Kudos to all of those Parksville Community Park users who attended the open house presentation of the Community Park Master Plan by VIU and effectively voiced their opinions on the original proposal. At the presentation to council on Dec. 4, the VIU Team were able to revise or remove some of the contentious issues as a result of public participation. It is unfortunate that, after viewing the entire master plan, it does not include many amazing suggestions from the Parksville residents’ survey portion.
Some of these suggestions were: permanent beach volleyball nets installed in the area that the beach volleyball tournaments are held; a fishing pier with provisions for kayak; aqua-bike rentals located at the end of the boardwalk at Arbutus Point; frisbee golf course built in the grassy area where the kite festival is held; and expansion and improvement of the existing skate park.
All of these venues would allow for family outdoor participation for those individuals that have outgrown the playground/splash park attractions.We should be encouraging the interaction of all age groups at this Parksville jewel. Outdoor, interesting, free recreation areas are a drawing card to encourage families and professional individuals to relocate to Parksville, and could be an advantage to entice doctors to locate their practices here.
At the Dec. 4 council meeting it was passed to establish a Community Park Working Group with representation from council and staff. One would hope that this group would also include members of our Parksville residents to assist with formulating a priority action plan.
Doug O’Brien
Parksville