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Councillor: Dogs raising a stink in Ukee

Municipal councillor Randy Oliwa recently took advantage of Ucluelet's string of sunny days to take a walk through town but his sightlines were ruined by dog excrement.

During Tuesday's regular council meeting, Oliwa said he had seen several off-leash dogs and various displays of dog feces while walking through Ucluelet on Saturday. "Personally I'd like to see some more waste baskets around and more of those pet bag dispensers available to the public," he said.

"Really I'd like to see a little more onus put on the pet-owner to be more responsible around the community...It's just being respectful of your neighbour."

Coun. Geoff Lyons agreed some dog owners are not properly disposing of their dog's waste but he was hesitant to support installing more bag dispensers.

"Whilst I understand and get rather appalled at some of the mess that's left around town I don't want the eyesore of all those dispensers," he said. "People taking their dog out should expect they may need their own bag and I think the onus should be, to some degree, on those people to prepare themselves."

Lyons noted that under Ucluelet's current animal control bylaw dogs do not have to be on a leash but must be in the control of a person and cannot run at large.

Public works gets boost in storage space Council issued a development permit that will allow a 30 square metre single-storey addition to an accessory building within the district's Public Works Yard at 2070 Peninsula Rd.

The addition will have three open bays and will be used to shelter vehicles.

There are various single storey structures located within the yard, which is screened from Peninsula Road by a roughly 3 metre cedar hedge surrounding it, according to a report from district planning assistant John Towgood.

The report says the addition will be to an existing cedar clad structure near the front of the property that used to be the district's recycling depot but is now used for general storage.

The existing structure being added to will be cosmetically upgraded to ensure a cohesive look for the finished product, according to Towgood's report.

Ucluelet getting set to make history available Coun. Geoff Lyons spoke to a recent meeting he attended with the Ucluelet and Area Historical Society (UHS).

The UHS is working on historical signage that will be placed around Ucluelet's downtown core including possible informational kiosks where pedestrians can stop and learn about the community's history, according to Lyons.

He said signage will be attached to Ucluelet's historical structures including the Crow's Nest gift shop and the Lodge building that houses Officials Sports Lounge and the Pacific Rim Arts Society's office.

An informational plaque is also expected to be placed on the building formerly known as St. Aidan's Church.

Lyons said the UHS is working on a business plan to present to the district regarding a building near the Amphitrite Point Lighthouse that could potentially become a Uclueletian museum. "The talk is that the front would be a coffee shop and while people buy coffee and muffins they'll stroll around a bit of history," Lyons told the Westerly News after the meeting.

"The (Wild Pacific) Trail Society are also interested in joining partnership so there might be some synergy there for the two of them to work together."' The George Fraser Society, a subsidiary of the UHS, is in need of volunteers to help keep the rhododendron gardens around the community looking sharp, according to Lyons.

The UHS plans to hold their annual general meeting in February and Lyons said the meeting will feature a presentation from George Gudbranson on the inception of Ucluelet's fire department He added the UHS is working with the Pacific Rim Arts Society to put on a joint heritage event this year.

School District 70's PAC recharged Coun. Randy Oliwa spoke to a District Parent Advisory Council (DPAC) meeting he attended in Port Alberni on Jan. 22.

He said the volunteer group suffered a bit of a burnout after Port Alberni's new $58 million school opened in 2012 but it is gaining momentum again.

He said the meeting was well attended by representatives from most of School District 70's elementary and secondary schools and that a school board representative and a representative from the board of trustees were present to answer questions.

"It was really nice to see and some really nice questions were posed to School District 70," he said. "They did stress the fact that the trustees are working really hard with the budget constraints that they've been given from the Province."

The DPAC usually meets quarterly but because of the budget constraints being imposed more frequent meetings are expected, according to Oliwa. reporter@westerlynews.ca



Andrew Bailey

About the Author: Andrew Bailey

I arrived at the Westerly News as a reporter and photographer in January 2012.
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