New Experiences, Renewed Appreciation and Fresh Starts

 New Experiences, Renewed Appreciation and Fresh Starts
by Area B Director Sierra Acton


Love it!
As most of you know, around mid March, Nick Colin’s memorial bus stop was hit by a car and demolished. Luckily no one was hurt. The CVRD does not have jurisdiction over Nick’s stop because it is Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure land and BC Transit is responsible for bus stops in unincorporated areas. However this community never ceases to amaze me; people rallied together swiftly, organized and before you knew it, the memorial had been replaced. Reading all the comments on Facebook has been so heart warming. I hope that this memorial is not lost on the drivers in this community and acts as a reminder to all of us to slow down.


Share it!
By the time you read this, it is likely that ThinkShawnigan’s event with guest speaker Doug Griffith will have taken place. His book and presentation 13 ways to Kill Your Community was a great kick off to our Village Planning slated for this Spring. A Design Charrette will address the kind of village we want to create in both the near and distant future. The plan will help visualize our goals and specifically lay out the where, what and how, thereby bringing the private and public sectors together. This will ideally facilitate the services, development and lifestyle we want in the village area. The Charrette becomes a guide to get the infrastructure grants, housing development and businesses we want for our village core.


Protect it!
Removal of the contaminated soil dump continues to be a top priority, as this is the biggest threat to our watershed and future of our community. The upcoming meetings with the Ministry of Environment (MoE) may be the most important meetings to date; after these meetings the Minister of Environment will be making his decision. Currently I’m working closely with the Shawnigan Residents Association (SRA) and the Shawnigan Research Group (SRG) as we prepare to meet with the MoE. Please consider contributing to the SRA legal fund, so we can have legal attend these meetings.