Not all directors at the Cowichan Valley Regional District are on board to move forward with a regional growth strategy at this time.
At the committee of the whole meeting on April 9, staff recommended that the preparation of the regional growth strategy should begin but, after a three-hour debate, the committee decided to refer the issue to its next meeting on April 23 for further discussion.
Ian Morrison, director for Cowichan Lake South/Skutz Falls (Area F), and Jesse McClinton, director for Saltair/Gulf Islands (Area G), put forward unsuccessful motions for their electoral areas to be left out of the regional growth strategy, while a number of other directors also expressed misgivings with the process.
McClinton said he’s frustrated with the way the process is moving forward.
He said he’s happy to work with the other directors, but he doesn’t want his area to be locked into a regional growth strategy.
“How do we know where we’re going to be five to 20 years from now?” he asked. “This feels incredibly undemocratic to me and the people [in my area] don’t want this. At the very least, I would have hoped that this would have gone out for public input. Why does Area G have to lock onto something it doesn’t want? We simply want to be left alone to make the land-use decisions that are best for us.”
A growth strategy is a regional-level strategic planning document administered by a regional district to “promote human settlement that is socially, economically and environmentally healthy and that makes efficient use of public facilities and services, land and other resources.”
The Capital Regional District, Regional District of Nanaimo, and the Comox Valley Regional District all have growth strategies, but the CVRD does not.
Morrison also said he has misgivings about the development of the strategy, and that he doesn’t feel the consensus-building at the table that’s required for the exercise to be successful.
“If we’re going to do this as a collaborative and inclusive process, then we all have to feel enthusiastic about moving it forward,” he said. “I’m not seeing divergent views being considered at this point. I want to be part of the process but I’m not feeling it.”
It was also anticipated that the issue of a number of the electoral areas in the south end of the CVRD forming their own municipality, and of the City of Duncan expanding its boundaries, could be among the considerations in the growth strategy, but staff suggested that it should be part of a different study on incorporation as the issue could derail the growth strategy process.
But Shawnigan Lake director Sierra Acton took issue with staff suggesting that the idea of incorporating some of the southern electoral areas is too controversial to be part of the growth strategy.
The Shawnigan Lake electoral area has a similar population as some of the CVRD’s municipalities, which have full councils to represent them, while the electoral area has just one director.
When is the right time to consider consolidation, Acton asked.
“There will be a time at some point, whether we hit a certain population or tax base, or we will become part of Langford or whatever,” she said. “It’s going to happen and it’s just a matter of time as to when that happens.”
CAO Danielle Miles Wilson said the CVRD did consider moving forward with a governance and servicing study several years ago, but it was not supported at that time.
She said the district would have to apply to the province if it wanted to consider governance options for its south end.
“That’s an option we can explore, and we could come back with an analysis of the options,” Miles Wilson said.
