White Rock council delays accessibility mat for pier, opts to wait for grants

Accessibility advocates and White Rock city council are not seeing eye to eye on making the pier more accessible.

Increased accessibility for the White Rock Pier will have to wait.

White Rock city council voted on Monday not to fund an accessibility mat for the city’s well-known pier.

In a majority vote, councillors decided to have city staff look into possible grants to fund the mat, rather than approve a one-time $100,000 investment of city funds.

The argument was made that it would be better for White Rock taxpayers if grants could be used to create the accessibility mat (walkway) for the pier.

“We owe a responsibility to all residents … if there’s money out there we can get … I think we owe that to the taxpayer,” White Rock Mayor Megan Knight said at the council meeting.

“Everyone on this council agrees, we will get this done. Our due diligence must be done for the taxpayer.”

The mat would make the pier walkway safer and more accessible as the walkway planks can be quite uneven, especially for wheelchair access.

Accessibility advocate Susan Bains, with Equal Access Collective, spoke in favour of the city funding the mat at Monday’s council meeting and said White Rock’s choice of waiting for grant money is not in the interest of those that need it most.