Local Hero Recognized

BY FRAN PACCHIANO

Mike Fall has served as the chair of Area H’s Advisory Planning Commission for over thirty years. He has made a name for himself as a leader who is fair, thoughtful, and encouraging of others.

The Advisory Planning Commission is a group of local residents who advise the CVRD Board on planning matters specific to their Electoral Area. These matters can include: Official Community Plan Amendments, Rezoning Applications, and Development Permit Applications.

Ben Maartman, the Area H Director, defined the APC’s process like this: “When there's things that come up for zoning or official community plan amendments, that's where the Planning Commission comes in. They look at all of the details that are being proposed and they make a recommendation to the Cowichan Valley Regional District on what they see as the issues or whether they would recommend it going forward. And those things are listened to very carefully because they are collectively representing the view of a community. It's one that is truly community oriented.”

Mike is grounded in the belief that people should be stewards of the land and that informs every petition the APC Board sees. “You really don't own land at all, you just borrow it from your children…It's incumbent upon us to look after the land, and that's what the official community plan is all about. It's looking after the land for the future.”

He noted that Area H’s APC has become notorious for protecting the land from developers. “Over the years [land developers] have gotten the message that ‘don’t bother’ trying to rezone anything in Area H because the APC won’t go for it.” While the APC is a formidable force, it doesn’t actually make the final decisions. “The board has been pretty good over the years supporting us…but that’s all we do, we recommend.”

One of the ways the APC has ensured its advice is sound is by listening to the people. All the meetings are open to the public, and while it’s not required, Mike allows members of the public to have input. “I’ve always maintained that… everyone should have the opportunity to speak.”

The APC runs on the assumption that the zone and the community plan are correct. However that’s not always true, or in the best interest of the community now. Mike used the example of a residential property beside the highway. “The zone was probably put in place before the highway was widened and made four lanes… nobody wants to live right beside a noisy highway. The APC recommended to the board that they change it to become light industrial. Not heavy, because it’s sitting on the Cassidy aquifer.”

Benefits to the community are the third principal that they follow when changing a zone. Rezoning a property in exchange for part of the land becoming a community park is, as Mike would say, “a major benefit to the community.”

There are environmental concerns that go along with considering the benefits and hazards for Area H. One of the biggest challenges Mike has faced as Chair is trying to protect the Cassidy aquifer. Radius Recycling (previously Schnitzer Steel) operates just south of the Nanaimo Airport and while current reports indicate safe practices, Mike is concerned it’s a matter of time before damage is done. “They’ve got monitoring wells, but by the time the pollutants get into the monitoring wells, they’re into the aquifer and it’s too late.”

The water, he said, is “absolutely unbelievable quality…it’s just pure, clean, tasteful water.” It’s important to protect our water for our generation and for the generations to come. “The only solution is to get them into Duke Point where they will be on solid rock.”

Its issues like these that keep Mike volunteering his time with Area H. “I believe it’s important. It’s incumbent on us to make sure that when we pass it to our children it’s not degraded or destroyed. Land is land. They’re not making any more of it.”

Mike intends to keep volunteering until the Official Community Plan is modernized but encourages new volunteers. “We could use some more people.” He especially encourages young people to take up the initiative and have their say in the new community plan. No prior experience is needed, but it’s preferable to live in the area “and have a desire to protect the community’s values.”

Maartman described Mike as an unsung hero of the community. “We live in a little piece of paradise and I believe that, not in a small part, people like Mike Fall make it that way.”