The longest serving member of Sechelt council is running again.
Coun. Mike Shanks made it official with a statement during the June 20 council meeting.
“I still feel that I have the energy and the interest to serve the needs of our growing community and the challenges that presents,” Shanks said.
According to his District of Sechelt council bio, Shanks got involved in municipal politics in 1986 and since then has served a total of 23 years under seven different mayors.
In an interview for the Coast Reporter Radio podcast, Shanks joked that his first string of election wins was broken in 1996 when he decided to run for mayor and lost to current mayor Bruce Milne.
Shanks also lost a bid for re-election in 2008, but was returned to council in 2011 and re-elected in 2014.
He said one of the issues he’ll be running on this time is a downtown revitalization program, similar to recent efforts in Mission and Haney.
“There were tax exemptions given, there was relaxation of DCCs (development cost charges) within a boundary area of about four blocks. We could do the same thing here,” Shanks said.
Shanks said affordable housing has been an issue over his entire political career, but it’s become more serious during this term. “There’s no question about it. And because of what’s happened in the marketplace over the last three to six years, [affordable housing] has gone past the point of being available to most people.”
Shanks said a rewriting of the zoning bylaws currently in the works will allow for more long-term rental units in the form of laneway or carriage houses.
Shanks also agrees that dealing with the water supply is vital.
“The underlying urgency is increasing capacity,” he said, noting that he supports all the avenues being explored to increase capacity. Shanks said he thinks a new reservoir should be the top priority, but he doesn’t oppose pursuing the Chapman Lake expansion project as part of the water strategy. He also supports water metering.
Shanks said that although some in the public have criticized the current council for not moving forward with major projects, council has made strides in stabilizing the budget and building an executive team.
“Sechelt needs to change its image in terms of providing service, not obstacles,” Shanks said. “I’ve always thought if it’s worthwhile for Sechelt and a good thing for Sechelt, as my first mayor said, then we’ll find a way to make it work – legally – and that’s the important thing.”
He said in one case, the Wesbrooke by the Sea proposal, which has been withdrawn, council did try to make it work.
“To me it was upsetting, because I think council felt they had done as much as they could in terms of giving it approvals and then we hear they’ve decided not to go ahead. I’m really not sure why. Was it going to be too expensive because of staff’s requirements and council’s requirements or did they just walk away and say, ‘We’re better off to go somewhere else?’” Shanks said.
Shanks is the first Sechelt council incumbent to confirm he’s seeking re-election. Three others, Alton Toth, Donna Bell and Jacqueline Gillis, have also declared they’re running. Coun. Darnelda Siegers announced in 2016 that she’ll seek the mayoralty.
The full interview with Mike Shanks will be in this week’s Coast Reporter Radio, which will be available Friday at www.coastreporter.net/audio.
