North Pender LTC Regular Meeting Minutes

Extracted text (beginning)

North Pender Island Local Trust Committee  
Minutes of a Regular Meeting 
March 26, 2015 ADOPTED Page 1 of 9 
 
  
04-04 
North Pender Island Local Trust Committee 
Minutes of a Regular Meeting 
 
Date: 
Location: 
Thursday, March 26, 2015 (9:45 AM) 
Pender Island Community Hall 
4418 Bedwell Harbour Road, North Pender Island, BC 
 
Members Present: George Grams, Chair 
Dianne Barber, Local Trustee 
Derek Masselink, Local Trustee 
 
Staff Present: Justine Starke, Island Planner 
Zorah Staar, Recorder 
  
Public and Media 
Present: 
There were twenty-one (21) members of the public present 
 
1. CALL TO ORDER 
Chair Grams called the meeting to order at 9:45 am.  He acknowledged that the meeting 
was being held in traditional territory of the Coast Salish First Nations.  Chair Grams also 
made introductions, including Paul LeBlond (CRD Alternate Director for the Southern 
Gulf Islands Electoral Area). 
 
2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA 
By general consent the Local Trust Committee approved the agenda. 
 
3. TOWN HALL AND QUESTIONS 
 
Sara Steil made a written submission re: Housing (item 11.2), and requested that the 
Local Trust Committee implement a restriction on principal dwelling size, and seek a 
related amendment to the Islands Trust Policy Statement.  Steil said that local oversized 
houses were increasing at an alarming rate, which impacted climate change, and that 
affordable housing was decreasing. 
 
Don Corbett said that the budget approved at the recent Trust Council meeting was 
about $7 million (similar to the past), and he asked if there was any Trustee opposition 
or concerns, and if votes were recorded. 
 
Chair Grams said that he believed there had been one budget objector. 
 
Trustee Masselink said that opposition to a motion was normally recorded in the 
minutes, and that the Trust Council meeting had involved expressions of concern about 
expenditures, and soul-searching about the direction of the Islands Trust.  This was in 
the context of the Trust needing to evolve to respond to new pressures (e.g. almost no 
provincial funding), and still provide the greatest possible value to communities. 
 
 
 
 
 
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North Pender Island Local Trust Committee  
Minutes of a Regular Meeting 
March 26, 2015 ADOPTED Page 2 of 9 
 
  
Don Corbett also objected to Trust Council having passed a resolution re: the right to a 
healthy environment, because this was associated with David Suzuki’s Blue Dot 
Campaign, and Suzuki had supported jailing leaders who didn’t act on climate change. 
 
Chair Grams said that he believed the Blue Dot Campaign had merit, and supporting it 
did not mean supporting all of David Suzuki’s positions. 
 
Michael Sketch commented as follows: 
- Blue Dot Campaign based in part on the Gaia principle and public trust doctrine; 
- Conservation Subdivision project should not be continued, because its goals could 
be supported through existing Development Permit Areas, without increasing density; 
- J

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