The BC Ambulance Service (BCAS) plans to establish a Carrick Street station on the green space between Haultain and Kings. The community has said no and the resistance is growing. This site outlines what you need to know.

We all want the same thing: well-placed, effective emergency services. Below are some of the reasons why the proposed Carrick Street station is an unacceptable site.

• The BC Ambulance Service and its partners say the proposed station would be active for about two years only—paving over a rare green space for such a stop-gap measure is unacceptably short sighted.

• Urban green spaces improve the quality of life in our cities.

• This green space features mature trees, shelters wildlife, including a resident owl, and is an integral part of the Bowker Creek corridor.

• Community members value this green space and use it for environmental education, recreation and relaxation.

• Vehicles stationed at this proposed site would travel down a long driveway between two houses and through narrow residential streets that lack sidewalks.

• Traffic calming devices in the area surrounding the proposed ambulance station include islands, speed bumps, and turning medians.

• Even professional emergency service drivers would be forced to decide: endanger our children by driving quickly or their patients by driving slowly.

• BC ambulance belongs on the hospital campus, but failed to work with the Vancouver Island Authority and other partners to secure their spot.

• Looking for a new site, BC ambulance was concerned primarily with the zoning because they wanted to circumnavigate any applications—an easy search precluded an effective one.

• The ambulance service will not share the cost of leasing the BC Hydro land. It may be that thrift also trumped public safety, environmental responsibility, and other valid concerns.

• Despite any savings from a low-cost lease, building this proposed station rather than building on already developed land or renovating an existing building will not only irreversible devastate green space, it will cost tax payers hundreds of thousands of dollars for a short-term use building.

• The ambulance service is calling this a “temporary” station and talking about a two year stay, but has negotiated a five and ten year lease—it is either misleading the community or provoking their employees, like those who recently protested over the lack of permanent stations.