Image Credit: CFJC Today

By James Peters

Two & Out

PETERS: Let’s talk about the future of the CP Rail corridor in downtown Kamloops

Nov 1, 2019 | 11:06 AM

THE DRAFT DOWNTOWN PLAN was given the green light by Kamloops council this week.

It doesn’t have too many more hurdles to clear before it officially becomes the high-level idea document the entire city looks toward as it regulates the ebbs and flows of downtown development.

An official neighbourhood plan like this doesn’t attract a lot of interest from the public, even though this is the big picture direction on which the city wants to set its compass.

This document is for the dreamers — the people who want to put their shoulders to the massive boulder of change and get it rolling downhill.

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Many of the ideas in the draft plan are very positive, and point toward creating a more cosmopolitan downtown – one where people want to live and hang out, rather than just go to work.

There is one glaring absence, though.

The draft plan does not touch the idea of the future of the CP Rail corridor not being in the downtown.

Anyone who has had to wait for the train, who has had the low rumble of the cars join the sound of Music in the Park, or who has had the incessant whistle ruin a Remembrance Day moment of silence can relate.

The railway is more than just an annoyance, though.

There are well-documented safety concerns that caused CP to recommend Transport Canada close the crossings at Second and Third Avenues in 2015.

We can all agree that trains are a major cog in our transport industry, but that doesn’t mean they have to plow right through the downtown of every Western Canadian city. Or any of them, for that matter.

Moving the rail corridor is a big idea – almost too big to contemplate.

A high-level planning document like the draft downtown plan, though, is the exact place to contemplate it.

It’s not the place for saying, ‘It can’t be done.’

In a few instances, the plan touches on the unpleasantness of the rail corridor.

There is a minor note near the end of the plan about beautifying the area around the corridors for both the east-west CP rail lines and the CN line that crosses the South Thompson River.

But there is no mention that it maybe shouldn’t be there at all.

It’s a good and valuable conversation to have if we’re serious about making the downtown an attractive place for people to be.

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Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.