Please attend the public information meeting on June 21st, on the local Salt Spring Trust bylaw response to the provincial government's Riparian legislation....
This is the last opportunity to present your concerns and thoughts to the trustees. No public input after the 21st.
My take: Islanders care about the environment...look at all the support over the years for Kathy Reimer's work to bring the salmon back to spawn in all the creeks...years of support. The work that resulted in Burgoyne Valley Park...Mt Erskine Park...Creekside Park (the recent saving of a 19 acre "rainforest")...people step forward to preserve their island. That is a fact.
It is now the law in B.C., for all communities to act with the same stewardship ethic that sums up how all Salt Springers have acted for several years. This is great!
It is important to spend the money to map all the affected areas, so that it's immediately clear where these areas are and thus an even interpretation of the B.C. Law can be followed, properly.
Instead of doing this, the trustees wish to create a very broad DPA (development permit area), that will blanket 60% of the Island. Not all properties within the new DPA will be affected.
Individual property owners will have to hire a third party expert (it's been reported that it would be a minimum cost of 4500 to do this)...it's having to prove a negative, then.
Also, even after the third party response, the ability to get a permit to develop your land in some fashion may not be successful...each parcel will be decided upon on an individual basis.
With mapping, all is clear. Without mapping/instead a new DPA, "it depends".
Seems like a recipe for confusion...also seems a money grab...also could appear as a "favoritism" outcome, when it's up to one person's judgement, at the trust office.
What's the rush? Very little information, many property owners unaware...this is the same Trust slate that espoused the precautionary principle (don't rush to make change, in case what you do creates unforeseen and bad consequences)...hmm....
As the great Dave Brubeck played: "Take Five".
Everyone wants to preserve the environment, the creeks, the fish, the water, the habitat...that is a unified Island voice.
It's the "how"....
Make sure you attend on the 21st, and make your voice count!
How may I help you to discover special Salt Spring Island & the Southern Gulf Islands? Call me!
