Thanks to a donation from the Island Coastal Economic Trust, or ICE T, the Cortes Commons is ready for the next stage of development. 

This 2.6 acre property in the heart of Mansons Landing was gifted to the organization now as Cortes Community Economic Development Association or CCEDA, two and a half years ago. 

As Colin Funk, a Director of the new organization, explained, CCEDA holds the land in trust for the community and Cortes Commons could be used for any of a wide variety of purposes. 

Gathering public input about Cortes Commons

He described the next step as the gathering public input that will eventually be used for a business plan. 

“There is no shortage of ideas for what might exist on the Cortes Commons, but we are taking more of a plan-full approach. Doing some surveys; some public meetings to get some feedback. At the same time, doing the business planning that helps you figure out how do you fund this? Where do you garner immediate funds? Where do you look to the future? How  do you create a sustainable plan?” said Funk.

ICE-T is funding the development of a business plan. 

CCEDA is about to hire a project manager and will start reaching out to the community in the next few weeks.

The first step in gathering public input will probably be an online survey. 

This will probably lead to focus groups. While it is possible to meet over ZOOM, it is always preferable to meet in person. He raised the possibility of in person meetings, at the appropriate  physically distances, in the Cortes Commons.  

The community resilience grant

CCEDA has also received a Community economic resilience grant, from BC’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs’ BC’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs’ Community Economic Recovery Infrastructure Program, to clean up the Cortes Commons.

“It allows to clean up the property, to repair the property, set up some picnic tables, minimal trails, some porta potties, so people can use that land before we get into a more comprehensive plan,” said Funk.

He suspects that may take two or three years.

While Funk is open to the possibility that what the community really wants is a downtown park, it was not the idea that immediately came to mind. 

What could the Cortes Commons be used for? 

Asked for an idea of what the Cortes Commons could be used for, Funk mentioned the LEAP report that was prepared two and a half years ago. 

Some examples of things the property could be used for were:

• a shared kitchen facility or walk in freezer
• a place to store produce
• a laundromat (depends on the availability of water)
• shared office space (sharing computers and other resources) 
• secondary wood manufacturing (is this the right place?)
• shared spaced for particular sectors: body work, studio space, etc. 

“It is not a massive property and we want to make sure it has lots of integrity around natural spaces and trails. So you are really looking at low impact structures,” said Funk.

Keeping the money on Cortes

He added, “The other good news story about all this is that we have the expertise – whether it is the business planning, building picnic tables, or clearing the land – to keep all of that money circulating on Cortes. So we are not going to have any third party consultants or people off island coming here to do this work. Every penny of that money will likely go to local residents,” said Funk.

Links of Interest:

• (ICET) Vision for community-led commercial space on Cortes Island gaining momentum
• (Cortes Currents) articles about, or mentioning, the Cortes Commons
• (Cortes Currents) articles about, or mentioning, CCEDA
• Cortes Community Economic Development Association (CCEDA) website
• Island Coastal Economic Trust (ICET) website
• (Cortes Currents) articles about CCEDA’s predecessor, the Cortes Island Business and Tourist Association (CIBATA)

This program was funded by a grant from the Community Radio Fund of Canada and the Government of Canada’s Local Journalism Initiative. 

Top photo credit: Entering the Cortes Commons from Mansons Hall – Roy L Hales

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