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Letter to Editor
ShareEstuary is the lifeblood of community
Published: September 25, 2008 6:00 PMDear editor,
More than 150 volunteers turned out recently to help clean up the estuary.
Your newspaper is being flooded with letters where people are starting to ask questions about the estuary and the hodgepodge of development in Area B along Comox Road. People are questioning why have abandoned industrial sites been allowed to stand for decades? Why is this area zoned for residential, commercial and industrial within a kilometre of each other?
Sandblasting goes on just off Scott Road, the foreshore is used as a Nickel Bros. “used home lot.” Why is the regional district rolling over without examining all of the alternatives on the Gas and Go?
Are people concerned? You bet they are.
Only now, after a number of people have urged the regional district to examine alternatives, has the Area B director said, “I certainly think it’s in everybody’s interest to look at alternatives,” (Record, Sept. 10). My position was stated in the Record on Sept. 5: “But surely the regional district can re-look at this, re-examine it, meet with the businessman … and make him an offer that he can’t refuse.”
The estuary has been, and is, the lifeblood of the community. It provides the transition for the salmon to venture into the ocean. For centuries it has been the avenue for the people before us to access and live off this great Valley. The K’ómoks Band resides on the estuary. It provides a home for wildlife and unique estuary plants. Ducks Unlimited Nature Trust has invested in the open fields behind the homes which are a wintering-over spot for the Trumpeter Swan.
Who among us does not feel a glow for the Valley when on a sunny day we look over the estuary and see the majestic Comox Glacier glistening in the sun? Should we protect the nature in the Valley? You bet we will.
It is time for a change.
Let’s get behind our Valley and create a plan that will sustain us for future generations.
Jim Gillis
Editor’s note: Jim Gillis has announced his intention to seek the Area B director’s seat in the Nov. 15 regional district elections.
