Tag Archives: SRD Board

Politics

Regional Director Launches Petition to Investigate Incorporation Option for Cortes

Cortes residents may have noticed a petition available in paper form at our post offices and grocery stores, or received an email update from our Regional Director inviting them to consider signing the online version. The petition mentions governance and incorporation: what’s it all about? I interviewed Regional Director Mark Vonesch to get a better understanding of the issues and why he’s chosen this moment to launch a petition regarding our governance model.

[This article is a condensed version of our interview. The full version is available in podcast form in the links below. Inset quotes in this article are comments made by Cortes residents who have signed the online petition.]

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Politics

Area B Director’s Report: Should we explore the idea of incorporation?

By Regional Director Mark Vonesch

Currently all of Cortes Island’s local government services and decision making comes from the Strathcona Regional District (SRD). As your Regional Director, I share the decision making for most of our services with thirteen other Directors on the SRD Board.

Local government decisions impacting Cortes Island are currently decided by people who do not live on our island and a lot of you have approached me with the idea of having more local governance control.

In September I asked the SRD Board to support a motion to have staff create a report on the process for communities wanting to consider incorporation. That report can be found here:
https://agenda.strathconard.ca/SRDAttachments/SRDBoard/Open/BRD/22-Oct-25/20251009-Community-Incorporation-Overview.pdf

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Housing, Politics

Cortes Island Zoning Bylaw Passes

The Strathcona Regional District Board passed the Cortes Island Zoning Bylaw. 

Regional Director Mark Vonesch gave an overview of the process at the Wednesday, November 19, 2025, board meeting:

“We’re at the last stage of potentially passing the Cortes Island zoning bylaw. It’s been almost a two year process of community consultation, both online and in person. It’s gone to the Advisory Planning Commission on Cortes, and it’s gone through a public hearing at the beginning of September. We had 140 plus folks attend that hearing, which is amazing. The reason I deferred it a month was that you have 200 pages of comments on this, and I wanted to take the time to read them all and to really assess what people’s challenges and also what they like about the bylaw before making my own personal recommendation.”

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Politics

Area B Director’s Report: Cortes Fall Update

By Regional Director Mark Vonesch

As we settle into the darker months of winter on Cortes, I hope this finds you warm and cozy. It’s been a busy fall so far and there’s lots to update you on!

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