TUESDAY DECEMBER 9, 2014
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MEDICAL MARIJUANA
Parksville pot plant? Industrial park land may be site of production facility CANDACE WU news@pqbnews.com
The grass might be greener on the other side of the border for Wildflower Marijuana. Parksville’s CAO Fred Manson has confirmed the city is “in negotiations” with Wildflower Marijuana, but he insisted nothing has been finalized. The Vancouver-based company may be setting up a medical pot operation in the heart of Parksville’s industrial park — if they get the green light from Health Canada. Wildflower Marijuana is best known in this area for its recent attempt to set up a medical pot operation near the River’s Edge neighbourhood in Nanoose Bay, just over the municipal border from Parksville. River’s Edge residents organized quickly and loudly to oppose the project. The company posted a news release on its website Dec. 3 stating “Wildflower Marijuana Inc. is pleased to announce that it has come to terms on an agreement with a local British Columbia municipality to set up a medical marijuana growing facility within its jurisdiction.” The statement didn’t name a specific municipality. Manson told The NEWS city officials have been in conversation with Wildflower about a medical pot operation for several months. Wildflower’s news release said that “the city will not only allow for an (medical marijuana grow-op) application within its jurisdiction, but will also provide cityowned land to build the growing facility.” Manson said, assuming this project goes ahead, the grow operation would be located within a 20-acre parcel of land purchased by the city two years ago for the Englishmen River Water Service that sits behind the city’s public works yard. See CITY ACTIVELY PURSUED, page A7
JESSICA SKELTON PHOTO
Oceanside Elementary School students cross the street at the intersection of the Island Highway and Wright Road. A parent of two OES students said her daughters have nearly been hit by cars three times in the past two weeks. While there are traffic lights at the intersection, there is no crossing guard.
DANGEROUS INTERSECTION NEAR ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Children put in harm’s way JESSICA SKELTON
reporter@pqbnews.com
Two sisters who attend Oceanside Elementary School have nearly been hit three times over the past two weeks while crossing the Island Highway at Wright Road, said their mother Tammy Milne. “It’s essentially children crossing a freeway,” said the French Creek resident. The girls, one in Grade 3 and the other in Grade 5, were nearly hit once by someone talking on a cell phone
and twice by people not using the yield lane to turn right. There is no crossing guard at the intersection. “All those are driver errors,” School District assistant superintendent Gillian Wilson said last week of the incidents. However, she also said the school board has identified OES as having issues with traffic. At the Nov. 25 school board meeting Superintendent Rollie Koop said he and Secretary Treasurer Erica Bailey reviewed those issues with the
RCMP, RDN and Ministry of Transportation. So far, he said the school board was working with the RDN on safe walk routes and that the new subdivision across from the school will create “a number of other corridors of access and drop off points” once opened. The intersection in question is under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Transportation, not the school board or the RDN. See PARENTAL PATROLS, page A7
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