Welcome to the first of many columns about West Howe Sound. Also called Area F, it is the smallest of the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) A to F areas in population – 2,043 in last year’s census. It spans the easternmost chunk of the mainland SCRD and includes Gambier and Keats islands. With few businesses in West Howe Sound, residents depend on the commercial activities of Gibsons. They also team up with other SCRD areas to consider mutual issues.
For example, the Elphinstone Community Association (Area E) invited Area F residents to attend its meeting on seniors’ residential care on March 16 at the Gibsons Area Community Centre. Mark Hiltz, a director in the West Howe Sound Community Association (WHSCA), said he learned at the meeting that the “grey tsunami” – the shift in age demographics toward the elderly – may be larger or smaller than many sources predict, depending on their source of information.
There’s no dispute that the Coast needs more residential care. But the aging prefer living at home, and they don’t want to wait to die in a “warehouse,” experts at the meeting said.
Discussion of residential care is likely to continue at a future meeting of the WHSCA, as the issue has already garnered votes in the association’s topic survey. The survey, which asks Area F residents to identify their most important local concerns, continues until March 31. Survey forms can be found on community bulletin boards in Area F or online through westhowesound.ca
The WHSCA’s next general meeting, on May 10, will focus on solid waste. Solid waste is not sewage. It’s what you throw in the trash. To help rid residents’ trash of food waste, the association is hoping to install a community composter, possibly in the YMCA Road area.
The composter being considered is a cylindrical bin that would be elevated lengthwise above the ground. Residents could deposit their organic waste in the unit and turn it with a crank to aerate the soil. WHSCA director Gregory Dick is preparing a grant-in-aid application to fund the trial project.
The Granthams Hall Renovation Committee is also looking for grant money. The hall closed in May 2015 because of structural problems. The committee has applied for funding to the provincial BC Rural Dividend Fund and the federal Canadian Cultural Spaces Fund. Decisions are anticipated later this month.
Across the water on Gambier, the talk has turned to the David Suzuki Foundation’s proposal for a national park on the west side of the island. Area F director Ian Winn suggested that people should consider the history of Stanley Park when assessing the park’s potential.
Before its dedication in 1888, Stanley Park had been used mainly for food gathering and fishing by aboriginals and non-aboriginals. There had been some logging and a military reserve. A few cabins squatted on the land, but mostly it was wilderness. The government at the time showed great vision in protecting the area so it could become the jewel it is today, Winn said. Gambier has jewel potential, too.
Developers and investors see the lush green landscapes of the islands and the Sunshine Coast and “no doubt salivate at the prospects for their interests,” Winn wrote in an email to me. “The time would be now to advance the feasibility studies and concepts of protecting part of Gambier Island as a park for future generations to admire and enjoy.”
That’s all for now. I plan to write this column every other week, and I need your help. Please send your news about events in West Howe Sound to me at [email protected]
