NOVEMBER
• The proposed agreement between Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), Trellis Seniors Services and shíshálh Nation that would have seen a new long-term care facility built on Nation lands fell through, and instead Trellis planned to build in the District of Sechelt. VCH said Trellis would “reactivate its development application to build the new Silverstone Care Centre on the originally proposed site on Derby Road in West Sechelt.”
• Dean McKinley was hired as permanent chief administrative officer for the Sunshine Coast Regional District. McKinley, who has been serving as CAO at the District of Mackenzie for the past three years, would start Jan. 6.
• Gibsons Coun. David Croal, who worked on The Beachcombers series with the CBC, put forward a motion at the Nov. 5 council meeting to create “a volunteer working group … to establish funding and logistics for the relocation, restoration and housing of the Persephone boat and jet boat” to preserve the town’s TV history.
• Council approved leasing the Marine Room in the Arts Building on South Fletcher Road to RainCity Housing for a cold-weather homeless shelter to open Dec. 1. Work was underway to renovate the space. BC Housing funding would cover the cost of the renovations.
• The name chosen for the shíshálh Nation’s six-storey mixed-use development was Our House of Clans. Master carver ?antuni Tony Paul submitted the name along with his art proposal, which was approved by chief and council.
• School District No. 46 (SD46) filed a statement of claim against Top Quality Top Soil for an incident last year involving the alleged application of contaminated topsoil on playing fields in the district. SD46 claimed damages, costs and other relief alleging the company “breached the duty of care owed to the school board” by failing to “reasonably test or inspect the soil,” by ensuring “there were no debris or contaminants,” by failing to warn the school board about the contaminants in the soil, and by supplying “a defective product.” None of the claims were proven in court.
• Councillors in Sechelt served popcorn to the gallery to mark the anniversary of their inaugural meeting Nov. 6, and took time to reflect on their first year in office.
• Gerry Latham, the former chair of the Sechelt Hospital Foundation, was appointed Vancouver Coastal Health’s director for the Sunshine Coast, and as of Nov. 8 that position was made permanent. Gerry Latham was hired in August as the interim director after Lauren Tindall resigned from that role. As director, Latham oversees the delivery of health services on the Sunshine Coast, as well as making strategic decisions about health care here. “It’s a complex portfolio,” Latham said.
• Remembrance Day was observed Nov. 11 at ceremonies at the four Royal Canadian Legions on the Sunshine Coast.
• Councillors in Sechelt decided not to act on calls from the Davis Bay-Wilson Creek-Selma Park Community Association to ban fishing and crabbing from the Davis Bay wharf. Conflict between people using the wharf for fishing and crabbing and others who use it for sightseeing and swimming was the main topic at the association’s Nov. 13 meeting.
• Gibsons council voted in favour of moving ahead with zoning and Official Community Plan amendments that would allow a three-storey, 40-unit supportive housing facility on the two lots fronting 749 School Rd., the former RCMP building. The vote to give the necessary bylaw amendments third reading followed an Oct. 17 public hearing, where 247 people made submissions in writing and 61 spoke.
• After an uninterrupted 50-year run, Sea Cavalcade in Gibsons went on hiatus in 2019, with the Sea Cavalcade Society citing difficulty filling volunteer positions. In November, a new group formed to work on the return of Sea Cavalcade for 2020 with Gibsons resident Phill Murray as head of the organizing committee.
• “We are not in a rental shortage, we are in a rental crisis,” said Coastal Workforce Housing Society president David Reed at a Nov. 14 SCRD meeting. The new non-profit aimed to create affordable workforce housing with at least 30 units in modular buildings, with social spaces that could be converted into daycare centres.
• Halfmoon Bay director Lori Pratt and District of Sechelt director Darnelda Siegers were acclaimed as chair and vice chair, respectively, at a Sunshine Coast Regional District board meeting on Nov. 14.
• Gibsons councillors voted unanimously Nov. 19 in favour of adopting both zoning and Official Community Plan amendments for the Town-owned lot at 571 Shaw, beside Christenson Village, where Sunshine Coast Affordable Housing Society proposed to build new rental apartments in partnership with the Town. The Society hoped to secure provincial or federal grants for the development.
• Coin-free dispensers of menstrual products such as pads and tampons would be installed in all student gender-neutral and girls washrooms at schools across the Sunshine Coast, according to a proposed School District No. 46 regulation, with the district assuming the cost of purchasing, installing and stocking them.
• School District No. 46 trustees opted to maintain the status quo by voting to keep Pammila Ruth as chair of the Board of Education, with Stacia Leech as vice chair.
• Mayor Bill Beamish swore in Gibsons’ newest youth councillors, Elphinstone students Eilis Mackenzie and Gravity Guignard, at the Nov. 19 council meeting.
• In a report to the Nov. 20 council meeting, the planning department recommended approval of an application for non-medical cannabis retail licences by Coastal Green for a location in Wilson Creek, as well as three other applications from shops that were open before legalization: 420 Hemp Shop, Sun Coast Culture (formerly WeeMedical), and Weeds Glass and Gifts. Sechelt council endorsed all four applications.
• Directors voted Nov. 21 for further investigation into Site B – a 45-hectare portion of Crown Land near the Chapman Creek Water Treatment Plant that would be excavated and dammed to form an engineered lake. If approved, it would be the largest and most expensive infrastructure project the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) has ever tackled. Potential well sites at a private property near Gray Creek would also be investigated.
• Rona dealer-owners Russ and Tess Jones celebrated the grand opening of their new Rona Appliance & Design Showroom by Coast Builders in Gibsons Nov. 21, officially adding the store to their two other Rona locations in Madeira Park and Sechelt.
• A new project to build between 30 and 35 units of affordable, long-term housing for women and children in Sechelt was announced Nov. 25 by BC Housing, in partnership with the Sunshine Coast Community Services Society (SCCSS). The building site is located on property owned by the SCCSS at 5638 Inlet Ave. in Sechelt. In addition to residential units, the six-storey mixed-use development would also house the majority of SCCSS programs.
• Investigators worked to determine the cause of a fire Nov. 27 that destroyed a home on Wescan Road in Halfmoon Bay. The mobile home on the property was a complete loss and two cars also caught fire. Everyone in the home was able to get out safely.
• Top Quality Top Soil filed a counterclaim Nov. 29 against School District No. 46 alleging that loss or damage was suffered due to breach of contract. Top Quality denied a series of claims made by SD46 in its lawsuit, filed in early November.
• Crowds lined Cowrie Street Nov. 30 to take in the annual Festival of Lights Parade, with a total of 27 floats. Saxon Contracting, for the second year in a row, won top prize for its Santa Claus sleigh and reindeer float. Second prize went to Popeye’s Lockers and Storage. Third went to Swanson’s Ready Mix and its super-lit cement truck.
DECEMBER
• Funding was approved to build six classrooms and a “neighbourhood learning centre” at West Sechelt Elementary. Education Minister Rob Fleming made the announcement Dec. 2 in the school’s gymnasium. School District No. 46 would contribute $500,000 and the province would provide $10.7 in capital funding for the project, expected to be complete by 2021.
• Former Sechelt councillor Mike Shanks died suddenly Dec. 2 at the age of 76. He was one of the Coast’s longest-serving politicians and community volunteers.
• The proposed redevelopment of the former Gilligan’s Pub site beside the Trail Bay Centre drew little comment at a Dec. 4 public hearing on the rezoning for the property, which is now owned by 5770 Teredo Holdings Ltd. The proposal was for a restaurant and retail store, and tenants had already been secured.
• More than 50 people attended a candlelight vigil Dec. 6 at Kinsmen Hall in Gibsons to mark the 30th anniversary of the Montreal Massacre. The names of the 14 women murdered Dec. 6, 1989 at l’École Polytechnique de Montréal were read aloud by members of the Sunshine Coast Labour Council, which hosted the event.
• The final total announced at the end of the Eastlink Community TV Elves Club Telethon on Dec. 7 was $30,377 – almost $3,000 more than last year.
• The District of Sechelt said work would begin on a realignment of Trail Avenue and the associated storm sewer upgrade on Dec. 9. The improvements would also include a multi-use pathway to accommodate pedestrians and cyclists, street lighting, pedestrian-controlled crossings, and decorative crosswalks at the Cowrie Street and Dolphin Avenue intersections.
• The Open Door Group in Sechelt would be getting just over $548,000 over two years for its Jobs in Demand program. The money was part of $10 million announced by the provincial government Dec. 9. Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons made the announcement in Sechelt on behalf of Melanie Mark, the minister of advanced education, skills and training.
• Harbour Air successfully conducted the first test flight of an all-electric seaplane in Richmond on Dec. 10 and one of the people on hand to see it take to the skies for the first time was Sechelt resident Erika Holtz, Harbour Air’s engineering and quality manager.
• Multiple people were believed to have died when a small twin-engine private plane crashed in a “huge explosion” on Gabriola Island Dec. 10. The Transportation Safety Board was investigating at the site on Dec. 11. The aircraft was in the process of an instrument approach to a runway at Nanaimo Airport when the crash occurred, killing everyone on board.
• More than 50 water projects were considered during the first round of budget deliberations at the SCRD. Some were connected to the ongoing water supply deficit, and many others related to much-needed repairs and upgrades to basic infrastructure. Most of the projects were expected to be funded through loans and capital and operating reserves for a total of approximately $10.2 million.
• New Liberal MP Patrick Weiler was settling into the Ottawa routine and working to get his constituency team in place. Instead of a permanent Sunshine Coast office, Weiler would be using the FUSE Community Workhubs operated by the Sunshine Coast Regional Economic Development Organization.
