(Edited to clarify parking and tour location information)
The District of Central Saanich will be holding its first public open house on the Maber Flats Project later this month.
They have hired Aqua-Tex Scientific Consulting Ltd. tasked with designing the terms of reference for the water retention project. Throughout the project, the company will have different times for the public to check in on how it’s doing.
“This is really the introduction to the public of the scope and scale of the project and what exactly it is that we’re going to be doing on an ongoing basis,” said Councillor Niall Paltiel who is acting mayor in September and a lead for council on the project.
He said it’s just as much an opportunity for the community to learn as it is an opportunity for the professionals and the District to learn as well.
“So this is really the first 10 per cent of the project that we’re really receiving information on.”
The District will have project check-ins at the 50 and 90 per cent stages, so that the community is being heard and understood on an ongoing basis.
“This is the first opportunity,” he continued, saying it can teach young people about ecology and agriculture or working with conservation groups or working with the established and new agricultural community in the area.
“This is really an initial opportunity to work with those groups as well First Nations and the public,” said Paltiel.
He said because they estimate the project is going to be an investment of $143,000 per hectare in the Maber Flats area, they will be busing people to the site to physically have a feel for it and illustrate that to the public.
A representative from Aqua-Tex will be speaking at the open house along with planning and engineering staff.
The meeting will take place at the Maber Flats project site from 11.a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sept. 17. Attendees are asked to arrive and park at the fire hall on Keating Cross Road as there is no parking at the Maber Flats site itself. A shuttle service will be operating from the fire hall to the site. Aqua-Tex will be leading field tours around the site.
