Tag Archives: Salt Spring Island

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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Water

Mapping Wetlands on Quadra, and what that means on Cortes

The ICAN water security team and We Wai Kai Guardians are getting prepared to map Quadra Island’s wetlands. It is part of a much larger project which also involves monitoring the island’s rainfall, streamflow and wells. As you will hear in the interview that follows, this project is also relevant  to surrounding islands like Cortes. Bernie Amell, a recognized authority in the design of constructed wetlands for water treatment, and in the restoration of streams and riparian habitats, is in charge of mapping the wetlands. 

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Education

A new semester begins at the Cortes Island Academy

The Cortes Island Academy kicked off its second year with a ‘meet and greet’ barbeque on Tuesday, September 5. Students and homestay parents met with some of the people working behind the scenes. School started the following day.

“Right now, the students are just going back into the classroom after being in Carrington for the last four days on a camping trip that started on the weekend and went into the week.  They are still in the  outdoor education fundamentals getting to know each other part of the semester,” explained Manda Aufochs Gillespie, the Academy’s principal Board member.

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Uncategorized

Nancy Beach vs the Property Assessment Review Panel

The opinions that follow are those of the person expressing them and not necessarily shared by Cortes Currents, or Cortes Radio.  

The following submission was made by Nancy Beach.

After dealing with BC assessment for 17 years or more, in regard to my small farm on Salt Spring Island, I have come to the conclusion that:

  1. Farm assessments should be administered by the Ministry of Agriculture, not the Ministry of Housing.
  2. The system for assessing farm status needs to be overhauled. It should not be lumped in with assessing the values of residential properties. 
  3. Farmers should be given adequate time to present and debate their cases. 
  4. More people who care about farms should sit on the board of the Property Assessment Appeal Board (PAAB), and the panel of the Property Assessment Review Panel (PARP).’
  5. PARP plan panel members making decisions concerning farms should be well educated about the farm regulations number. Pabst should not charge for their services. 
  6. BC Farmers need an organization to represent them, represent themselves and help defend their interests before the B. C. Assessment when necessary.
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Animals, Rivers & Oceans

No European Green Crabs in the Discovery Islands, yet

The Friends of Cortes Island (FOCI) have not found any European Green Crabs in Manson’s lagoon, and so far there’ve been no sightings north of Nanaimo.  

“We haven’t found any, that’s really good news, but we’ve been very pleased to partner with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO).  Hopefully, if we ever find them, we’ll be able to trap them out and stop them from harming the valuable habitat here,” explained Helen Hall, Executive Director of FOCI.

Continue reading No European Green Crabs in the Discovery Islands, yet →