This report primarily relates to the business of the Salt Spring Local Trust Committee (LTC), which is made up of the two local trustees and an appointed chair. The LTC’s responsibilities include regulating the development and use of land within the Salt Spring Local Trust Area, which includes Salt Spring Island and more than 25 associated islands including Prevost, Secret, and Piers islands.

I want to bring your attention to some important Trust Council business. Trust Council is the body of all 26 elected trustees and is primarily responsible for setting and adopting the annual budget for all of the Islands Trust’s activities, and for adopting a policy statement. The trust policy statement is a general statement of the polices of Trust Council to carry out the Islands Trust’s preserve-and-protect mandate.

The policy statement is being updated for the first time in 30 years and recently received first reading. Trust Council wants to hear from you. There will be a public engagement opportunity on Salt Spring the evening of September 11th. Here is a link where you can find and read the draft policy statement and a link to a survey where you can provide feedback: https://islandstrust.bc.ca/programs/islands-2050/

Our next LTC meeting will be on September 11th beginning at 9:30 AM at the Salt Spring Legion, Meaden Hall, 120 Blain Road. The agenda will be available on Sept 5th on the Islands Trust website. Office staff are available to help should you have questions about getting to our meetings or viewing them on-line. Please call 250-538-9144 or email ssiinfo@islandstrust.bc.ca for support. Please note that no in-person office is available on Salt Spring Island currently. Renovations are underway on a new office at 121 McPhillips Avenue, with intent to re-open to in-person service soon.

We welcome you to ask questions or provide comments during the “Town Hall and Questions” period at the beginning of our Sept 11th regular meeting, starting at approximately 9:30 AM.

The following are meeting highlights from the LTC’s June 5th and July 10th meetings. For the official record and for more details, please refer to the minutes and/or view recordings of the meetings.

At the Local Trust Committee’s June 5th meeting, the following decisions were made related to land use applications and referrals. We:

-Approved a Development Variance Permit (application PLDVP20250078, 116 Cypress View Road) to vary the setback to a water body from 15 m to 0m to bring an existing culvert into compliance.

-Approved Development Variance Permit (application PLDVP20250029, between 206 and 212 Narrows West Road) to vary the maximum allowed area for a float for non-commercial boat moorage from 35 square metres to 136 square metres to allow for the construction of a group moorage facility.

In other actions taken at the regular June 5th meeting we:

-Received a delegation from Salt Spring Solutions on the outcome of their community engagement on their Homes for Islanders report.

-Received a delegation from Gulf Islands Senior Residence Association (GISRA) requesting that their application to rezone their Kings Lane property be fast tracked. The LTC passed a resolution requesting staff to prioritize the rezoning application for 154 Kings Lane and any associated applications.

-Adopted Bylaw 540, which repeals the housing agreement on 584 Rainbow Road.

-Received an update on the Official Community Plan/Land Use Bylaw Update Project. A project consultant has been retained; the project advisory planning commission had met and were provided an overview; and outreach letters were sent to First Nations.

At the Local Trust Committee’s July 10th meeting, the following decisions were made related to land use applications and referrals. We:

-Requested staff to prepare draft bylaws to rezone 154-164 Kings Lane from Residential 12 variant A to Residential 13 (PLRZ20250220) and for staff to seek input from First Nations and other agencies and proceed with public notification.

-Adopted Bylaw 541 which rezoned 200 Collins Road (PLRZ20240145) from Rural to Rural Variant F, which allows for the development of a full-time rental cottage.

-Approved a Development Permit (PLDP20250189, 378 Lower Ganges Road) to expand the deli by 33 square metres and the liquor store by 18 square metres within a commercial area (Country Grocer).

-Confirmed the non-issuance of three development permits for a shoreline erosion mitigation project that had come to the LTC as an appeal of a staff decision to not issue the permits at the following addresses: 235 Quarry Dr, 239 Quarry Dr, and 434 Baker Rd (PLDP20240056, PLDP20240057, and PLDP20240059).

In other actions taken at the regular July 10th meeting we:

-Gave three readings to Bylaw 547 to repeal the meeting procedure bylaws. Trust Council had previously adopted a meeting procedure bylaw which would apply to all local trust committee meetings to simplify administrative procedures.

Your local trustees are always willing to sit down with you and island community organizations or businesses to understand what matters most to you and to talk to you about the work of the Islands Trust. Contact information: Laura Patrick lpatrick@islandstrust.bc.ca or call 250-538-8170; Jamie Harris jharris@islandstrust.bc.ca or call 250-530-9663.