Parksville will get the benefits from a BC Conservation Foundation pilot study on the Englishman River, but will not directly take part.
Council accepted the staff recommendation that due to limited staff resources, they would link the study with the ongoing official community plan (OCP) review rather than take part.
At a previous meeting, a delegation from the BCCF and Water Sustainability in B.C. asked the city to participate, costing only staff time. Director of community planning Blaine Russell said the BCCF appeared happy with the move and look forward to giving the city information that might actually be useful.
The three-month study will be one of three on Vancouver Island and is meant to help understand the impact of climate change and different development scenarios on surface and groundwater on the watershed and specifically the Englishman River.
It will provide “value-added” content to the OCP and provide technical information for a future master drainage plan.
The study will be led by engineers Kim Stephens from Bowen and local Gilles Wendling.