April 8, 2013 presentation by the CRD Parks to Central Saanich Council
Senior CRD park staff attended a meeting of the Central Saanich Parks Committee on the evening of April 8, 2013, and told the Councilors about island View Beach, saying the CRD
had done work in the park and:
This caused Mayor Bryson (Chair of the CRD) to make a point of telling the Central Saanich Parks Committee how good it was that this drainage work was being carried on in the park by the CRD.
A resident at the meeting went to the park but was unable to find evidence of any work being carried out and queried the Mayor, who asked the CRD for an explanation. The reply came back from the CRD Parks:
Specifically, the remedial work included the following:
The resident returned to the park. The shallow swale was a short little trench in one place only, 6" wide by 6" deep. So digging that one tiny trench, and pulling out some weeds by hand in one place was trumpeted by CRD Parks to Central Saanich Council that they had put in multiple swales to drain multiple areas with standing water, and had also opened up multiple mini-berms alongside the ditches to allow mulitple fields to drain!
- put in swales to drain the areas with standing water, and
- also to open up the mini-berms that
stopped the water from draining from the fields into the
ditches.
This caused Mayor Bryson (Chair of the CRD) to make a point of telling the Central Saanich Parks Committee how good it was that this drainage work was being carried on in the park by the CRD.
A resident at the meeting went to the park but was unable to find evidence of any work being carried out and queried the Mayor, who asked the CRD for an explanation. The reply came back from the CRD Parks:
Specifically, the remedial work included the following:
- Ditch #1: A shallow swale was hand dug through the side-cast material to connect the area of standing water and the ditch
- Ditch #2: Newly emerging grasses in the ditch were removed by hand to benefit drainage
The resident returned to the park. The shallow swale was a short little trench in one place only, 6" wide by 6" deep. So digging that one tiny trench, and pulling out some weeds by hand in one place was trumpeted by CRD Parks to Central Saanich Council that they had put in multiple swales to drain multiple areas with standing water, and had also opened up multiple mini-berms alongside the ditches to allow mulitple fields to drain!