Editor:
One hundred paddlers set to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary in Sechelt and the District of Sechelt strikes again!
Seriously? On May 15, the district decides that the usage of the SSC property isn’t allowed under current bylaws and that a temporary use permit had not been obtained in time to make an exception to the rule?
The district makes this decision one month before the fact, even though this event has been in the planning stages for nearly a year? And the team from SSC submitted the original paperwork in September and then environmental studies asked for by the district in November and December? The district knew about this potential “problem,” as they call it, and bring it to the Gibsons Paddle Club on May 15!
This is disgusting! There is not a day goes by that I don’t hear people of this community talking about the joke of a mayor and council we have in Sechelt. Contractors who refuse to build in Sechelt because of the bureaucracy. The developers who actually want Sechelt to thrive by creating jobs and opportunities, taking major financial hits, going back time and time again trying to meet the onerous requests for endless paperwork and red tape. And now this – an event for this community that we can all be very proud to be part of thrown on the District of Sechelt’s “do nothing” mat.
In the end, Sechelt’s interim director of planning and development services backtracked on the municipality’s threat of fines. How big of you, after you caused undue stress to a group of people who have been working very hard to organize an event that honours Canada’s 150th anniversary.
Some legacy.
D. Bell, Sechelt
