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July 2, 2013 Vol. 28 • No. 53 ••• $1.25 inc. G.S.T.
Impossibe Bird flying into Filberg Park on July 4 for first of four Summer Concert Series events page 9
Two Comox Valley triathletes compete at Long Distance Triathlon World Championships in France page 11
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Maple Pool battle moves into court Scott Stanfield Record Staff
TWO YOUNG GIRLS were rescued out of the debris-filled Tsolum River Thursday afternoon. Firefighter Tom Slater holds one of the girls. PHOTO BY CTV VANCOUVER ISLAND
Two girls rescued from river Erin Haluschak Record Staff
Two young girls who were caught on debris in the fast-moving Tsolum River were rescued safely Thursday afternoon near the Comox Valley Exhibition Grounds. Courtenay fire chief Don Bardonnex told media the two youth were upstream when their boots filled with water and the current took them away. “One was on the log, and one stuck on a bush in the water,” he said. “(It was) very fast moving water,
quite a dangerous situation for the girls.” The Courtenay Fire Department and members of the Comox Valley RCMP first attended the scene and Bardonnex noted they got the girls calmed down, got them to follow instructions, gave them life jackets and secured them to shore. “The biggest hazard with fastmoving water isn’t that you’re going to get blown down river, it’s that you’re going to get blown down river and under something and hit a log, the current will pull you under.” Paul Berry, search manager
and president of the Comox Valley Ground Search and Rescue who also attended the scene, added they are prepared for the summer months and increased activity around the water. “This is the type of call we have been preparing for. Summer’s coming, kids are going to be in the water, water levels are higher than normal with all of the rainfall and there’s a lot of extra debris,” he explained to media. “Kids are off, they’re looking for adventure, and we’re glad they got out of the water safely.” photos@comoxvalleyrecord.com
A legal battle between the City of Courtenay and the owners of a local campground/RV site that operates a community living project went before the courts Thursday in Nanaimo. The City initiated legal action in 2011 against Dali and Jin Lin, seeking to shut down Maple Pool Campground that provides low-income housing for homeless and marginalized individuals. Then-city CAO Sandy Gray had said the issue is zoning, which prohibits the couple from housing people on the property, which sits in a floodplain. The property flooded in 2009 and 2010. Advocates fear most of the 50-some tenants would become homeless if evicted. “I have always been in favour of helping the Lins retain the property as it is,” Courtenay Mayor Larry Jangula said. “I am opposed to this court case.” He notes some residents have lived at the campground more than 30 years. “These are fragile people,” Jangula said. The rest of council and city officials could not comment since the case is before the courts. Clive Ansley, legal counsel for the Lins, has said the City, until 2010, had treated the site as “legally non-conforming,” which essentially means grandfathering. Gray, however, has said there is no non-conforming use at Maple Pool. Last fall, council established a working committee consisting of Jangula, Couns. Doug Hillian and Starr Winchester, and City staff to liaise with the Lins and
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their lawyers on use of the land. The idea was to allow time to come up with possible solutions and options to raise the land in order to conform with set flood levels and construction elevations. A Supreme Court of B.C. affidavit from Courtenay business owner Dale Bishop — a former chair of the Dawn to Dawn Action on Homelessness Society and an advocate of the Lins — says he and director of development services Peter Crawford “would work together to produce a detailed plan which would support an eventual rezoning application and official plan amendment designed to allow Maple Pool to continue provision of homes and protection for the 56 residents of Maple Pool.” To Bishop’s understanding, legal action “would be held in abeyance as long as there was continuing progress in the consultation between me and Peter Crawford.” In his affidavit, Crawford says the City has not received an OCP and rezoning application from the Lins. He also notes the City has twice adjourned the matter. Bishop says the Lins commissioned an engineering report that estimates $743,000 in topographical changes are needed to meet Environment Ministry and City standards. About a dozen members of the business community have offered to provide machinery, materials and labour to support the necessary rezoning. Bishop also notes that necessary flood control data from City engineers has not been available. reporter@comoxvalleyrecord.com
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