Teresa Bird – Black Press
Town council has given the green light to Mid Island Coop’s plans to renovate the downtown location they purchased late last year.
The two phase project will see a complete renovation to the existing store building and petroleum services upgrade.
The store renovations are slated to start soon, says Blair Gjevre petroleum operations manager for Mid Island Coop.
“We are close to choosing a contractor,” says Gjevre. “Looking at the end of 2015 to have the interior upgrade completed.”
The exterior of the renovated building would be refinished with natural wood colours and river rock, similar to the look at Mid Island Coop in Chemainus.
“We will do our best to keep business open during the renovations,” said Gjevre. “WE are hoping we don’t run into anything that closes the day to day operation.”
The planned renovations outside the store are more weather dependent and it would likely be early next year before that phase could be completed, said Gjevre. The project includes an upgraded gas bar, card lock pumps, upgraded lighting, and landscaping. The existing car wash will be demolished and the propane tanks relocated.
The new card lock facility will be located at the rear of the property with access from MacDonald Road. An existing house and shed at the back of the property have already been demolished to make room for the card lock.
The new card lock will increase noise and views of trucks and lights for residents of the triplex adjacent to the property. Mid Island Co-op plans to mitigate the impact to residents by installing a wood privacy fence on the north side of the property, a metre-wide landscape strip and shielded lighting.
Residents were notified of the Co-op’s application and had until the council meeting September 15 to voice their concerns, however, no responses to received says Joe Fernandez, CAO for Town of Lake Cowichan.
The new card lock access will also require the demolition of the existing sidewalk on MacDonald Road and replacement of a new sidewalk along the east side of the property along MacDonald Road. The Town would hold $20,000 as a guarantee of the sidewalk’s completions and durability for five years. Construction details of the sidewalk must be approved by the superintendent of public works.
Gjevre says now that the application has been approved by council, they will apply for the appropriate building permits to proceed with the work.
