At the request of the CBRA board, new board member Arne Peltz C. Arb. (who is also an arbitrator, mediator, and lawyer), looked into a recent comment made by a local resident that the proposed 5 metre width of the path in the redeveloped section of Gyro Park is a statutory requirement to accommodate motorized scooters. In an internal email to the board, he reported his findings as follows:
I could not find any statutory or legal requirement for a particular park path width applicable to the Gyro Park situation.
There are disability standards under the Building Code for walkways and approaches to buildings. These are narrower than 5m but the purposes are different. I confirmed with Rae Roer [director of Saanich Parks] that the District applied its view of best practices and industry standards, but was not governed by any statutory or legal obligation in respect of the 5m width. So that is the answer. I would only add that the District may be liable in negligence if there is a reasonably foreseeable personal injury that occurs on the pathway, caused by a failure to allow sufficient space for the safe passage of all users reasonably expected to be in the park. It is more than a question of how wide a single motorized scooter might be. It is a matter of judgment how wide the path should be for this purpose and people may differ, especially when esthetics are balanced against safety.
No comments have been received so far from other board members to this finding.
