stream corridors, beaches, schoolyards,rail rights-of-way, farms and forests.Within a decade, every British Columbian would live within a 20-minute walkof a greenway system – a continuous park system that would take peopleacross the community, and then out into the countryside, without once gettinginto a car.Greenways link people and nature and city and country. Linking green spaceinto an integrated system creates a whole that is far greater than the sum of itsparks – for walkers, cyclists, commuters and wildlife.A number of BC communities are developing extensive greenways networks.However, the provincial government should follow the example of Marylandand several other states and launch a province-wide greenways initiative. Andit should consider the US federal government’s rule of dedicating a percentageof gasoline taxes to the creation of greenways. (See the chapter “A GreenwaysStrategy for the 21st Century,” below.)Green the Development Rules and Cut Red TapeSome jurisdictions require developers to give the public more green space thanMaintaining SuperNatural BC: Selected Law Reform Proposals 89