Trustees chart course for Salty Dog operation

On its face, there was little change in status for a Salt Spring kennel operation, despite more than an hour of public comment before the Salt Spring Local Trust Committee (LTC) meeting Thursday, Dec. 14. 

There was star power — musician and philanthropist Raffi Cavoukian spoke in defence of Salty Dog Retreat, calling it an “essential service” and praising the dedication of its staff. Cavoukian is listed on application documents as a partial owner of the kennel property. 

There were impassioned, even tearful speeches — one supporter begged trustees not to act similarly to the government she lived under in the former Soviet Union, another accused LTC staff of impugning the kennel’s reputation by mere mention of bylaw enforcement actions against it, and cited the Magna Carta. 

And there were letters — dozens in favour of allowing Salty Dog to continue non-permitted operations at its new Blackburn Road site, alongside a handful expressing concerns over impacts to the watershed there. Most of the property is mapped as “Watershed & Islet Residential” in the island’s official community plan (OCP), and “Rural Watershed 1” in the land use bylaw, leading the LTC last month to deny a temporary use permit (TUP) application for the business, in operation at the site since it was purchased in March. 

In a room packed with supporters, trustees clearly weren’t eager to say “no” to the project a second time, although they concurred with staff that Salt Spring’s OCP would not permit a temporary permit at that parcel, and if another application was submitted — as Salty Dog owner/operator Jaime Halan-Harris was proposing — it would just be denied again. 

And while they didn’t exactly say “yes” either, trustees threaded the needle: expressing clear support for the kennel itself while acknowledging continuing the prohibited use at the property is indeed unlawful — at least, without significant changes.  

Trustees advised Halan-Harris to submit a new application, this time to amend the OCP itself — to essentially ask to carve the property out of the mapped watershed. That could take place concurrently with a permanent rezoning application, or a temporary permit could be applied for afterwards, if the OCP amendment was successful. 

That amendment process could be lengthy — likely a year or more — and is expensive; staff noted the current fee structure put an OCP amendment application at nearly $8,000. The outcome is also uncertain, as the process includes staff review, a public hearing, LTC consideration and referral to First Nations, advisory agencies, the Islands Trust Executive Committee and the B.C. municipal affairs ministry. 

But in the meantime, Salty Dog’s proponents can tally a “win” on at least one front — trustees said explicitly they would use their authority to halt enforcement actions against Salty Dog while an application to amend the OCP was in progress. In a standing resolution on “unlawful uses” passed back in 2020, the LTC voted to allow itself to direct the temporary cessation of bylaw enforcement actions for applicants, even while a prohibited use is continuing, if they believed there was a “community need” to do so.

That authority does not extend to enforcement actions stemming from complaints received by the Capital Regional District (CRD), trustees noted, although Islands Trust bylaw compliance and enforcement manager officer Warren Dingman said he would reach out to colleagues there. 

“I can certainly make contact with the CRD,” said Dingman. “Let them know what land use enforcement issues are taking place, try and find out what their concerns are right now, and what they’re proceeding with for enforcement.” 

Halan-Harris seemed eager to accept LTC staff’s offer to meet and hammer out details as soon as possible, in hopes of starting the application process quickly — before any further Islands Trust bylaw enforcement actions take place. Once the application is made, according to LTC chair Tim Peterson, trustees can pass a “resolution without meeting” (i.e. through email) to halt enforcement. 

“We’re open until Christmas,” said planner Chris Hutton.