Lexi Bainas
Citizen
Cowichan Lake’s iconic Two Bears entrance sign is nearing the end of its useful life, Lake Cowichan town councillors heard last week.
Nagi Rizk, the town’s superintendent of public works and engineering told the finance and administration committee on Sept. 8, “I just want to bring to your attention that it is not in good shape. The wood is falling apart. There is rot in the logs there.
“We have no wood left to screw the bears into. It looks good when you drive by but we maybe need to have a discussion about what you would like us to do,” he said.
Lake Cowichan CAO Joe Fernandez agreed with Rizk.
“The topic came up at the advisory planning committee and that group might not be a bad place to have people look at design ideas. The entrance to town is something we should really be looking at,” he said.
At the same time, the town should possibly consider what to do with a triangular median in the nearby intersection.
“The town is also looking at the idea of beautifying it but the issue is that there is no water supply to the median. When you drive down that road into town it just doesn’t look good,” Fernandez said, adding that even miniature palm trees had been discussed.
Rizk pointed out that getting water across a highway posed some problems.
“I think it will be good to have a design for the sign and for the median. We have water up to the bear sign but no farther. It is do-able to trench across to the median,” he said.
Coun. Bob Day asked, if “considering how much traffic there might be at that intersection from time to time” that the transportation ministry might want to do a traffic study to see what alterations they might like to do.
He was referring to an application to move the Sunfest country music festival from North Cowichan to a spot along the Youbou highway about two kilometres west of the intersection under discussion.
Rizk said there was always the possibility as well that the former sawmill site at Youbou might be developed.
Councillors will consider ideas for the sign at their next public works meeting.