Every Friday we feature Valley history taken from our back issues.
Five years ago
this week in the Comox Valley Record:
Langley Lake could supply water to Union Bay and proposed Kensington Coastal Pointe development for seven to 10 years with no change to the dam, according to a report by consultant Focus Corp. and CH@M Hill.
The lake could be the only community water supply until about 2020 if the dam were raised three metres. Cost of raising the dam and infrastructure improvements is estimated at $4.9 million.
Projected water needs were based on population estimates, calling for an increase from the current 1,600 residents to 2,950 in 2010, 5,720 in 2015 and 10,900 in 2025.
Ten years ago
this week in the Comox Valley Record:
Brian Brown crept down the basement stairs of his Condensory Road home with a stick and hoped not to meet a burglar in the middle of the night. He had just let out his cat when he heard the splinter of breaking glass beneath the porch, then scrambling noises in the basement. Brown flicked on the light, grabbed a stick and headed downstairs.
He peered around the basement and spotted the intruder in a corner near the washing machine.
Brown sighed. It was only Bambi.
The deer had been under the porch when Brown opened the back door for the cat. The startled deer jumped into the basement window, which shattered. It then ran from one side of the basement to the other as Brown tried to chase the animal up the stairs.
With help from a police officer, Brown pinned the deer against a wall, covered it with a blanket and hauled it upstairs and out the door. As soon as Bambi’s hooves hit the ground, it was gone.
Fifteen years ago
this week in the Comox Valley Record:
Valley municipalities must join forces to fight a proposed $3-million regional solid waste management plan, Comox Coun. Gwyne Mack said.
“It’s obvious if we want something done, a tri-council meeting is the only way,” Mack said.
Comox staff estimate the plan would draw $225,000 a year from the Valley to subsidize waste disposal in remote areas.
The plan, tabled by the district board in January, would increase tipping fees from $30 to $45 per tonne this year, the to $60 in 1997. As well, property owners would face a $15 parcel tax.
“It would cost Comox $37,000 a year to subsidize northern communities to bring them up to our standards,” Mayor Alicia Burns said.
Twenty years ago
this week in the Comox Valley Record:
Courtenay council was still saying No to escort agencies, as a second business licence application bit the dust.
Patricia Buck of Lazo requested a licence for Traces Escort Service two weeks after council unanimously rejected a similar request from Grant McFarlane of Rachelle’s No. 1 Ladies in Nanaimo.
“No matter what is said or interpreted, this is a legal business,” Buck told council. “And like all services, it would only thrive on the demand for its services.”
Buck said licences are granted, and police monitor activities in other communities.
“This meeting has all the characteristics of a kangaroo court,” she said. “I request realistic and mature consideration of my licence.”
Buck presented a petition bearing names of people who were neither offended nor opposed to her application, but Ald. Starr Winchester moved denial based on “overwhelming negative public reaction.”