TUESDAY JANUARY 5, 2016
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2016 STARTS WITH A LOSS
NDP CANDIDATE WINS OUR RIDING
Generals lose to Storm and trade Parksville product Smith
Our Year in Review presentation wraps up with news from October-December
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HOUSE VALUES RISE HERE
Assessing your home B.C. Assessment reports typical home here up 5% JOHN HARDING editor@pqbnews
Property owners will receive their assessment notices in the next few days and Parksville Qualicum Beach homeowners can expect an increase in the value of their homes. B.C. Assessment provided estimates of typical 2016 versus 2015 assessed values of single family residential detached homes throughout Vancouver Island in a news release on Monday. These examples demonstrate market trends by geographic area, according to the news release. Local governments use these assessments for property tax purposes. B.C. Assessment suggests a typical single family home in Parksville jumped 5.7 per cent in value in the last year to $323,200. That was the same percentage jump for what the assessment authority calls Oceanside Rural, which now sits at $399,300. The typical family home in Qualicum Beach jumped five per cent to $396,100. “Those who feel that their property assessment does not reflect market value as of July 1, 2015 or see incorrect information on their notice, should contact B.C. Assessment as indicated on their notice as soon as possible in January,” said B.C. Assessment’s Reuben Danakody. “If a property owner is still concerned about their assessment after speaking to one of our appraisers, they may submit a Notice of Complaint (appeal) by February 1, for an independent review by a Property Assessment Review Panel.” The Island community with the highest typical assessment this year is Oak Bay at $795,900. The lowest typical assessment for a single detached home on Vancouver Island was in Tahsis at $57,200. See TOFINO TOPS MID-ISLAND, page A4
J.R. RARDON PHOTO
The leading edge of the 200 participants in the annual New Year’s Day Polar Bear Splash plunge into the water at Parksville Community Beach on Friday. For more photos from the event, visit our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/PQBNews.
REPORTER TAKES THE PLUNGE
Intense, icy Polar Bear Splash CANDACE WU
news@pqbnews.com
Parksville’s 26th annual Polar Bear Splash saw 200 people dive into the new year with an impressive, albeit absurd, sense of enthusiasm. About 1,000 people watched from the sidelines as their arguably insane friends and relatives plunged into the frigid ocean on Friday at noon. Arrowsmith Search and Rescue and Parksville Volunteer Fire Department volunteers were on hand to provide medical aid for the Regional District of Nanaimo event. It was -1 C outside at Parksville
Get Ready For
Beach and the sun came out just as participants braved the cold coastal waters. I was one of them. And it was just as intense and icy as you might imagine running into the ocean would feel on Jan. 1 in Canada. The wacky tradition is made only more illustrious by the costumes sported by polar bear plungers: Hawaiian grass skirts and leis, neon mohawks, animal onesies, Santa hats and leftover New Years Eve paraphernalia were just a few of the colourful props worn Friday.
I never used to understand why people did the Polar Bear Splash — it’s a worldwide phenomena, but it always seemed ludicrous to me. It still does actually, perhaps even more so now that I’ve done it. But I think I get it. The Polar Bear Splash is about leaving behind the year past and embracing the future. It’s about starting the year off with a thrill and doing something just for the sake of doing it. In a lot of ways, it’s the first adventure of the year. So, here’s to 2016. A year of jumping in.
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