Transit fee changes approved
Sunshine Coast Regional District directors have given the final OK to bus fare changes that include a drop in the standard cash fare, and eliminating two of the discount types.
The new fee structure, which comes into force May 1, has a single cash fare of $2. That’s 25 cents lower than the current regular adult fare, but it does away with discounts for seniors and youth.
Day passes will be $5, a book of 10 tickets will cost $18 ($2 less than the current prices), and monthly passes will cost $60. Seniors and youth will still qualify for a discount on the monthly pass, although the price of the discount passes is going up from $38 to $42.
HandyDart fares will be $2, with a book of tickets for $18.
When they presented the options to the SCRD late last year, BC Transit representatives said they hoped the new fare structure would encourage more riders to use passes instead of paying cash.
Nohr on Coopers Green
SCRD chair and Halfmoon Bay director Garry Nohr told fellow directors at the March 10 board meeting that he’s looking into alternatives for property owners on the Thormanby Islands who’ve been using the Coopers Green boat launch for commercial barge deliveries.
Nohr said after hearing complaints from residents about the activity for years, he’s started hearing from people who want it to continue since the decision to restrict to recreational boaters only.
“We have a recreational-only launch there, but for 25 years different people on the Coast have used it as an access point for building supplies, cement, all those kinds of things. And now we’re talking about finishing it off on June first,” Nohr said during his director’s report. “I will be having meetings with people on Thormanby on the May long weekend to talk about it. Hopefully somewhere in between we can come up with a compromise. What I did do is go around and take photographs of each of the boat launches from Madeira Park on down past Selma Park – what they can and cannot do.”
The issue also came up at the Feb. 29 transportation committee meeting. At that time Nohr also said he wanted to talk to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI) about whether the end of Brooks Road might be a possible option for barges.
BEN
The SCRD has expanded its use of the Bylaw Enforcement Notice system (BEN) to all of the rural areas.
Directors adopted the necessary bylaw changes at the March 10 board meeting.
The province made BEN an option for local governments several years ago. It replaces the Municipal Ticketing Information system. The key differences are that a bylaw infraction notice no longer needs to be served in person, and disputes can be handled through a special adjudication system instead of provincial courts.
Concerns were raised by a couple of members of the public at the March 10 meeting that BEN would make things more awkward and make it more difficult to challenge bylaw infractions.
Several directors stepped forward to say the system has worked well where it’s been introduced so far. Sechelt’s Alice Lutes told the people in the gallery, “I hope to reassure you that it has been in place in Sechelt for a number of years, and there have not been any complaints. People have found it to be easier to deal with.”
GM of planning and development Steve Olmstead added, “The BEN system actually has an adjudication process that allows people to avoid going to court, and it’s the present ticketing system that requires an appeal to the court in order to challenge a bylaw ticket.”
BEN was introduced as a pilot project in Halfmoon Bay in November 2012 for building, zoning, animal control, noise and smoke control. It was adopted permanently in that area in 2013. BEN will be expanded now to all regulatory bylaws.
Goldmoss
A controversial rezoning proposal that’s divided Roberts Creekers for over a year is now officially off the books.
Regional district directors approved cancelling the zoning bylaw for Goldmoss Gallery on Lower Road at the regular board meeting March 10.
Zoning amendment bylaw 310.158 would have changed the property from R1 (Residential One) zoning to RAG (Residential/Art Gallery). It got second reading in May 2015, and a public hearing date was set. However, the applicants weren’t satisfied with the details of the bylaw (which would have prohibited live amplified music, restricted the number of special events at the gallery and limited them to no longer than eight consecutive hours.)
A report from staff said the applicants had taken no action on the rezoning request in the past nine months, and did not submit a request to resume the process by the Feb. 26 deadline.
Roberts Creek director Mark Lebbell voted in favour of cancelling the application, but said he did so “with the note that the provision for auxiliary art galleries remains within our OCP, subject to site-specific rezoning. It [Roberts Creek] is a community that values the arts and home-based businesses and festivals.... Should a different application come forward I’m confident it would be received and judged on its own merit through the proper process and community engagement.”
