Tag Archives: Gerald Whalley

Community, Politics

Rural Directors opposed to their residents paying for Strathcona Garden renovations

The Directors of Cortes Island (Area B), Areas A and C are opposed to the idea that their ratepayers should help finance renovations to the Strathcona Gardens facility in Campbell River. The Strathcona Regional District’s portion of financing the new aquatic and wellness centre is expected to be around $73 million. Last April the SRD Board approved a bylaw allowing them to borrow $64,670.000. This debt is currently the responsibility of property owners in the City of Campbell River and Electoral Area D, where most of the facility’s users reside. At the June 28 SRD Board meeting, Directors John Rice of Area D and Susan Sinnott of Campbell River brought forward a motion that staff look into the option that ratepayers in Areas A, B, and C pick up part of the tab.

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Politics, Transportation

B.C. rolls out rural transportation surveys but the roadmap for action is unclear

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

B.C. is examining long-standing roadblocks to intercity transportation for rural communities on Vancouver Island and other underserved areas in the province.

The province is spending $2.5 million on in-person and virtual community consultations and online surveys to study passenger transportation gaps faced by rural and remote areas on Vancouver Island and parts of the coastal mainland, as well as B.C.’s north and southern Interior. 

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Housing, Politics

SRD looking into establishing a Housing Service

The Strathcona Regional District (SRD) is looking into the possibility of setting up a housing service to access funding for affordable housing projects. 

In the staff report prepared for the June 14 Board meeting, it states that 45% of the renters in the SRD are paying more for housing than they can afford. Many homeowners are facing similar affordability problems.

“Both the Comox Valley Regional District and the Cowichan Valley Regional District currently access requisition taxes for a housing service fund, to be accessed by local non-profit housing providers and other partners to support housing projects.”

Staff is not suggesting the SRD increase taxes, the proposal is to set up a service which would allow it to access grant money. 

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Politics

Making room for Cortes, Quadra and other rural areas within the SRD

The Strathcona Regional District’s rural Directors often feel they do not have much input in Board decisions. The topic came up at the May 10 meeting, when the Board passed a resolution that staff prepare a report on methods to increase public consultation for regional services.’ A second resolution calls for a policy to have the Municipal Services Committee refer new services to the Electoral Areas Services Committee (EASC) for public consultation prior to a feasibility study.

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Parks, Politics

More questions than certainty about the April Point parkland

Fifteen years ago April Point Developments submitted a subdivision application for phase one of, what was at the time, a three-phase development proposal for a 134 acre parcel on Quadra Island. This application triggered a requirement that the developer dedicate close to 7 acres as parkland. The matter was thought to have been finally settled last summer, when the SRD Board accepted April Point’s parkland dedication offer – but the developer made some revisions. 

There were more questions than answers when this matter came before the SRD Board on May 10. 

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