This matter was finally approved at the last Regional Board Meeting. This service paves the way now for the Regional District to focus various housing intiatives such as Work Force Housing. There will be more information coming soon on this service.
With the recent public hearing at Strathcona Lodge to explore options to better support residents with Fire Protection some residents have also inquired about obtaining Hydro. Checking SRD records there was considerable work completed in 2013 however due to budget restraints at the time BC Hydro halted further work on this.
At this time SRD staff are looking into what are the options that could bring Hydro to this remote community.
I find it amazing that the previous Director did nothing on this for the past decade.
Successful candidates were approved in the July Board Meeting. Thank you for all those that did take the time to apply for this committee.
At the last Strathcona Gardens Meeting I brought a motion forward seeking a report from staff on including Electoral Areas A,B and C in this service.
This motion when forwarded to the Regional Board did receive considerable push back from the three Electoral Directors A B and C.
However the motion did pass and staff will be bringing a further report back to the Regional Board for further consideration.
For years Area D has been the only Electoral Area along with the City of Campbell River who has paid into this service. As the tax requisition for Area D residents continues to grow each year to support this valuable service I did feel it was time to bring this matter forward and at the very least try to get Electoral Areas A, B, C to also pay into this service.
The first public hearing was held at Strathcona Lodge on June 26th 2023.
This was an informal meeting but productive meeting.
There will be future meetings scheduled to further define if the Strathcona Regional District can provide a service to further enhance the residents ability to fight a fire if needed.
This bylaw has now been amended. It is now legal in Area D for those property owners with less than one acre to have four egg laying chickens or ducks.
After months of effort the Oyster Bay Rest Stop has finally seen the last of the unlicensed RV’s towed away.
While there is still considerable cleanup to do around the picnic tables it is a welcome sight for many who have waited patiently over the past few months while this problem navigated through various levels of government seeking approval to tow the RV’s. I know that over the past few months I have received a number of emails, phone calls and even messages on social media as to why I could not simply have these RV’s towed away.
This was a complicated set of problems that not only included the parking of unlicensed RV’s but also included a number of those that were living in their vehicles during the winter months. The responses towards the homeless took time while other agencies tried to assist those that it could. I do wish to thank those in the community who showed compassion towards those folks and took time to visit and stay in touch over the winter.
I have no doubt that your help was appreciated.
It is unfortunate that the Strathcona Regional District does not have the ability to respond to homeless during the winter months. I am hoping that over the coming months that this inability will be rectified and I am confident that the Regional Board will support a solution when it comes back to the board for discussion.
With regards to the towing of RV’s that approval needed to come from the province as this rest stop is managed solely by the province. In addition to their approval there needed to be arrangements made with SRD Bylaw Officer and of course arrangements with the RCMP for additional enforcement as needed.
Those arrangements took time!
Staff did provide a detailed report to the Directors in March and while there was some very good options presented at the Board Meeting I have requested that SRD staff contact the Comox Valley Regional District as they have been very successful in addressing this problem with their solution. I do expect that Staff will be bringing a further report back to the Board on their findings soon.
SRD staff have applied for the Provincial Grant for bus shelters and the expecation is that over the next few months staff will know if this grant application is successful.
While campaigning last year one of the items that I did campaign on was the fact that Area D does need to have a very comprehensive Traffic Study completed to address all the traffic concerns in the community.
At the Jan 2023 EASC meeting I did move the following motion forward THAT a report on a comprehensive Traffic Study be prepared for that portion of Electoral Area D located between the City of Campbell River and the Oyster River that includes stakeholders
This report should be mindful that Area D would like to address the following issues with this traffic study
This report should identify possible costs, and if there is any potential for grants.
Background
For years highway 19A continues to be a source of concern for many residents in the community. With a growing Municipality to the North and a growing Regional District to the South many in Area D are experiencing daily issues with highway 19A. As the communities surrounding Area D continue to grow it is imperative for Area D’s own planning to start addressing Highway 19A issues with some affirmative action.
Likewise as the community of Area D continues to grow many of its internal roads are seeing an increase in traffic and speeding particularly around parks and popular pedestrian and biking routes. Again without an affirmative plan in place to deal with this growing issue it is becoming increasingly difficult to encourage all forms of active transportation within the community.
And finally the one growing business centre in our community on Glenmore Rd has been trying for years to have improved access and greater pedestrian safety. With a detailed traffic study in hand it is hoped that Area D will be well positioned to lobby other levels of government.
At the most recent Regional Board Meeting on Feb 2023 I did move a motion to have staff report back to the EASC committee the estimated costs to this study so I can insure that there appropriate budget in place to complete this report. Further updates on this study will be coming soon.
While Area D ditches are maintained by the Province this service was created to help when events such as flooding do occur. This service was also created to provide funding to fill ditches that are no longer required and do present a hazard on some roads.
This service has not been funded with tax money and instead it is funded with Gas Tax proceeds from the province. Over the next few months the SRD will be working on the finer details of this service and it is hoped that MoTi will be interested in collaborating and working with Area D to actually start seeing some good service being done on the many ditches that are in Area D and are in need of repair.
Disclaimer Notice
Any views expressed on this website are those of the director and do not necessarily reflect those of the corporation or the full board of directors
During my campaign last year I mentioned that Area D was being left behind on a very important project due to lack of leadership and a understanding from the current Director on this very important fully funded “Federal Project” There was an immediate backlash from “Leigh Supporters” and efforts to undermine my credibility by suggesting that the information I presented was false and there was no way an area Director could play a role in bringing this important project to the community.
As many have already stated in the community, there are places in Area D where reliable internet services are not there and instead residents are required to subscribe to other services like Starlink. While the technologies in the “Internet Space” are evolving quickly frankly there has been little appetite for the “Main Internet Providers” to even consider running modern internet infrastructures into remote area’s. This is often further complicated by the fact that if the “Main Internet Providers” do invest in this infrastructure they also block smaller internet providers from providing any services for how many years.
The Connected Coast Project addresses this problem by funding these required infrastructures while allowing smaller internet service providers to offer their services thereby increasing competition and increased service levels that are only offered by the “Main Internet Providers” at considerable up charges to the subscribers.
In Dec 2022 I was selected to sit on the Connected Coast Committee for the Strathcona Regional District. As many may know, I worked as a “Network Engineer” for more than 30 years so this is a perfect fit to my skill sets.
In addition in Dec 2022 motions were passed and Area D will be exploring funding opportunities for “last mile funding” with City West who will be looking to expand its services into Area D perhaps as early 2024. While improved Internet Services are on the way for parts of Area D none of this would have been possible without a change in “Leadership” for the community.
Disclaimer Notice
Any views expressed on this report are those of the director and do not necessarily reflect those of the corporation or the full board of directors.
Disclaimer Notice
Any views expressed on this website are those of the director and do not necessarily reflect those of the corporation or the full board of directors