Jump

  We were sponsored; to spend a evening by the Little Shuswap Indian Band to see the play "JUMP" and it was an incredible, great toe tapping, entertainment and the food..... the food was great! The Little Shuswap Indian Band, invited all those people- who have helped in the community; such as volunteers and others who have made a difference in their community. The show starts out with a big band segment and works its way through a variety of jazz and blues tunes with segments of history on a variety of players. The band (bass, guitar, sax and drums) was very professional and tight; Diane Lines as the enter piece playing piano, narrating and singing. What a energetic center piece she is tickling ivories and belting out as well as being as soft as silk.
   As well Gorts Gouda cheese and the deliciously full wines of  our own Celista Winery were available for tasting.
   A full appreciation to the Little Shuswap Indian Band, Gorts Gouda and Celista Winery for giving us a most enjoyable time!!!!!!

All Canidates meeting

    Last night I came to a packed house !!! for the North Shuswap all candidates meeting; people really care! This is really good. Recalling my first all candidates meeting, there were only about 20 people then . It was mentioned that the turnout is because people are much better informed now than they were, or because the Osprey Landing debate has raised a level of input. Either way it is a breath of fresh air. People were polite and the candidates respectful of each other. Due to the complexity of the issues, thoughtful questions could not all be answered in depth. .
     From what I could gather, any one of them would be good Directors; I think they all have a level of interest in the community. The most impresive speaker was Terry White who has had little exposure in the community, it was nice to hear him. David Baxter was relaxed and spoke very well with short speeches (always appreciated by the public). Larry Morgan was not a polished public speaker, however he did get his good ideas across when not reading from his prepared papers.
     For a variety of reasons I feel Larry would best represent the North Shuswap residents and carry out the job most effectively.

Willows are usually small but this is the granddaddy of all of them!! Adams River mouth

Scotch Creek development

Board gives Okay to Osprey landing (OL) development
The Board gave third reading to a zoning amendment bylaw for the proposed development in Scotch Creek known as Osprey Landing. The applicant, plans to put in a 165 lot subdivision on the 16.4 hectare property on Zinck Road/Wharf Road. This scope of development was changed after the developer received feedback at open houses and public hearings. The developer agreed to downsize the original number of 195 lots to 165, as well as taking out ’vacation rentals’ and ’row house dwellings’ from the proposed uses. The proposed uses now include single family dwellings and duplexes. Secondary suites will be permitted in Development Area 1. Development Services staff recommended approval as Scotch Creek is identified in the Official Community Plan as a ‘Primary Settlement Area.’ Two covenants will be required: a covenant prohibiting development on the property unless the development is connected to a CSRD approved community sewage & water system and a covenant protecting vegetation within 15 meters of the Agricultural Land Boundary.


Osprey Landing (OL) thoughts:

For the most part the 'no' or 'substantially reduce the density' from the people who live directly in the area. Whereas the majority of support was from residents/businesses away from the development. I have gone through the questions on both sides and have tried to come up with a balance that is best for the community as a whole.

Having not heard the large support from residents in the North Shuswap until the last minute, I was very supportive of removing the affordable housing segment of the proposal (multi-family, 3 story segment,, residence for the elderly). The option was offered by the developers after considering the input that was received at the open house. The thinking was to lessen the impact by the densities to those local residents near the development. It was hard, to leave the affordable and accessible portion of the development that would service younger working, as well as the older and handicapped people, part of this proposal out. It is what was included in the OCP and is repeated that we need this sort of development for those people. The concern was for those who live directly in the area of the development and to support their concerns.

I do worry aboutthe impact the development is going to have on the people who live beside the lake access where the pumping facility could be going. They can be incredibly noisy though the developers have said they would try to not have it near homes I hope that it is very well insulated so the residents are not bothered by the sound.

Through our OCP, Scotch Creek was identifiedas a central place to allow growth, a “town center” if you will and limit higher density growth to a few areas. The community in general has supported this vision however it is not embraced by all in the Scotch Creek area. . In Scotch Creek there is little land for 1 hectare growth and it has to be higher density on community sewer and water systems in order to have sustainable growthIn order to provide that proper infrastructure it takes money and to provide that money there needs to be dense developments to pay for it. The only other way is for the present taxpayers to pay for a effluent treatment and water system; through the Liquid Waste Management plan this was made clear they were not willing to do this.

The North Shuswap has not had any large scale development that has had the benefit of working with the CSRD to be part of the infrastructure solution. Many of the large scale development that I am familiar with that has been started before bylaws, or found ways of avoiding Local Government and the communities input. Here we have a developer who is willing to put up all the safe guards needed to have a proper development.

The development could add an infusion of money and badly needed jobs to the area. The spin offs could be more work over a longer time period. The effluent treatment would allow development of commercial properties as well as other buildings not only for large subdivisions but for individuals with small lots. It may well be the instigator to have the NSLWMP come into fruition. The development could/would attract full time residents

There is no ability for Local Government laws to create the distinction between seasonal and fulltime residents. The removal of vacation rentals from the original proposal helps direct to a more full time residency. Having people calling Scotch Creek as their home would add to creating possibilities for more volunteers, school children, tax payers and people to stop future developments.

The carriage house could be affordable full time rental accommodation and help when accommodation is needed. The carriage houses allow for extended family to stay there such as the elderly. It allows owners to rent out and help pay for the mortgage.

Salmon Run mouth ADAMS RIVER Squilax Mtn Fall

Oct Board meetings goings on 2011

The Columbia Shuswap Regional District Board directed staff to do more investigation on the Discussion Paper which offers a new approach to building regulation. There is reluctance in some rural areas to participate in the existing building regulation service, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Charles Hamilton suggested there is an opportunity to introduce a limited building regulation function to promote overall compliance with existing development requirements. This new approach involves ‘Plan Checking’ proposed developments. Plan checking is a process in which building plans are reviewed, prior to the beginning of construction, to ensure compliance with key building and land use requirements. This would include BC Building Code regulations, siteing, setbacks, lot coverage and height. The CAO made clear the Discussion Paper, was not to counter arguments of those opposed to building inspection, but to address the pressing issue of non-compliance with land use regulations. In the six rural areas there have been a total of 179 infractions since 2009. These include 23 development permit infractions, 124 in zoning and another 22 in various categories. Under this new approach, the CAO said 51 per cent of the infractions would have re-solved and another 16 per cent “possibly” could have been resolved. It is possible that area “F” (North Shuswap) could use this system instead of the present building inspection that is presently in the area. The issue will go to an Electoral Area Directors Committee to discuss further and then back to the Board for deliberation.

UBCM sessions more

Emergency Management creating resilient communities does not happen by accident. It has to be planned for and prepared. Some of the ways to do this was laid out by, BC Chief Coroner. Coroners deal with any death that does not happen under a doctor’s care. In the near past the coroner was reactive and now they are proactive trying to be more preventive. Road Safety; has included the problems of lighting, drugs, roads
Wildfire discussion was that communities need a preventive plan. Planning for development needs to look at building out into thick forested areas. “Can’t plan for what you cannot manage” is a descriptive phrase for subdivisions allowed to be built surrounded by forests. Insurance is going towards their fees being connected to the “Fire Smart Manual” to decide how to charge for insurance rates. Resilience in communities, Japan is a good example how communities can handle disastrous situations. Disasters will happen it is how you are prepared for them and how you let them affect you then and later.
Web page set up for local governments I did not write all of it down but I did leave with one piece of advice that stayed with me. Web sites are like puppies (or kids) they are cute when you bring them home but take a lot of work to keep them up. They mentioned that a well set up web site is well worth the trouble.
Industry Product Stewardship (IPS) working with Local Governments (LG) to recover materials that would normally go into land fills sites. IPS intends to reduce products going to landfills, reduce costs of recycling, recapture metals, plastics, essentially become a source of materials, keep toxic materials out of the waste stream and generate a positive economic from waste. LG can help by providing education; imposing bans for certain materials in to land fill sites and work with the Recycling stewardship council to find solutions to recycling. There is a fundamental shift in thinking as to product debris in rural areas. Presently service in rural areas in inadequate and not generally at acceptable levels for product stewardship. The economics of scale do not work in rural areas as in cities the cost is higher. Recycling has its benefits for every ton of recycling, there is $500.00 is added to the economy. Consumers pay for the recycling and use of the product and a 100% goes towards recycling the product.
Concerns from participants were; black plastic mulch that farmers use costs 8 times to recycle it as to make it. If it is banned from landfills it will end up (and does anyways?) in illegal land fill sites. There is a movement afoot to deal with agricultural recycling called “Clean Farms” that will recycle farm wastes.
Health Net work is a group started up in the Cowichian Valley where the government health agency threatened to close down their medical facilities fought back. Originally they had to face some very angry people eventually they admitted they had blundered. The large success in this was the Vancouver Island Health government agency admitted they were wrong and worked with the people of the area to find solutions to the problems. It is a shared stewardship of local health issues. It is not focused on hospital beds but looks at treatments.
Agri-culture its problems and solutions. Farms are finding themselves at odds with the Endangered Species Act such as the Salish- sucker and certain frogs found on their lands. It is stopping agriculture some of it is well intentioned people are stocking farm ditches with salmon and other fish and the ditch becomes a restraint to the farmers. If farmers are impacted by the “Species at Risk” act then they should be compensated for the lands/business lost. Chicken farms are limited to 99 birds and then have to be part of the egg marketing board, most of which are in the lower mainland. It suffers the interior farmers to have a successful business in the interior. More quotas need to be allowed in the interior and not have it moved to the lower mainland. There apparently many young families who would like to farm and do not have access to the farm land. There is ALR laying fallow or being used for “gentry farming” where a large sprawling home is built as ties up many acres of land. There needs to be a way of getting speculating out of agriculture; it becomes a situation of “saving the farmer or save the land”. In BC there are 14,000 people in farming and 65,000 farming families. There have been successful communal farming businesses, such as in Roberts’s creek. Concerns from the Min of Agriculture when these business break up as to who gets what out of the land (there is no subdividing of land). Successes have come from a Vietnamese family who came with essentially nothing and built up a very successful mushroom farm. Agriculture can be a profitable business in certain sectors.



Lottery Tickets and being lucky
A story I heard while eating lunch we were discussing dikes and the costs of who pays for what. The story rolls around to Pemberton and the floods they have had there. The problem largely being urban people coming out and building in the flood plain and then being surprised when they are impacted. The bridge was washed out, there was the raging muddy torrent, and concrete ripped apart rebar left like jangling nerves. A vehicle passed the people stopped in the drizzling rain watching the torn bridge right into the river. It was tragic, eventually the river subsided and they found those who were caught in nature’s power. The machines started to re-dig the concrete structure to replace the bridge, a game we play with the strength of the river. The endless liquid of rock and mud crushes our displays and we replace them again a bit bigger better and the water proves itself again. The excavator operator moving those round river rocks, how ever found another vehicle rolled up like a ball, one not accounted for. No one had reported anyone missing and it was months, many months had passed. There was little to tell who it was, except they managed to find lottery tickets in the car. Tracing the tickets they had found the night of the collapse of the bridge a store was robbed of its lottery tickets and those same tickets were related to the unfortunate driver of the car who’s luck ran out when he drove over the bridge in that rainy night. I wondered out loud I wonder many of those tickets were winners? Likely one was maybe there were all winners but it doesn’t make much difference. Justice takes its toll.