Our team at the Cortes Community Economic Development Association (CCEDA) is very excited to present our site design concept for the Village Commons, a result of community meetings and input that you shared with us over the past six months. The final site plan document is attached to this post.

We hope you will take a look!

This current plan is intended to be realized in phases over several years. Many factors will determine how and when each part of the plan is able to be built including need, capacity, funding, and other projects in the neighbourhood. We want to allow time in between the construction of each of the components, so we can continue to reflect on and respond to the changing needs of the community. We also want to encourage regeneration of the land after each construction disturbance.

We believe that this site design concept reflects the vision, goals, and recommendations you shared with us during the various land visioning activities we held this past fall. And, now we’re hoping to hear from you again! Does this plan capture your ideas accurately? Is anything missing? What feels like the most important element/elements that we should prioritize building? Anything not making sense or feeling out of place?

As your feedback comes in to us, we will be working on writing a business plan to accompany the site design.

For more information, or to offer your feedback, please contact Kate at project.mgr.ccedagmail.com.

THANK YOU

We have many to thank for their help in this community effort.

We are especially thankful to all of you who participated in our various engagement activities and offered your vision for the Village Commons. You helped us pull together years of ideas into a tangible plan that can help to meet so many of our community’s needs.

We would like to thank Dave Snider with Pathways Landscape Group for his very professional attention to this project, from start to finish. And, another thank you to Patricia Huntsman who supported us with designing and leading the engagement activities.

Thank you to Laurier Mathieu and his crew at True Foundations for providing site clean up and improvements. We are so thrilled that it is now safe for people to walk and gather on the land.

We’d like to thank the following service providers: Lawn Order for landscaping support, Creative Deconstruction for debris pick up and disposal, Travis Pawlak for table and bench construction, and All Clear Septic.

We are grateful to the board of the South Cortes Community Association, and to Sandra Wood of the Cortes Community Housing Society, for their ideas and assistance as we mapped out projects and collaborations that are possible for the Manson’s Landing neighbourhood.

Thanks to the following establishments for hosting a “sounding board” on your buildings: Squirrel Cove Trading Company, Manson’s Hall, Cortes Market, and Whaletown Ferry Terminal.

We are so thankful to all the generous volunteers who assisted with site cleanup and other project events, including Loni Taylor, Donna Dryer, Paul Wolda, Matt Cusciana, Connie Brill, Travis Pawlak, Jedidiah Duyf, Mike Moore, Jim Foster, Gypsy Mama, Amy Robertson, Beatrix Baxter, Colin Funk… And, anyone else we may have forgotten, thank you!

We are very thankful to the Island Coastal Economic Trust (ICET) for the financial support that made the community engagement and business planning portions of this project possible.

Thank you as well to the Community Economic Recovery Infrastructure Program (CERIP) by the Government of British Columbia for their generous financial support toward continued project site clean-up and infrastructure improvements.

Finally, we offer gratitude to our committed local donors for the financial support that made this project possible.