FRIDAY MAY 13, 2016 VOL. 42, NO. 67
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The bear necessities
Keeping an eye on the spirit bears
What’s going on?
The mayor shares an update
Slow and steady
Naturalist gets us up to speed on snails
Parking issue stalls plans for distillery MERIBETH DEEN CONTRIBUTOR
Miguel Kabantsov, the owner of the lot between the Snug Café and Doc Morgan’s pub, turned up at council on Monday evening with a group of supporters hoping for approval on the plan to build a distillery on the site. Kabantsov has applied for a development variance permit (DVP) in order meet the parking requirements for any new building in Snug Cove. Council voted in favour of moving forward with the permit, but only after a covenant is drawn up and signed by both parties. Kabantsov says he first approached municipal planners with his idea, which he calls the Copper Spirit Distillery, in September of 2014. His original plan included not only a distillery, but also a shared office space and rental apartments. “That idea was shut down right away because of parking requirements,” says Kabantsov. As community planner Daniel Martin explains in his report to council, few of the lots in Snug Cove provide the parking that would be required if they were to be built today, and this variance permit may serve as a template for future development in the Cove. Without the variance, the proposed 389.8-square-metre building would require 9.6 parking spaces, or one parking spot for every 40 square metres. Martin says that given the fact that a large chunk of the building’s space would be used up by equipment, the requirement can be relaxed to one spot for every 43 square metres – which would mean providing eight parking spaces. At the council meeting on March 29, Kabantsov proposed installing an electric vehicle (EV) charging station at the on-site parking, and an EV shuttle to get people to and from the venue. He also proposed that the parking requirements could be met by dividing up the building according to the various usages, which would take place at different times. The distillery itself would be open for public viewing from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m.; the tasting room would be open between 11 a.m. and 4 p.m. and the lounge and rooftop patio would be open from 4 p.m. until 11 p.m. There would be one parking space on-site, one bike rack (which counts as a parking space) and one off-site parking spot. “The mayor says we should have a straightforward eight parking spots, so with this I am providing nine,” says Kabantsov. Coun. Alison Morse brought up the need for assurances to cover the potential loss of availability for the off-site parking spot, and also ensure that the different parts of the building
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Mayor Murray Skeels had the honour of cutting the ribbon, Bowen style, with a gardening implement, as numerous volunteers stood by to celebrate the installation of the life-saving piece of equipment. LOUISE LOIK photo
Heartfelt initiative can save lives LOUISE LOIK EDITOR
In a small community, the sound of a siren is a cause of alarm. Neighbours listen for the sound direction trying to discern where it is headed, concerned that someone they know needs help. Subconsciously they remain alert for the sound of the second siren – the one that says the ambulance is on its way. Hearing the time lag between the first responder, the fire truck, and then the ambulance arrive in his neighbourhood half an hour later, was enough for Bawn Campbell to take the problem to heart. He went out and bought an AED, also known as a defibrillator, used to restart the heart after a heart attack. His idea was to have the AED available to his Bluewater neighbourhood any time of day or night so that the second siren would be less critical. “Ten minutes after your heart stops, your chances of recovery decrease dramatically,” says Campbell. That’s why the Rotary Club members, along with Fire Chief Ian Thompson, paramedic Amanda Ockeloen, and club president Shelagh MacKinnon, all gathered as Mayor Murray Skeels cut the ribbon for the first installation of an accessible heart
defibrillator in a public place. This first installation is at the gate to the Recycling Centre, on a tree in a distinct bird house style enclosure. built by Dai Roberts. Roberts built nine of the easily recognizable boxes for each of the devices. Initially, in addition to the one by the Recycling Centre, one will be installed outside Municipal Hall, and another will be outside the Children’s Centre. “Eventually we hope to have a dozen installed,” says Campbell. Though Campbell’s neighbourhood is at the end of the road on the far side of the island, the response time can be almost as lengthy, even in Snug Cove, due to the fact that paramedics are on call and have to get from their homes to the station and out. Campbell, who co-founded the Bowen Island Rotary Club with Piers Hayes, thought that giving all the neighbourhoods access to AEDs would be a perfect fit for the club. Campbell took his idea to the municipal council, proposing that council support the idea of having neighbourhood AEDs distributed to as many busy neighbourhoods as possible, starting by moving the four owned by the municipality into access
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