The Parksville and District Chamber of Commerce is asking its members to voice their opinions on the Watermark development proposal.
“In our recent membership survey, 75 per cent of our members stated that they supported waterfront development in Parksville,” states an e-Flash on Feb. 24 from the chamber to its members.
“You now have an opportunity to have your voice heard on this important issue for our business community.”
“We are not taking a position on the Watermark,” chamber manager Kim Burden stressed to The News.
But he added they do believe that densification of the downtown, including along the waterfront, is important.
He said the chamber does have a policy that they’d like to see 3,500 people living within a five minute walk of the waterfront.
While the chamber did support The Beach Club, Burden said they will not specifically support the Watermark application.
The chamber bulletin says “the Watermark team has been actively working through perceived technical issues related to the current zoning amendment proposal with city of Parksville staff for 15 months...” and are now at an impasse.
They encourage people to visit the project’s website at www.watermarkparksville.com and to “help to encourage good developers to bring forward innovative concepts for our community,” by sending letters of support to the city or to the proponents at MacDonald Gray Consultants, macdgray@telus.net.