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SCRD Briefs: Cap U students seek transit discount

Students at the Sunshine Coast’s only post-secondary campus would like to see discounted bus passes extended to them, as well.
SCRD

Students at the Sunshine Coast’s only post-secondary campus would like to see discounted bus passes extended to them, as well.

In a letter to the Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD), the Capilano Students’ Union requested discounted passes for students at the university’s kálax-ay campus, which they say would save students $150 in the academic year.

“The investment in students would reduce financial barriers to education, and allow Sunshine Coast learners to enjoy a break on the cost of public transit, as their counterparts in Metro Vancouver do through the U-Pass BC program,” said the student union.

At a Feb. 20 infrastructure services committee meeting where the letter was received, directors voted to respond that the SCRD is moving ahead with a demand assessment for youth, and a pilot project that would provide 50 free monthly bus passes for School District No. 46 students, and that they would “keep them in the loop with any further developments.”

BC Energy Step Code

Directors agreed to move forward with public consultations in advance of implementing the BC Energy Step Code on the Sunshine Coast.

Changes to the BC Building Code are expected by 2022 but the SCRD is aiming to get building bylaws adjusted prior to that, in coordination with the Town of Gibsons and District of Sechelt.

The BC Energy Step Code takes a performance-based approach by identifying energy targets rather than specifying how a building should be constructed, according to a Feb. 13 planning and community development committee staff report.

Directors supported taking a “regionally-coordinated and locally-appropriate approach to consultation,” as outlined in the report. Area E director Donna McMahon recommended starting “builders’ breakfasts” – offering free breakfasts to contractors on the Sunshine Coast to get their feedback on the code.

Wastewater fees

Directors voted unanimously to increase frontage and user fees for most of its small wastewater treatment plants at a Feb. 13 board meeting.

The increases, described as “minimal” by staff, were required to make up for anticipated funding shortfalls. User charges now range from between $412 to $1,739. Frontage fees range between $102 and $424.

Roberts Creek rezoning

Directors unanimously supported sending the Toni Road rezoning application for third reading and adoption at the Feb. 13 planning and community development committee meeting.

A public hearing was held in January, with the majority of people in attendance speaking in favour of the application for an 8,500-sq.-metre lot on Toni Road to be split into two 4,250-sq.-metre parcels, with a site-specific provision that limits development on each parcel to a single-family dwelling and a second dwelling with a maximum floor area of 90 sq. metres. 

“This application was originally intended as a subdivision application and due to a technicality, that was not possible and so therefore staff and the applicant decided to follow due process and apply for a rezoning,” said Roberts Creek director Andreas Tize at the meeting.

The applicant had “done her due diligence, followed process and made considerable concessions to appease the neighbours,” said Tize, adding that Area D’s Official Community Plan committee, Advisory Planning Commission, and most immediate neighbours approved it, as did the majority of people who spoke at the public hearing or submitted correspondence.

Tize also referenced section 18 of the OCP, since it was referenced in staff reports on the application, and acknowledged that debate persists about whether it should stay in the OCP.