Island Planner Pat Maloney reported to the Local Trust Committee last week that having the hazard slope mapping will mean much more accurate information being available when development permits are applied for.

“We’re finding the mapping [done previously for Gabriola] was 100% accurate.

“Policies and regulations are really minimal, the mapping only deals with slopes that are 80% or more, that’s almost cliff-like.

“We want to have a little more scientific approach, checking on the soil and rock stability.”

She stressed there was nothing done wrong in the past, but modern surveying combined with the funding from the Council will allow for greater accuracy of slopes on the island.

The entire island will be mapped - survey crews will be required to get landowners permission to come on to private property.

In addition to the slopes themselves, the top and toe of slopes (the areas above and below steep slopes) will be measured.

Pat said this is of importance as, “Technically if you are 75% grade you can keep digging right up to the edge of it.

“So someone at the toe [bottom] of the slope would do some gardening and landscaping, put up a retaining wall and before you know it we’d have a slide.

“I think this is an opportunity to put in better protection around the slopes on the island.”

When the budget process started, Pat had been given a $6,500 budget to work with on the mapping.

She credited trustees Sheila Malcolmson and Deborah Ferens with going to bat at the Trust Council table to get the higher amount of money for the mapping.

Pat hopes to have the tender out for crews within the month, and is looking to bring the completed mapping back to the Local Trust Committee in September.

Sheila added that this is something that was identified two terms ago by the local trustees as a project needing to be done, saying it was also a concern of the local realtors.

Jennifer Lynch, Manager, Coast Realty

Group, Gabriola Village Ltd, said the news the mapping would be done was, “fantastic.”

“Right now what’s happening is when we have properties in the development permit area, the buyer or seller contracts a surveyor to come in and make sure that the slope isn’t 80% or greater.”

She explained the cost per property ranged from $400 to $450.

As this will cover every piece of property on Gabriola, Jennifer recommends owners allow the surveyors to do their work.

“Even if people aren’t selling right now, they’re going to need to know, if they ever put it on the market, it could be an issue.

While developed properties which are looking at making changes will benefit from this mapping, Jennifer said, “The most significant is the undeveloped properties

“Those are the ones where people are cutting down trees, for the view or something.

“This is great news, just fantastic.”

The Gabriola Sounder - April 19th 2010

For Gabriola, the target will be a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 33% by 2020 and 85% by 2050 from 2007 levels.

This is in line with the provincial recommendations, although Trustees and members of the Advisory Planning Commission have said it is difficult to really establish what the levels are without having a complete inventory of emissions to work with.

After meeting with Mudge and DeCourcy residents on March 20, the targets will now be set, per capita, in comparison with the Canadian average.

The resolutions for Mudge and DeCourcy being to achieve by 2020 and 2050, resident per capita emission levels of 50% or less than the per canadian capita average of 2020 and 2050 respectively as measured from the baseline of when the emission inventory is completed.

The change for Mudge and Decourcy came after trustees heard that for small populations such as the two islands have, achieving further reductions of GHG emissions will be difficult. The provincial requirements do permit the islands to instead have a per capita target based on averages.

Critics of the ‘per capita’ method point out measurements do not include ‘per capita’ emissions for off-island property owners emissions in whatever location they spend the rest of the year.

Trustee Sheila Malcolmson pointed out that even if island residents are living elsewhere in the province, their emission impact will be measured there by that local government.

She also pointed out that while there are some parts of the proposed amendments that are still of concern to the trustees and the APC members, “these very well may not all proceed, but we won’t know until we put them out there which are too much and which will be saved for the OCP review consultations.

“We can remove things after public hearings, but we can’t add them.”

Bill 27 requires all local governments to include greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, as well as policies and actions to achieve those targets, in their official community plans.

The province set May 31, 2010 as the deadline for the Bill 27 amendments to be in place.

The Gabriola APC had recommended the LTC seek ways to get an extension to try and get a better idea of what the Gabriola emission levels are at, but Trustee’s said the province is holding tight on to the May 31 deadline.

All three amendments will now go to a public hearing prior to second and third readings to then go forward to Trust Council prior to May 31.

Time and location of the public hearings to be announced at a later date by Trust Council.

The proposed bylaw amendments to the Official Community Plans will be available for public reading on the Trust web site at www.islandstrust.bc.ca under the Gabriola Island section.

The Gabriola Sounder - April 19th 2010

I know that Gabriolans appreciate the work we do for them at all hours of the day or night. The feedback we receive is always welcome.

During 2009 we responded 265 times to callouts, some more serious than others, they break down as follows: (Calls to December 31, 2008: 197)

2009 breakdown;

10 - Alarms activated*

25 - Burn Complaints**

5 - Fire - brush

5 - Fire Chimney

6 - Fire Structure

139 - `First Responder - medical calls

15 - Hydro related

29 - Investigations

7 - M.V.A.

24 - Other - Chief/Duty Officer responses

* Something that is starting to be a nuisance and may require a charge to owners for repeat activations.

** Repeated smoky fire complaints are now forwarded to the Ministry of Environment.

We had a spike of structure fires at the beginning of the year, but they tapered off and we had a relatively quite year fire wise.

We received delivery of 2 new trucks we had on order.

A pumper #3 for Hall 2, a CAFS equipped vehicle carrying 2000 gallon of water

Tanker #2, a 3000 gallon water supply vehicle, is stationed here at Hall 1.

In 2006 we were successful in acquiring our Superior Tanker Shuttle Accreditation, which saved residential homeowners $300 - $600 on their home insurance costs.

Within the next couple of years we will be required to re-certify in order to keep this status. The purchase of the 3000 gallon No. 2 tanker, which replaced a 1976, 1500 gallon truck, was designed to ensure we could easily maintain the 200 gpm for 2 hours requirement.

Unfortunately, the F.U.S. intend’s to up the water supply requirements from 200 - 265 gpm. We will be practising to determine if we are able to still perform to the new requirement, but if not another large tanker will need to be purchased. The cost of these trucks still offset the savings realized by our community, especially compared to the installation of a water supply and a network of hydrants that cities must install.

During our current O.C.P. review there has been a lot of talk about changing the community dynamic, by allowing secondary suites to be constructed and rented out.

I would like to remind the public that our insurance rating is based on our ‘single family’ dwellings status, and a change to this would most certainly have an effect on our insurance rating.

It is important to remember that Gabriola was subdivided severely in the early 70’s, and that around 800 lots still sit empty, and there is the potential for around 800 secondary cottages on large acreages to be built. That translates to around 1600 more families and all of the impact they will bring. Allowing secondary suites without the impact of the other being known would, in my opinion, be irresponsible.

During this past year, we have received plans for the new No. 1 fire hall. The cost estimate came in higher than we felt comfortable with, and we are now in the process of finding ways to significantly reduce the cost.

We have also been approached by local groups that are working to improve an existing island infrastructure, such as the GHCS.

This brought to our Trustee’s attention that we did not have a land use policy in place to deal with such requests. The Trustees have now passed a new policy which outlines the requirements that must be met before any long term lease of GFPID property will be considered.

I would like to introduce our present Board of Trustees:

Albert Reed - in his 13th year as Trustee, is an Electrical and Fire Protection Engineer. He worked closely with me over the years to ensure our department went in the right direction to make possible improvements, like our FUS rating.

David Swanson - in his 10th year as a Trustee. Is a retired college teacher and educational consultant, and a writer. His term is up this year, and has agreed to allow his name to stand for another term.

Bob McKechnie - in his 6th years as a Trustee, is a retired Mechanical Engineer.

Al Barton - in his 6th year as a Trustee, is a retired Fire Officer from Edmonton International airport.

Jeremy Baker - in his 5th year as a Trustee, has a Master in Marine, Environmental Science, and is a local business man and well known observer of all things Gabriola. His term is up this year and he also has agreed to allow his name to stand.

Sandra Rudischer - in her 5th year as Trustee, is our local Credit Union Manager.

And finally, Mark Noyon - in his 4th year as Trustee and current Chair person, has a Masters in Environmental Engineering and is an instructor at Vancouver Island University. He was a volunteer firefighter here on Gabriola for 5 years.

I’d like to thank our board of Trustees for their dedication to this worthy endeavour.

And finally the hard working volunteer Firefighters. Thank you for your time and dedication. I am constantly impressed with how you rise to the occasion, day or night, to assist our people when they are most in need.

Editor’s note: Both Jeremy and David were re-elected to the Board of Trustees by those present at the Annual General Meeting held last Wednesday night.

The Gabriola Sounder - April 19th 2010

The Quinsam has been gone from the Nanaimo-Gabriola route since late last October when she was taken to Richmond for the second-half of her mid-life refit.

Deborah Marshall, BC Ferries Media spokesperson, said there is also some additional crew training that the corporation would like to have done, but that this will only account for a couple days of the delay.

“Right now we’re working with the engine manufacturer to adjust the pitch on the propellors. The angle of the blades are not achieving the speed that they should be, so we’re going to work with them on that.”

In addition to the propellors, she said, “there are also some alterations to make to the right-angle drive units, it’s a cooling issue there.”

Repairs will be done either in Departure Bay, Nanaimo or the ship will be taken back to the Deas shipyard in Richmond. The Quinsam won’t have to go in to dry dock. Deborah explained the ship is built so the drives can be removed either one by one or all four at once without taking the ship out of the water.

The Quinsam is now expected to return to service the week of May 17, ahead of the May Long Weekend.

Goodbye to Grey contest

Deadline April 24th, 2010

The Gabriola Arts Council, BC Ferries, and the Gabriola Ferry Advisory Committee are excited to provide an opportunity for a Gabriola Artist to showcase their work at the Gabriola Island Ferry Terminal by painting the electrical kiosk located in the ferry parking lot. The successful candidate will have included a detailed sketch of their proposal incorporating one of the following themes: a) West Coast Living; b) Marine Life ;c) Wildlife

The project must be completed or substantially underway by May 22nd, 2010.

BC Ferries has generously donated $3,000 in prize money for the winning entry. Entry forms and detailed guidelines can be picked up at the Arts Council desk in Artworks.

For further information contact Kathy at artworks@gabriolaartworks.com — please use BC Ferries Contest as the subject line.

The Gabriola Sounder - April 19th 2010

“I am humbled by the response from people around the world,” said Alexandra Morton, who was honoured at the 2010 WINGS ‘Women of Discovery Awards’ in New York, an event hosted by Uma Thurman.

“Governments forced this industry into places many, many people tried to protect. I think this is why this has become a movement in which individuals are forming their own migrations, like the salmon. People know wild salmon are a life-support system for First Nations, our forests, bears, eagles, orcas, communities and our local economies. As we stand up for our fish, juvenile wild salmon are running the gauntlet past salmon farms once again, and will again be burdened with disease and sea lice. Norwegian salmon farms have become the gatekeepers. The government has that said salmon farms are good for us, but look again. The way this industry has been run is a huge mistake. The government should offer a safety net for salmon farm families by moving salmon farming onto land, allowing a Canadian industry to develop. This could allow wild salmon stocks to be restored.

The tragedy of the commons is very common, but we do not have to be this tragedy.”

The itinerary for Alexandra’s visit to Gabriola to date (April 10, 2010):

Tuesday May 4th, 7pm Alexandra will give a talk at the Agi Hall.

Our Islands Trustee, Sheila Malcolmson will introduce Alexandra.

Wednesday morning May 5th about 9:45am there will be a walk with

Alexandra in the Village area. Everyone is invited to join in. The walk will leave the GES area and go up North Road to the Post Office, down South Road to Lochinvar, across on Lochinvar to North Road, and then back to GES.

After the morning walk, at about 11:30am there will be a gathering on the Silva Bay Inn lawn and a rally of boats in the Bay with banners and flags. Then the beautiful traditional wooden schooner Grail Dancer will take Alexandra to Ladysmith, with the flotilla from Silva Bay coming along at least part of the way. Departure time will be between noon and 1pm.

The itinerary for Alexandra’s entire walk from Earth Day to Mother’s Day, from Sointula to Victoria, can be found at her web site http://salmonaresacred.org.

The Gabriola Sounder - Monday, April 19 2010