Frants Attorp

Transition Salt Spring (TSS) says that addressing climate change and “restoring ecosystems” are central to their “core mission,” but do their policies support that claim? DRAFT TRUST POLICY STATEMENT TSS has expressed general support for the draft Trust Policy Statement, saying it “reflects genuine learning and real consultation.” They have suggested a number of changes and urged Trust Council to adopt an amended version without delay. Lawyer Don Lidstone, meanwhile, has shown how the document “prioritizes development” across numerous policy areas, especially the one dealing with housing, and “fails to address climate change in any meaningful way.” He called the lone policy on climate change “vague and nonspecific.” CLIMATE EMERGENCY In 2019, Trust Council declared a “climate emergency” and made a commitment “to pursue an absolute reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.” Yet today’s draft document does not mention that declaration, and makes no commitment to ach…

By Frants Attorp If Trust Council adopts the draft Trust Policy Statement “in its current state,” it will not be “carrying out the object (mandate) of the Trust” as required by the Islands Trust Act, and that could trigger legal action. Specifically, the draft document, which would guide all island Official Community Plans, is “prioritizing development over protecting and preserving the unique amenities and environment of the Trust area.” So reads a February 17 letter sent to Trust Council by Don Lidstone KC, Senior Partner of Lidstone & Company. Widely regarded as western Canada’s leading specialist in local government law, Lidstone was also the Islands Trust’s lawyer earlier in his career. His 12-page opinion, obtained by a number of Trust area resident associations, directly contradicts Trust Council’s egregious re-interpretation of the mandate— arrived at by “consensus” during a closed-door meeting in 2023—to include “housing, livelihoods, infrastructure, tourism“ and…

By Frants Attorp If you want a straight-forward answer you need to ask a straight-forward question. Why, then, has the Islands Trust produced a “Draft Policy Statement Survey” that only lawyers and policy analysts can fully understand? The survey, which closes on February 2, starts with a two-page preamble using specialized planning jargon. Next comes the draft itself with 18 pages of green assurances, most of which are vague and non-binding (although the public is unlikely to realize that). At the end of each section, respondents are invited to agree or disagree. I can only conclude that the authors lack knowledge about survey design or are deliberately trying to avoid discussion of major issues. Since they know exactly what’s being changed, why didn’t they include in the survey preamble a short list of the most significant changes to help the public provide more informed feedback? The estimated time to “read and complete” the survey is 15-20 minutes. Really? I hav…

By Frants Attorp Trustee Laura Patrick’s recent Exchange article proclaiming her support for doughnut economics is belied by the evidence. Central to doughnut economics is a requirement to limit growth so it does not breach ecological boundaries. Yet, for the past several years, Trustee Patrick has worked to remove growth limits from our Official Community Plan (OCP) and the Trust Policy Statement (TPS)—despite scientific studies showing development at build-out is already unsustainable on several Gulf Islands. The requirement for trustees to respect local density limits has already been removed from the draft Trust Policy Statement which will guide all OCPs in the Trust Area. All that’s left now is to remove key growth-limiting policies at the island level, and that’s also underway. The housing reports guiding the update of Salt Spring’s OCP—which bear a striking resemblance to a report co-authored by Trustee Patrick in 2020—recommend numerous strategies that are utte…

By Frants Attorp As the controversy over the rewrite of our Official Community Plan heats up, a very significant detail is being lost in the political rhetoric: a mathematical formula that could reshape Salt Spring and other Gulf Islands. It’s called floor area ratio, commonly known as FAR. FAR, which would allow for much higher densities, has now become a main driver of Salt Spring’s OCP “update.” Proponents see FAR as “a creative way” to provide more housing—even in the absence of housing agreements. Opponents, meanwhile, see FAR as an urban concept that risks destroying everything that makes the islands special, and are instead calling for affordable housing protected from the market forces that cause surging rents and costs. Right now a typical lot on Salt Spring is allowed one house no larger than 5000 sq feet (500 sq metres). Without stringent restrictions, FAR could, for example, allow five dwellings of 1000 sq feet on a vast number of lots. That would dramatica…

A Flawed Process By Frants Attorp An open letter asking the Minister of Municipal Affairs to instruct the Salt Spring Local Trust Committee to withdraw the current “targeted” Official Community Plan – Land Use Bylaw (OCP-LUB) update project and instead undertake a full review if and when a new Trust Policy Statement is adopted: 1. TIMING MAKES NO SENSE – According to Trust planners, Salt Spring’s OCP must be “consistent with the Trust Policy Statement (TPS).” If so, it makes no sense to undertake a major OCP-LUB amendment project until after the new TPS is adopted. Yet the Trust’s own timelines show that the new TPS will not be ready for consideration by the minister until long after core visioning for Salt Spring’s new OCP has been completed. It’s the proverbial cart before the horse. The interrelationship of the two documents is explained in the project terms of reference: “The Islands Trust Policy Statement is currently undergoing a major amendment, the resu…

By Frants Attorp Cool your heels and go back to the people. That’s the basic message Minister of Municipal Affairs Ravi Kahlon has sent to Trust Council, the political body of the Islands Trust, after its recent request that the Province conduct a full “review” of the Islands Trust Act—including the “preserve and protect” mandate which has restrained development on the Gulf Islands for the past 50 years. In an April 28th letter to Trust Council, which consists of all our 26 elected trustees, Minister Kahlon quashed any speculation that the Trust area, protected by the Islands Trust Act since 1974, can be governed much like any other part of the province. The Minister indicated the provincial government has other more pressing matters on its plate “during this time of extraordinary change and uncertainty,” and stated: “I am therefore not in a position to consider a review of the Islands Trust Act prior to the next general local elections.” This is definitely not what…

By Frants Attorp Following is a timeline showing how a plan to transform Salt Spring and undermine the Islands Trust was developed in private meetings on Salt Spring Island, and how the central idea—dubbed “integrated solutions”—has gone through various iterations and now forms the basis of a “targeted” update to Salt Spring’s Official Community Plan. Additionally, the concept became the template for Trust Council’s new interpretation of the Trust mandate, and is currently guiding the rewrite of the Trust Policy Statement which covers all islands in the Trust Area. The “integrated solutions” theory is based on the idea there is no need for a single priority as various issues or “elements” of importance can be addressed all at once. But making everything a priority is contrary to the Islands Trust Act and to basic principles of conservation which require environmental protection to be the primary focus of long-term planning. The theory denies the reality that development, …

After years of avoiding the issue, Salt Spring Solutions (SSS) has finally come down firmly against quantified growth restrictions in our Official Community Plan (OCP), calling them “antiquated theoretical calculations.” It is more evidence of their urban approach and relentless push for urban development. In response to my Exchange article called “Salt Spring’s Population Bomb,” they claimed my reference to the projected 17,000 build-out population “misrepresents the origin and meaning of the number,” and suggested the zoning cap in our OCP is not based on “an ecological assessment.” But the Ecosystem Health Report I cited, authored by Dr. David Rapport, an internationally-recognized ecologist and by Dr. Luisa Maffi, was commissioned by the Trust specifically for the 2008 OCP. The report repeatedly refers to population and build-out (when all lots are developed), and warns “we are already at or past build-out for maintaining healthy ecosystems.” In a recent email, Rappor…

How many people can live on Salt Spring without ruining its distinctive natural features: 10,000, 50,000, or perhaps even one million? Technology knows no bounds, or does it? Many smaller islands around the world have populations that make the 12,000 on Salt Spring look very small. Consider Staten Island at 500,000 or Manhattan at 1.6 million. But neither of those islands is part of an internationally-recognized protected area with “unique and special marine and wildlife habitats”—and both pipe water from distant watersheds. When our existing Official Community Plan (OCP) was developed in 2008, protection of the natural environment was deemed the top priority as per the Islands Trust Act. Accordingly, a decision was made to limit the human population to “a little over 17,000” by placing a cap on rezoning, but with special allowances for affordable housing. Those limits were based partly on a study showing Salt Spring is “already at or past build-out for maintaini…