In Attendance: 40 Members of the Community representing: 

·       ODCA members

·       Politicians and staff from City of Parksville, Town of Qualicum Beach and the Regional District of Nanaimo                             

Marilyn Hayden, Recording Secretary

Manley LaFoy called the meeting to order at 4:15 P.M., introduced Professor Will Marsh as guest speaker and turned the meeting over to him.

Professor Marsh spoke for an hour on "Alternative Strategies for Community Development".

Standard structure used –

Small towns are using the same structure as big cities

Absence of adaptability to terrain – all communities look alike

Inappropriate fits – far too expensive because of borrowed templates

Damaging to the environment

Require different strategies to fit different communities.

Small towns do not want to look like every other city or small town in North America.

Assess the community’s needs and develop accordingly

Infrastructure

All cities on the Island are small town scale other than Victoria and Nanaimo

Communities go bankrupt trying to replace aging infrastructure in future years

The Federal government in the U.S.A. brought in the NEEPA Act to protect the environment and curtail huge infrastructure

Drainage funnelled down to one large outlet – negative to the environment

· Alternative Development for small towns and centres

o Character of the community – decided by the community – when laid out for developers it becomes workable and cost effective for the developer and the buyer

o Site adaptive planning

o Assess terrain, cluster development on the site

o Lot sizes and building sizes defined

o Layer space – all spaces should have multiple uses (i.e.storm water control on a public park)

o Use of lanes and open swales

o Use small drainage areas, bigger flows damage the environment

· Slide presentation - 2 examples of alternative developments

o Cumbria Woods, Cumberland

o Chesterman Beach, Tofino

· Technical Bulletins of Cumbria Woods and Chesterman Beach developments comparing Conventional Development Standards versus Green Infrastructure Development Standards. Please contact Marilyn if you would like a copy.

· Questions from the floor.

Manley thanked Professor Marsh for his enlightening presentation.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:00 P.M.

Monday, July 7^th 12 noon,

Sims Associates Boardroom

  25/01/2012