On Thursday, May 12th, the Director from Area H of the CVRD, Ben Maartman, held a public meeting. There was a full house in attendance, which pleased us enormously.
The CEO of the Nanaimo Airport Commission, Dave Devana, was present. He did a presentation and as he went through various portions of this presentation, the questions and comments began. We asked about the development that is proposed for in front of the airport (the hotel, a garage, and commercial buildings). He said that would not be done for some time. I asked him if he realized this development was directly on top of our very compromised Cassidy Aquifer. He said he knew that. I then said to him, that this is not aeronautic in nature and therefore any development falls under the province of BC and the Regional District of Nanaimo. He snapped back that he disagreed. At the end of his presentation, I asked him who the Airport Commission was responsible to. He paused and then said...themselves!

We then went into the topic of the Cassidy Aquifer. Mr. Maartman was asked when the public meeting was going to be scheduled for the Schnitzer rezoning application. He said he did not know...that it was up to the CVRD. I will be writing to him again as I do not agree with this point. The Directors are supposed to direct staff and not the other way around!
We must keep up the pressure on both fronts my friends.
Please keep your eyes and ears open as we go through this process.

Yours
June