By Daryl Major

Village of Bowser eyes growth with government money

Mar 22, 2017 | 11:01 AM

NANAIMO – The board chair of the Regional District of Nanaimo calls it a game changer.

Bill Veenhof was reacting to the announcement of over $4.5 million in senior government funding for a sewer servicing project in Bowser. He said the service will allow the RDN to increase density in the village.

“Which now then allows more people in there. It allows us to talk about affordable housing to be truly affordable,” Veenhof said. “That brings in young people. It gets young people an opportunity to get into the real estate market. Down the road, as Bowser develops with those densities, we might even see a doctor come in.”

Currently 66 properties will benefit and the goal is to have all village properties convert from septic to sewer service. According to Veenhof, it’s another step closer to attracting more people to the village.

“It’s an RDN plan. But it was a huge and very strong positive community voice in that. And the OCP is the same way, the money that the province and the feds have given us allows us to realize the vision of the Bowser Rural Village Plan.”

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Further to that, Veenhof said more people means potentially more development.

“Give you an example, we’ve got a group, a not-for-profit, it’s trying to build seniors housing in Bowser. This makes that project that much more viable. It’s huge.”

The money for Bowser was part of $372 million going towards water and waste water projects across British Columbia.

The list also included almost $3.7 million for Parksville for updating drinking water supply transmission mains and secondary membrane water treatment.

daryl.major@jpbg.ca