Cowichan Bay is looking to the future of its waterfront village area.
The Cowichan Valley Regional District is hosting a design charrette on April 3-6 with all meetings to be held at the OceanFront Suites and will be seeking input from the area’s stakeholders on what they want their community to look like in the future.
A “charrette” is an intensive planning session where community members, designers and others collaborate on design solutions for specific areas.
Lori Iannidinardo, the CVRD’s director for Cowichan Bay, said it’s widely recognized that Cowichan Bay village is a special and iconic part of Vancouver Island, but there are some issues that should be dealt with.
They include parking and how accessible parts of the village are to pedestrians.
“We’ve been Duck-taping this bay together for the past 50 years, so I think it’s time to see what options are available and what people want to see here,” Iannidinardo said.
“Of course it’s a gem for B.C. and we want to preserve it as much as possible and ensure that it keeps its atmosphere, but some issues have to be addressed.”
Iannidinardo said owners of the various marinas in the bay, business owners and some other stakeholders were invited to the initial Ideas Fair, that was held on April 3, beginning at 7 p.m.
She said representatives from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, the CVRD and the consultant who will gather the ideas and begin a design will be among those in attendance at the Ideas Fair.
Iannidinardo said the second meeting on April 4, at 7 p.m., will allow the design to be developed further.
“We’ll have two full days to focus on it, and then the public will participate in the last two sessions to see what has been designed up to that point, and give us some more input into this,” she said.
The third session on April 5 begins at 7 p.m., and the concept presentation begins at 4:30 p.m. on April 6.
robert.barron@cowichanvalleycitizen.comLike us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter
