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Cowichan Valley Citizen | Friday, June 21, 2013
Group protesting Saltair development SARAH SIMPSON CITIZEN
A group of Saltair residents is crying foul, claiming the Cowichan Valley Regional District is helping developers instead of looking out for its taxpayers. Sherry Durnford said her group has applied thrice to speak as a delegation before the CVRD’s board of directors and all three times has been turned down. At issue for Durnford and friends is a piece of property in Saltair that was at one time a mobile home park. Years ago a developer bought the land and evicted the park’s residents, citing a plan to construct his family estate there. Those plans never materialized and the developer now seeks to subdivide the property into smaller lots for a new manufactured home park. “We feel that the developer’s interests have superseded the other residents’ from day one,” Durnford told the committee. She believes the CVRD has worked around their own bylaws to help park owners increase the housing density to much greater level than would be allowed with any other zoning. “There seems to be a determination at the CVRD to satisfy the developers of manufactured home
Malahat work extended The construction on the Malahat section of the Trans-Canada Highway will continue longer than expected. The original completion date for the $8-million contract was set for June 30 but has been pushed back three weeks to July 20. Rock removal in the Shawnigan Lake Road area has been more challenging than expected, leading to delays, the Ministry of
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parks at the expense of long-term residents in the community as a whole, rewarding developers…and removing affordable housing,” she added. Backing Durnford up were neighbours Ray Bradford, who called the CVRD a party to the “fraudulent evictions” of the old mobile home park’s former tenants, and Richard Graham who said residents aren’t opposed to all development, just this particular plan. Cobble Hill Area Dir. Gerry Giles explained to Durnford and company that they were indeed being afforded their democratic rights in speaking to the electoral area services committee Tuesday afternoon. “This committee is the committee that is charged with making land use decisions in electoral areas and although the board has the stamping authority on that it is the members of this committee that make that decision,” she said. As for the issue they are fighting, staff ’s recommendation to move ahead with the new development plans was approved during the meeting, according to planning and development manager Tom Anderson, and has been forwarded to the CVRD board for consideration.
Transportation and Infrastructure said. There have also been delays relocating utility lines. The busiest time to travel north on the Malahat is Friday afternoon. Heading south, it’s Sunday afternoons. The improvements include widening sections of the Malahat to accommodate medians, a safety measure meant to reduce the number of head-on collisions. Times Colonist
Queen Margaret’s School in Duncan recently celebrated their Speech Day, where 29 young women graduated. The biggest multiple award winner of the class was Wan Xian Koh (above) who took home the senior subject prizes for Calculus, Chemistry and Biology, the ‘Without Effort there is no Reward’ trophy for outstanding commitment and effort in a dramatic endeavour, the Mace Shield for Mathematics, the Barnes Shield for Science, the Governor General’s Award for being the top student through Grades 11 and 12, the Spirit of QMS award, and the Helping Hand Award, chosen by her Grade 12 peers. She has accepted a scholarship to the University of Toronto to study Life Sciences. [SUBMITTED]
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