Sacha Peter

The building in the plaza formerly known as Manos is now being operated by the owners of Restaurant 62 in Abbotsford. The Lakeside Beach Club will be opening later this month.

The Abbotsford Today wrote a short article (link here) about Chef Jeff Massey’s new endeavour.

Restaurant 62 will have a little sister this summer. This will be a place to enjoy Chef Jeff Massey’s amazing food in a casual, upbeat dining room or on the patio in the heart of Cultus Lake Park. The concept is more casual and family friendly but we will bring our high standards of food and service to the new location. We hope you will share our excitement with us as we take on this new challenge.

The Lakeside Beach Club is located in the building located at 4131 Columbia Valley Hwy. in the Plaza in the Park across from the Cultus Lake Waterslides. We will be open for lunch and dinner seven days a week through the summer. Winter hours to be announced.

Also, Cultus Lake Waterpark owner Chris Steunenberg was interviewed in a Chilliwack Progress article (link here) titled “Bodacious new bowls for water park fans”.

The Steunenbergs went ahead and bought the 10-year old Bazooka Bowls, tore them down, transported them and then galvanized the steel, and rebuilt the attraction at Cultus Lake.

Two of the three new rides are the Bowls, and the third is an inline raft ride with a 30-foot drop, that they’re thinking of calling the Boomerang.

The four-person raft takes riders through a curving course, with three figure eights, and a big drop. It’s got high banking corners that curve right in on the rider.

All together it’s been a multi-million investment, he says. The business has re-invested in the park every year for the past five years.

“We’ve shopped the best rides so a local family does not have to go to California to get this incredible experience. We’ve brought California right here.”

It is my best wishes for all our commercial leaseholders to have a prosperous 2013 as we come closer to the busy summer season.

A few weeks ago the park board sent out a letter to leaseholders on the western side of the lake concerning wharves. A partial excerpt of the letter is as follows:

You are invited to attend a meeting with Board members and Park staff on Thursday, April 18, 2013 at 3:00pm at the Cultus Lake Park Office, to participate in a discussion regarding the wharves that are located in the Cultus Lake Park foreshore.

Topics of discussion at the meeting will include the current status and jurisdiction of wharves; and potential privatization of some of the Cultus Lake Park wharves.

Currently, by virtue of being located in the foreshore, they are on public property. Functionally, however, a large number of wharves on the west side are enclaves and are only accessible either through the water, or through residential leaseholders’ properties (which one would technically have to trespass to get to through the “land” option unless if they received consent of the leaseholder). There is also a wharf which is accessible by staircase from the end of Lakeshore Drive.

Complicating matters include the fact that a number of residential leaseholders funded the capital improvements of certain wharves; liability aspects, and jurisdiction.

Although the meeting notice was only sent to the residents on the west side of the lake, I am interested in hearing feedback from all people, including those that do not live next to a wharf.

Specifically, I would be interested in whether anybody uses these wharves that are not already associated with the residents (e.g. leaseholder, friend of a leaseholder, etc.) on the west side of the lake. You can email sacha@sachapeter.ca.

The board will not be making any decisions on the matter on this April 18th consultation, but may in a future meeting.

The Fraser Basin Council has posted the documents available for the Milfoil workshop that was held on February 15, 2013. In particular, the two presentations made by Dr. John Madsen were quite valuable. I’ve also attached the slides here:

Part 1 (Understanding Eurasian Milfoil)
Part 2 (Eurasian Watermilfoil Management Strategies)

I have went through the overview of the City of Chilliwack’s 2013 budget.

Notably, of interest to Cultus Lake Park will be looming 2014 planned capital expenditure of $9.5 million to replace the Vedder River Bridge. I know when I cross the bridge and there is a huge gravel truck coming in the opposite direction that the margin of error on the left hand side is not that wide!

I have taken an extract of the 2013 financial plan document and have circled the relevant entry. That document can be read by clicking here.

Things can change between now and next year that could result in this planned capital expenditure on being delayed, but if the 2014 plan proceeds as presented, the narrow bridge will finally be replaced.

To put some perspective on the cost of $9.5 million, it is nearly three years’ worth of Cultus Lake Park’s existing operational budget.

(Update: The replacement of the Vedder River Bridge is contingent on receiving matching funds from the Federal and Provincial government – 1/3rd from each level of government.)

Cultus Lake resident Dave Clyne is quoted in the first of a three part series in the Chilliwack Times (written by Cornelia Naylor) article titled “The Exception rather than the rule” (link to story here). Some quotations:

When Dave Clyne first met 11-year-old Kieran O’Donnell eight years ago, he was afraid he’d met his match.

The veteran teacher was just three months away from retirement after a 32-year teaching career that included six years of teaching learning disabled kids to read in the now-defunct District Resource Program.

But O’Donnell would prove to be a special case.

…

“At the end of two months we kind of figured maybe this boy was one who wasn’t going to be able to read,” Clyne said.

At that point few could have predicted where O’Donnell would end up today.

In January he graduated from Sardis secondary with his Dogwood diploma.

I would like to congratulate Dave and Kieran for their success and look forward to reading the other two parts of this series.

On the February 27, 2013 meeting (which can be viewed on video), I gave a report to the board regarding milfoil and part of what I learned from attending the milfoil conference on February 15, 2013.

The short summary is that given our budget at Cultus Lake Park, there is no chance of us eradicating the Eurasian milfoil. Future policies concerning the mitigation of the impact of milfoil should be explored in context of keeping certain patches of the lake free of it as opposed to a general strategy.

There was a lengthy effort done by a certain institution in the University of Idaho that was given a significant budget to eliminate milfoil, and they discovered that it requires continuous effort to successfully mitigate using multiple methods. Provocatively, they suggested the usage of aquatic herbicides, which can be practically used in the USA but not in Canada due to different regulatory regimes.

My verbal report on milfoil was more comprehensive and can be found in the video.

Finally, during question period the topic of governance was brought up. MLA Gwen O’Mahony wrote the following letter to Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development Bill Bennett on November 13, 2012 (linked here).

Notably the last paragraph of the letter indicates that she would table an amendment to the Cultus Lake Park Act (via a Members’ Bill) that would address this, but subsequent to the issuance of the the letter, she discovered there were significant complications involving this that prevented her from doing so. I commend Gwen O’Mahony for trying and respect her genuine attempt to address this matter with the Ministry. There is a significant length of history regarding the Cultus Lake Park Act and some things that seem simple are not.

On January 15, 2013, Minister Bill Bennett sent a reply to MLA Gwen O’Mahony (linked here). The take-home message is the following sentence in the letter:

The Province of British Columbia has never intended for the Board to function as a municipal government, nor can it under the provisions of the Community Charter.

While I remain open to the possibility that there will be some change to the park act, I do not anticipate it happening under present conditions. I also do not anticipate that a change in government will result in any difference with respect to the Cultus Lake Park Act – there are other factors at work which complicate the issue.

I always have an expression to anybody talking about a project involving computers (especially software): triple your original time budget for completion.

There were about 10 people present in the gallery in yesterday’s board meeting to hear me say that the board proceedings are being recorded and will be available tomorrow (which meant on February 14, 2013). I had a small talk with our staff and, as anybody that has tried to upload high-resolution video to Youtube can attest, the file size was enormously large and thus there will have to be some technological wizardry applied before that video will be available online.

I am fully confident that our staff will develop a good working process for this, just like how the folks at the City of Chilliwack seem to have a good system going.

The take-home message here is that it will take a bit more time. Thanks for your patience.

(Update, February 15, 2013) Our fantastic staff has now put the video online. The link is here.

Owner and operator of the Cultus Lake Waterpark, Chris Steunenberg, commented on a Chilliwack Times article about the business impact of a potential switch to a year-round school calendar (link here). Some quotes include:

Steunenberg estimates his business would lose 40 per cent of its revenue if all B.C. districts adopted a similar plan.

“It would have such a huge impact, we wouldn’t be able to operate,” he said.

He predicts the same would hold true for summer camps, tourist attractions, amusement parks, campgrounds, boat rentals and other seasonal businesses.

…

Because Langley makes up 10 to 15 per cent of Cultus Lake Water Park’s market, according to Steunenberg, a move to a year-round school calendar there would have an immediate impact on his business, but he is more worried about the precedent such a move would set for other districts.

Suffice to say, if it will affect the waterslides, it will also affect other Cultus Lake Park businesses including Sunnyside Campground. This is certainly something to put up on the business risk list that I had not previously considered.

One might think we use the two-month summer break system (July and August) because of a function of climate, but states like California and Texas, where it is generally warm most of the year and especially in summer, mostly have their kids going home for summer break in the middle of June and come back in the middle of August.

The potential for changes to the school calendar was legislated in Bill 36, the School Amendment Act, 2012, which received royal assent in May 31, 2012. One part of this act (clause 8) was to allow local school district control over the calendar.

In July 2010, the Cultus Lake Park Board adopted a policy concerning commemorative table, trees and benches. This also typically includes memorial tables and trees around the park.

I noticed in an article that Harrison Hot Springs is considering to limit the number of benches simply due to the lack of space to place them. You can read the article by clicking here.

While there are no limits currently set in Cultus Lake Park, I am curious as to the public’s feedback with respect to whether there should be limitations or term limits placed on such memorial benches and tables. Right now the applicant would have to pay for the acquisition and installation costs, but not the maintenance for an indefinite time period.

If you have some thoughts about this, please contact me by emailing sacha@sachapeter.ca.

Here is a quote from the newspaper article:

Putting in a park bench is costlier than you might expect.

The tab for a bench in Harrison is $2,300, which includes installation and maintenance for 10 years. After that period, there is a review of the cost for an extension.

Harrison isn’t the only place where premium spots for benches are in high demand.

There are about 1,100 hectares of parks in Vancouver and approximately 2,000 benches.

But Josie Riebe, manager of fundraising and development for the Vancouver Park Board, said “a number of our parks have reached capacity [for benches].”

Particularly popular is the waterfront from Spanish Banks east to Jericho.

Riebe said only about 40 per cent of the agreements for the memorial benches are renewed so “each year spaces become available.”

But they don’t come cheap.

A 10-year term for a bench’s installation and maintenance is $4,000. A ‘legacy’ bench with ongoing maintenance in perpetuity is available for $25,000.

In Surrey, where the slogan is ‘City of Parks’ and there are 2,630 hectares of parks, 229 of 420 benches are donated. But scenic Crescent Beach is almost at capacity.

Surrey memorial benches range in price from $2,400 to $3,500 for a 10-year term. There are also memorial picnic tables for $5,000.

In addition to providing emotional solace and a place to sit, memorial benches -and picnic tables-are tax deductible.

As an aside, I did not know about the tax deductibility part of purchasing these memorial benches!

Just like how Chilliwack City Council has, for a long time, posted their past two or three council meetings online, the Cultus Lake Park Board will be pursuing a similar initiative. In the January 9, 2013 board meeting, members of the public might have noticed some new hardware on the ceiling of the boardroom. The hardware has been installed and in February we will likely be able to provide video.

Just like any new system, there will be bugs that need to be ironed out of the process, but at last the public will have the ability to view board meetings from the luxury of their own homes, or anywhere they can receive the internet!