On July 5th I attended the memorial service for Clarke Gourlay, who was the elected RDN representative for Area G (French Creek). Clarke was also co-owner of Little Qualicum Cheeseworks. Clarke died the previous weekend in a mountaineering accident. As newly elected representatives, Clarke and I did quite a bit of ‘comparing notes’ as we learned on the job and I enjoyed working with him as he led the RDN’s Regional Parks and Trails committee with his ambitious plans for parks. Always thoughtful, friendly, curious, and motivated, he was a wonderful representative for the RDN, and a valued colleague. Clarke’s Alternate Director, Joe Stanhope, will fulfill the duties as the Area G representative until a by-election is held.
The Parks and Open Spaces Committee (POSAC) met June 17th. To promote information exchange about island parks, the Gabriola Recreation Society and Gabriola Land and Trails Trust provided updates on their activities. In addition to discussions about a delegation’s request for funding support and items of correspondence, the committee reviewed and approved the 5-year project plan for Community Parks in Area B. Agendas and Minutes for RDN meetings (including Board meetings) are available through the RDN calendar: www.rdn.bc.ca/events. The next POSAC meeting will be held October 7th, 10:30 am at the Gabriola Arts & Heritage Centre.
At its second structured-decision-making workshop, the Drinking Water and Watershed Protection Action Plan committee identified and prioritized actions. We also reviewed responses to the public input survey, where Area B residents had the highest number of responses for an area across the RDN at 23% of total responses! Thanks to everyone who filled out the survey and contributed their thoughts. In September we will review a draft Action Plan developed by Econics, which is the company contracted to assist with this process.
I attended the Gabriola Recreation Society (GRS) and Economic Development Advisory Group (EDAG) meetings. GRS has a lot of fun activities for kids this summer – see the options at www.gabriolarecreation.org. Heading into its 2-year anniversary, the EDAG is conducting a governance review to ensure it’s well set for the future. Julie Sperber, the Community Economic Development Officer, has been hard at work creating an integrated set of websites for our area – check them out at the www.hellogabriola.ca portal.
Some items discussed at the Board meeting on June 25th:
· The Board adopted the 2018 annual financial report and statement of financial information. The RDN’s financial reports are available at www.rdn.bc.ca/financial-reports.
· The Board will review the parcel tax for the Regional Parks and Trails capital funds for the 2020 budget · The Board referred the issue of cannabis regulation to the RDN’s Agricultural Advisory Committee for review and recommendations to the Board. The Board also requested that Chair Thorpe write a letter to Minister Donaldson outlining concerns about cannabis regulation and requesting that government consider a moratorium on non-soil bound cannabis production until local governments can create or amend bylaws to address the issue.
· The Board approved the expansion of Nanaimo transit services to include New Year’s Day, Good Friday, and Christmas Day.
Upcoming:
· July 9th starting 1:30 pm at the RDN Building: Electoral Area Services Committee and Committee of the Whole meetings
· July 23rd starting 7 pm at the RDN Building: Board meeting
· September 3rd starting 1:30 pm at the RDN Building: Electoral Area Services Committee and Committee of the Whole meetings
If you have any comments or questions, please feel free to contact me at vanessa.craig@rdn.bc.ca.