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Fulford-Swartz sailing cancellations to resolve before long weekend

Driftwood Staff
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Fulford-Swartz sailing cancellations to resolve before long weekend

Evening sailing cancellations aboard the Skeena Queen will only last until Thursday and will be resolved in time for the long weekend.

In a service update Monday, BC Ferries stated that the four evening sailings between Fulford Harbour and Swartz Bay will be cancelled up to and including July 28. By the Friday of the long weekend, July 29, the full sailing schedule will be back to normal.

The cancelled sailings are 5:50 and 7:50 p.m. from Fulford Harbour and 7 and 9 p.m. from Swartz Bay. A 48-person water taxi had been sourced and will be running on the regular sailing schedule.

On the Swartz Bay side, the water taxi will run from the Government dock adjacent to the terminal, a circa 10 minute walk from the foot passenger booths with ferry personnel available to provide directions. Free parking at Swartz Bay is available, provided customers leave their licence plate number with the ticket agent.

On the Salt Spring side, bus service by BC Transit will be available for arriving foot passengers at the scheduled arrival time.

The alternate route from Crofton was also advertised in the service notice.

One Twitter user asked whether they could take their dog home on the water taxi. A representative of the ferry corporation replied that water taxis are for foot passengers only.

Salt Spring Island Chamber of Commerce president Darryl Martin stated via email that the cancellations make doing business on the island even harder for businesses already impacted by widespread pandemic supply chain disruptions.

“Nearly everything – groceries, medicine, lumber, raw materials for our artisans, etcetera – comes by ferry,” he stated.

Martin said he’s heard also from one accommodation provider who reportedly received “a ton of cancellations” of future bookings due to the ferry uncertainty.

The cancelled Fulford – Swartz Bay evening sailings came less than a week after a spate of cancellations left Salt Spring with very few ferry options on Sunday, July 17. Afternoon and evening sailings from Vesuvius Bay and Fulford were serviced by water taxi only that day, and the final two sailings on the Tsawwassen – Long Harbour route were also cancelled.

The cancellations not only impacted businesses but also disrupted visitors and residents and entailed loss of income for some workers who commute to the island Martin stated. He added that accomodation providers were a key part of ensuring people stranded by last week’s cancellations had a place to stay. 

Salt Spring wasn’t the only community affected, with 18 sailings on the two-ferry run between Nanaimo and Gabriola Island and all afternoon sailings between Mill Bay and Brentwood Bay cancelled last Thursday due to crewing issues.

The ferry corporation has cited a rise in absenteeism as one of the reasons for crew shortages. This number has gone from the normal six to now 11 per cent, or 400 to 500 full time employees off on any given day during the COVID-19 pandemic period, according to spokesperson Deborah Marshall.

This explanation did not sit well with Eric McNeely, president of the BC Ferry and Marine Workers’ Union. He called it a “particularly offensive jab at a work force that consistently comes in on day of rest to ensure their friends, family and travellers can move about.”

He added, “Blaming a workforce for management decisions appears to be an effort at deflection. A year ago [BC Ferries] claimed they had the staff, then there was a global shortage of mariners, then there was a vaccine mandate, then there was more retirements than expected, then there was a back- logged healthcare system, and now it is employee absenteeism.”

“My mom used to tell me, ‘Take responsibility for your actions.’ And when people would rather be unemployed than work for BC Ferries, the issue is not resolved by blaming the remaining workforce attendance numbers. Responsibility needs to [be] owned by those with the authority and ability to make the changes needed for a reliable ferry system that serves all British Columbians.”

The ferry corporation has hired or re-hired 1,000 people since January, which includes the return of around 100 employees who were placed on leave under a now-scrapped vaccination policy. Yet the combination of a global skilled mariner shortage, a variety of COVID-19 pandemic impacts as well as other concerns including cost of living increases, BC Ferries’ on-call hiring policy and the Southern Gulf Islands’ housing crisis are all at play in continued crew shortages.

In other ferry news, the ferry corporation fired CEO Mark Collins Friday. He had been in the role since 2017 and with BC Ferries since 2004.

“Like many organizations, BC Ferries has faced recent staffing shortages, service interruptions and COVID-related challenges. There are no quick fixes to these systemic challenges, but as a board we believe it is time for renewal, fresh ideas and a renewed commitment to the highest standards of customer service, safety and affordability,” said new board chair Joy MacPhail, a longtime member of the provincial NDP, former MLA and cabinet minister who took on the role at the end of June after her role as ICBC board chair.

Current vice president and chief financial officer Jill Sharland has been appointed interim CEO and Collins has been offered a severance according to his contract terms, the amount of which has not yet been made public.

The chamber has previously made requests for improved service and will be pressing the new leadership at BC Ferries and the province to act, Martin noted.

“We need greater reliability on ferries and this means a more active role for the government to ensure that the root causes of ferry disruptions are addressed,” he stated. “These include the availability of affordable housing for ferry workers, plus incentives to get people back into the workforce.”

Amidst cancellations, the chamber worked to get the word out that people can still ride a water taxi to Salt Spring and visit the island on foot and on transit to catch the Saturday market, for example. All visitors should also be signed up for the BC Ferries notification service, he added.

Pender forest protection campaign past halfway mark with $1.3 million raised 

Driftwood Staff
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Pender forest protection campaign past halfway mark with $1.3 million raised 

The campaign to protect 45 acres of waterfront forest on North Pender Island has secured $1.3 million. 

The efforts of Raincoast Conservation Foundation and the Pender Islands Conservancy have pushed the campaign past the halfway mark, with $2.18 million in total needed to purchase and protect the land. The remaining $795,000 needs to be raised by the end of the year to buy the property just above Razor Point (KELÁ_EKE in SENĆOŦEN), a piece of land which links a freshwater wetland, the upland forest and the shores of Plumber Sound. 

The land, known as KELÁ_EKE Kingfisher Forest on S,DÁYES (Pender Island), is home to “maturing coastal Douglas-fir, western redcedar, and arbutus and connects to Plumper Sound, critical habitat for Southern Resident killer whales” a July 20 news release stated. Over 100 species of birds make their home on the 45 acre property, including Band-tailed pigeons, Western and horned grebes, barn swallows, olive sided-flycatchers, double-crested cormorants and coastal great blue heron, all of which are species of concern. Only 73 whales remain in the endangered Southern Resident killer whale population.   

The majority of the Kingfisher property is forested by “maturing Douglas-fir/Salal and Douglas-fir/Grand fir/Oregon grape ecological communities.” All of the ecological communities, groups of species living in the same place, associated with the coastal Douglas-fir tree are threatened or endangered in B.C. by “ongoing development, limited protection policy and high proportions of private land” with roughly 80 per cent of land held privately. Protected areas are as a consequence “generally small and isolated” that runs contrary to the strategy of connectivity, which aims to protect viable habitat and ecological integrity. 

“The resilience of our communities in the face of climate change and ongoing development pressures depends on intact, healthy and resilient terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems,” Erin O’Brien, Ecology and Conservation Director with the conservancy stated. “Protection of KELÁ_EKE Kingfisher Forest will help to ensure this resilience—both through the ecological diversity that is supported by the land itself, as well as through its connectivity to other protected Coastal Douglas-fir forest habitats in the area.” 

Securing the property is the second joint conservation effort by Raincoast Conservation Foundation and the Pender Islands Conservancy Association, who together bought 13 acres of land on the island last year. These actions are part of the foundation’s Forests for the Future initiative, where buying private undeveloped land for ecological protection is combined with restoration efforts, advocacy, ecological investigation and community science initiatives. 

Donations so far have come from individuals and local businesses, local foundations, Sitka Foundation, Islands Trust Conservancy and others.

BC Ferries parts ways with CEO Collins

Gail Sjuberg
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BC Ferries parts ways with CEO Collins

BC Ferries has released BC Ferries CEO Mark Collins from his contract as of today.

“The board decided to end Mr. Collins contract, which will entitle him to severance in accordance with the terms of his contract,” the ferry corporation stated in a Friday morning news release.

Collins had been with BC Ferries since 2004 and held numerous executive-level positions before being appointed CEO in 2017.

“We thank Mr. Collins for his hard work and dedication to BC Ferries. We wish him well in all future endeavours,” said new board chair Joy MacPhail.

“Like many organizations, BC Ferries has faced recent staffing shortages, service interruptions and COVID-related challenges. There are no quick fixes to these systemic challenges, but as a board we believe it is time for renewal, fresh ideas and a renewed commitment to the highest standards of customer service, safety and affordability,” said MacPhail.

Salt Spring Ferry Advisory Committee chair Harold Swierenga said that while he sensed some changes may have been in the offing due to signals about structural shifts at BC Ferries and changes in board membership, he was surprised by Friday’s announcement.

“I dealt with Mark a lot. I’m sorry to see him go.”

He noted that Collins had in-depth experience in various areas of BC Ferries and the transportation industry and had led the organization “under very difficult circumstances these last few years.”

The ferry corporation board has appointed current vice president and chief financial officer Jill Sharland as interim CEO.

Swierenga also knows Sharland and said he has every confidence in her.

“I have a lot of respect for her and I am sure she will do a very good job.”

BC Ferries said efforts to recruit a permanent CEO will soon be launched.

New island theatre company Bloom presents Crimes of the Heart

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New island theatre company Bloom presents Crimes of the Heart

By ROBERT MCTAVISH

SPECIAL TO THE DRIFTWOOD

Something new is being planted in Salt Spring’s local theatre landscape.

Bloom is a new company that will be presenting the renowned American play Crimes of the Heart by playwright Beth Henley, opening Thursday, July 21 at Lions Hall.

The group is an offshoot of Good Company Productions, familiar to Salt Spring audiences through successful shows such as 2019’s musical Time Piece. But while Good Company has now expanded to add recorded music production along with its large-scale plays, Bloom became the outlet for producers Suzanne Rouger and Metta Rose to keep their hands in their small theatre roots.

“It’s been a while,” said Rouger. “We had started another project when Covid came in and it was hard to get people involved, so I said, ‘let’s do this small thing!’”

This meant a cast of just six, with Rouger directing and Rose in a lead role. To get a reliable space during the pandemic they built a complete set inside a yurt on Rouger’s Salt Spring property. The tight rehearsals “allowed us more time on nuance,” notes Rouger, “where we could really get into what makes the scenes tick.”

That kitchen table intimacy is certain to carry over to the play’s cosy venue inside the Lions Hart Bradley Hall.

The play itself is a Pulitzer Prize winner (some might remember the film version with Sissy Spacek), and carries big themes of hardship, resentment and redemption. It follows the three Magrath sisters, Meg, Babe, and Lenny, who reunite at their Granddaddy’s small-town Mississippi home after Babe shoots her abusive husband. Dysfunctional, resentful and full of gossip and secrets, each sister is forced to face the consequences of the “Crimes of the Heart” she has committed.

Considered a tragicomedy, the play’s adult themes play out in what Rose calls “powerful female roles where each character has an element within their temperament that they have to face in order to carry on.”

Shyla-Rae Lloyd-Walters (Meg), who also appeared in Time Piece, and newcomer Kelsey Mech (Babe) join Rose (Lennie) as the sisters, with Dustin Bragg-Van Wyck, Annika Siemsen and Bryan Dubien rounding out the cast. Rose admits the actors were all drawn to the “juicy roles, and the material that allows the audience to both laugh and maybe even cry.”

The play’s southern-style examination of staying in one’s place and working to accept turmoil and misfortune is one that should resonate with a post-pandemic audience. Bloom plans to follow this inaugural production with further small-cast works, bringing in guest directors and more local actors with the goal of “always having a show in production.”

“Everyone has been starved for theatre,” Rose notes, “so when the opportunity came we saw it as blooming out of the darkness.”

Crimes of the Heart by Beth Henley runs July 21 to 23, and July 28 to 30 at 7:30 p.m.

Advance tickets ($25 and cash only) are available at Twang & Pearl.

MCEACHERN, Sterling

Driftwood Obituary
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MCEACHERN, Sterling

Sterling McEachern
1935-2022

Sterling was born in Lindsay, Ontario, and graduated from Queen’s University as a mechanical engineer. He met Maureen at Queen’s; they married in 1960 and have four girls and three grandchildren.

Through him, we discovered the love of music, sports, reading and outdoor adventures, especially overnight canoe trips.

On Salt Spring, Sterling enjoyed square dancing, Trail and Nature walks, Tai Chi and golfing with the Fickle Fingers.

He showed us the beauty of silence. How to not take life too seriously. And what a truly good father, grandfather and husband looks like. Strong. Honest. Love through actions.

Sterling lives on always in our hearts.

*In lieu of flowers, please send donations to a charity of your choice.

*No service by request.

BERGMAN, Michael Edward

Driftwood Obituary
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BERGMAN, Michael Edward

Michael Edward Bergman
1936 ~ 2022

It is with great sadness that the family of Michael Bergman announce his passing on July 30 2022. Michael is survived by his son and daughter along with their families. He was 85 years old. Michael was born in England in 1936 to Arthur and Nelly, he was the youngest of 3 children; he moved to Canada in 1957 initially settling in Whitby Ontario where he married and had 2 children. After 1969 Michael lived in the area of Coquitlam BC for the duration of his life. Michael was an accomplished draftsman and millwright well known for leading crews replacing large machinery during industry shutdowns. Michael gravitated to the ocean enjoying sailing, living on Galiano Island and travelling to the Bahamas. The family will not be having a service.

Salt Spring Lions make vision screening possible for Manzanillo children

Emelie Peacock
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Salt Spring Lions make vision screening possible for Manzanillo children

Vision screening for over 3,000 students in Manzanillo began with a chance encounter aboard a plane from Vancouver to Mexico. 

Don and Bobbi Clifford, members of the Lions Club of Salt Spring Island, were on a plane to their winter home in the coastal city in the state of Colima when they noticed a person wearing a Lions logo. This chance encounter led them to spend five days volunteering in a huge vision clinic where their acquaintance as well as Lions Club members from Alabama were headed along with 10,000 pairs of glasses.

A total of 2,500 people had their vision examined at the clinic, 10 to 15 per cent of whom were determined to need glasses that they also acquired them from the clinic. While there, Don and Bobbi met members of the Club de Leones Santiago, the Lions Club in Manzanillo. Don asked whether the club might be interested in having the Salt Spring club’s vision scanner brought down to assist in what is a key area of the Mexican club’s work.

For several years, Don and Bobbi have taken part in annual fall vision screenings the Salt Spring Lions do for elementary school students using a handheld vision screener, also known as a spot scanner. The device then “goes into a filing cabinet for the rest of the year,” Don said. “So we thought well, ‘Okay, let’s utilize it.’”

The machine is incredible, Bobbi explained, with an exam taking around 15 seconds. Photographer and friend of the Cliffords’ John Chalmers, who has also been instrumental in fundraising, explained the scanner tests for “myopia (nearsightedness), hyperopia (farsightedness), astigmatism (blurred vision) and eye misalignment, among other conditions.” And while results are double-checked by a local optometrist, the accuracy is 99.9 per cent, Don added, and local optometrists have found it to be very accurate. The scanner can also confirm whether the glasses a child already wears are meeting their needs. 

Within the elementary cohorts, from 10 up to 30 per cent of students often need some kind of correction to their vision. 

The Manzanillo club doesn’t own a scanner, which can cost between $5,000 and $9,000 U.S. dollars, depending on whether it is a new or used device. 

Don and Bobbi brought the scanner down to Manzanillo around six years ago and have been doing so every year since. Together with the Manzanillo Lions they have now screened over 3,000 elementary school students and some adults as well at screenings done at an orphanage, some businesses and churches. 

In Canada, the screening is done by the Lions and the subsequent optometrist visit and fitting for glasses is done by parents. In Mexico, the Lions help students with frame fitting as well as fundraising for frames, which cost around $100 Canadian each, for glasses and for transportation to optometrists.

Don and Bobbi credit members of the Club de Leones Santiago for their emphasis on the vision program, and especially Jackie Avendaño Pires, Hector Uriostegui Moreno, Daniel Beltran and Ruben Otegui.

“That club is incredible . . . I know they dig deep into their pockets if need be, to make sure these kids have glasses,” Bobbi said.

The club is currently fundraising to purchase a vision scanner of their own.

Vision has been a global Lions movement focus since 1925, when they were called to do so by Helen Keller. A lifelong advocate for people with disabilities who learned sign language, braille and later learned to speak after losing her sight and hearing at 18 months old, Keller challenged the Lions to become “knights of the blind in the crusade against darkness.” Across the world, clubs have been working to prevent avoidable blindness and improve the lives of people who are visually impaired through screening, provision of glasses, seeing eye dogs, training eye health professionals and creating infrastructure for eye surgeries and treatments.

One unique example is the international Lions collection of used glasses, which happens at local clubs. The glasses are then sent to the U.S. where they are catalogued into a database and reconfigured for the needs of a new wearer. 

Don said it’s a “real thrill” to conduct the vision scans at local elementary grades 1 through 6 in the city he and Bobbi call home from November to April.

“It’s a thrill for us to watch a person, a child who’s never had proper sight before, actually get the glasses,” he said.

Bobbi added that teachers and other adults have also received glasses as part of the vision scanning visits. One teacher, who was instrumental in making the vision experience a good one for the children, had only been able to get a pair of drugstore reading glasses. Getting a pair of glasses “made a world of difference for her,” Bobbi said.  

Don recalls screening one individual in particular, an adult whose experience included using a wheelchair, being non-verbal and having some challenges with her mental capacity.

“A month or so later when she got her glasses, her eyes were alert. She was concentrating ahead and looking. I thought it was fantastic, it was just a thrill,” he recalled. “Her face just lit up . . . She’s over 50 years old, and she was actually seeing for the first time.” 

“We’ve got similar sorts of situations with kids and their smiles afterwards. Some of them look pretty cool in their frames too. They’re stepping out.” 

What is more rare, but has occurred during their six years conducting screenings in Mexico, is sending some children on to see specialists for possible corrective surgery.

“This past year, out of the [scans] that we did, two of them indicated some kind of neurological issues,” Don said. 

The Salt Spring club is now formally twinned with Club de Leones Santiago, so future collaboration is possible.

“That’s actually what, over the years I’ve learned, is that’s the Lions spirit and they are very connected internationally,” Bobbi said. The Lions motto is “We Serve,” of “Nosotros Servimos” in Spanish. 

If anyone has used frames they would like to donate, they can drop them at the Salt Spring Lions office at Hart Bradley Memorial Hall on Bonnet Avenue. 

Seabreeze transition continues as temporary use and development variance permits granted

Gail Sjuberg
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Seabreeze transition continues as temporary use and development variance permits granted

A temporary residential site for Seabreeze Inne residents displaced by the Lady Minto Hospital Foundation (LMHF) purchase of the motel earlier this year is shaping up at 154 Kings Lane.

“BC Housing is still awaiting sign-off from Technical Safety BC,” said LMHF executive director Roberta Martell on Monday, so the units are not yet ready to house people.

BC Housing stated that the trailers are from the Black Diamond Group, which will also provide all material services and meals for residents.

But according to one Seabreeze Inne resident, not everyone is on board to move as soon as the Kings Lane site is ready.

Rich Bahry has lived at the Seabreeze Inne since before the pandemic. He is physically disabled but does not receive support from BC Housing and was paying $1,500 per month to the motel owner for his room.

On Friday, he reported that some residents have retained a lawyer “who has advised us that we should have a cut-and-dried Residential Tenancy Branch case and to stay where you are. Wait for the notice.”

Because the LMHF leased the entire building to BC Housing and the agreement stated the Residential Tenancy Act does not apply, Martell has said her organization is not obligated to provide eviction notices to individuals due to renovations. The LMHF’s only relationship is with BC Housing, she said.

“We are just moving along with the process as we understand it,” she said, adding that LMHF has also received legal advice.

Other Seabreeze residents are interested in moving to the Kings Lane site, said Bahry, and BC Housing staff have been meeting with them to help facilitate the move.

“Personally it’s not at all suitable for me by dint of the fact there are stairs involved,” said Bahry. “I just can’t get around. I can’t have a shower. It just doesn’t work.”

The Kings Lane parcel belongs to the Gulf Islands Seniors Residence Association (GISRA), which owns Meadowbrook on Atkins Road and has plans for a similar seniors housing project at the Kings Lane site. BC Housing expressed gratitude to GISRA for agreeing to lease its property to facilitate creation of temporary housing for the Seabreeze individuals, who were supposed to move to a new BC Housing facility on land owned by the Capital Regional District at 161 Drake Road.

In March the LMHF took possession of the Seabreeze Inne. It then entered an agreement to lease the building to BC Housing until the end of June. That agreement was extended until July 15 when it became apparent the Drake Road site was nowhere near being completed and another location for temporary housing needed to be secured.

Martell said the LMHF has a deconstruction permit to begin readying the Seabreeze building for a renovation that will see its current 28 rooms converted to 17 units of housing for Lady Minto Hospital staff.

Last Tuesday the Salt Spring Local Trust Committee granted a temporary use permit and development variance permit that is needed for the Seabreeze renovation to be done.

“I’m glad we were able to find the temporary use permit process to move forward,” said trustee Laura Patrick when speaking in favour of the motion. “I do understand the concerns and conversations being made in the community, but [the Trust] processing forward on this building is a separate matter. BC Housing and other parties are doing what they’re doing.”

Architect’s drawings of the project and related material is in the agenda package for the July 12 meeting on the islandstrust.bc.ca website.

A CRD building permit is still required for the renovation to proceed.

CRD director provides LCC history, saying process not rushed

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CRD director provides LCC history, saying process not rushed

The local community commission (LCC) concept has been debated for years on Salt Spring Island, as part of governance and incorporation studies in 2002 and 2017, and in 2010 when the province recommended consideration of an LCC to locally elected officials here, as a “stepping stone” to incorporation.

LCCs were more thoroughly reviewed after the second decisive rejection of incorporation in 2017, by two community groups formed to examine possible governance improvements – Positively Forward and the Community Alliance Governance Working Group (CAGWG).

The most extensive of these reports by the CAGWG resulted from two years of meetings attended by various community members and leaders with an interest in the governance question, including past and present CRD commissioners, former local government staff, and elected officials, including Islands Trust trustee Peter Grove and myself.

In part due to criticism by incorporation supporters that an LCC had often been raised as a governance option but never pursued, I included establishment of an LCC in my 2018 election platform. I also made a number of other governance commitments such as regular town halls, public budget presentations, and better cooperation with other agencies and community groups, which I’ve done my best to honour.

I delayed the LCC initiative to avoid confusion with governance discussions among North Salt Spring Waterworks District (NSSWD), the province and CRD. These discussions, which eventually failed despite the prospect of millions of dollars in infrastructure funding, were also delayed by a so-called “Water Optimization Report” which required several iterations of revisions to address agency concerns. This study actually recommended a variant of an LCC — an elected, island-wide water board overseeing a number of area-specific water utilities. However, this would have placed decision-making in the hands of non-residents of small water districts, which is why the current LCC proposal only applies to island-wide services.

Once discussions with NSSWD ended, I publicly affirmed in a Jan. 5 Director Report my intent to establish an LCC, “comprised of four, elected at large members, who with the director, would broaden oversight of all CRD services . . . and could also consolidate some services” and “which would require voter approval at the next local government election in October 2022.” I also reported that the process leading to a referendum would begin in the spring.

In a Feb. 23 Director’s Report, I provided a more detailed description of the LCC proposal and announced that “at my request, [some members] of the CAGWG are preparing a more detailed discussion paper with options and recommendations” regarding the proposal. I also announced the establishment of an advisory committee with “representation from CRD commissions, other key local government agencies, and some members of the public” to make recommendations to CRD based on a review of the discussion paper and public input.

The discussion paper was released online by the Driftwood and Salt Spring Exchange by mid-May, with hard copies made available at the local CRD administration office and the library. The LCC Advisory Committee (LCCAC) held two pre-advertised Zoom meetings on May 27 and June 6 (evening meeting), and then two in-camera meetings to provide recommendations to CRD staff on the LCC bylaws. Since Jan. 5, I have attended about a dozen Islands Trust and ASK town halls in which I discussed and was available for questions about the LCC proposal. I submitted five Director Reports and columns to the Driftwood, which also wrote seven editorials and articles on the LCC proposal. There have also been a number of letters to the editor, pro and con, about the LCC. Many of these reports, articles, and letters have been posted on local social media discussion forums where there has been a lively debate.

The LCC bylaws, which include several key recommendations by the advisory committee, were given three readings at the July 13 CRD Board meeting, and are now subject to voter approval in a referendum to be run in conjunction with the local government elections to reduce costs. Voters will have three months to review these bylaws, which are posted on the CRD website. Additional information will be provided on the website, and the merits of an LCC will undoubtedly be part of our election debates.

I will be urging voters to support the proposal. An LCC for Salt Spring will broaden local CRD elected representation for our community of 11,000; make decision-making more transparent and easier for citizens to track; and consolidate service delivery now overseen by four appointed commissions. An LCC would provide some of the governance benefits of incorporation without its downsides — the huge liabilities of our 265-km road network and potential weakening of the Trust. An LCC has been much discussed on Salt Spring, but never put to voters. On Oct. 15, it should come as no surprise that voters will finally be offered this choice.

Opinion: Bylaw 530 threatens island with mass development

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Opinion: Bylaw 530 threatens island with mass development

By RON WRIGHT

The lack of affordable housing for long-term renters is a serious problem.

Online booking sites such as Airbnb have plundered Salt Spring’s rental stock. It was also a big mistake for the BC government to exclude these islands from its empty home and speculation taxes. The 2021 census shows that nearly a thousand Salt Spring homes — or one in six — are either vacant or used only part-time. Houses owned by off-island investors are standing empty while working islanders can’t find anywhere to live.

Unfortunately, our trustees Laura Patrick and Peter Grove, whose term of office runs out in just 12 weeks, have cobbled together a hasty and dangerous new bylaw that not only won’t fix the problem but threatens to unleash a host of new ones. Bylaw 530 would allow thousands of new “secondary dwellings” to be built by most landowners on the island, including most properties currently restricted to one dwelling for water and sewage reasons. This is not mere tinkering. When built out, this new zoning would almost double Salt Spring’s population and density. We are already growing at twice the national average. The bylaw makes no mention at all of affordability, even as it tears up key parts of the Official Community Plan. And the covenant provision that might have ensured new dwellings are for long-term renters only has been axed.

The likely result is not housing for locals but a surge of unlawful holiday rentals and haphazard construction that will further overwhelm the island’s services, environment and rural character. We can expect ever more land clearing, suburban sprawl, clogged roads and ferries, water shortage and septic pollution. Our best efforts in fighting climate change will be for nought. In short, Bylaw 530 grossly contravenes the Islands Trust founding mandate to “preserve and protect in perpetuity.” Many rightly fear that its main effect will be an end-run around the Trust Act’s core mission to save these lovely islands from overdevelopment.

I and many others have raised these concerns with our trustees by phone and email. When asked why they’re in such a hurry to pass this far-reaching law in the last days of their term, both told me: because we have to do something. Amazingly, both also told me not to worry because few people will act on it anyway. It seems that the appearance of a solution, not a true one, is their top priority. So why do it?

Bylaw 530 has already run through two readings, and could get its third and final stamp on Sept. 6, a month and a half from now. Despite the sweep of new zoning that would change the island forever, most islanders have barely heard of it. Before third reading, B.C. law requires a full public hearing. People were expecting one to occur on Thursday, July 21 at Meaden Hall, but according to the Trust website, we are instead being offered merely an “open house” by Zoom on that day. Now, just hours before this Driftwood went to press, there’s word that a real public hearing will be held after all, on Thursday, Aug. 18. All concerned islanders should mark this on their calendars and be sure to attend in person bringing questions and objections. It is likely the last chance. Meanwhile, they can email their trustees, copying in staff and Trust chair Peter Luckham.

There are much better ways to free up rental housing. Why not crack down effectively on illegal Airbnbs, of which there are already hundreds on the island? Why not bring Salt Spring within the empty home and speculation taxes? Why not use proceeds from those taxes to build homes in places where services, shops and public transport are in place? These are all proven ways with far less risk of wrecking the island for future generations and visitors alike.

The writer is a Salt Spring resident and author of A Short History of Progress and several other books on history, travel and of fiction.

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