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NEWS: Esquimalt Village Project moves forward /A3 ARTS: Artist community swoops in for refugees /A11 BUDGET: B.C.’s reaction to the federal budget /A17
Petition grows to ban horse-drawn carriages Page A7
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INVESTIGATIVE SERIES:
Money, science continue to hold readers’ attention Tens of millions of dollars have been spent on the Capital Regional District’s (CRD) sewage treatment program since 2006, but not all of those expenditures are easily accounted for. And since 2013, taxpayers have been contributing to the CRD’s sewage fund, designed to help defray the final cost of the treatment, but the $30 million so far put into that account has been exhausted. In today’s third instalment of our five-part series, Sewage in the CRD, we look at what’s been spent and what taxpayers are projected to pay for the option currently on the table. In recent days, we’ve also heard from many letter writers who have implored us to address the science behind the need to treat — or not. We hear from a pair of former University of Victoria marine environment specialists about Victoria’s unique ocean characteristics, and describe the various types of treatment communities can undertake. See pages A14 and A15
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Victoria Fire Department firefighter Buchanan Elliott, centre, instructs participants in a ladder climbing exercise during a workshop in Victoria. The workshop was just one of many offered as part of this week’s annual national Gathering Our Voices Aboriginal Conference. Don Denton/Victoria News
City wants more sidewalk cafes downtown
Proposed bylaw changes ease process for licences Kendra Wong Victoria News
The City of Victoria is looking to increase the vibrancy of the downtown core by allowing more restaurants to create
sidewalk cafes. City council is looking at improving the process and making it easier for restaurants to apply for a sidewalk cafe licence. Sidewalk cafes are placed or fixed seating in front of or in the surrounding area of a restaurant, which serve customers as an extension of the existing establishment. Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps said the proposed bylaw changes ease the process for
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applying for the licence and clarify requirements around what a sidewalk cafe is. “There are a few (sidewalk cafes), but there is room for more. Even the ability to put out a couple of chairs and tables in the right of way can enhance the sidewalk from a place to pass through to a place to stop and have a beer or coffee,” Helps said. “I hope that easing the regulations, we’ll see more of them and we’ll see more
public spaces activated downtown.” Other proposed changes include allowing the use of an adjacent parking stall and turning it into a parklet, similar to the one on Fort Street outside the Dutch Bakery that opened last year. Currently, there are more than 90 sidewalk cafes in Victoria. PLEASE SEE: Sidewalk cafes, Page A3
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