Matt Thomson, coordinator of the Sunshine Coast Housing Committee, asked Sechelt council to consider becoming part of a community land trust with other governments on the Coast during the Nov. 12 regular council meeting.
“In the work that’s been done in the last couple of years with the housing committee as we’ve moved forward on a number of different projects, one of the gaps that has been identified is that we have a number of great, willing, local organizations that want to partner on housing, but we don’t have a dedicated society or agency that can take a lead on the development end of things,” Thomson said. “So this is where a community land trust comes in.”
He explained the committee has done “a fair amount of research” about developing a community land trust, which is a popular model of developing affordable housing in the U.S. and the U.K.
“It’s able to enter into a shared equity ownership model, which allows young families or first time buyers to be able to afford ownership property and build their own equity,” Thomson said. “The organization itself would act as a charitable organization so that land could be donated and donors can receive a charitable receipt for their donation, as well as any fundraising that comes.”
He said the trust would not draw on money from the District of Sechelt unless the municipality wanted to partner on a project in the future, and he asked for council’s endorsement of the trust.
“I would like to see this first step in getting endorsement from government for a community land trust as the beginning of local government helping to shape that direction of the land trust,” Thomson said.
“We feel that it’s a viable model.”
He said that if all local governments endorse the trust idea, the Sunshine Coast Housing Committee would start planning in early 2015.
“We would begin a strategic planning process across the region to see how the land trust can support the goals and needs of each community on the Sunshine Coast, including Sechelt,” Thomson said.
Councillors seemed interested in the idea; however, Mayor John Henderson said council would look at it more “in a future meeting.”
Organic recycling
Communications manager Connie Jordison presented an update on Sechelt’s curbside organic recycling pilot project, showing nearly everyone who completed a recent survey was in favour of continuing the service.
The pilot project has been running since May in Davis Bay where approximately 500 homes have been receiving weekly pick-up of their organic waste.
A total of 81 people using the service filled out a survey recently, and of the 77 who answered whether or not they liked the program, 76 said yes. The only concern registered cited costs as an issue.
The cost for the pilot project to date is approximately $62,000.
A question about whether the recycling project was a good investment saw all but two respondents agree it was worth the money spent.
“Our recommendation as staff is that we look at continuing the Davis Bay pilot project until the end of this year, if possible,” Jordison said, also asking whether council wanted a full district-wide program implemented for 2015.
In a unanimous decision, council voted to run the pilot project until the end of the year and then revisit expansion of the program in 2015.
The cost to run the pilot project in Davis Bay until the end of the year is another approximately $3,300.
Arts festival
The 11th annual Sechelt Arts Festival was a “great success” according to festival producer Nancy Cottingham Powell, who gave her report to council on Nov. 5.
The festival saw more than 2,600 people attend events from Oct. 16 to 26.
Shows such as Spirit of Song and Body of Light got rave reviews from the public, Cottingham Powell said, as did the Mind over Matter art exhibition that saw 15 Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal artists collaborate on six art pieces.
“The results were groundbreaking,” Cotting-ham Powell said. “I just wanted to say a huge thank you to this council for your support of this festival. Giving us that commitment of the three years to really give us a chance to get our legs and get out there into the community and not have to be worrying constantly about what’s going on for next year really, really helped and meant that we could focus more on programming and collaboration work within the community and not have to be scrambling all the time to think about how we’re going to pay the next bill.”
Henderson thanked Cottingham Powell and co-producer Diana Robertson for their work to make the arts festival so successful.
