Tag Archives: Cortes Island Housing

Housing

Cortes Island’s Virtual Homeshare Forum

The Cortes Housing Society’s Virtual Forum kicks off this Saturday with a program on home sharing. This is a monthly event, co-sponsored by Folk-U. At 10 AM this Saturday host Sadhu Johnston will be joined by Noelle Marcus, from the US homeshare program Nesterly, and Janey Rowland, from the SGI (Southern Gulf Island) Housing Now Project.

“We all  know that there are a lot of homes that are underutilized or empty, and there are also a lot of homes that are just under-occupied. Maybe the kids have moved away, or for whatever reason there is an extra bedroom.  We know there are a good number of people on Cortes who are single and would be happy with a bedroom in a house,” explained Sadhu Johnston, executive director of the Cortes Housing Society. 

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Housing

Quadra Island considering opting-in to Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act 

Cortes Island is not the only rural area dealing with the provincial government’s Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act. Regional Director Robyn Mawhinney wants to know if Quadra Island would like to opt-in. She is conducting an online poll, which you can access by clicking on the link at the bottom of this page. Mawhinney is  also holding  an in-person meeting in the Quadra Community Centre at 6:30 PM on Wednesday, March 20th. 

“Opting in is certainly on the table right now. You’ve probably seen that there’s a survey out, live right now at srd.ca, which is asking islanders to identify the benefits of short term rentals, their potential concerns with them, and where they should be permitted. I think the survey, as well as providing a window into how islanders want to coexist with short term rentals, will help inform potential zoning by law changes,” she explained.

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Housing, Politics

Op-ed: Reflections on the Cortes Bylaw update meeting

The SRD planning meeting in Mansons Hall did not go as planned. I don’t think the group was opposed to further densification, as much as people just wanted to talk. I think we need to hear insight from some of our respected community thought leaders before placing stickies on a map to indicate where we think development should happen.

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Housing

Community Meeting for Cortes Zoning Bylaw Update

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Around 60 people turned out for the Strathcona Regional District’s (SRD) zoning bylaw meeting in Mansons Hall at 1 PM on Wednesday, March 6. 

The meeting went very differently from how the SRD planned it. There was to have been a short presentation, after which participants were to have gathered around two maps and put sticky dots on the properties where the bylaws should be changed to allow for greater densification. Instead, this was a community conversation.

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Housing

Cortes Island Opts in to BC Short Term Rental Act; Quadra Considering

Effective May 1, 2024, all BC communities with a population over 10,000 have to limit short term rentals to the host’s principle residence plus one secondary suite or accessory dwelling unit. Campbell River, Comox, Courtenay and Powell River are all on the list of  64 communities where this applies. Cortes Island is too small to be on that list, but has chosen to opt in, and Quadra Island is considering the idea. 

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