If safety regulations are metaphorically written in blood, land use restrictions are penned in whatever shorthand there may be for unfettered development.
When the Lady Minto Hospital Foundation (LMHF) requested a rezoning for healthcare worker housing at its building at 101 Bittancourt Rd., Islands Trust planners rightly pointed out the lack of a housing agreement exposes islanders to the possibility, however remote, of the former motel eventually becoming a row of out-of-reach-expensive condos.
They noted, also prudently, that without referrals and public hearings the risk of legal challenges –– again, however remote –– grows. These sorts of steps are part of established land use methodology not only within the Islands Trust area but in other jurisdictions.
There are also realities on the ground: healthcare workers need housing to keep our hospital open; this project creates some; and both boilerplate housing agreements and delays to seek additional input will sink this project’s financing.
Lady Minto Hospital has broad and profound support on Salt Spring, spanning every island demographic. The Local Trust Committee (LTC) projected that support in its Feb. 13 decision to forward the rezoning to the Trust’s Executive Committee, despite the risks enumerated by staff, citing the clear gap in housing the project would help fill.
In the face of such support, strict adherence to the “letter” of a thing when its spirit is so easily divined can be pegged as pedantry, even obstructionism. But when faced with real risks –– even if unlikely or vastly overshadowed by a critical need –– the duty of care to highlight them becomes even more important. It is unpopular to point out a slippery slope when everyone is happily lined up and ready to slide. Trust staff did so, and despite our enthusiastic support for the project itself, nothing less should be expected.
By the time this Driftwood reaches readers, of course, the decision may have been made as it is on the Feb. 26 Executive Committee agenda. While we do not advocate for a wholesale abandonment of prudent planning processes, we hope committee members support the Salt Spring community and its LTC’s recommendations by approving the rezoning for the LMHF property on Bittancourt Road.