PENINSULA
NEWS REVIEW
Park plan raises ire
ArtSea Festival time!
Viola Van de Ruyt Investment Advisor
Friends of Island View Park not happy with a new management plan from the Capital Regional District, page 6
Pull out your keeper section on this year’s ArtSea Festival, courtesy of the Peninsula News Review, page 13
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Wednesday, October 16, 2013
Sandown developer to go to the public Demolition, reclamation not expected to start before December Steven Heywood News staff
Demolition of the buildings and reclamation of the land at the former Sandown Race Track in North Saanich isn’t going to start until the developer meets with the community. North Saanich council ratified its approval of a plan to redevelop the 39-hectare site at its Oct. 7 regular meeting. The Randall family, who owns the property, and development company Omicron will retain 4.85 hectares for commercial growth and will gift the remaining 33.6 hectares to the municipality. They had to win approvals from the Capital Regional District and the Agricultural Land Commission prior to moving ahead with the district. The deal is almost identical to one the council turned down in 2012— the main sticking point being the cost to the municipality to clean up the land for agricultural use. This latest agreement has the owners and developers paying the whole shot — an estimated $700,000 to $750,000 — to tear down the grandstand and outbuildings and remediate the soil. Peter Laughlin of Omicron says they are now in the position to work on a phased-in development agreement with North Saanich. “That will commit us to doing the (remediation) work,” he explained, “and work with the municipality on the disposition of the agricultural land.” PleaSe See: Shopping mall or office space, page 4
Devon MacKenzie/News staff
Children from Sidney Preschool along with their Early Childhood Educator Scharie Greenwood take a look at some of the garbage they collected during their beach clean up on Sept. 30.
Preschool helps keep shores clean Devon MacKenzie News staff
Children from Sidney Preschool are doing their part to keep Sidney shores clean. Beginning last month, children, teachers and parents from the preschool started a monthly beach clean-up. Their first beach was Robert’s Bay and then plan to hit a different shore in Sidney each month. “I walk my dog on beaches in Sidney all the time and I was noticing how much gar-
bage was around,” explained Early Childhood Educator Scharie Greenwood. “At the end of the school year last year we talked about organizing a monthly beach clean up in order to teach the children about keeping beaches clean from an early age.” The first clean up in Robert’s bay yielded lots of waste, including cans, inflatable air mattresses, plastic containers and paper. The school is pairing up with the Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre (SODC) to use the garbage they collect in a new exhibit
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and to teach the children about keeping beaches clean. “It will basically show all the types of garbage found on our beaches and how they can affect the ecosystem. We’re hoping it will be a really great way to get people to be stewards of the environment,” said Tina Kelly, the visitor experience director with SODC. At the end of October, the children will travel to the beach along Lochside Drive (near Tulista Park) to clean those shores. reporter@peninsulanewsreview.com
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