As it does so often, as it rightfully should, the waterfront has become the focus of news in Parksville Qualicum Beach.
All coastal communities are dealing with erosion issues. The two largest municipalities in our region are in the middle of those efforts right now, whether they are in construction (Parksville) or planning (Qualicum Beach) mode.
In 2008, current Parksville city councillor Kim Burden was part of a protest on the beach, trying to block trucks and the city from building a pit-run berm to tackle erosion and save the roadway there from destruction. Burden and others predicted the material the city was using was going to end up littering, or fouling the beautiful beach.
To some degree, their predictions have come true. We can only hope what’s being done now at the beach has a better degree of foresight. And we can hope Burden will have some influence on what’s been done this year.
Parksville is also starting a Community Park Master Plan, and as beautiful as the green areas of this great park are, the beach/ocean is the main attraction, so it behooves us all to make ourselves heard during this planning process.
Erosion was the key focus with the Qualicum Beach Waterfront Master Plan, a document that’s still not quite finalized. Discussions have broadened to include talk of more amenities, but the science, and protection of the beach, is rightfully the main focus of this plan.
Now there’s talk of a new development on Qualicum Beach, a old hotel being replaced by a newer one, perhaps with a restaurant. This is a much-needed injection of newness and rejuvenation on that strip — we have often wondered why there are so few places to enjoy a drink or meal at the water’s edge from Nanoose Bay to Deep Bay (we count three, maybe four).
We are not holding our breath waiting for big-picture thinking from this Qualicum Beach town council. And if council and staff are solely focused on the erosion issue, that’s probably good enough for this go-round of the master plan. There are so many opportunities there that need to be explored, however. A way for boats to moor and their occupants shuttled to the village and golf courses, for one.
It’s paramount to solidify the future of the beach, for sure, but it would be shortsighted to build anything into the master plan that would set hurdles for cool ideas in the future.
— Editorial by John Harding
