By EARL ROOK
Chair, Salt Spring Local Community Commission
As the Salt Spring Island Local Community Commission (LCC) moves into 2026, the final year of its electoral term, we have been active in managing local Capital Regional District (CRD) services where we were delegated full administrative authority, as well as the contribution agreements helping to fund the library, ArtSpring, the Salt Spring Arts Council, and Search and Rescue.
The LCC has also taken on an advocacy role with senior levels of government on issues of importance to the community and has reached out to other local governing bodies to improve communication, coordination and mutual support. In 2025, the LCC and local CRD staff, in particular, worked to advance the priorities laid out in the LCC 2024-2027 strategic plan, which can be seen on the LCC’s page on the CRD website.
Housing remains Salt Spring’s top economic priority. The LCC has taken the lead in developing an integrated housing strategy in collaboration with the Trust, North Salt Spring Waterworks District and other local organizations. The LCC sees the work on the housing strategy as feeding into the Islands Trust review of the official community plan. The LCC has convened a stakeholder workshop on short term vacation rentals (STVR) and their impact on Salt Spring housing, work that continues into 2026. The LCC is also working closely with the new CRD Rural Housing Program, the Southern Gulf Islands Tourism Partnership (SGITP) and the Housing Now landlord-tenant matching program on housing initiatives. It has advocated in support of the Seabreeze Inne redevelopment and the inclusion of Salt Spring in the provincial Speculation and Vacancy Tax and the Short-Term Rental Accommodations Act. The LCC leased space in the former Phoenix School to the Chuan Society to provide a year round support and warming facility for community members, including those who are underhoused.
The LCC is supporting the housing strategy through its Economic Development service, which also funds other initiatives, including the Chamber of Commerce Information Centre, the Farmland Trust’s Neighbourhood Farmer Training Program, the Abattoir Skills Training program and the Tuesday Farmers Market.
The LCC Grant in Aid program provides funding for a broad range of local community initiatives. The LCC has increased the modest budget for these grants which in 2025 supported invasive plant chipping, food resiliency, our community’s non-profit radio station, local performing arts and social services.
Salt Spring Transit continues to face funding challenges as rising costs of operation, particularly BC Transit bus lease rates, well exceed inflation. At the LCC’s request the CRD Board has approved a 25 per cent increase to the maximum levy for this service, which will cover increased operating costs as needed to maintain existing service levels.The LCC is also considering a fare increase for the first time in many years and will soon discuss whether to go to the voters to approve a more significant increase in the maximum levy to fund planned service expansion in 2028. Work continues to co-locate transit bus storage and charging with a new parks and recreation maintenance facility on Kanaka Road, and on expanding the number of bus shelters along island routes.
Transportation under the jurisdiction of the LCC is mostly focused on the development and maintenance of pedestrian and biking trails, as island roads are under the authority of the province. The LCC is proceeding with implementing the Ganges Active Transportation Plan, which includes sidewalk, bicycle lane and crosswalk improvements. It recently completed the Kanaka Connector trail with work continuing on the Merchants Mews trail.
The LCC meets regularly with Ministry of Transportation and Transit (MoTT) managers, discussing concerns ranging from speed limits and road maintenance to reflectors and line painting. It is working with Island Pathways and other stakeholders on the Salish Sea Trail, which has received design funding from the new CRD transportation service for the Vesuvius-Central segment. LCC advocacy included pushback to BC Ferries on proposed homeporting of new ferries on the Vesuvius route at Crofton and with MOTT to prioritize repaving Fulford-Ganges Road from Cranberry to Cusheon Lake Road.
While the Salt Spring Island Multi Space (SIMS) community centre and the Rainbow Road pool facility continue to be heavily used Parks and Recreation facilities, both require major repairs. SIMS needs an HVAC upgrade from propane to heat pumps to reduce the high cost of heating, as well as a new roof. The failure of the pool building envelope requires extensive repairs. While grants are being sought to cover some of these costs, the LCC may need to seek voter approval for borrowing to keep these valuable facilities operational. The LCC will also seek input on the re-purposing of the Ganges fire hall site once an assessment of the building’s condition is completed. Planning continues on the Ganges Harbourwalk. Centennial Park washroom hours were extended to midnight.
The LCC is working to identify the best option for de-watering liquid waste on-island to reduce costly off-island trucking. A 2025 study of the geo-tube option for de-watering disappointingly failed to meet cost/benefit criteria. However, the LCC will continue to monitor changing legal, technical and market conditions that may improve the economics of onsite de-watering in the future.
The LCC and CRD director continue to broaden engagement with other agencies and organizations, including Islands Trust, NSSWD, Salt Spring Fire Rescue, BC Ferries, the SGITP, School District 64 and various community interest groups. The LCC hosted stakeholder roundtables in 2025 on STVRs, harbour management, noise bylaws and housing — all efforts to be continued into 2026.
The proposed requisition increase for 2026 is about 9.5 per cent for local LCC services and 6.6 per cent for regional CRD services. We plan to write about the budget in an upcoming Driftwood.