DECEMBER
• Sechelt council gave first reading to the zoning changes that would allow BC Housing to convert the Upper Deck Guest House into a homeless shelter. BC Housing signed a 29-month lease agreement with Upper Deck, and the proposed shelter will house 22 clients. It would be operated by RainCity Housing. After some discussion around process and timelines, first reading passed unanimously Dec. 6. Council also released a decision made at a closed session Nov. 15 to deny BC Housing’s request to temporarily lease land at Ebbtide and Trail for a larger shelter that could accommodate upwards of 30 people.
• A group opposed to closing publicly owned and operated long-term care facilities on the Sunshine Coast in favour of a contract with a private provider said it’s dismayed by how the new provincial government is handling the issue. Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) announced in June 2016 that it had signed a deal with Trellis Seniors Services to build a new facility in Sechelt, and once it was complete VCH would close Shorncliffe and Totem Lodge. The proposed Silver-stone Care Centre needed approvals from the District of Sechelt, which had not gone forward. Earlier this year, the Town of Gibsons announced it had agreed to sell Trellis land on Shaw Road to build the facility. There was little movement on either proposal and few public comments from either Trellis or VCH about which option, if any, will go ahead.
• The provincial government awarded $500,000 in grant money to The Little Scholars Child Care Centre in Sechelt to create 72 new spaces for infants, toddlers and preschoolers. The child-care centre is one of 91 organizations in 52 communities in B.C. receiving money from the Child Care Major Capital Program. The $33-million fund was expected to create 3,806 new licensed child-care spaces across the province.
• A long-awaited report on potential fixed links between the Sunshine Coast and Lower Mainland concluded that while technically feasible, “none of the options perform strongly” when it comes to cost. The $250,000 study, announced by the previous Liberal government in early 2016 and expected by the end of that year, was finally delivered to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure in November.
• A $50,000 gift to Sunshine Coast Community Foundation established a permanent Endowment for Vulnerable Communities on the Sunshine Coast. Robert and Ellen Smith, after reading the Foundation’s Vital Focus on Vulnerability, were inspired to create a fund that will have lasting benefits for their community.
• BC Liberal transportation critic Jordan Sturdy said he thinks the Sunshine Coast fixed link study was an important initiative and rejected the suggestion it was a distraction from other transportation issues, such as ferries. Sturdy, the MLA for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky, was one of the key proponents of a study when he was on the government benches. The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure’s announcement of the $250,000 report’s release Dec. 7 said, “The study concludes that a fixed-link crossing would have considerable technical and financial challenges. Therefore, the province will not be proceeding with a fixed link.”
• The Sechelt Hospital Expansion Project could be finished early next year, according to a Sunshine Coast Regional Hospital District (RHD) provisional budget staff report. The expected total cost of the project was $46.2 million, with Vancouver Coastal Health paying 60 per cent and the RHD taking on the rest of the share, which to date is $15.2 million. The RHD will pay the remaining $888,112 in 2018. It has stayed largely on budget, with costs initially projected to be around $45 million.
• Premier John Horgan announced Dec. 11 that his government would see the controversial Site C project through to completion. He said cancelling the mega-dam would have “put British Columbians on the hook for an immediate and unavoidable $4-billion bill – with nothing in return – resulting in rate hikes or reduced funds for schools, hospitals and important infrastructure.” Powell River-Sunshine Coast MLA Nicholas Simons said the NDP government was facing a choice of “two untenable options” on the Site C project, and called it one of the “hardest discussions that we’ve had [as a caucus].”
