When we say Salt Springers vote with their wallets, that sometimes might mean opening them up. 

Islanders are still blinking their eyes at the novelty of seeing a “new connection applications” button on the North Salt Spring Waterworks District (NSSWD) website, and the momentum seems behind ensuring the prerequisite resilient infrastructure will be in place to support them. 

Twice as many voted in favour of the loan authorization for the Maxwell Lake water treatment plant than voted at all during the last water district trustee contest — and at first glance, with 74 per cent voting to authorize borrowing, one might reasonably assume ratepayers showed up at the polls ready to spend. 

Of course there’s some nuance at play. A ballot cast to authorize borrowing now is arguably a frugalist’s vote; the treatment plant is mandated by the province, and choosing to pay in today’s dollars is simply wagering that tomorrow’s will buy less — an undoubtedly safe bet. 

But were the Salt Spring voter merely a thrifty animal, perhaps we might’ve seen more than lukewarm participation in the counter-petition on the Capital Regional District’s Regional Transportation Service, a looming tax hike our island’s elected officials assure us will show no local benefit. Or, even more relevantly, we might’ve expected less enthusiasm for authorizing similar borrowing for the new fire hall. 

Indeed, the “no more taxes, ever” contingent seems again to have been vastly overrepresented, mostly confined to an outsized social media presence; between record voter turnout and the 3-to-1 result for the NSSWD referendum, there may be a lesson to be drawn regarding online tempests and their virtual teapots. 

Regardless, we continue to take the optimist’s view: that Salt Spring brings voters to the polls with a keen eye to future value, rather than simple penny-pinching. With this latest referendum, yet another local improvement district can justifiably crow about having the confidence of its ratepayers. Now we look forward to both of them delivering. 

BY CAROLINE HICKMAN

and 16 other area resident signatories

We, the residents and farmers of Wright Road (Cranberry Valley), have a serious problem with Parks and Rec as represented by Dan Ovington and Elizabeth FitzZaland of Village Builders. They are in the process of pushing through an extremely ill-conceived plan to construct a public trail off of the cul de sac on Wright Road, which would connect with a newly acquired piece of land adjoining the existing park atop Mount Maxwell. 

Although we have endeavoured to point out the dangers that this planned construction will create for our farming community as well as the Maxwell Lake watershed, these concerns have been basically ignored and/or glossed over, with some choice “woke” verbiage that makes it pretty clear that the entertainment of the general public completely overrides the actual realities of fire hazards, water stewardship, the well-being of our livestock and the peaceful enjoyment of our hitherto quiet rural community. 

We therefore ask that you take prompt action and direct Ovington et al to utilize and improve, if necessary, the two existing routes into the park and set aside this potentially disastrous trail project. 

We have, as a farming community, expressed our concerns. However, in a so-called “We Heard” summary report, it becomes obvious that they are glossing over our issues and pushing a predetermined plan ahead, regardless of the damage it would do to our neighbourhood.

I am listing our common objections in point form below and we urge you to become involved because we feel that this extra public access does not respect our rural and agricultural way of life and poses a serious threat to our livestock and property, as well as to the Maxwell and Roberts Lake watersheds, which should certainly concern the Capital Regional District as well as all islanders who depend on the water from this source. 

1. The elevated risk of human-caused fire: every summer there is a high risk of fire on Mount Maxwell, in part because of the rocky, shallow soil, and the number of tourists who treat the outdoors as their personal ash tray. Maxwell Lake supplies a big part of our island, including the hospital, with water, and a fire above the lake can render the water useless until things like fire retardant, ash and debris can be cleaned up.

2. As many of us know, “leash your dogs” signage does not work! Most of the farms in the Cranberry Valley raise lamb and poultry and we already deal with cougar predation. We do not need running dogs killing and maiming our livestock as well.

3. Parking and traffic chaos: the proposed trail would begin at the undersized cul de sac on Wright Road, which barely has space for emergency vehicles to turn and/or park. There is also a private driveway off the cul de sac, which eliminates 40 feet of road frontage and there is little room for public parking, which would apparently include horse trailers.

4. Construction costs will be high, as the right of way is steep and rocky. Please note that Emcon has recently resurfaced and greatly improved the road up to Mount Maxwell Provincial Park, and our tax money would be better spent to improve the access to the existing parking area of the summit, giving the public far more space to enjoy the entire park area without putting our neighbourhood property and livestock at risk.

By Harold Swierenga

As of April 30, British Columbia Ferries (BCF) has a new approach to engage with the coastal public in general and ferry users in particular, and as part of this new approach the Ferry Advisory Committees (FACs), which have been the major contact between BCF and the public for over two decades, have been eliminated. 

From my perspective as former chair of the Salt Spring Island FAC, there are a number of factors behind this change, but I will discuss only a few at this point. In my opinion, the FAC model of public engagement worked well until fairly recently. We had local in-person meetings as needed to deal with local issues and often to formulate an approach to BC Ferries. We would have bi-annual in-person public meetings with BCF, at which at least one member of the executive, the marine superintendent and other operational staff would attend. At the end of the meeting I often felt we had accomplished definite results. 

Then Covid hit, the meetings largely went online and the sense of direct contact between the ferry-using community and the decision-makers at BCF was severely weakened. Then a member of the public made a serious threat of harm at an in-person FAC meeting on the mainland and meetings were suspended for some time. While all this was happening there were significant head-office staff changes at BCF, with a number of new personnel who had little or no memory of when the FAC model worked well. As a result of these and other reasons, the FAC process became less effective. 

But the FAC chairs and members were rather shocked at an online session last November to be told the entire FAC model was to be scrapped and a new model was to be developed. The FAC members had not been asked for suggestions for improvement of the model and in my opinion it was a case of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. 

An ongoing committee, representing the various and often diverse components of the ferry-using community to address ongoing issues seems very useful. However, the decision is one which BCF can make and a new model has been developed and is available to see on the BCF website. I had hoped for a hybrid model of some form of FAC and elements of the new model.

I leave my role as member and chair of the Salt Spring Island FAC with some optimism regarding ferry service to Salt Spring. Unless there are more retractions, the two-ship Island Class service on Route 6 (Vesuvius and Crofton) will begin in early 2027. The earlier announced amenities such as waiting rooms, washrooms, etc. are off the list for now for financial reasons. BC Ferries is staring in the face of major expenses for the new large ferries and the overhaul of the Horseshoe Bay terminal. 

During peak periods, the Quinsam, now on Route 6, is slated to relocate to Fulford when it becomes available in 2027 to supplement the Skeena Queen by providing two-ship service to Swartz Bay. The long-awaited proposal to modify the Fulford terminal is still on the back-burner despite the best efforts of the FAC for over 30 years. However, on both routes 4 and 6, the introduction of two-ship service should greatly improve the ferry line-up issue. Still, a transportation service of any type has to keep evolving as technology, demographics and economic realities change.

Finally, I would like to thank all those who provided comments, suggestions and other input to the SSIFAC over the years. Some suggestions, such as “build a bridge,” were, thankfully, beyond our purview. 

As well, I would like to thank all the volunteer members of the SSIFAC who served with me while I was chair. And finally, I would like to acknowledge the BC Ferries staff who worked with the SSIFAC over the years I have been involved.