GOLDSTREAM Village progress
View Royal development continues to move along Page A3
NEWS GAZETTE
COMMUNITY: Drums blessed at Shoreline /A4 NEWS: Peace and quiet for Goldstream residents /A7 SPORTS: Grizzlies dominate Bulldogs in BCHL /A17
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
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Holiday force is with them
Joshua Fast, left, dressed as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Daelyn Jones, dressed as Chewbacca, get into the spirit of the occasion as they wait for the West Shore’s first screening of Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens at the Cineplex Odeon Westshore Cinemas in Langford. The muchawaited movie is expected to draw large crowds through the holiday season. Arnold Lim/News Gazette staff
Future of View Royal wetland still a concern Town waiting to connect with logged property’s owner and Saanich Don Descoteau News Gazette staff
With hundreds of logs laying stacked on a rolling piece of Saan-
ich property fronting onto Watkiss Way, the Town of View Royal is watching closely to see what happens next. Of primary concern to the town and those who previously treated the private land as parkland, is the long-term effect on a wetland bordering the property of removing much of the tree canopy. The area in question runs behind the Stonebridge Drive neighbourhood in
View Royal and roughly straddles the border with Saanich. “We have written to Saanich and we’re hoping to (determine), collectively with Saanich and the property owner, that we can have an enhanced protection area for the wetlands,” View Royal Mayor David Screech said. The provincial regulation for a buffer between the logged area and the wetlands is five metres,
“which isn’t very much,” but appears to have been observed, he said. Nonetheless, Town staff will be evaluating the direct impacts on the wetland, Screech said, and View Royal would still like to have a conversation with landowner Allen Vandekerkhove and Saanich parks staff on the matter. Vandekerkhove said he has hired a professional biologist,
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Thomas Roy, to oversee that part of the work to ensure appropriate care is taken for the health of the wetland, which the landowner says is dry in summer and fills up with water in the wetter months. “He’s making me follow all the rules about the creeks and the swamps and all that,” he said. PlEASE SEE: Status as a farm property, Page A10