PETITION TO SIDNEY TOWN COUNCIL RE: GATEWAY PROJECT

I would prefer that the VAA land be used for light industrial or tourism. Please do not rezone the VAA land to allow yet another old school strip mall. Yes, I have seen the plans.  And no I do not think this mall will be of benefit to the retail sector in Sidney.  I would prefer to see Sandown rather than Gateway. And hope that Sandown would have a more Maddick's Farm type look rather than that of a box store mall. It's time to focus on Sidney's downtown core! Let's improve the offering from the current expensive and tourist type retail and add some family oriented clothing and shoe stores that young locals can afford. Having raised two children in Sidney, I have always felt that Sidney lacked this type of retail.  Also, the traffic at the intersection on Pat Bay and Beacon has become extremely busy and dangerous and will only get more so.  Having ridden my bike to work for years I can tell you that this intersection is one scary place to stand waiting for the light to change from north to south. I now avoid it at all costs. Too bad because I found the bike path a quick method of getting to work. I prefer to remain alive!  The proposed pedestrian overpass will do nothing to assit with crossing from North to South or South to North!