Development, Housing, Politics

SRD Staff to identify public lands on Quadra for potential affordable housing sites

SRD staff will prepare a staff report identifying public lands on Quadra Island that may be available for affordable housing development.

This is the second time that Regional Director Robyn Mawhinney of Area C brought forward a motion asking for a report and in both cases she was opposed by Directors from Campbell River and Area D. They successfully blocked it at the August 20th SRD Board meeting, but an amended motion passed on September 17, 2025.

Screenshot from SRD Board Meeting
Screenshot from Director Mawhinney’s letter to EASC
“Motions on the floor are always discouraged and I’m thinking it should possibly be in the form of a notice of motion rather than a motion.” – Director Kerr
 ”A lot of these organizations already have identified areas that they want to develop. They’re probably held by private landowners. They can make arrangements with respect to these private landowners in return for charitable donations and things.” – Director Sinnott

In the unedited audio of the meeting that follows, Campbell River Director Robert Kerr stated the Director of Area C should have filed a notice of motion, rather than making a motion from the floor. Campbell River Director Susan Sinnott claimed the report will not accomplish what Quadra wants and said they do things differently in Campbell River.

 ”There are many other avenues that I am exploring … (The Discovery Island Affordable Housing Society)  identified finding Crown Land would be a really great benefit to their organization” – Director Mawhinney

Regional Director Robyn Mawhinney of Area C described her relationship with the  Discovery Islands Affordable Housing Society, a volunteer organization on Quadra Island. She is not being familiar with the way  Campbell River does housing projects, but the SRD has a regional housing service and it would be great if they could support an affordable housing project on Quadra Island. 

“T here’s not just one way to get housing done. We need the private market, we need local government, we need nonprofits and to make progress on housing, we need to push the envelope on all those aspects.” – Director Vonesch

Cortes Island Director Mark Vonesch supported the motion, reminding the board that we are in a housing crisis and there is more than one way to get housing projects done.

The motion passed despite opposing votes from Campbell River Directors Chapman, Kerr and Sinnott, as well as Alternate Director Browne for Area D. 

SRD staff will be looking for public lands within a reasonable distance from the Village Centres of Heriot Bay and Quathiaski Cove.

Links of Interest:

All photos above are screenshots from the video of the September 17, 2025 SRD Board Meeting

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