TUESDAY FEBRUARY 9, 2016
Black Press C O M M U N I T Y
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SILK WORMS IN ACTION
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Local club practising an art that’s 4,000 years old
Our Business Profile highlights new owners and chef at The Beach House
VETERAN POLITICIAN BELIEVES . . .
Boundaries will change
Roads, taxes, water are issues that complicate amalgamation talk JOHN HARDING
editor@pqbnews.com
It’s inevitable that municipal boundaries will be altered, adding thousands of regional district residents to both Parksville and Qualicum Beach, says this region’s longest-serving politician. Joe Stanhope, Area G’s representative on the Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) board of directors, has lived on the same French Creek property for 74 years. “Eventually, I would agree parts of Area G will be taken over by the municipalities of Parksville and Qualicum Beach,” Stanhope said last week. “If they want they can just take them over.” It’s likely a little more complicated than that, Stanhope concedes. And don’t count him among those in Area G that might be in favour of such a move. “Why would I want to join ParksWhy would I want to join Parksville? It would mean ville?” he said. “It would mean a hell of a big tax burden. What would the a hell of a big tax burden JOE STANHOPE people of Electoral Area G get from being part of Parksville? They’d get about a 30 per cent increase in property taxes, that’s what they’d get.” There are about 8,500 people living in Area G, just a few hundred fewer than the population numbers for the Town of Qualicum Beach. Stanhope calls it the most “urbanized” electoral area in B.C. In 2005, the provincial government forced the hand of those living in West Kelowna. There were about 28,000 people living there at the time (more than 40,000 if you counted those living on Westbank First Nation lands) and the province decided they had outgrown the regional district governance model. After a number of studies, the provincial government gave the people in West Kelowna two choices: join the City of Kelowna or form a new municipality. The status quo was not an option. After an intense referendum campaign, those who favoured the creation of a new municipality won the day over the join-Kelowna forces by a few hundred votes. The District Municipality of West Kelowna was born. In June of last year, West Kelowna was reclassified and became the province’s 51st city. See ROAD ISSUES CAUSE FRUSTRATION IN RDN, page A5
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FAMILY DAY: Juniper and Finn Brocklebank (and their parents) took advantage of the free swim at Ravensong Aquatic Centre, sponsored by Quality Foods in honour of the provincial Family Day holiday Monday.
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