Area directors of the Cowichan Valley Regional District denied a controversial re-zoning application that has been under consideration for more than seven years.
At a CVRD regular board meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 13, area directors voted to deny a re-zoning application from Radius Recycling, formerly known as Schnitzer Steel, which is looking to continue operating a scrap metal recycling operation in Cassidy close to the Nanaimo Airport.
The motions put forward at the meeting, which include requirements for the business to update its environmental management plan and complete an environmental impact assessment that will address the protection of the aquifer, were recommended by the electoral area services committee at a meeting last week.
Read more: Steel recyclers’s re-zoning application recommended near Nanaimo airport
“My position was clear at committee about the need to protect the aquifer and the way forward is not to give up the zoning,” said Ben Maartman, director of North Oyster-Diamond. “I would appeal to you to think about the Cowichan Valley, I travel across it and I see some very pristine lakes; you see Lake Cowichan, you see Shawnigan Lake, Stocking Lake, Chemainus Lake, right across the valley, there’s all kinds. We have a lake in [North Oyster-Diamond], but my pristine lake is just below the surface of the ground.”
Sierra Acton, director for Shawnigan Lake, Jesse McClinton, director for Saltair-Gulf Islands, Hilary Abbott, director for Cowichan Bay and Mike Wilson, director for Cobble Hill, all of whom voted to move forward with the recommendations at the committee meeting, agreed with Maartman, saying that the future of the site and the aquifer is uncertain either way they vote, and their common goal is to protect the aquifer.
“It is so compelling when you see pristine water around us but when you don’t see the pristine water that we’re aiming to protect, it’s such a compelling case,” said Abbott. “If only we could look at other assets and resources like the pristine air that we should be [breathing], we don’t see it and yet we abuse it and so we as a species renowned for ruining our assets.”
The directors unanimously voted to defeat the motion, and Maartman then put forward a motion to “set the application at rest” and completely deny the re-zoning application. The motion to deny the application passed, with Ian Morrison, director for Cowichan Lake South-Skutz Falls, voting against.
“We appreciate the community’s robust engagement and take seriously the concerns raised regarding the application,” noted Tony Belot, a public affairs manager with Radius, in an e-mail. “We remain committed to open dialogue and continue to seek collaborative solutions that benefit our community.”
bailey.seymour@nanaimobulletin.com
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