The Friends of Island View Beach

[JL]

I have been involved with a group trying to stop the CRD from making negative changes to Island View Beach Regional Park. Please visit the web site: http://www.friendsofislandviewbeach.com/

[Alexk]

Cool website.

Your group could also FOI the CRD for further information held by them on the topic . If they have a similar policy to provincial government, as long as your request is not to time consuming to prepare, it may be free of charge.

[JL]

That is part of the research

[JL]

The CRD is considering removing the boat launch @ Island View beach. We http://www.friendsofislandviewbeach.com ... aunch.html encourage any users or potential users of the ramp to visit the friends of Is. view web site & consider supporting KEEPING the ramp intact. The ramp was built as a community project & IS NOT in the park.

[JL]

http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local ... s-1.917388

[JL]

http://www.friendsofislandviewbeach.com ... vement.pdf

[tbrown]

http://www.friendsofislandviewbeach.com ... vement.pdf

interesting read, and generally well written, but there is clearly slanting at work going both ways.

From front page of friendsofislandviewbeach.com:

Environmental conservation should be a shield for what is vulnerable, but the CRD seem intent on using it as a club to justify restricting public access to areas of the park, regardless of the need.

vs page 6 of the linked report.

4. New inland trails: With increasing numbers of people visiting the park it is important to dilute the impact by encouraging the public to use other areas.

I'm not sure there are many folks that would consider that 100% truth. Definitely slanted IMHO. Have trash, mud, etc scattered all through the park or concentrated in one area? AFAIK high density condos are considered much less environmentally damaging than a sprawling suburbia. But that's not to say I am arguing against more trails, my beef is just with the slanted writing. And that was the only part that really jumped out at me. Good work whomever these friends are.

[JL]

Thanks for your input Mr. Brown. The 'friends' have a facebook site https://www.facebook.com/friendsofislan ... ch?fref=ts & a website. http://www.friendsofislandviewbeach.com/ We are just concerned residents of the area trying to keep things the way they are @ the beach.

[JL]

The CRD has released a draft plan for Island view regional park. Horses, bicycles, off leash Dogs & humans WILL not be permitted in MOST of OUR park: NO BICYCLES ON TRAILS ... NO HORSES ON GRASS OR TRAILS ... Most of OUR Park to be an ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ZONE http://crd.ca.legistar.com/gateway.aspx ... 2d7d98.pdf The orange area of the map is the proposed 'recreational area'. Excluding the camping area we should be able to launch/land kites unless the fenced off leash Dog area gets in the way or we are considered to be a threat to the blue 'natural environment zone'. Here is a link to a dedicated I.V. group with contact info. for anybody interested in creating an e-mail to the CRD directors etc.: http://www.friendsofislandviewbeach.com/

[JL]

Once again the CRD has gone above & beyond
common sense with the draft plan for Island View Regional Park. Proposing
to limit recreation in the Park to 6.6% ( of which half is campground & of
course the R.V. camping is to eventually be "repurposed" into the 24.8%
Natural Env. zone which would leave ~ 3% of the Park ) for human use is
asinine. The former farm land is now considered to be only worthy of a
single loop trail as it is now to be an env. protection zone. ( 68.6% of
the Park ) While I know farm land is a valued & respected part of our
resource base I fail to see why it can't in this situation be enjoyed by
visitors to OUR Park. As a daily off leash Dog walker at the park I fail
to see the need to limit the ability for my Dog to socialize with other
Dogs to a corral in a yet to be determined location within the Park. When
is a Park not a Park ? When HUMAN activity within said Park is reduced to a
postage stamp sized area, that is more like a zoo ? Island View Regional
Park deserves to be enjoyed by all, not merely to be a management exercise by the
'experts' at the CRD.

[JL]

Mike Hicks chair of CRD Parks Committee talks about his vision of I.V.: http://www.friendsofislandviewbeach.com ... d-cbc.html The draft plan corals recreation users of the park into 1.6% of the space. That may be a death knell for kiters But wait there's less Here is info. about the boat ramp : http://www.friendsofislandviewbeach.com ... -ramp.html

[JL]

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/107/068/ ... lone/#sign

[JL]

At 4:20 in the video link I explain to the CRD Park board kite surfers concerns over potential changes at I.V.: http://www.friendsofislandviewbeach.com ... ation.html

[BryGuy]

I signed the petition. What's mayor Lisa Helps position on this? Can she do anything to stop the CRD?

[JL]

Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps is one of the 24 Directors on the CRD Board and receives no special consideration for being the Mayor of Victoria.. She is not on the CRD Parks Committee so she only votes on Island View Beach issues when they come to the full board for approval, and then hers is one of the 24 votes. Here is the full CRD board list: https://www.crd.bc.ca/docs/default-sour ... f?sfvrsn=6

Could she have done more? Yes, she could have, but that applies to all the directors so she is not alone! The Friends of Island View Beach warned the CRD directors repeatedly through 2015 that the material the CRD was putting to the public was wrong, and that the CRD directors should pause the process and check the data. Only Colin Plant., Mike Hicks and Ryan Windsor made inquiry. The other CRD directors did nothing, and so the CRD was allowed to mislead the public for the whole year about Island View Beach Regional Park. Take the time to read the correspondence at http://www.friendsofislandviewbeach.com ... -2015.html You will appreciate the graphic showing all the suited people with their heads in the sand, not wanting to hear something they might need to take action on.

Can Mayor Helps do anything? Absolutely! Every avalanche begins with a small pebble. At least one of the CRD directors - and it could be Mayor Helps - needs to stand up and call for the CRD public presentations on Island View Beach Regional Park to be checked for accuracy and completeness. There has been a pattern over the years of CRD Parks misleading the public about Island View Beach and it is worse this time. We believe the CRD directors were negligent for not having made reasonable inquiry.

I have no idea what the Mayor's stand is on this issue. Thanks for your input BryGuy