Its first year has been an eventful one for the Cowichan Lake Economic Advisory Network.
It’s been both fortunate and unfortunate, Cowichan Lake District Chamber of Commerce president Jim Humphry said.
The unfortunate comes in the form of disagreements within the group, which led to the resignation of its chair Bruce Ingram.
The fortunate comes in the group’s potential fulfillment of its goal of economic development in the Cowichan Lake area.
The Chamber of Commerce is still working with people interested in developing a pellet plant at Cowichan Lake.
“We’re hopeful,” Humphrey said.
Pending a long-term commitment of fibre, a pellet plant could create 30 full time and part time jobs, in addition to trucking and other offshoot jobs.
“It will have a fairly big impact,” Humphry said.
The network will sit down again in September to hash out their next course of action. Humphry maintains his optimism, alongside the Cowichan Lake area’s elected officials.
“We’ll see if we can get it going in a positive direction,” he said, of the upcoming September meeting.