By Travis Paterson of the Saanich News April 1, 2015:
Members of the Cadboro Bay Residents Association and Cadboro Bay Village Business Improvement Association recently met at Goward House to share ideas about the future of Caddy Bay village.
The meeting was well attended and opinions flew fast and frequent, said CBRA president Eric Dahli. The evening was moderated by Monday Magazine founder Gene Miller, of New Landmarks.
“Topics that came up were safe pedestrian movement around the village, village beautification, and the possible expansion of the village,” said Dahli, currently in his second term as president seven years after his first one. Expansion is a tricky one for the tight knit community which boasts its share of NIMBYs, he said.
“If there’s expansion then in what direction, up the hill? down the hill?,” Dahli asked. “The consensus seems to think we’re better served to go up the hill. But there’s still a lot of questions.”
Among those questions is the ‘F word,’ which reared its head at the meeting, though ‘franchises’ have already invaded the village and the strong patronage of Starbucks, chief among them, is irrefutable.
“There was a lot of great ideas, a lot of great minds, and we took down that information with a goal to present it at the CBRA annual general meeting on May 13 at the Cadboro Bay United Church,” Dahli said.
“What we’d really like to do is update Saanich’s local area plan for Cadboro Bay by including these ideas. Saanich is on notice we want it renewed. Fifteen years ago if someone told me there’d be a smoothie bar, Thai and sushi restaurants, I would have said, ‘Where’s the overdone roast beef?”
reporter@saanichnews.com
