Editor:
The controversy over the Persephone Beer Farm and the SCRD is not about one member of the SCRD over another member. The issue that Silas White and Brian Smith are sidestepping has to do with respect for zoning and bylaws. The article (“Support pours in for Persephone,” Coast Reporter, June 5) noted that a formal complaint regarding bylaw infractions had been made in May. But in June, Mr. White’s report to the Town of Gibsons stated there were no reports of bylaw infractions.
As you noted in your article, the property is in the West Howe Sound area of the SCRD and is subject to the official community plan (OCP) as well as the bylaws of the SCRD. The OCP was developed after years of work by volunteer members and the staff of the SCRD. The plan reflects the will of the residents in Area F as to how they want their community to look.
The management of Persephone should have been aware of the zoning and bylaws that would pertain to the property they purchased. This lack of respect for the zoning and bylaws is the same lack of respect they have shown for the neighbouring properties. This is not a NIMBY issue. It is about following the rules.
As a volunteer member of the OCP committee, I feel it was a waste of three years of my time if the SCRD does not enforce the spirit of the OCP and continues to sit on their hands. It will be difficult to recruit outstanding members of the area to sit on any committee if their decisions are not acted on.
I am certainly not asking for Persephone to be shut down but would respectfully ask that they follow the rules and regulations. It would appear they are working on a premise that it is easier to ask forgiveness than to follow the rules.
Bruce Wallis, Gibsons
