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The Personal is Political: A Critique of Bylaw 512

There was a time on Salt Spring Island, twenty years or so ago, when cottages were just that—cottages…with no “seasonal” qualifier. I don’t know when the seasonal restriction was imposed on Salt Spring Island cottages, or why. The six staff reports on the proposed bylaw 512 (a bylaw which would remove the “seasonal” qualifier from a handful of cottages in hopes of increasing the number of affordable rentals) that were written between 2017 and 2019—on our tax dime—do not address why the “seasonal” qualifier was added to cottages in the first place, or when. Perhaps it happened during the process of drafting the Official Community Plan in 2008—in any case, at some point in the last twenty years, our Local Trust Committee and planning staff decided that cottages should seasonally restricted, and that year-round cottage living be prohibited. As a relative newcomer, I still shake my head in disbelief at the maze of prohibitions that pass for local governance on this beautiful isl…
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Grad Rates Improve in the Gulf Islands

The Six-Year Completion Rate for BC residents, often referred to as the “grad rate”, increased and approached the BC average in June 2019. The percentage of Gulf Islands School District students graduating in six years from their grade 8 to 12 program jumped from 74.2% for the previous year to 82.7%, the 4th largest increase in the province. The results were confirmed by BC’s Ministry of Education in December 2019. "Focused work by teachers and staff have contributed to this accomplishment,” stated Scott Benwell, Gulf Islands’ Superintendent of Schools. "This is one important indicator of the work we do as a public school system to ensure students have equitable and meaningful options for success when they graduate. Achieving results and improvement like this takes effort from all and it is heartening to see that more of our students walked the stage with dignity, purpose, and options. While this is a positive gain, we know that our continued work on behalf of students wi…
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Alert: Wet’suwet’en Blockade Against Coastal GasLink Blocks Swartz Bay Ferry Traffic - 2020 January 20 - 7:35 AM

UPDATE: Posted Monday, January 20, 2020 - Update as of 9:00 AM: Please be advised that traffic access to the Swartz Bay terminal has been restored and all sailings to and from the terminal have resumed. Note: This Service Notice applies to the following route(s): Victoria (Swartz Bay) - Salt Spring Island (Fulford Harbour); Victoria (Swartz Bay) - Southern Gulf Islands and Vancouver (Tsawwassen) - Victoria (Swartz Bay) UPDATE: Traffic is now flowing to the terminal, and all vessels departing the terminal will be delayed until the traffic on the highway has cleared. This includes the Fulford Harbour - Swartz Bay ferry. Expect delays this morning and possibly into early afternoon. A blockade in support of Wet’suwet’en against Coastal GasLink has reportedly prevented traffic on Highway 17 from getting to the BC Ferries terminal at Swartz Bay on Vancouver Island. At this time all ferry traffic in and out of Swartz Bay, including Gulf Islands and Salt Spring Island ferry t…
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Notice: Alternative Approval Process for Regional Housing First Program

Alternative Approval Process for Bylaw 4326 and 4327, Regional Housing First Program - The Capital Regional District ("CRD") Board proposes to adopt Bylaw No. 4326 “Land Assembly, Housing and Land Banking Service Establishment Bylaw No. 1, 2010, Amendment Bylaw No. 1, 2019” to remove the limitations to borrowing and Bylaw No. 4327, “Regional Housing First Program Loan Authorization Bylaw No. 1, 2019” to authorize the borrowing of an additional ten million dollars ($10,000,000) for the Land Assembly, Housing and Land Banking Service. The intent of Bylaws No. 4326 and 4327 is to extend the Regional Housing First Program for a total contribution of $120M, with the intention of meeting the original program goal of 400 units of affordable housing. Adoption of both bylaws is required in order to receive $10M in matching funds from BC Housing. Elector Approval The CRD may proceed with Bylaws No. 4326 and 4327 with the consent of 2/3rds of service participants, or at least 11 of …
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New Initiatives to Promote the Sustainability of our Local Economy

The Community Economic Development Commission (CEDC) announces three new Initiatives to Promote the Sustainability of our Local Economy - Salt Spring Island’s Community Economic Commission (CEDC) is announcing three new initiatives to help local entrepreneurs grow their businesses. Piloting in mid-2020 will be the development of a commercial distribution and export hub providing local food and beverage producers, artisans and craftspeople, along with health and wellness fabricators, the opportunity to share the cost of services and/or resources needed to grow and sustain their operations. Through the initiative local producers will have access to dedicated marketing and sales agents; shared labour force resources, and a value chain designed to facilitate more efficient production of supplies. The second initiative is the planning of an Innovation Centre for Rural Sustainability to help foster an environment appropriate for testing and scaling innovative green business soluti…
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Alert: All Salt Spring Ferries Cancelled Due to Adverse Weather - January 15th, 2020 - 3:39 PM

Note: This Service Notice applies to the following route(s): - Victoria (Swartz Bay) - Salt Spring Island (Fulford Harbour) Update as of 3:39 pm: Please be advised that the Queen of Cumberland has cancelled the following sailings due to adverse weather conditions - high winds: 5:50 pm departing Fulford Harbour 7:00 departing Swartz Bay 7:50 departing Fulford Harbour 9:00 departing Swartz Bay Note: This Service Notice applies to the following route(s): - Crofton - Salt Spring Island (Vesuvius Bay) Update as of 3:20 pm: Please be advised that the MV Quinitsa has cancelled the following sailings due to adverse weather conditions. 6:45 pm departing Vesuvius Bay 7:20 pm departing Crofton 8:00 pm departing Vesuvius Bay 8:30 pm departing Crofton 9:30 pm departing Vesuvius Bay 10:00 pm departing Crofton Note: This Service Notice applies to the following route(s): - Vancouver (Tsawwassen) - Southern Gulf Islands Update as of 2:00 pm: Please be advised that…
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Alert: All Sailings for Vesuvius-Crofton Resume for Today - 2020 January 11th - 18:32

Update as of 6:32 pm: Please be advised that the MV Quinitsa will resume sailing with the 6:45 pm sailing departing from Vesuvius Bay.The ship was experiencing a problem with its Right Angle Drive which has since been resolved. We appreciate your patience and apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced as a result of the earlier cancellations. -------- Please be advised that the MV Quinitsa has cancelled the following sailings due to a mechanical difficulty: 5:30 pm departing Vesuvius Bay 6:05 pm departing Crofton 6:45 pm departing Vesuvius Bay 7:20 pm departing Crofton 8:00 pm departing Vesuvius Bay 8:30 pm departing Crofton 9:30 pm departing Vesuvius Bay 10:00 pm departing Crofton The ship is experiencing a problem with its Right Angle Drive. A water taxi will sail in place of the MV Quinitsa on the same above posted schedule. Vessel will dock at both public docks adjacent each terminal. We appreciate your patience and apologize for any …
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Turf Field Still Best Option For Youth Sports on Salt Spring

If the recent decision by the school district to rescind their support for a turf field proposal put forward by the local soccer association feels familiar to the Brinkworthy athletic park rejection a few years ago, that's because it is.  Last time the “no” crowd was comprised of agricultural land advocates and complaints from neighboring property owners. This time the no’s came from some environmentalists and anti-plastic advocates.  In both cases the loser is ultimately youth and community sports groups and their proposals to upgrade our athletic fields and parks to modern standards.  It seems that while everyone has been objecting, no one has been listening. Our community sports infrastructure is woefully inadequate, especially when compared to our neighbouring communities.  We lack ball diamonds, enough quality soccer fields, and even a skating rink if you really wanted to dream big.  This is not a new problem, it’s a problem our community has grappled with for decades, …
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Seeds, Weeds and Rodent Deeds

As the days are noticeably lengthening, thoughts of garden plans begin to dance in our heads. I usually start pruning fruit trees in a few weeks, but it is not too early to start now, especially of the early blooming peaches and cherries. With the mild weather so far, people are wondering if buds swelling buds on fruit trees, garlic that has come up and other early growth will be harmed by cold. Some people already have snowdrops in bloom! IF we have several more weeks of mild weather, then a really severe cold period occurring after that could injure them, but usually early buds and shoots are hardy enough to withstand late cold spells. Just keep an eye on the forecast and beef up mulches or throw a tarp over plants if the weather looks dicey.

Germination tests: A task for a wet day is to sort out your seed collection and see what you need to replace. It only takes a couple of days to do a germination test to check…

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