Remember the drought last summer and the variances adjoining communities had on stages and levels of water restrictions?
Parksville city council passed a motion on Monday night to include the city in a new system that should make those definitions more uniform.
It’s a four-stage system that is likely to be in play this year for all communities in the area: the Regional District of Nanaimo, the Town of Qualicum Beach and the City of Parksville.
Under the new system, there will be no watering restrictions in the months of November through March. Stage 1 restrictions will apply only in the months of April and October, when people can water their lawns and wash their vehicles any day between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.
Stage 2 restrictions limit use to every other day, for a maximum of two hours, from
7-10 a.m. or 7-10 p.m. Stage 2 will be in effect from May through September.
Stage 3 does not impose any further restrictions, but asks residents for voluntary reductions and provides communities the opportunity to delay imposing Stage 4 restrictions, which ban non-essential water use entirely. Vegetable watering is exempt from all restrictions. Drip irrigation and hand-watering are also exempt from the Stage 4 ban, but restricted to permitted times.
Parksville imposed a comprehensive watering ban on July 9, 2015 that stood until Oct. 1.
There was some reason for optimism at Monday’s city council meeting.
“This year our reservoir is full and it has been for three weeks and this year we have a snowpack,” said the city’s operations manager Mike Squire.
Other items discussed at city council’s meeting on Monday night:
• Fire Chief Doug Banks provided council with a detailed report on 2015 activity by the Parksville Volunteer Fire Department. It will be Banks’ last such report — he is retiring at the end of the month after 45 years of service with the department.
Banks’ annual report showed the total number of incidents requiring the department’s attendance increased to 509 in 2015 from 489 in 2014. The department responded to 33 structure ‘incidents.’ Banks said only eight of those required hose lines being deployed. The chief said those eight incidents resulted in $1,066,500 in losses. He also said actions by the department in 2015 resulted in more than $64 million in property saved.
Banks said he was appreciative of council’s support over the years for the department.
“We don’t have everything we want, but we have everything we need,” said the chief.
• Joanne Sales of Broombusters gave council a report on the progress being made by volunteers who battle invasive Scotch broom and gorse in the city.
• Council unanimously passed a motion to grant TBBR Holdings a development permit to construct three commercial buildings and one commercial/residential building (27 residential units on floors two-four) on Island Highway at Stanford Avenue (read more about this development in future editions of The NEWS). Mayor Marc Lefebvre declared a conflict of interest and was not in the room when council discussed, and granted, the development permit.
• Council passed a motion to create a special meeting March 14 at 6 p.m. at city hall to receive a presentation from Boulevard Traffic Consultants about the proposed Jensen Avenue East extension and traffic flow in the downtown area.
