Close to 60 Cortes Island residents turned out for the Zoning Bylaw Review Meeting in Manson’s Hall on Thursday, September 12th. The following article consists of audio clips of the main speakers, taken at the meeting, and an interview with Regional Director Mark Vonesch the following morning.   

Mark Vonesch: “Leading up to it, I think there was a little bit of tension in the air. ‘What’s going to happen?’ ‘How are we going to change our zoning in a way that’s good for Cortes and  protecting what we have here, but also making room for more housing  and addressing the housing challenges that we face?’”  

“I think the key takeaway is this is a process that we’re still in the middle of. There’s still lots of opportunity for input. We’ve had four meetings leading up to this. Last night’s meeting was about presenting the summary of the findings from the previous meetings, and giving us a sense of what the Zoning Bylaw draft is going to look like.”