Chemainus secede from North Cow?

This is the last of the last

Monica and I support the saving of this forest INTACT from becoming developed by man.
    Green Space development in North Cowichan ends just before this land is set aside as park, OR development ends just after this area is turned over to the few who would exploit it... this is the last of the last!
    Note the situation in Boundary Bay (east of Tsawwassen). A park there has been slowly chipped away at. The last endeavor by developers was constructing a road to cut off a small portion. The thinking was that this road would not impact on the wildlife that depends on this area for migration food.

    But studies show that wildlife have a minimum area that they can be comfortable in. The result is that wildlife no longer desire to use this small segregated portion of 'park land'. Hence, developers are now saying "so let us put houses on it".

I think you can see if houses are put on the small portion (of Echo Heights) the wildlife will recede even further from the human encroachment, eventually rendering the all of the park useless to the thousands of wildlife that depend on this area.

    This is the reason I think Echo Heights should be maintained intact. 

    Consider this as a positive comment – Tin cans (for donations) in our community may be a good idea.

    I am not well enlightened when it comes to the general thoughts of the business owners in Chemainus. However, I can share with you the somewhat aggressive tone I encountered recently by a proprietor.

     I quote: "There has not been a person in here who supports keeping the Echo Heights area undeveloped. We (presumably the businesses of Chemainus) need that area developed for a greater tax base".

My analysis: do the businesses of Chemainus really need these few customers? These few customers might also enable a similar establishment to open, competing with the monopoly currently held by some businesses in Chemainus.

    High rises and high concentrations of humans from all over the world will appear soon enough where the mill now exists!
    I am not an expert in the changing demographics of a town, but I do know that towns have a similar growth pattern over time. For example, people first live in the center of the small town.

    As it grows the center is taken over by businesses and eventually by government. During this time, the center is also taken back by high density development (for example, high rises in Nanaimo). One day this Island will have ten million people. Imagine the desire of those people for a tiny bit of green space!   There is such an island, where New York, NY, USA is. Note that there is also a Central Park right in the middle of that highly desirable development island. It is kept green by the people that live there... for some reason?

    I hope that the citizens of North Cowichan can vision what this area might look and feel like with a 'Central Park' after the trees have matured for the second time... before it is lost forever!
    For us, one of the more encouraging signs that this area may be left intact is that the mayor did say at the school meeting "We do NOT NEED the money [that would come from selling this land]. The 'we' being the mayor and the members of council.
    We Canadians speak about saving our environment and that the greatest contributor to global warming is greenhouse gasses. The greatest contributor to global warming is the loss of habitat is 'too many humans'.

    Saving Echo Heights will not do much to change global warming, but it will definitely give those who live and visit here in the future a breath of fresh air... which IS essential to life!
    Thank you for your efforts to save our precious non renewable resource
Monica & Moe Pushak, Chemainus homeowners

Heart in right place, but head on holiday?

I have just now browsed thru' the pessimistic reports about Echo Heights in the Courier and have some comment that need follow though which is a process to which I do not have access.
    The map provided by the CVRD at our last meeting has one very noticeable feature and that is the almost total absence of Parkland in proximity to Chemainus. There is a minute strip around Chemainus Lake and that is it
    The Mayor talks about adding Parkland to the Mt. Richardson area. This is not suitable topography for the elderly, the handicapped and people who want to take a tranquil stroll  not an energetic hike. Access to this area is worse than useless.
    Coun. Dave Hayward has the common disease known as NIMBY (not in my back yard).  He does not lake condos in his area but is fully prepared to destroy a unique forest ecology in Chemainus  presumably to preserve his now severely damaged home area. He got blind-sided by development and now supports the same process in CHemainus.  Do we want to vote for a man who embraces such a perverse sort of logic?
    It is sad to see a current Councilor quoting ex Mayor Hollett as an authority when he, Hollett, has been thrown out twice by the electorate.
    Jon Lefebure, a politician I much respect most of the time, has resorted to describing a the Municipalities Plan for a suburb as "progress". It seems he does not want Echo Heights torn up by a developer but by the Municipality itself.  What qualifications do our Civil Servants have in the "development field". I would rather have an absolutely minimalist Park that some progressive development designed and administered by rank amateurs. I find it hard to see this as either creative or progressive.  He wants to create something that is a future model for development.  Is municipal land a suitable site for experimentation? Who wants to be the Guinea Pig?
    Do we want to use our potential parkland as an experimental model for outside developers?. The Council can do this sort of experimentation as it delivers development permits to private land... The Mayor , with this plan, has his heart in the right place but his head seems to be on vacation.  He, and his council can do what he suggests using his existing powers on new, private land development. Tax what he dislikes and help what he sees as appropriate. Taxation is the tool for developmental control not unilateral order.
     As for Councilor Glen Ridgeway he has no stated reason for his choice other than personal preference and accessing some short term money to be diverted, presumably,  elsewhere in the Municipality. He talks too about the planning process that had a big chunk set aside as parkland.  He omitted to tell us where that was nor how accessible it would be. Who wants a five mile drive and a steep hike when they have some beautiful rolling land at their doorstep?
    Councilor Geo. Seymour seems to be the only one on Council who has a modicum of good sense and flexibility.

    What ever may have been said to date there is no doubt that the opposition to developing Echo Heights is a lot stronger than the builders of the Community Plan have considered.  Even Hitler altered his Operation Sea Lion plan when opposition became too strong.  It was only at Stalingrad that he absolutely insisted on executing a plan because it was his plan and we all know where that got him.  There is a lesson in these two World War  experiences that need to looked at by Council.
Sincerely Fergus Anderson