Fall Newsletter (Oct 2009)

Water News

It certainly can be said that Vancouver Island and much of the Province has enjoyed a very long, hot and extremely dry summer. Warm temperatures continue as we head well into fall. Due to the high usage of water starting very early in spring, as well as a large increase in the usage of “pools” in the area NCID had to implement stage “2” for watering. The Board of Trustee’s is currently looking at the water restrictions and will be implementing some changes to our current regulations such as going to odd and even days for watering beginning April 1st instead of June 1st. We will be sending out information by next spring indicating what the new restrictions will be. We are still asking for residents to please register their pools so we can implement a pool filling program in order to prevent water shortages next year. You can register your pool by telephone 722-3711 or by email at info@ncid.bc.ca We will not be penalizing or charging more to those who have pools, we are attempting to have some control so that reservoirs do not get run dry from over usage while far to many pools are being filled on the same day. The District also must ensure there is enough water to fight a fire and that fire flows remain at the proper levels needed to put a fire out.

The North Cedar Improvement District is currently working with the Vancouver Island Health Authority on the approval of our new well. We are also rehabilitating one of our current wells to bring it back up to full capacity for supply. It has slowly diminished its output over the years and rehabilitation will bring it back to pumping at full capacity. Now that usage has slowed down somewhat with the fall weather, we can take this well off line in order to do the rehabilitation.

With the unpredictability of our weather patterns, water conservation becomes extremely important. Many municipalities go to stage two for watering on a regular basis during the summer months as part of their water conservation program regardless of what their supply is. NCID encourages residents to limit out door sprinkling as much as possible by allowing grass to go yellow. We understand the need to water gardens and flowers but grass will come back as soon as they rains begin in the fall.

We would like to remind residents about the low flush toilet rebate program whereby when you present a receipt for either a dual flush or low flush toilet you will receive a $75.00 dollar credit on your water tolls account. The limit is for two toilets per household and is open only to those residents who are on the water system. Just bring your original receipt in and fill out the rebate application and you will see the credit on your next water tolls invoice.

The Administrator for NCID has been an active member of the Official Community Plan committee. Area A is in the process of re-writing their official community plan and the committee has indicated that they would like to see the Regional District of Nanaimo implement a rebate program for low flush toilets and encourage this for new development when a building permit is being taken out. The next committee meeting is on October 19th, 2009 and is open to the public. The committee is beginning to write the draft of the Official Community Plan with the goal of having it completed and adopted in 2010. Meetings are held at the North Cedar Fire Hall and begin at 6:30.

First Cedar Scouts Bottle Drive

First Cedar Scouts will be hosting a bottle drive on Saturday October 24th, 2009 starting at ten a.m. Youth will be coming door to door to collect bottles as well as drop offs are more than welcome at the fire hall on that day only. The kids try to reach as many houses as is possible but we can not guarantee they will make it to everyone so dropping off at the fire hall is very appreciated. Thank you to the community for their continued support of Scouting in Cedar.

Fire News

The fire department had a busy summer. Unusually warm temperatures early in the season pushed our fire danger rating into “extreme” very early in the summer season. Cedar is the driest area on Vancouver Island, especially in the area of Cedar by the Sea and Boat Harbour. The fire danger rating is established by a series of numbers and when we reach “4” we are in extreme. Cedar sat at “5” the highest end of extreme for the entire summer. The interior of BC had another summer of extreme fires with many towns and cities experiencing evacuations and homes and properties destroyed. During the time that we were in “extreme” for fire danger rating the fire department had to respond to 44 burning complaint calls for illegal burning. In many instances the homeowner did not even possess a permit and did not keep themselves informed as to our danger rating and just went ahead and burned without any consideration of the danger they created for both their own property and everyone around them. Some residents choose to argue and berate the firemen who had to attend to their illegal fire and order the resident to put it out. Several bush fires were started this summer by careless smokers tossing their butts out the window and one would have to be blind to not notice that the entire area was yellow and dried out on the road edges. All of this illegal burning caused great stress to residents who happen to be in the area where the illegal burning was taking place. The fire department would like to thank all those residents who reported illegal burning to us over the summer, without you the situation could have been far worse. Over all British Columbia experienced exactly double the amount of summer fires as is the norm during these dry months in 2009. Eighty percent of these fires were started by people being careless and only twenty percent were started by mother nature. Our beautiful area is extremely vulnerable to fire and residents MUST adhere to the burning regulations that are in place to protect all of us and our homes and property. Forty four burning complaints is forty four to many and it is our hope that we will see a huge reduction in these types of calls next summer. It is up to all of us to remain proactive when it comes to our back yard burning and to respect the burning regulations and be in possession of a permit during fire season.

Lighting the Way

On behalf of the Electoral Area ‘A’ communities, the North Cedar Improvement District and the Regional District of Nanaimo invite you to celebrate the coming of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games. Please join us on Saturday, October 31 and support the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay. We welcome residents to line the streets in the late afternoon to cheer the Torch Bearers as they make their way through central Cedar passing along the Olympic Flame as it travels from Ladysmith to Nanaimo. Watch for further information regarding details of the Torch Relay in your community and other event plans for this very special occasion. Residents may also enjoy celebrations in the City of Nanaimo, designated a “celebration community”, as the City will be hosting special events throughout the afternoon and evening with the arrival of the Olympic Flame.