Almost everything, including copper electrical wire and even the kitchen sink, were stolen from Sharon McNeill’s home during a break-in in 2009.
McNeill owns property on Gibbins Road, close to the Cowichan River, and she told North Cowichan’s council that trespassing on her land by people making their way to the river has been ongoing for years.
She said it took a lot of turmoil and expense to get her home up and running again after the break in.
“I don’t want anything like that to happen again, but people appear unexpected in our backyard all the time, and then they have to trespass over land belonging to the Cowichan Tribes as well,” McNeill said.
“There’s a lot of trespassing going on there.”
The issue arose from a discussion at the council table of an unrelated matter regarding the municipality’s efforts to remove the “urban” designation from 21 hectares of property, including the land belonging to McNeill.
The property includes 17 parcels of land, adjacent or in close proximity to the Cowichan River and the aim of the rezoning is to help achieve North Cowichan’s biodiversity conservation goals set out in its official community plan.
Council gave the final reading to the plan after the public hearing earlier this month.
The issue of accessibility to Paradise Pools and other popular swimming locations along the Cowichan River in that area was raised earlier this year as a popular path on private property that was used by the public to get to the river was closed off by the property owner.
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In a statement at the time, the municipality said that it had received many inquiries on the issue, but because the trails and access in question are through private and Cowichan Tribes land, North Cowichan does not have jurisdiction to facilitate public access.
North Cowichan’s website lists a number of trails and connections that the public can use to access the river, including at the end of Heritage Road, Cowichan River Provincial Park, Stolz Pool, Skutz Falls and Marie Canyon.
Coun. Joyce Behnsen said she wonders if it might be productive to discuss opportunities for a fenced access to the river through property owned by Catalyst Paper in the area.
But Mayor Jon Lefebure said the discussion at that meeting was strictly concerned with the amendments to the OCP.
“The issue of river access is a different issue than the motion we’re discussing,” he said.
“If we want to discuss river access, it should be put on the agenda for a future council meeting.”
robert.barron@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
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