While Salt Spring’s new fire hall is hoped to be home to the island’s first-and-only Level-3 fast electric vehicle (EV) chargers when completed, regional work is expected to start next year on an expanded Level-2 charging network throughout the Capital Regional District (CRD).
A request for proposals went out Thursday, Dec. 21, for a contractor to bring online approximately 149 Level-2 charging stations across 66 different sites in the region over the next three years, 14 of which would be on the Southern Gulf Islands.
On Salt Spring, the plan includes four new EV charging connectors at the ArtSpring parking lot, two at Mouat Park, two more at the Rainbow Recreation Centre and two at Centennial Park. The plan also envisions two new connectors on Galiano Island at the town centre, two on Mayne at the Mayne Island Community Library, and two on Pender Island at the Community Hall.
The Level-3 charger proposed on Salt Spring would be adjacent to the future fire hall, with equipment to charge four EVs simultaneously.
Radar speed signs planned for three sites
One effort to slow speeding drivers on Salt Spring inched closer to completion, with three solar-powered “speed reader” boards planned for the island, according to project tender documents from the CRD.
The electronic signs, which measure the speed of approaching vehicles with radar and display the results, have an estimated project cost of $50,000, according to the CRD, and are planned for three locations.
The first, on Cusheon Lake Road opposite the swimming area, will be within the “playground zone” lower-speed area already marked there. That stretch of road is often busy with pedestrian traffic, especially during summer months as swimmers flock to the lake.
Additional speed reader boards will be placed on the south side of Lower Ganges Road — between Village Terrace and Kingfisher Cove, by the mailboxes — and on the east side of North End Road, just north of the intersection with Fairway Drive.
Just over $19,000 in grant funding has so far been awarded through ICBC’s Road Improvement Program, according to the CRD. Site preparation and installation of the signs is expected to take place early this year.