Parksville council approved a motion introduced by Coun. Al Greir to direct staff to do a cost estimate and overview of process for undertaking a cleanup of Parksville beach.
The motion states the cleanup would include removing all rotten logs and stumps, removing large gravel and rocks from the beach foreshore, removing the grass and weeds from the high water line and adding beach sand, graded and raked for aesthetic purposes from the breakwater west to the gazebo at the end of McMillan Street.
“I think [cleanup efforts] have been important for a long time but nobody’s wanted to spend money on the beach,” Greir said. “We keep repairing the beach—the north end—where they put the gravel and rock to stop erosion… my interest is in front of the Beach Club, so we’re talking maybe 400 metres.”
Greir believes cleaning up this area on the beach and bringing in sand would benefit the local economy and recreation.
“With the mayor’s round table he had five visions… economic development and recreation were two of them and [cleaning the beach] is part of economic development and recreation because I think it will attract more people and I think the word would get out if we had a nice sandy, manicured beach,” Greir said.
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