Speaking of using our voices… qathet Regional District has just announced a series of public engagement sessions for an important topic that can have direct impact on key Savary Island issues moving forward, namely – parks and trails. As they build out their strategy for these valuable community assets throughout the next year, they are hoping to answer two key questions: What do you value about the existing parks and trails in the Regional District? and How could parks, trails, and amenities be improved in the future?
For your easy reference, the current park inventory consists of ten regional parks, two campgrounds, and several community parks on Texada Island (none of these are on Savary). Existing trails owned and operated by the qRD include beach access trails and the Myrtle Creek Pedestrian & Cycling Bridge (Savary has one qRD managed beach trail at Meadows Beach/Julian).
There will be a survey you can fill out starting November 14th (and I know you all love a good survey!) and there will also be a mix of in-person and virtual sessions coming up in the next few weeks. All the details can be found here, but of note is the Virtual Session for Savary Island, on Tuesday, November 22 from 7:00 – 8:00 PM. You do need to register for this session, and you can do that through this link. They have outlined a clear timeline for this project and a transparent series of steps they are following in this public engagement portion of the process, so our collective feedback is getting to the right people. This is a small win, but it shows that the Regional District is listening. They’re hearing us when we ask for plentiful and more practical ways to be able to share our thoughts, ideas and questions, so we can ultimately influence the decisions that get made about things that matter to us and this island.