Parkland report
The first report on the failure of the Town-owned Parkland District Energy System will go to council April 4.
A fluid leak in the geothermal system led to the Town shutting it down temporarily in early February, forcing homeowners to switch to either back-up electric furnaces or bring in portable heaters.
A covenant requires all homes in Parkland to be hooked into the District Energy System. Around 30 residents showed up for a meeting with the Town on Feb. 15 to press for answers about what went wrong, and what will be done to ensure the system is reliable in the future.
The report is expected to make recommendations on bringing in an outside expert to review the District Energy System’s operations, whether to include Parkland Phase 3 (council has already authorized a bylaw to borrow $125,000 to help pay for servicing Phase 3 through the utility), and compensating residents for spikes in their hydro bills and other costs.
CAO Emanuel Machado said Parkland residents were given the all-clear to go back to using their geothermal systems as normal about two weeks ago.
Short-term rentals
Gibsons may be joining the Sunshine Coast Regional District’s (SCRD) public consultations on regulating short-term rentals.
The SCRD board voted last month to get community input before considering zoning bylaw changes and other regulations for people renting rooms, or entire homes, through services like Airbnb or VRBO.
According to a staff report recommending Gibsons work with the SCRD on a coordinated public consultation effort, the Town has only received two bylaw complaints about short-term rentals in the past five years.
Gibsons has been asking property owners offering accommodation to get business licences, which is already a requirement for B&B operators. The bylaw department said it monitors Airbnb and similar listings to see if the people offering them have a business licence – and most do.
Council will vote on whether to join the SCRD’s public consultation at its March 21 meeting.
Huckleberry Childcare garden project
Council is expected to vote March 21 on a licence of occupation to allow the Huckleberry Coast Childcare Society to build an “art and play” garden on the Town-owned land between the Arts Building and the Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives.
The Society’s Bronwen Payerle appeared before the March 7 committee of the whole meeting to explain the plan. Huckleberry has been subleasing space in the Arts Building from the Arts Building School and Centre Society, and started running a part-time daycare in September 2016.
She said the garden project would help their effort to offer more hours and take more children. “If we’re able to the have this art and play garden, it would be an opportunity to expand our licence and our services to provide more full-time child care, which is definitely a fairly critical need on the Coast,” said Payerle.
The Society has already raised just over $9,000 for the project including grants from the SCRD and Sunshine Coast Community Foundation.
Payerle also told council they’re hoping to get approval in time to get the planting done before the dry season so they’ll be well established for a planned opening in September.
