Looking through the trees into a clearcut
Housing

Phase One At Rainbow Ridge: Boundaries With The Senior’s Village And Firehall

Part 1 0f 3

There were a couple of changes in the plan for the Rainbow Ridge Affordable Housing Development as the site was cleared. A small parcel of land along the northern border of the property was given to the Cortes Island Fire Department, to enable it to expand. Plans for a hedge of trees between Rainbow Ridge and the Cortes Island Senior’s Village were altered.

Mark Lombard spoke on behalf of the Cortes Island Housing Society, “ In the first phase, we have cut down the trees in the area where the housing society will be building 24 units of affordable housing over the next few years, as well as a community building that’ll house a laundromat and washrooms and an office for the housing society.”

“We’ve cleared about four acres of land right behind the Manson’s Fire Hall. We’ve also cleared about 50 feet of forest that is now going to be part of the training yard for the fire department. There’s more space for the helicopters to land and more room for training. The ambulance is also bringing in a housing unit for the paramedics into the training yard.”

Unfortunately they also cut down a great many more trees than the Cortes Island Seniors Village wanted. 

Mark Lombard: “We didn’t communicate as clearly as we could have. We met with some of the seniors this week, and we had a really constructive, positive conversation. I feel like their concerns were addressed and we were able to answer their questions, but it’s a really hard thing and we really empathize and understand the fact that it’s never easy to see the trees cut down in the neighborhood where you live”

One of the seniors, who did not wish to be identified, expressed support for Rainbow Ridge as a project and agreed that Cortes Island needs more housing, but she had loved that forest.

Cortes Currents spoke to three seniors and they were all devastated, but Naomi Hayter was the only one who agreed to an interview.

“I’ve only just moved here. My concern is for the village here and the impact it’s had on the people who have lived here much longer than I have. This has been a shock to everyone.” 

“This village was created by the elders who came before us, and I find that to be a very special living situation for people of the age group from seventies up into nineties. It’s been a safe place for people and I think it’s a model for other communities to come and look at. People have come and looked at it as future possibilities for other places, but it has been compromised, I think.” 

Up until now the Senior’s Village had been sheltered in the trees, now it sits on the edge of a four acre clearcut. 

Two months ago, at a public meeting in Mansons Hall on January 29, Sadhu Johnston, Executive Director of the Housing Society,  said, “We heard loud and clear from them that they support the project, but they don’t want to lose all the trees. There are some nicer cedars. So we’re moving the project south. There’s a natural land clearing down here that we’ll be taking advantage of this way.”

Cortes Currents: The first aerial photos of the logging operation (above) showed a fringe of trees separating the Senior’s Village from Rainbow Ridge. Most of these have since been removed.

Mark Lombard: “ In the northwest corner, which is directly adjacent to the senior’s cottages, we cleared the area where the training yard for the fire department’s going to expand.  Then we cleared out a little patch of trees that were unhealthy that had a lot of root rot in them, and some of them had already started to fall over. We were particularly worried about having them blow onto the seniors’ homes.”

 “Cortes Island has root rot all over the place.  A lot of people who are tracking those issues know that. There is Armillaria and Phellinus, two strains of root rot that really affect the Douglas Fir and also to a lesser extent the Hemlocks.  There was quite a bit of rot in the area that we worked in. I think people have seen that there are two trees that fell on the fence. One of them fell right on the helipad, a couple months ago.  The root is totally gone on the tree, there’s no root left.” 

“The northwest corner had the worst of it.”  

Cortes Currents: That is where Rainbow Ridge touches the Cortes Island Seniors Village.

Mark Lombard: “We’ve taken out those trees that had the root rot in that area and now we don’t have the risk of them falling onto the helipad and we don’t have the risk of them blowing over and hitting the senior cottages.” 

“By creating an opening for the 24 units, we made a new situation for the wind and it was really exposed to the southeasterly there. We left a fringe of fluffy cedars, as one of the seniors call them, that are more wind firm and less prone to root rot.”

There are very few trees separating most of the Senior’s Village from the clearcut and in the bottom 50 feet, which is being given to the fire department, there are none. 

Naomi Hayter lives in one of the exposed units, “I’m appalled at what I’m seeing outside my door. I’m worried about the infrastructure of what’s happening to the village here, because now we have a wind tunnel.  The southeasterlies come right through here.  Now we have concerns about the heat domes that we might be having again.” 

“There was a wonderful walk where we could walk from the village down to Mansons Hall to do our shopping and our mail and everything.  Now all the trees are gone on that little forested walk. We’ve resorted to going back down the road with the cars because it’s just not a pleasant walk anymore.”

The pathway she was referring to was on the Fire Department’s old northern border. One of the reasons for its expansion was the need for a cleared space around the helipad that is at least four times as wide as the nearest trees are high. 

Mark Lombard:  “We had trees that were really tall, directly adjacent to the helipad, and we did not have anywhere near the four tree lengths. Now we’ve cleared the area to expand the training yard and directly behind that, we’re not going to have any tall conifers.”

Cormorant helicopter from 442 Squadron, 19 Wing Comox,- Photo by 19 Wing Imaging, master Corporal Rebecca Bell via Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

 Cortes Currents: Have you ever had any complaints from helicopters  about the limited space here? 

Mark Lombard: “Absolutely, it’s an ongoing challenge. We have a BC Air Ambulance that comes to Cortes for evacuations fairly regularly, they’ve complained about the trees nearby.  However when there’s a wind storm and those air ambulances can’t fly, we have the cormorant come from Comox and it’s almost impossible for them to land here. We had an incident a couple weeks ago where there were actually three helicopters here, so it was a really serious issue that needed to be addressed.”   

Cortes Currents: Are you taking steps to remediate the boundary with the Senior’s Village?

Mark Lombard: “Our plan for the area now,  in cooperation with the seniors  and some permaculture design people, is to plant a deciduous forest that’ll be comprised of birch trees, maple trees, nut trees, fruit trees, and create a little bit of an orchard in that corner. That’ll provide a buffer between the seniors cottages and the fire department and the seniors cottage and the Rainbow Ridge site.”

“We will likely also build either a fence or expand the cedar hedge line, or potentially plant some bamboo in there to provide  a more immediate screen for the neighbors in the seniors village.”  

One of the seniors said this sounded good, but as they were all elderly she did not know how many would still be alive when it came to fruition. 

Another said there has been enough negativity. They need to move on. She just hopes they build a large fence because she does not want to have to look at a construction site for years to come. 

Cortes Currents:  How long do you think it would take for the trees to grow to the point they form a screen?   

Mark Lombard: “I think we’re going to try to do two things. We may build a fence all the way across, which one of the seniors has asked for. We may plant some bamboo and we may extend the cedar hedge. Those things could be fairly quick to have an actual visual barrier.”

Rhododendruns – Photo by Eevi Alanissi via Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

“Of course, the orchard. Fruit and nut trees will take a little bit longer. That’ll be more of a four to seven year period before they really grow out and become much of a screen. We’re also thinking about things like Rhododendrons, some plants that are lower down to have a multi-layer effect.” 

Changes in the text:

*I originally wrote plans were ‘drastically altered after root rot was discovered.’ Mark Lombard emailed that the Housing Society knew there was root rot and attempted to convey this. I found support for this perspective in conversations with one of the seniors.

Part 2 explains where the logs and wood debris are going and Part 3 is about Firesmarting Rainbow Ridge.

Links of Interest:

All undesignated photos by Roy L Hales

Sign-up for Cortes Currents email-out:

To receive an emailed catalogue of articles on Cortes Currents, send a (blank) email to subscribe to your desired frequency: