Contrary to what a lot of people believe, Mark Vonesch is not yet the Regional Director for Cortes Island. That will happen on November 9, when he and the other Directors are all sworn in at the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) building in Campbell River. In today’s interview Vonesch talks about some of the preparations, the first things he hopes to accomplish as our Director and his new Alternate Director.
Continue reading Becoming Cortes Island’s Regional Director, first steps
Many of you have probably seen the real estate ads on the Tideline. Two significant parcels of land are being sold as part of a much larger vision. Cortes Community Housing intends to have the Rainbow Ridge project ‘shovel ready’ for funding by 2023.
Continue reading Property Sales: Getting Rainbow Ridge ‘Shovel Ready’ for the next phase
On Tuesday May 17th, a group of Mosaic (Island Timberlands / TimberWest) employees travelled to Cortes Island to host an “open house” at the Gorge Hall. They set up displays indoors and offered a casual one-on-one discussion period from 10AM to noon; at noon, they made a formal presentation which — thanks to improving weather — was held outdoors for better Covid safety.
Mosaic’s plans to resume industrial logging on Cortes Island are controversial and have already inspired a petition-style letter and a series of community meetings. Mosaic has received significant feedback from the community challenging their cut plan on various grounds, including location (cutting within the boundaries of sensitive ecosystems) and extraction rate (several times the rate recommended and practised by the Cortes Community Forest).
Continue reading Mosaic/IT Open House at Gorge HallHow our local government works – Part 1 of 5 from the Feb 5 SRD Board Meeting
The proposed budget for 2022 was one of the principle topics at the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) Board Meeting on Wednesday, February 9th. Part of this process involved looking into the finances for 2021. So in the first of a five part series arising from that meeting, Cortes Currents is looking into how the SRD is spending the portion of our tax dollars under their control.
Continue reading Where did Cortes Island’s property tax dollars go in 2021?The Cortes Island Evacuation Plan is complete.
“I am just begging every Cortes Islander to pick up and go through the plan before all this happens, so everybody is aware,” said Strathcona Regional District (SRD) Protective Services Coordinator Shaun Koopman. “Please don’t wait till the last minute to educate yourself about evacuations and emergency support services and how you’re going to be notified and whether or not you have insurance and all those important evacuation considerations.”
Continue reading The Cortes Island Evacuation Plan
