PORT ANGELES – Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe said Friday that opponents of moving the MV Coho ferry terminal – along with those opposed to another waterfront hotel – could scuttle the Belleville Street redevelopment plan completely.
But maybe redevelopment – without relocating the Coho terminal from Victoria’s Inner Harbour – could be worked out, if the British Columbia provincial government provides money, he said.
“If money is not a factor, I would want the Coho to stay,” Lowe was quoted as saying in the Victoria Times Colonist.
Port Angeles Mayor Karen Rogers said the Coho should not be moved.
“The Coho‘s current location is a tremendous benefit to both cities,” she said.
“We are passionate about keeping the Coho here.”
Both mayors spoke during a Friday luncheon meeting of the Victoria and Port Angeles city councils at Downriggers Restaurant in Port Angeles.
The meeting featured quorums from both councils: six of seven Port Angeles City Council members – all but Grant Munro, and four of eight Victoria City Council members, plus the mayor.
The joint meeting, the first in several years, was spurred by the mid-August release of the $100 million “Vision for Belleville” waterfront redevelopment proposal.
The plan proposes building a new hotel on Victoria’s waterfront and moving the terminal for the Coho international ferry from the Inner Harbour.
The Coho – which operates between Port Angeles and Victoria across the Strait of Juan de Fuca – was used by both city councils on Friday.
The Port Angeles contingent crossed to Victoria to pick up Victoria Council members before the meeting in Port Angeles.
Victoria Council members returned on the afternoon ferry run.
