The Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) is moving ahead with plans to trim some advisory committees and redefine the terms of others.
Recommendations approved by the regional district board in February called for ending the work of the North and South Pender Harbour water advisory committees, the recreation and parks services advisory committee, the Hillside development group advisory committee, the public wharves advisory committee (PWAC), the Gibsons and District fire commission, and the agricultural advisory committee (AAC).
CAO Janette Loveys delivered a report on the next steps at the Oct. 27 corporate and administrative services committee, where Roberts Creek director Mark Lebbell said he felt the work of the AAC was too valuable to be completely abandoned.
“There’s a group there that has technical knowledge, and place-based knowledge – what will and won’t grow, what the options – unsuccessful and successful – have been over years and years, and they’ve provided for this director a technical perspective that is beyond what an APC [advisory planning commission] can be asked to provide,” he said.
SCRD chair, and Halfmoon Bay director, Garry Nohr said in its current form the AAC wasn’t functioning in a way that was helpful to directors who were looking for input on decisions.
Pender Harbour director Frank Mauro was blunt in his assessment. “It became a lobby committee,” he said.
“I know that there are some historical concerns around this committee,” Lebbell said. “But I would hate to throw the baby out with the bathwater here.”
“He’s [Lebbell] got a point,” conceded Nohr. “But I don’t want to vote for another committee that looks like the one that was there before.”
“I have received nothing but complaints about the loss of advisory committees,” noted Elphinstone director Lorne Lewis. “And the loss of the agricultural [advisory committee] is the one I’ve received most of the complaints over. The terms of reference may need to be tweaked on it; however, I can’t support the disbanding of the committee…. We have an awful lot of farms in Elphinstone and they want to see the committee back.”
Lebbell was able to convince the committee to support a motion that the SCRD consider retaining the agricultural advisory committee, with staff to come back in early 2017 with new terms of reference that would be closer to a technical committee along the lines of the future plan for the natural resources advisory committee (NRAC), or something like a “farmers’ institute.”
Ian Winn, director for West Howe Sound, was glad to see a new body would be created to replace PWAC. Terms of reference will be drafted for a ports monitors committee early next year.
“When the previous version, the public wharves advisory committee, concluded its operation earlier this year, the island people were not happy about that, so this would certainly be a step in the right direction to get the island people engaged again,” he said. “Unlike areas on our mainland here, where we have staff that can go around and see the conditions of parks and buildings and things like that, we don’t have eyes and ears – staff people – on the islands who can do that.”
The Dakota Ridge advisory committee, solid waste management plan monitoring advisory committee, and advisory planning commissions will also be maintained, although their makeup and terms of reference might be changed.
The recommendations were due to get final approval at the Nov. 10 SCRD board meeting.
