The Salt Spring Local Trust Committee has accepted a recommendation from staff to explore options on how to continue with Ganges harbourwalk planning in the face of considerable opposition to increased development of the shoreline.
Trustees voted at Thursday’s LTC meeting to direct staff to look into the possibilities as well as possible project charter amendments, but stopped short of scrapping the proposed bylaw for a new C7 zone without getting that information first.
“It’s very important that we follow proper procedure here,” said trustee Peter Grove. “There are people who say to me ‘just toss Bylaw 491 out’ . . . and I can understand where they come from.”
“Staff is making the recommendation that they want to come back to us with some options. One of those options may very well be to toss 491 out, I don’t know, but I think we need to go through that process and I value their extremely valuable input in this process,” Grove said.
Trustee George Grams said, “This area does need some sort of remediation and what sort remediation occurs and whether it contains an element of development and to what density that development occurs is something this community has an obligation to resolve, and so I am for continuing the process to seek that resolution.”
Ganges Marina lease not renewed
The Salt Spring Local Trust Committee and the Driftwood independently learned this week that a new foreshore lease has not yet been granted to Ganges Marina.
According to the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, the ministry has received an application to replace the lease but no formal decision has been made on the application. The marina’s tenure will continue on a month-to-month basis until a formal decision is made.
Speaking Tuesday morning, trustee Peter Grove said he was pleased by the news but not surprised as it aligned with information consistently provided by Islands Trust staff.
“This does not mean that we can demand access to the right-of-way along the leased waterfront,” Grove added. “The matter is more complicated than that and it would not be in our community’s best interests for me to spell out the issues. The matter has and will be discussed further with the landowners as we move forward.”
Whether or not the lease had been renewed was flagged by concerned island resident Richard Kerr, who was directed to a government database that seemed to indicate the lease had already been renewed by the provincial government.
For much more on this story, see the Dec. 6, 2017 issue of the Gulf Islands Driftwood newspaper, or subscribe online.