At the Oct. 2, Parks, Recreation and Culture Committee meeting, Rita Dustow, the Cowichan Lake District Chamber of Commerce president, approached mayor and council to seek partial funding for a 2013 (and beyond) Cowichan Lake area map and brochure.
Total approximate cost for the maps and brochures would sit at around $8,000, which would see the printing of 20,000 maps, and 20,000 brochures. These maps and brochures would then be used over the next five years.
The chamber will also be seeking equal funding contributions from Areas F and I, and would itself be contributing as well. Each contributor would pay approximately $2,000 into the cost of producing the materials.
The last time a map and brochure for the area was printed was approximately five years ago and Dustow says that these valuable tools, used by both area residents and tourists, are out of date.
The chamber would like to use the same map that was printed by the town in previous years. Going back to this map would mean that instead of asking local businesses to advertise, and thus help fund the project, it would not include advertisements.
The brochure is meant to give more in depth information on the services in the area.
“This map is not just a tourist map, it is a map that is used by real estate people, people who go around and look at houses and stuff like that, so it’s not just a tourism map, it is a map that is used by everybody,” Dustow explained to mayor and council.
“I would like you guys to consider, and I have to talk to Areas F and I, that we all get together and collaborate on a map and brochure that is done by all of us,” said Dustow. “We’re all agreeable that we have to look through these to see what we want as a whole body.”
The chamber has yet to meet with Ian Morrison director for Area F, and Pat Weaver director for Area I, to get their response to the project, but Dustow expects to in the near future, and both Dustow and mayor and council agreed to meet and discuss the project sometime in November.
Council decided to move the item to the next Finance and Administration Committee meeting on Oct. 16, for further discussion and consideration before meeting with the chamber and Areas F and I.