Echo Heights is an undedicated 52-acre (21 hectare) park at the north end of the village of Chemainus, part of the Municipality of North Cowichan on the east side of Vancouver Island. Chemainus does not have its own village council; North Cowichan is responsible for it, along with other small hamlets such as Maple Bay, Cowichan Bay, Crofton and others. Up to now, Echo Heights has been the last bit of land left undeveloped in Chemainus.
The following statement is taken directly from North Cowichan's Web site: "Council's role is to provide good government, service its citizens' needs and wants, provide stewardship for its public assets, and create a positive economic, social and environmental climate."
The residents of Chemainus agree that the statement provides a good foundation on which to govern not only Chemainus, but all of the areas in North Cowichan. They feel, however, that North Cowichan has broken this promise.
In a vote held in secret in April 2006, the North Cowichan council decided, without any public input, to destroy Echo Heights and use it for a mixed housing development, from expensive to low-cost.
The park contains mature second-growth trees. They are 100 years old and are now starting to take on some of the attributes of an old-growth forest. The park is also home to the rare red-legged frog and other fauna. The residents of Chemainus love to visit their forest to enjoy the change of seasons in a natural setting and to see if they can spot the frog. They walk on wide, well-groomed trails.
Echo Heights is not the place for any low-cost housing development. Not only would development of the Heights destroy the park growing there, but it is also the wrong location: it is a long walk from there through an up-scale housing sub-division to the centre of the village where the amenities exist that are needed by many people in low-cost housing (though some might have their own transportation).
Please view these Web pages. If you can, go to Chemainus; ask anyone for directions to Echo Heights. Walk through the beautiful forest. Imagine it full of housing. Careful where you walk! You could be standing in someone's future living room.
For more information, you may go the Chemainus Residents' Association Web site here or email them here.
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