After all hope seemed lost, the Metchosin Village Square received support from the district council on Tuesday, July 23.
"Three weeks ago, we just got met with a lot of questions and declarations around safety," Shannon Carmen, chair of the district's healthy community advisory committee, said. "There was some support and enthusiasm, but there was so much pushback, discussion and confusion over things."
Due to this, Carmen said that at this moment, giving up on the 10-year project was an increasingly likely option, as the project seemed to have finally stalled.
"I was just like, 'Oh my god, I can't explain this anymore,'" Carmen said. "If it is not self-evident that this is a good thing for the community, I don't know what to say."
This changed a week and a half ago when Carmen received word that Metchosin Coun. Sharie Epp and CAO Bob Payette had resisted the initial rejection and agreed to do a site visit for the potential village square.
The project was been led by a group of almost all young volunteers who were willing to give their time, resources, and money.
"We were offering like tens of thousands of dollars of in-kind materials and labour," Carmen said. "It is bananas how much we are putting into this."
Carmen began the project as a solo mother, struggling, like many in rural communities, to find connection and friendship. She decided that having a gathering place where people could come together could help her community.
"It's been this amorphous kind of vision that has gone through peaks and troughs."
As time went on Carmen got married and had another child.
"My partner and I work like everyone else who is trying to make this happen."
Carmen will now meet with Payette on Wednesday, Aug. 7, to discuss the next steps.
"We'll start talking about how this (Village Square) will be a thing."
Despite their approval, council still has concerns about the village, Carmen said.
"We have two things on the docket," she said. "The village itself and the entranceway."
Council on July 23 had pushed back on the need for an entranceway and kicked that proposal back down the road, Carmen said.
"It is just awkward and weird to not have one."
