Watering restrictions
The Sunshine Coast Regional District is likely to stand pat on how it applies watering restrictions under the drought management plan, at least for this summer.
After the 2015 dry spell forced the SCRD to move to Stage 3 restrictions, and then Stage 4, there were calls from some people to exempt vegetable and food gardens.
In late January, the SCRD board asked staff to look at options under the drought management plan to separate how the plan deals with watering for lawns, landscaping and food production.
The report came forward at the March 3 infrastructure services committee meeting, where directors accepted staff recommendations against making any changes, and against different restrictions for licensed commercial marijuana growers. Marijuana growers will be treated like any other commercial water user.
Frank Mauro, director for Pender Harbour, said he agreed with committee chair Mark Lebbell, director for Roberts Creek, that when it comes to “rhubarb versus rhododendrons” the priority should be on food, but they need to be wary of over-complicating the rules.
“If we complicated it [the drought management plan] by saying micro-drip [is OK] on this type of plant, or that type of plant, my impression is that enforcement becomes impossible,” Mauro said. “In my mind, all the effort that would be expended on that [enforcement] should be directed towards education.”
Other directors noted that some residents put as much value on their landscaping plants and lawns as others do on their food plants and that should be respected.
Salish Soils recycling
The SCRD is extending the contract with Salish Soils to operate a recycling depot in Sechelt.
The decision was made “in camera” at the Feb. 25 regular board meeting.
The contract will be extended until Nov. 30, 2018 at a rate of $10,790 per month over the course of the extension. There’s also the option to extend the contract for two additional one-year terms.
At the March 3 infrastructure services committee meeting, SCRD chair and Halfmoon Bay director Garry Nohr said he’d been getting complaints about Salish Soils being closed on Sundays recently.
GM of infrastructure Bryan Shoji told the committee that the contract with Salish Soils is based on certain number of operating hours, without specifying when during the week they should be. Shoji also told directors that the Sunday closures are seasonal, and the company will resume Sunday openings April 3.
AVICC solid waste
After debating it during at least three different meetings, SCRD directors have decided not to endorse an Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC) long-term solid waste strategy. However, they did vote at the March 3 infrastructure services committee meeting to continue working with the AVICC special committee that drafted the plan.
West Howe Sound Director Ian Winn is the SCRD representative on that committee.
Most directors said they were supportive of some of the short-term goals but less comfortable with the long-term actions, especially keeping the option of waste-to-energy, or incineration, on the table.
Gibsons director Silas White told the Feb. 25 meeting of the corporate and administrative services committee that idea was a major sticking point for the Town.
When the topic came up again at the March 3 infrastructure services committee meeting, Winn said he felt “it would be a shame to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and dismiss the entire strategic plan if the [SCRD] board strongly opposes this one [waste-to-energy] recommendation.”
The long-term solid waste strategy will come up for debate at the AVICC’s AGM in Nanaimo April 8 to 10.
