Skip to content

Forum endorses planning initiatives

HOWE SOUND

The Howe Sound Community Forum passed resolutions supporting two major planning initiatives at a meeting in Squamish on Oct. 17.

The first was to acknowledge and support the Squamish First Nation’s efforts to develop a marine-use plan for Howe Sound.

The resolution followed the announcement at the forum by Squamish Nation officials that they intended to go forward on marine planning, Future of Howe Sound Society executive director Ruth Simons said Monday.

“We were as surprised as anyone when we got there” and heard the announcement, Simons said. “They sounded as though they were committed to it.”

The marine plan would identify key values that the Squamish Nation wants to protect in the sound, and could help deter inappropriate development proposals in areas identified as environmentally sensitive, Simons said.

The second resolution was to accept the offer from the province to conduct a cumulative effects framework (CEF) for Howe Sound, with work commencing in 2015.

The CEF was first pitched by the province to forum members in January and is described as a pre-planning process that develops policies and procedures to enable periodic assessment of cumulative effects on a broad, strategic scale, rather than on a project-by-project basis.

While it’s not the comprehensive management plan that Simons’ group had advocated for, the CEF does include a mandate to look at Howe Sound as a whole, she said.

“It’s also including the marine environment. So that’s another win, we think.”

The CEF will serve as a tool for local government planning and provide a database that all agencies can access, Simons said.

Details such as the boundaries of the study area will be decided at the next forum meeting early in 2015. The Sunshine Coast Regional District board has previously called for the inclusion of all watersheds within the sound.

Simons said one of the questions that came up at the meeting was whether participants could merge the two planning initiatives, “and the feeling seemed to be yes we can. There seems to be trust that the province, Squamish Nation and local governments can work together.”

The meeting, held at the top of the Sea to Sky Gondola in heavy rain, drew 21 elected officials, 15 staff, 21 observers, and six First Nation participants, including Squamish Nation councillor and spokesman Chris Lewis, Chief Gibby Jacob and senior executive assistant Lisa Wilcox.

“I think people felt very good about the meeting,” Simons said. “There’s always this great sense of hope and goodwill when everybody’s in the room.”