On Monday December 11th, four SRD staff came to Cortes to hold a local zoning hearing at noon, followed by a three hour open house starting at 1pm. Cortes residents were invited to provide input to assist SRD in revising and updating the zoning bylaw for Area B.
SRD was represented by Senior Manager Aniko Nelson, along with Planning and Parks Manager Meredith Starkey and Planners Annie Girdley and John Neill. They brought with them several large signboards, and placed them at tables in the hall. The first table explained what a Zoning Bylaw is; subsequent tables were focussed on four main topics: Water Zones (foreshore, waterfront, harbours), Cannabis Production and Sale, Housing Density, and Short Term Rentals.
There was no formal presentation. On each table, a large sheet of paper presented various options for zoning law revision, and attendees were invited to vote for their favourite options by applying coloured stickers, as well as writing comments directly on the sheet. SRD staff also provided official forms for written feedback, which were gathered in a large “ballot box”.
Between the hours of 1pm and 2:30pm, turnout for the event was quite good with about 30 people in the hall at any given time. As the afternoon wore on, attendance dropped off quickly. By 3:15 the crowd was very thin and SRD staff made a run for the 3:50 ferry — leaving Regional Director Mark Vonesch to welcome late-comers between 3:30 and 4pm.
At each table, a vertical placard explained the issue and the terminology used, while on the table surface a writable “ballot” allowed attendees to “vote” for their preferred options and add comments.
Some topics were clearly more contentious — or important — for the community than others; there was markedly more public engagement with housing density and short-term rental policy than with cannabis regulation.
The “vote with stickers” method may not perfectly representative, as there was nothing to prevent any attendee from applying multiple stickers to their preferred option to inflate perceived support. Most people observed by this reporter, however, treated it like a ballot and used only one sticker per acceptable option; so the “sticker feedback” is probably a fairly accurate indicator of public opinion.
Senior Manager Aniko Nelson declined to comment on public input received, saying that SRD could not make any statement until they had time to review all the written feedback as well as the display materials. However, she considered the event a success.
I think the event went quite well; it was really well attended. I think there was a lot of good conversation had. It really was our first time back in the community to discuss this — so it was really for the community to inform us, rather than the other way around. And I think we’ve got quite a bit out of this session that now we can come back and dissect, to be able to present to the community more details, and have more informed discussion at future meetings.
–Aniko Nelson, interviewed at the Dec 11 Open House
In addition to interactions with SRD staff and the provided table materials, the event offered attendees the opportunity to discuss zoning and land use issues with their fellow Cortes residents. Many conversations and debates took place between individuals or among small groups; the event encouraged residents to talk to each other, as well as “talking back” to SRD.
Cortes Currents will continue to cover the zoning bylaw rewrite process.
[all photos by author]