Students of Chemainus Secondary School, as part of the Cowichan Valley Regional District’s Youth Placemaking project, have developed a proposal to create a new public space in downtown Chemainus.
The space, located atop the existing public washroom building on Chemainus Road, proposes to include some new public amenities. North Cowichan council was impressed with the students’ passion and enthusiasm, and asked staff to provide a future report on the viability of the project.
Meanwhile, council issued a development permit with variance for 9796 Willow St., the location of the new Chemainus Library. The variance reduces the number of off-street parking spaces from 16 to one, as additional parking will be addressed through nearby public parking and the future construction of additional public stalls.
Council also considered compatibility with the adjacent affordable housing development and heard from staff that it is working to align the designs of the two buildings.
The Feb. 21 council meeting also featured three delegations.
RCMP Inspector Chris Bear summarized the Duncan-North Cowichan detachment’s fourth quarter activities. With 20,662 files in 2017 and an increase of 2.2 per cent over last year, it’s a very busy detachment and places increased demands on RCMP officers.
Julie Scurr, President of the Duncan-Cowichan Chamber of Commerce, highlighted the initiatives underway for this year, spoke about the increased number of visitors to the Visitor Information Centre in 2017, and expressed interest in updated trail maps for the mountains in the municipality.
Broombusters Invasive Plant Society provided an overview of the negative impacts of broom on vacant land, along highways, and in many natural areas. The society relies on volunteers to manage removal and asked North Cowichan to make efforts to fight the invasive plant by considering an Invasive Species Bylaw.
The matter was referred to staff for future consideration.