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Thursday, August 21, 2014
The Agassiz Y Harrison
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WRITING Local writer Änds time in a busy schedule to publish her second book
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JESSICA PETERS / OBSERVER
Chris Lepine, owner of Christopher’s Springs, speaks to the regional district trustees at a public hearing at Harrison Mills Community Hall last Wednesday evening. Lepine has put in an application to have a small section of his land on Chehalis Forest Service Road rezoned to industrial to allow for a water bottling plant that could bottle just over 3,000 gallons a day.
Bottling plant eyed for Harrison Mills
Hot wheels line the streets at the Harrison Car Show
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INSIDE opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 mailbag . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 car show . . . . . . . . . . . 9 community . . . . . . . . 11 sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 classiÄeds . . . . . . . . . 14
Rezoning would create jobs, promote economy, proponent says Jessica Peters AGASSIZ OBSERVER
Chris Lepine is hoping to share the natural taste of a Harrison Mills spring with the rest of the world. And if the Fraser Valley Regional District approves a rezoning request for a small portion of his land to allow for a small bottling plant, he could do just that. He would also be able to provide a handful of jobs locally, and help promote the rural region he calls home. Lepine is the owner of Christopher's Springs, at 14400 Chehalis Forest Service Road. The land sits between Elbow Lake and Echo Lake, and includes a portion of Elbow Creek, where Lepine already draws water that he sells in bulk. That
water currently is trucked to an offsite bottling plant. He is hoping that building the plant will help build the local economy, rather than creating jobs elsewhere. His proposed bottling plant would require about 0.7 hectares of his 13 hectare parcel, and the rezoning is necessary to change that land from institutional to industrial. His water license allows up to 25,000 gallons of water a day, but the bottling plant he's hoping to build would only produce about 3,280 gallons of drinking water per day. The FVRD held a public hearing last Wednesday at the Harrison Mills Community Hall. More than 100 people turned up to hear more details about the proposed project
and land use changes. Several people spoke against the project's plan to draw water out of Elbow Creek, but were reminded that the water license is a separate provincial matter and out of the hands of the regional district. Public comment is now closed regarding the land use change, and prior to the public hearing the FVRD reported it had received 46 written responses. Of those, 34 were in favour of Lepine's proposal, and 11 opposed it. Supporters include his aunt, Betty Ann Faulkner, owner of Pretty Estates. Her father and grandfather were local pioneers who helped develop Harrison Mills into the community it is today, with a history
stretching back to the late 1800s. “I believe our family's entrepreneurship, it has helped the Harrison Mills area, and I think having this bottling plant would be better than having another housing development,” she added. Lepine told the crowd his own history with the land, as caretaker of Elbow Creek for the past 22 years. He is the contact person for mitigation along the creek, is the one who installed a fish ladder in that waterway, and operates two water systems and a power system at Pretty Estates. The watershed is important to him and his family, and he promised that if the watershed suffered harm from
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CAR SHOW
ONE COUPON PER CUSTOMER. NOT VALID WITH ANY OTHER PROMOTIONAL OFFER. NO CASH VALUE. WELCOMED AT AGASSIZ A&W. PRICE PLUS TAX. VALID UNTIL SEPT. 30, 2014