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Sechelt council wants public input on becoming a city

A recent District of Sechelt press release described the municipality as a “small town with big city goals,” but councillors aren’t quite ready to support the goal of becoming an official city until they hear what residents think.
DoS McLean
Sechelt councillor Matt McLean

A recent District of Sechelt press release described the municipality as a “small town with big city goals,” but councillors aren’t quite ready to support the goal of becoming an official city until they hear what residents think.

The idea of applying to the province for a reclassification from a district to a city was brought forward at the Dec. 5 council meeting.

A report from communications manager Julie Rogers said Sechelt doesn’t technically qualify to be a city, which requires both a population greater than 5,000 and a density of “no less than five persons per hectare.” Sechelt has the population numbers, but the spread-out nature of the district means it has a density of only 2.7 persons per hectare.

The province does allow for exceptions to the guidelines, which could open the way for Sechelt to apply.

Rogers’ report also said becoming the City of Sechelt could have several benefits, including clearing up confusion between Sechelt and the Sunshine Coast Regional District and improving Sechelt’s image, “particularly for prospective investors and companies from other jurisdictions.”

Some councillors, however, said they couldn’t see an advantage.

“I see it solving a problem I don’t see exists. It doesn’t give us any access to any more grant money, it doesn’t change anything except how we’re perceived,” said Coun. Alton Toth, who added that sometimes with cities the perception can be negative.

Toth did say that he would be willing to consider the idea if there was strong community support.

Coun. Matt McLean called the name question a “distraction.”

“A name is not the primary thing holding us back. It’s also not the thing that will save Sechelt. I think there’s a lot of other things we can do for economic development,” McLean said. “I’m not in favour of moving forward with this, I’m not in favour of consultation. I think it’s a distraction. Let’s focus on the branding strategy. Let’s focus on real economic development and let’s not deceive people in the public and outside our community by calling ourselves a city when really, I don’t think we are.”

Councillors Brenda Rowe, Janice Kuester and Tom Lamb all expressed doubts, but also said they felt it would be worthwhile to have a community consultation to see if there is an appetite for pursuing a city designation.

Mayor Darnelda Siegers said she heard from a lot of people interested in a name change during the election campaign. “But they didn’t want ‘city.’ They wanted ‘town,’” Siegers said. “They felt a city was too big and we weren’t a city and we didn’t want to represent ourselves as a city.”

Coun. Eric Scott said he also liked town as an option, but acknowledged the province might not go for it. “I’m not a fan of district at all,” he said. “It’s too ‘Hunger Games’ for me.”

In the end council voted to authorize Rogers to include the question of applying for a new municipal designation as part of the public consultations planned around a branding project set for 2019.

McLean was the only vote in opposition.