The Halfmoon Bay search and rescue vessel now has a permanent home in Sechelt Inlet.
Sechelt council voted unanimously Wednesday night to grant Royal Cana-dian Marine Search and Rescue (RCM-SAR) station 12 permanent complimentary moorage at the government dock, complete with space for their donated boathouse.
Mark Coombs, unit leader of station 12, said the joint rescue communication centre requested the inlet location.
"In the past two weeks alone we've been on three rescues," Coombs said, noting the boat has been moored free of charge at the Lighthouse Pub docks; however, "they won't let us put a boathouse there because of the floatplane dock."
The boathouse is needed to shelter the newly rebuilt vessel from the sun and rain.
The complimentary moorage represents a gift in kind of up to $1,470 annually from the District.
Eden approved
Councillors voted five to two to approve the 35-strata lot subdivision Eden Pacific located at the foot of Mount Richardson above Tuwanek.
The development on the steep hillside was first pitched in 2007 as 35 one-acre lots with individual septic systems; however, it failed Vancouver Coastal Health requirements for septic treatment.
In 2012 the proposal was revised to 35 strata lots clustered on 14 hectares with the remaining 18 hectares as open space. It also included a private treatment plant located on the west end of the property.
There was some question from Coun. Darnelda Seigers about whether the proposal held any new information. An emailed letter from the Tuwanek Ratepayers Association suggested it did, and said that it warranted a new subdivision proposal.
Director of development services Ray Parfitt assured Seigers there wasn't anything new in the proposal since the last time they'd seen it.
"It's time to move this proposal on. We've been sitting on this for some time," Coun. Chris Moore said. "It seems that this community has a propensity to always find a way to put the brakes on stuff. Nothing in life is perfect, but let's go with this."
When the vote was called to approve the development permit, councillors Moore, Seigers, Tom Lamb, Doug Hockley and Mayor John Henderson voted in favour, which was enough to pass the motion, while councillors Alice Lutes and Mike Shanks voted against it.
Resort to public
A waterfront resort, being proposed by Vanta Pacific, will go to public hearing in the coming weeks.
Council approved the step after looking at the proposed 1.02-hectare resort development on a rocky bluff south of Poise Island Estates, fronting Porpoise Bay.
The proposed resort would be built in two phases with phase one seeing a three level main boutique hotel building with 20 guest rooms, a meeting room, pool, spa, large deck and restaurant. Phase two calls for six one-storey guest cabins at the south end of the property and four townhouses.
Annual report
Council accepted their 2012 annual report without discussion Aug. 7.
Community concerns
Council asked staff to deal with concerns brought forward by the Tuwanek Ratepayers Association claiming deliberate attempts by council to "confuse the public and withhold pertinent information" regarding the new waste-water treatment facility.
The community association also suggested council "failed to provide legally required public consultation" on the new treatment plant and questioned why repeated attempts by the group to get information from the District have been unsuccessful.
Seigers suggested staff "address the concerns raised" in the letter from the association and bring council "a response as well."
All were in favour of the motion with Shanks noting that "depending on what the explanation is, there may be a further motion on my part."
Money saved and spent
Henderson said the District saved about $300,000 in wages by not paying striking workers for the 20 days they walked the picket line last month.
He also noted some of the savings were passed on to exempt staff who picked up the slack.
A party was thrown for exempt staff and those workers were each paid bonuses of between $1,000 and $5,000, Henderson said, noting the bonus amounts were based on how much extra work each non-unionized employee did during the strike.
