TUESDAY FEBRUARY 23, 2016
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SEASON OVER FOR GENS
A HIDDEN GEM IN QUALICUM BEACH
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QUALICUM BEACH
Doctors in Commons? Town in process of re-zoning former elementary school AUREN RUVINSKY writer@pqbnews.com
Qualicum Beach town council held a public hearing last night, after press deadline, on rezoning The Qualicum Commons to allow health practitioners to operate in the building. The hearing came about because there are currently health practitioners working in the former elementary school, on a one year trial, Mayor Teunis Westbroek said. “We signed off for a year where we can do it without the zoning, but it’s not intended to be permanent,” he said of the current process, which would add health care to the current institutional zoning. He said he believed there is a dietician and someone doing rehabilitation in the downtown building that was turned into a community facility when Qualicum Beach Elementary School closed in 2014. Still owned by School District 69, at least six organizations lease space in it, confirmed SD69 Superintendent Rollie Koop. Koop and Westbroek agree the facility is being well used by groups like the Society of Organized Services, Regional District of Nanaimo, Better Learning Together, Vancouver Island Compassion Dogs and SD69’s Collaborative Education Alternative Program, but that there is still space available. Westbroek said that while the current health care uses are the main reason to consider zoning changes, he said there is a larger issue to consider. “The bigger picture is trying to attract more doctors, everybody knows that, and as we learn what makes doctors tick, as far as the new ones coming into a community, this may be of some use, but it’s not the primary reason,” said the mayor. See MULTI-DOCTOR FACILITY, page A9
J.R. RARDON PHOTO
From left, Betty Ann Acres, Cathy Van Herwaarden and Tricia Plunkett flocked to the second annual Coldest Night of the Year walk through the streets of Parksville Saturday evening.
COLDEST NIGHT OF THE YEAR
More than $34,000 raised J.R. RARDON
reporter@pqbnews.com
More than 200 people pulled on bright blue toques, laced up comfortable shoes and hit the streets for the homeless in the second annual Oceanside/Parksville Coldest Night of the Year walk on Saturday. The walkers raised more than $24,000 for Island Crisis Care Society, which partners with the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA), Island Health and the Society of Organized Services (SOS) to provide hous-
ing assistance and support. “We work together as a team to support our clients,” said Violet Hayes, executive director of ICCS. The event, which offered the option of two-kilometer, 5K and 10K walks, started and finished at Knox United Church in Parksville, which hosted opening ceremonies and a hot chili feed afterward. Quality Foods donated food and Pacific Brimm coffee shop provided free hot drinks and platters of cookies at a midpoint pit stop on the 5K and 10K routes.
The Coldest Night walk began just after the sun set on what had been a bright day. During the opening ceremonies, participants were told they might experience cold or discomfort as the temperature dropped. They were urged to remember this was simply a snapshot of what Canada’s homeless experience every day. “Four and a half years ago I was homeless,” said John Lander, who walked with the team Walking for a Way Out. See ISLAND CRISIS CARE, page A4
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