Dear editor,
On Oct. 9, Comox council will receive a report from the committee established three months ago to stay the demolition of Baybrook, the original Mack Laing home.
Mack Laing is perhaps one of the most famous Comox residents of the first part of the 20th century (1910-45). He wrote extensively on birds in our estuary and in the Comox Valley.
The community effort co-Chaired by the leaders of the Comox Valley Nature, and Project Watershed consisted of an historian specializing in the Comox Valley, a heritage planner, an architect, a structural engineer and a policy analyst and planner. All of these professionals volunteered their time at no cost to the community.
The entire report is posted on the Project Watershed website at http://projectwatershed.ca and on the Comox Valley Nature website at http://comoxvalleynaturalist.bc.ca.
An excellent analysis of the entire issue was expressed by Loys Maingon n a letter to the editor appearing in the Aug. 9 issue of the Comox Valley Record.
I urge all Comox Valley residents to read the report and come out to the council meeting to show support.
All committee members showed great passion in their quest to obtain the "best possible solution" for developing Baybrook as a world-renowned natural preservation and education centre right in the heart of the Town of Comox, a major legacy to Hamilton Mack Laing.
The committee plan does not call for a low-maintenance, passive park; but a park with a Nature and Conservation Centre that has history, natural environment and cultural tourism all wrapped into one. It is the committee’s hope that council will see the potential for such a plan.
We believe we can develop a business model that would be cost-recovery and at best a revenue-generating enterprise that would bring people to the town.
Let’s capitalize on the natural beauty and tourism potential that makes our community such a spectacular place to visit and an even more spectacular and special place to live.
Paul Horgen
Editor's note: Paul Horgen is the chair of the Comox Valley Project Watershed Society.