Parksville city council meetings have been packed with spectators this month, for various reasons.
Monday's agenda was full of contentious and interesting items, some of which we will expand upon in next week's editions of The NEWS. For example:
• The alignment of the pipe that will carry water from the new intake station to the Springwood reservoir along the E&N rail has neighbours from (literally) both sides of the tracks concerned.
• Island Health's medical officer of Health Dr. Paul Hasselback provided a report on substance abuse and statistics showing the increase in alcohol abuse while tobacco-related hospitalizations decrease.
• The Parksville and District Chamber of Commerce is asking the city if it can add two more food trucks to the Community Park during busy times this summer. The chamber has an agreement with the city to manage the trucks, but the agreement only calls for two trucks on the city-constructed pads near the washroom facilities.
• Joe Straka of the Oceanside Community Arts Council pitched a plan to place 300 glass "floats" and 500 other glass "treasures" for people to find above the high tide line on beaches from Nanoose Bay to Deep Bay during the off and shoulder seasons (September through May).
• Council selected a consultant (KPMG out of Victoria) to conduct the review it ordered of the current operating conditions and financial position of the Parksville Community and Conference Centre. Council had set aside $100,000 for this project, but the sucessful bid came in at $36,375.
• Council gave its approval for the city to enter into a lease agreement so Sandi Haycock of Walk on Water can provide rentals of stand-up paddleboards and kayaks near the old hoverscraft landing site in Community Park for July and August.