By GARY HOLMAN
SSI CRD DIRECTOR
The past year has seen an unprecedented level of investment in essential infrastructure and services. The Capital Regional District (CRD) has played a direct or indirect role in many of these investments, and Salt Spring has particularly benefitted from our partnerships with the province and our capable community groups, foundations and improvement districts.
CRD Budget
The overall CRD provisional requisition increase in 2026 for Salt Spring Island, approved by the CRD Board Oct. 29, is estimated at 8.2 per cent. The Local Community Commission (LCC) portion of the requisition increases by 9.5 per cent, while the non-LCC portion of the requisition (including regional, sub-regional and non-LCC local services) is about 6.6 per cent. The LCC requisition increase does not include a further increase for local transit (see below), or other possible budget changes, to be considered by the LCC and CRD Board in the new year. LCC chair Earl Rook (erook@crd.bc.ca) and I will be providing a more detailed summary of the provisional CRD and LCC budgets and related services in January.
Housing
The completion of BC Housing’s Drake Road 36-unit supported and worker housing facility and the 18-unit Lady Minto Hospital Foundation (LMHF) Heartwood project represent the culmination of several years of progress on affordable housing. Together with the construction of Salt Spring Commons, Croftonbrook (Phases 2 and 3), and the Dean Road boarding house, over 140 units of affordable housing have been built on Salt Spring over the past five years. Over that time, the Trust has legalized hundreds of properties for suites or cottages, although financial incentives (e.g., as proposed by the CRD Rural Housing Program) are needed to improve homeowner take-up of this zoning. Building permit data also indicates that roughly 150 units of market housing have been constructed over the past five years.
I will continue to focus on funding partnerships for our next best prospects for affordable housing development at the Kings Lane, Norton Road and Drake Road properties, together representing another possible 125 units of affordable housing. I have committed $600,000 in Community Works Fund (CWF) funding to connect the Kings Lane affordable housing and health clinic projects to the Ganges sewer system, and will be supporting inclusion of the Norton Road property into the sewer service area. I will also continue to work with the Capital Regional Hospital District (CRHD), Island Health and LMHF to help fund preliminary planning for the future of seniors care at the Greenwoods-Lady Minto hospital site.
Transportation and Transit
The Ministry of Transportation and Transit (MOTT)’s repaving of Ganges Hill with wider shoulder lanes is finally completed, and while very disruptive for many, will greatly improve safety for the increasing numbers of cyclists and pedestrians.
Thanks to a partnership between CRD and Island Pathways, the Salt Spring Island Regional Trail feasibility study has been completed, and for the first time funding for design and future construction of the trail has been set aside in CRD capital plans. I am working with the CRD Transportation Committee, board and staff to accelerate the detailed design work necessary to move the project forward. MOTT work also continues on the installation of the bridge on Fulford-Ganges Road, as well as washout repairs at several other locations, an indication of MOTT’s welcome responsiveness to the increasing impacts of climate change on our 265-kilometre road system.
The CRD Board will be approving amendments to the Salt Spring Island Transit bylaw to increase the maximum levy for this service by 25 per cent. The Local Government Act requires voter approval or consent of the electoral area director for such an increase. I have provided my consent in order to maintain the existing level of service that is being challenged by substantial increases in BC Transit bus leasing and related costs and reduced cost recovery in part due to road repairs and upgrades. A referendum will be required for expansion of transit service on Salt Spring Island, the timing to be determined by the LCC, but possibly as part of the October 2026 local elections.
Waste Disposal
The CRD Board has approved renewal of a five-year contract to Island Community Services to operate the Rainbow Road recycling depot at a cost of over $400,000 per year. Funding is provided by CRD tipping fees at the Hartland landfill and Recycle BC (i.e., at no cost to taxpayers). Measures have also been approved by the CRD Board to incentivize and facilitate recycling, particularly for construction materials such as clean wood and asphalt shingles. CRD has also committed to the construction of a facility to gasify the region’s liquid waste, to be operational within several years. At the local level, ratepayers of the CRD Maliview sewage treatment system have approved the necessary borrowing to match a $1.9-million infrastructure grant for the rebuilding of their treatment plant.
Health and Safety Investments
Our local fire district has announced that our new, post-disaster fire hall, partly funded by CRD via a CWF grant of $1 million, will be ready for occupancy in early May. As an outcome of an arrangement with the fire district, CRD will then assume ownership and begin reviewing the feasibility of repurposing the old Ganges fire hall and site.
The new Lady Minto Hospital emergency room, funded primarily by our hospital foundation and $3.7 million from the CRHD, has now been operating with increased staffing capacity for over a year.
The B.C. Ministry of Health has provided funding for 11 full-time-equivalent health care and allied professionals on Salt Spring. Along with David Norget, I sit as a community representative on an implementation committee for this Primary Care Network (PCN), the program lead for which is Sarah Bulmer (sarah.bulmer@sidfp.com). A new clinic planned for part of the Kings Lane property could house all of these professionals, but working space is needed in the meantime. The PCN, in collaboration with the hospital foundation and local physicians, has helped recruit two new physicians, with the potential for others, and has already connected 600 previously unattached patients to family doctors.
As always, for any questions or further information, please contact me at directorssi@crd.bc.ca.