DEFENDING BEAVER PONDS

It’s Monday again. I have a barrel of work to do and Monday’s always need a little good cheer. So I’m going to post my favorite kind of news this morning. My VERY favorite kind of news. Can you guess what that is?

Residents rally in support of Burde Street Beaver Ponds

Around 100 people showed up to talk about the importance of maintaining the Alberni Valley’s natural assets during a town hall meeting at the Athletic Hall this week.

The town hall on Monday, May 16 was moderated by Port Alberni residents Sandy McRuer and Robert Borrett, who co-administer the Facebook page “Friends of the Burde Street Beaver Ponds.”

San Group Inc. announced back in the summer of 2021 their plans to build a $1 billion housing development at the top of Burde Street under the name of Pacific Mayfair Estates. Although the undeveloped area is private property, it is popular with walkers and hikers and includes two ponds that are home to beaver dams.

Port Aberni is in BC right across the water from Port moody. I like how beaver advocacy tends to wick out from a source and saturate the surrounding areas.

Pacific Mayfair Estates has stated that the land immediately surrounding each of the ponds will be preserved as park land, but people like McRuer and Borrett are concerned that extensive construction will drive away much of the wildlife. The ponds are also home to the Western painted turtle, which is an endangered species.“What we have here is a jewel,” Borrett told the crowd on Monday.

A number of Port Alberni residents spoke at the town hall. Some were concerned about the increase in traffic over the past few years on Burde Street. Some had ideas about other areas in the city that could be redeveloped, instead. No one spoke in favour of the housing development.

A health-care worker from West Coast General Hospital (WCGH) said that she and her co-workers visit the beaver ponds on their breaks. Others talked about the importance of the ponds for their mental health.

Oh pooh. Since when do cities care about mental health? Oh right. They want all those people to follow rules and be nice to each other so I guess its good if theu’re calm.

“This many people in the room signifies that this many people care,” said Hupacasath First Nation elected councillor Jolleen Dick. “This many people caring is the envelope to push the change over the hill.”

Hupacasath’s Elected Chief Councillor Brandy Lauder said she was “surprised” to learn about the development because there hadn’t been any consultation with Hupacasath prior to Pacific Mayfair Estates’ official announcement.

“This is not the way we conduct business,” she said on Monday.

Hupacasath operates Woodlot License W1902 in the area, which overlaps with one of the ponds, and Lauder’s main concern is the conservation of the area. Lauder said she does not support the development at this time.

“We put in protection for those beaver ponds, the creeks, the trails,” she said. “We’ve done rebuilding of trails. As far as we’re concerned at Hupacasath, [Pacific Mayfair Estates] will need to change a lot before we’ll even consider it.”

San Group did not attend the meeting on Monday, but company spokesperson Amit Chandra Shekar confirmed that they had been invited. “We politely asked them to reschedule because none of our representatives (were) available at the time scheduled,” he said.

Yeah yeah yeah. The big guns hate showing up for the big meetings where all those great unwashed masses gather and demand things. Did I ever tell you there’s was a sniper stationed at our big beaver meeting? I didn’t find that out until a few years ago.

“We know the problems, that’s the easy part,” said Borrett. “But what I’d love to do is actually bring forth constructive solutions to them.”

Shekar added that company officials were concerned at the perceived threat of violence at such a meeting, which came to light in an exchange on the Friends of the Burde Street Beaver Ponds Facebook page. McRuer had asked for one or two volunteers “who are willing to calm down anyone who gets aggressive.”

Despite this, the town hall remained peaceful throughout the night. Borrett acknowledged that the San Group is made up of “wonderful people” who have provided employment for many people in Port Alberni.

Peaceful people gathered to demand that development behaves itself. Who knew there were such things?

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