[laughter]
When I was talking to Marty last night, I was like, "Okay, there's a couple of
them that I didn't recognize." He's like, "That the one in the third with a
mustache. The one in the four seat with a mustache. The [laughter]
one in the second row with a mustache
is >> Yeah.
That's pretty nice.
So ready
like to call our August 20th, 2026 6 chamber council
meeting to order.
Start with the adoption of the agenda.
Any discussion? All in favor?
Thank you. Motion to close the meeting to the public.
Okay. Move that council move into a closed
meeting to discuss matters covered by the community charter under sections
91A. Personal information about an
identifiable individual who holds or is being considered for a position as an
officer employee or agent of the municipality or another position
appointed by the municipality. C labor relations or other employee relations.
And F the receipt of advice that is subject to solicitor client privilege
including communication necessary for that purpose.
for Almeida. Any discussion? All in favor? We are adjourned.
Okay, we're going to reconvene our council meeting. We'll start with the
territorial acknowledgement that we're holding this in the traditional lands of
the Colama nation and we'll move to public input period.
So, subject to the rules of conduct, members of the audience, up to three
members have an opportunity to provide comment for a maximum of two minutes on
one of these three items. Legislative matters, committee
recommendations, or new business. Anybody wish to come forward from the
audience? Introduce yourself, please.
Good evening uh mayor and council. Thank you very much. Uh my name is Diane
Sparks. I will be speaking with regard to the letter from the mayor of Gibson
to Randine Neil. The mayor of Gibson and Sunshine Coast Ferry Advisory Committee
recently made an important point in a letter to Rand Neil. Ferry service has
not kept pace with growth. Power River to Vancouver's route, contractually
minimal, has changed little since 2003. While the Southern Sunshine Coast
population has grown approximately 29%, visitor spending has risen from 76 77.6
million in 2007 to 256 million in 2024. That's about 230%.
Tourism is vital to our economy, but residents should not be unable to get
home or reach essential appointments because their only transportation route
is full. For Pal River, the ferry is our highway. At our town at our town hall
meeting, residents raised serious concerns about motorcycle access, having
to purchase reservations to ensure travel for medical appointments,
the additional cost of reservations, residents commuting to jobs on Vancouver
Island unable to get home, and local businesses losing customers because of
ferry standby changes. The province is now preparing for performance term 7
beginning April 1st, 2028. If ferry service levels are going to be released,
re reassessed to reflect today's population and demand, then Pal River
must be part of that con conversation. And the public has spoken more than
6,000. We have more than 6,000 people that have signed our petition now
calling for priority boarding for Pow River residents.
Population has grown, tourism has grown, demand has grown, ferry policy must
catch up. Thank you. >> Thank you very much.
Anybody else from the audience? Do we have anybody online?
All right.
We're going to move now to general matters and uh I am pleased that uh
Mayor Dan Law of the District of Fenino is here this evening. Now, just by way
of background, uh for the last couple of years,
uh we here in Pow River at our council have had discussions about housing and
the lack of it and uh pickle ball and the importance of pickle ball for social
development and economic development. And
having attended uh the ICE meetings a number of times,
I was advised that uh Tofino has done some very interesting initiatives
to deal with housing and the lack thereof of housing and also have shown
good decision making in providing uh pickle ball players both those living in
Tofino and those that care to come to Tofino as tourists and have seen a very
positive response to what they've done. I'd like to welcome uh Mayor Law and
look forward to your comments.
Thank you. Your worship I don't get to call other mayors your
worship very often, so I thought I'd do it. uh officially as an address. Um
thanks for inviting me uh mayor and council. It's great to be here and uh
it's great to meet staff and a couple of the residents of Pow River. Pow River is
stunningly beautiful. I have to say everybody I'm from Tofino. Most people
know Tofino. Uh if you don't know Tofino, you head to Uklit and when you
hit the junction you turn right. So uh but um it's great to be in uh in Palo
what a stunning place and it's great to be here to share uh the Tofino Housing
Corporation uh process and Tofino Housing Corporation success. It's been a
very very good success so far. It is um
the Defino Housing Corporation I'm gonna get ahead here has had a long run. Uh it
was first uh envisioned in the early 2000s 2005 it was established
uh but then over the next seven or so years
uh just couldn't it couldn't get any forward momentum. Uh council couldn't
make a decision. There was significant kickback from the uh town at the time.
Everything from uh you know businesses should build their own uh accommodation
for employees. Uh people should work hard for their own housing. Uh and just
a general distaste for for any kind of government
intervention in housing. And the idea presented consistently was that the
market would solve the problem. In 2005, the uh
there was a negative vacancy rate in Tofino. People were living in campers
and trailers and garages and tents and sleeping bags outside.
And the median value home price in Tofina was about $375,000.
2012 uh it was uh the the housing corporation
uh was dissolved. 2015 2016
it was uh readily apparent that the market developers were not solving the
problem at all. There was an increased vacancy or a negative vacancy rate
significant number of people living uh on the streets in their vans and
campers. These are employees, people working at shops. And uh and so the
council decided that they had to act. And so the Tofino Housing Corporation
was started up again uh with the intent of building housing
for anybody who called Tofino home. By this time, the median value house
price uh was about the same as it is here. was
about uh $576,000
uh dollars per median value single detached home. And I believe that Pal
River right now has uh single detached homes. The median value is about 580.
And I'll show that later in a slide. Uh but it's an important point that we'll
come back to talk about.
And so 2017 started up again. And in the in the last uh nine years,
uh Tofino has had some great success. what I'm going to share in a sec here.
But what is it? So the Tofino Housing Corporation is a corporation
owned 100% [clears throat] by the District of Tofino.
So uh up here you can see the District of Tofino provides uh free land. That's
a sticking point for people people dcc waiverss and uh some staff support when
needed. Uh but the land really is just transferred to a Tofino housing tenino
corporation. So the Tofino retains 100% of of the land and the Tofino acts as a
land steward, secures funding, manages the partnerships, navigates all of the
ins and outs of housing development that uh that district staff just do not want
to do, nor should they do. Uh they're they're not uh you know, district staff
are not professional developers. uh but uh the THC hires an executive director
who is a professional developer and that's their job and then the uh THC has
partnered in this case with uh in the past uh several projects with Catalyst
Community Development Society which is also a nonprofit developer and uh build
market housing or below market housing sorry non-market housing
and um they generally come in 15 to 28% below what a market developer uh can
build and uh and the Tofino Housing Corporation and the the district of
Tofino gets to decide what kind of housing, how it looks, the uh the makeup
of the rooms and where it goes. The uh the first project that we did
was uh a town home and here it is right here and it's 14 rental units, one, two,
and threebedroom units. uh the the land was readily available owned by the
district uh it was easily developed and uh and 100% funded by by the
government whether through BC housing CHC
and uh and our own MRDT [clears throat] which uh is municipal regional district
tax which I know council is aware of and uh we're able to to use 100% of the tax
the hotel tax uh that short-term rentals bring
that all goes to to uh help operate and run both the operational and capital end
of our Tofino housing corporation. This development here, you know,
Tofino's 2500 people at this time. Um,
housing is in such a crisis that
without action by council, it's conceivable that our hospital wouldn't
be able to run, our schools wouldn't be able to run, our district itself uh
wouldn't be able to run without some kind of action because we are so uh so
low on housing. In fact, uh a young doctor and his family were able to get
into this particular project uh several years ago. He was able to
finish his res residency and was able will be able to come back
to Tofino uh and work as a physician. In fact, uh
this particular unit allowed uh this doctor and his family, his wife to uh to
transition into buying a home in Tofino. It might not seem like a big uh deal in
Powell River where there's, you know, 15,000 people, but in a 2500
uh population town, uh it is a significant deal.
After that, we're able to move on to larger projects to apartment buildings.
You can see here, this was much more contentious with
town, I got to say, because that is a first growth forest and and uh it was a
hard cell for some people. But the housing crisis was so great that people
in the end were were able to to uh to see this through. And between the two
projects, these two apartment buildings here and the the previous one, Creek
Side, it's called, Tofino is now housing approximately uh 9 to 10% of our
population.
And you can see that uh affordable housing because these come with BC
housing, CHC uh they have to be affordable at least a part of them has
to be affordable and there's usually a percentage. So 30 50/20 is is one you
often see 30% affordable market 50% rented to income and then 20% are deep
subsidies. And uh
you know just with these three projects alone
uh the district was able to take unused land
was able to convert it build bring in substantial
uh funding for both capital and operational
and uh in the end uh we were able to increase our our
property assets by well over $12 million. And in fact, these properties
now pay tax. They pay property tax and they're bringing in over $50,000
annually. Uh so it is it's just been a tremendous win. And because we have the
the corporation set up and it's running very smoothly. Uh
we were able to uh to move swiftly in this particular project here. It wasn't
called project, I guess. uh it's an acquisition is that we have a a 4unit uh
senior's housing villa that's been operating for probably 40 40 years or
more. And uh you know I ran into this fellow actually he's he's sitting there
at the doorway in that picture uh on the street and he was quite distressed and
uh it turns out that this uh this villa had been perhaps poorly managed and it
was on the brink of insolveny uh and would have to be sold. So,
because I had this housing corporation going, a great relationship with uh the
executive director, uh I just simply gave him a call and uh he called Dave
and within a few months, the housing corporation was able to buy this for a
dollar, uh reortgage it with BC Housing, bring
all of the the rents into the safer program, reducing rents for the tenants,
uh fix all the problems, bring it up to snuff, and the district uh now has that
asset and uh in the next decade or two we'll be able to build more stories of
senior housing in in Tofino. So it's kind of a spin-off of of housing
corporation. Um if you have a corporation
uh it not only allows you to do this without having to get council and staff
uh too involved. It uh it allows
a significant amount of leverage for government grants
and uh and that governments like to work with
councils who have corporations. Uh they like to
work because they like to work nimly and fast. You wouldn't believe that. I know
you're all politicians and everybody [laughter]
ever work with politicians. You wouldn't believe they like to work fast, but they
do. uh they want to work with uh with organizations that know how to build and
have proven that they know how to build. They want to work with uh people and
organizations that are going to give them a return on
their investment. And that's what the Tofino Housing Corporation does.
Right now, we're targeting uh 150 total rental units, 30 price restricted,
resident restricted units by 2030. We've got two projects on the go. We do not
have a lot of land, unfortunately, like Pal River. Uh we had to scrimp and and
scrge and find a few parcels of land and and identified three. Uh one we actually
bought uh with the growing communities fund to save our infrastructure and uh
and then we we said now that we bought that to save our infrastructure access,
why don't we turn it into affordable housing, too? And so we have uh an Apex
on the go which is uh shovel ready and we've got another 21 unit below market
housing uh that includes a seaside park permanent uh infrastructure access for
our water and uh and three-bedroom uh units for for families which we just do
not have in Tofino and it's uh it's caused a bit of crisis itself.
And there's future capacity. And one of the things that we've done
with the Tina Housing Corporation is uh because it's been a success and we know
that it's taken a long time to get here and so we've made it part of our mission
and vision and mission with the Tina Housing Corporation to try to share it
with other communities uh that may be where we were several years ago and
they're trying to solve problems. And uh the thing about municipal governments is
everybody's kind of siloed. You know, nobody knows necessarily what everybody
else is doing. And so I wanted to fix that and and share the success uh with
other communities so that you don't have to go through all of the ups and downs
and and uh and questions and uh get right to the point and build some
housing.
That's the end of that uh that's the end of that presentation. I do have another
slide, but I think I'm running over. So, why don't I just uh stop there and uh
and go for some uh Oh, I should tell you one thing. I forgot actually. Let's go
back here.
2022. Here you go. Remember how I said uh
2017 the median value
of a single detached home was about the same as it is now in Pal River. 2017 is
not a long time ago. Uh the single detached
home value in Tofino right now average is about 1.5 million.
Yeah. If we didn't have this,
if people hadn't, if council hadn't decided to do this and taken the step to
do this when they did, Tofina would not be running now like it is. It would not
be able to function uh the same as it is. Business would be struggling. uh
there'd be tremendous pressure and so uh thank goodness uh council had the
foresight and the courage to take this action uh when they did and we get to
benefit it uh from it today. I'm not suggesting power river prices are going
to go up to 1.5 happened to us.
» Open for questions if anybody has. Uh, councelor Isaac,
» thank you. You need to stop telling people how beautiful we are here because
we would like to keep things a bit more affordable for local folks. Um, so I I
always like that saying, you know, the best time to build housing was 20 years
ago and the second best time is now. you the housing corporation first got set up
in 2005 and your first uh completed project was 2022 right so it took a
while and I I think about some of the pressures that we might feel related to
startup costs like hiring you know you had um a professional developer all the
pre-development costs that often aren't funded by all these grant streams you
got 650k in MRTD funding the amount here is in the 100,000 level and so the scale
of what we have available to us is a little bit different. I'm wondering um
uh what um if you have advice on like the
financial feasibility because this is something that this council has over
many years we've had many meetings and gone to many sessions and are are pretty
keen on it. Um but sometimes like the math looks really hard but without that
investment it will just get harder and so any advice given the the difference
in scale that we're we're dealing with here?
» Yeah, I mean that's good. That's a really good point. Uh the startup costs,
what does it cost to run it? It needs money to run. Uh you know, we we're
getting $650,000 from OAP, which is online accommodation platform, MRDT,
every year. That's not what it was uh back then. I think when we started out,
it was in the maybe the hundreds. and it dropped down uh during COVID uh to to
significantly lower about if I'm just off the top of my head it was maybe
like80,000 there uh until it got uh reconciled at
the end of the year but the um the actual operational cost to run it just
for administration uh is not that great. I mean, we have
one part-time employee, and that's uh you know, that's under $50,000 a year,
and we we have a contract with City Spaces, uh Ian Scott, who was our
originally ED exceptional person. And so, we bring him on for contracts, and
he'll take on a project like, um, oh, sorry, this is the next uh gosh, that's
the next one. Like this one. So he he did that one and rolled the rolled that
project cost into into the total performer and a lot of that was actually
covered by funding from the from the government anyway. So there's
significant home funding and there's significant uh startup funding
for councils and and communities that mean business, right? And so, you know,
I looked at Pal River and I actually have another I did another slide, but
I'm probably going to go over, so I'll probably skip it. But, uh, you know, Pal
River doesn't have the same MRDT. It's not an RMI community. I'm not sure what
you get for for, uh, MRDT, but
Tofino is a tourism community. That's how we make a lot of our money. Uh,
Powell River has a community forest, I believe, and it's a a society that makes
a significant amount of money, usually in the millions, I think. And so, if you
were to compare, you could say, well, Powell River has its own nonpropy tax
uh, revenue that can go to whatever council decides and the community
decides they want it to. And so if you have funds and if housing is a priority
and you think it's a you know it's a crisis for for you for whatever reason
then you do have funds and it's uh once you get rolling uh you know staff aren't
involved except on the board council you know the Tofino Housing Corporation
comes to council and and asks for say a zoning change or a wave of 50% DCC's or
something like that. Uh, and so that's really how council council and staff
work it. Uh, the corporation just just takes care of itself. So that's uh
that's what I'd say about that.
» I'm actually I'm curious chair if there is consent to just take a peek at some
of this the subsequent slides. I know we are over time but um curious if council
would be willing to do that. >> Senses. Yes.
giving me more time. Okay. >> Came so far.
» Well, nobody's throwing at me anything at me from the the stand. So So I did
actually look at I I did read your reports and I had a look at Campbell or
or Powell River and I know there are some significant differences and I
thought that council probably would say, "Well, we're not the same. We're very
different." And uh so I put together this case. It's not a report from staff.
So you know, take it for what it is. It's a visiting mayor with uh you know
who's been to Pal River a couple times and knows how to look on the internet.
Uh so it's still you know protecting economy viability unlocking housing
supply and leveraging municipal equity. That's what you're doing. That's what we
did. Uh Pal River is very different than Tofino. You have excellent healthcare.
You've got recre recreation infrastructure. We do not we uh we don't
have a pool. We don't have an indoor uh recreation center at all. We don't even
own a public ball field. You've got excellent resources for your
kids and teens. Uh
tier one civic infrastructure. You've got great education, early childhood,
public independent schools, postsecary and trades engines. You're fantastic.
So, uh I shouldn't say that. I heard that you don't want people to come here.
» [laughter] >> You want people to move here
» only up until 14,999 people live.
» That's right. That's right. You have to pay extra RCMP. I got it. Uh well, you
know what? You We're talking about housing. So, I did a little housing
breakdown. Here's your median value. Single detached home. 580,000. Seems
like a lot. Uh unless you're from Tofino, then I think, oh my gosh, I'd
buy two if I had the money. Uh and then the tax, you know, tax always comes back
comes up. It's almost uh it's almost election time. Everybody likes to talk
about taxes. And so, not only are houses uh you know, they're actually higher,
the price to income ratio is higher than uh the global uh suggested limit for
affordability. So, they're not affordable, but your taxes actually are
really quite affordable. Uh and you can see here uh I've got some numbers up
there uh for regional passroughs. municipal tax share is about $264 a
month, which is less
than a cell phone, home speed, highspeed home internet, and
streaming subscriptions. And across Canada, it's actually very low.
And I actually upped these a little bit. So, uh, I thought this would be
interesting stuff. I'd like to see this, too. But, uh, if you actually I actually
was a little conservative. the actual uh monthly
cost of property tax on a median value home is lower than this uh if you take
into consideration the uh over 65 homeowner grant.
So what does it do? It means you got a great town, you got some housing. Do you
have any problems that you need to solve with the housing corporation? Yeah, you
sure do. I think uh you got some problems. It is still unaffordable. It
appears that uh three-bedroom family rental stock is virtually non-existent.
Now, you guys know more than I do. Uh and uh it also appears that uh it's
impacting perhaps essential services like hospitals and people coming into to
Powell River who you need to run Powell River and deliver all of those health
care, education, recreation services. And so you do have a deficit and the
reality is that uh the market uh isn't delivering and
probably won't. That's what Tofino happened at Tofino. We thought it would
and it just didn't because the market wants to build one-bedroom studio
suites. They want to get the numbers and they want to maximize their ROI.
Plus, you got a demographics queue. You got a lot of people here. Tofino has a
huge number. We have double the average of young people than BC. Double. Uh we
don't have families and teens and their parents because they have nowhere to
live and we don't have a lot of those services that they want. Uh Bow River
has a very large demographic of seniors and it appears uh who are in older
multi-level single detach homes but it doesn't appear they have much where to
go and so they're stuck. This is my hunch from from doing a quick do is uh
so you really need uh someplace for seniors to go so that they can stay in
Pal River uh so that this can be a you know birth to end of life town where
they can invest their whole lives and uh and you also need somewhere for
essential service workers to come with their families. Maybe they're in
transition like uh the doctor that came to Tofino and is now established and
owns his own home and stays. If we didn't have that uh if we didn't have
that condo townhouse or town home actually uh he wouldn't have been able
to do that. We'd be out a doctor and out of family and his uh his wife is
actually running the uh uh school programs.
And so you do have a big problem and the market isn't going to fix it. So you
have uh you have a good a you know you've got uh good opportunity for a
housing corporation. You got lots of land and you have funding. You have
nonpropy tax revenue uh that you can put towards this. So you can see a little
family and workforce squeeze. Um
read through that. So really in Pal River,
Deina Housing Pow River Housing Corporation if that's something you're
interested would unlock a missing middle uh if council and the and the
corporation the community wanted to. It could be uh like it is in Tofino an
essential asset.
It is arms length. nonprofit and uh and if it was ever to dissolve,
if a Tofino Housing Corporation was ever to dissolve, all of that land goes back
uh to the district of Tofino. So, uh that's all I have to say. Thanks for the
extra time. I will put one more plug in for pickle ball for the mayor. Uh Tofino
was redoing its uh its uh tennis courts and we got basically uh bombarded by the
pickle ball crew. and uh who wanted pickle ball. And so we
uh we said fine, we'll look into it. Uh and we ended up uh putting in a
significant number of pickle ball courts uh part of our renovation of our
downtown. And it was the best thing that I have ever seen. [laughter]
Just saying. Is hundreds and hundreds of people use pickle ball every day. every
from little kids all the way up to people uh in their 80s, maybe even
older. And uh wow, was it cheap and successful. So, there's another success
story to shove on top of the Tofino Housing Corporation. That's a little
plug for the male mayor's pickle bill. Uh anyway, there you go. That's it.
That's it for me. So, uh thanks for letting me run over time and I can stay
for a couple questions if you'd like. >> Great. Council me.
[clears throat] I think councelor Isacson already uh handled a couple of
the questions I had top of mind. So appreciate you coming. Um I'm guessing
the pickleball courts are outdoor courts that you have and are they shared
pickleball/tennis courts? Are they independent altogether?
» We kept one one tennis court. Uh, our CEO loves tennis and there's a lot of
people who play tennis. So, we kept one and then we put uh we converted the
other tennis court and we expanded uh the footprint a little bit just so we
could fit in the pickle ball pickle ball courts that uh that the community wanted
and it was it was the right it was the right thing and it is outside. We're
going to light them. Uclullet uh I think I think in our our success
with pickle balls kind of spilled over and Uclue wants to build pickle ball
court. So, they have a two-stage process where they're going to build the courts
and as the second stage, they've got a uh a cover that goes over it. So, it's
not as expensive as a full indoor pickle ball uh court would be for a little tiny
town like you cool it, 1900 people, but they've got enough funding and uh
they've found a way to do it so that it'll be in in it'll be all year round
indoor, but uh but very inexpensive. So, we'll see how that goes.
Questions? sounds.
» Thank you. Your worship [laughter]
go [clears throat]
too many people that way who's standing at that podium. Um I'm just wondering if
you're um I really appreciate you coming. We have been talking about
things like this for a long long time. in previous terms. We've looked at uh
the Whistller's um initiative as well that goes back as far as yours pretty
much maybe even farther. Uh they're faced with similar challenges. Um it
certainly is interesting because housing is huge and definitely seniors. You're
targeting seniors. This this is a significant question here. I'm just
wondering if um haven't had a chance to look over uh the what's available on the
website for Trino Housing Incorporation, but I'm wondering if your uh slides
might be available to us and I had another question which just slipped my
mind. Um yeah, basically just looking for more
information. Absolutely. we I can share these slides with you and uh the Tofino
Housing Corporation website has lots of information and I was going to also make
a plug the uh September 20th in Parksville which is not too far away
uh is there's a uh a housing convention and uh the chair of the
Tofino Housing Corporation uh fellow counselor uh invited invited you all to
come. So uh he said get them to come and they can talk one-on-one. And I was also
going to say you know because the Tino Housing Corporation has done a lot of
work uh you know with the terms of reference
um you know understanding policy uh and we have the connections you know
if you know if staff was interested we could we could uh you know introduce you
to to Ian Scott at city spaces and uh to have a conversation. And so just so that
you understand, you know, you don't have to reinvent the wheel. It's already been
invented. You just have to tweak it for Powell River if if that's what council
wants to do. >> Great.
Thank you very much. We appreciate it. Uh and I'm sure that uh we'll get back
to you for further clarification. So thank you your worship.
» Thank you your worship. [laughter]
So we'll now move to the consent agenda. >> Yes, council Isac.
» I'll move adoption of the August 20th, 2026 content uh consent agenda.
» I councelor Selkott. Any further discussion? All in favor? Passed
unanimously.
We'll now move to legislative matters 11.1 the seawalk restoration project
manager.
» Good evening and council. I as you mentioned I'm here tonight to
present on the seawalk restoration project. I know that this is a priority
project for the community and council and something that we're very excited
about uh over in the engineering department and the city as a whole. Um
as I mentioned in my report, uh the purpose of this report today and
presentation is to present the results of the invitation to tender. I request
council approval to award the construction contract to the successful
proponent. uh present the Powell River Community Forest letter confirming its
support of the phase 2 funding as described in this report uh and request
council authorization to submit an application to the built community
strong fund uh local impact stream in British Columbia for grant funding to
support construction of the Seawwalk restoration project.
Um it's the recommendation uh that council uh receive the results of tender
uh award the contract uh as recommended to Hazlewood Construction uh in the
amount of $819,513.36
plus GST. uh that council received the Power River Community Forest letter
confirming its financial contribution towards the Seawwalk project uh in the
amount of $550,000 for the phase 2 component uh for a total amount of $1.53
million. Uh and finally that council authorized staff to submit an
application to the Build Community Strong Fund Local Impact Stream British
Columbia uh for funding and support of this project. Um, and I do have a lot of
information to throw at you guys today. So, I'm just going to run through my
report uh and include a few key items here. Um, so as everyone I believe at
this table is aware and for those online,
this project is uh conceived due to a storm surge uh in 2022 coinciding with a
king tide which created some uh pretty major weather events that caused some
significant damage uh and erosion to the trail. Uh it's primarily around the
middle uh what I understand is known as a more or less historic phase one of the
seawwalk uh that was done by the city in the early 2000s. Uh unfortunately the
material that was installed there is not necessarily the ideal material for that
application. Uh and it's also believed that it was more or less end dumped and
not necessarily keyed in correctly. Uh which is the reason that that section
has sustained major damage where the north and south sections have not. um
they've all been through all the same storms over the 20 or so years of their
existence and you'll notice that those north and south sections are holding up
very well while the middle section has you know all but crumbled. Um and so the
intention for this project is to take a look at those areas roughly centered
around the west viewpoint uh as well as resurface uh the entire uh roughly 1.4
24 km length of that trail for you know better accessibility for all residents
of power river. Um [clears throat] the project started with uh some
environmental and archaeological reviews of the proposed pair repair work. Uh
this was completed back in 2023. Unfortunately there was some staff
turnover uh around that time that put the project on hold for uh a little
while. Uh when I arrived in 2025 it was picked back up. Uh at that point uh we
put the project out to tender for a design and engineering consultant to
support the design of the project uh engineering and contract administration
all the way through to completion. uh
uh in working with that contractor uh it was determined quite quickly that
some of the uh I'll call them wish list items that were on the potential scope
at the start of this project were quickly removed and the scope was
consolidated down to what it is now. Uh and that's based on cost estimates
environmental archaeological requirements uh that were built into the
project or determined along the way. Um, [clears throat]
as part of this, uh, city staff getting a better idea of what
the actual cost of this project was, we decided that we would split it into two
phases. Uh, these have been labeled as the critical and optional zone in our
drawing package. Uh, but ultimately should be considered as phase one and
phase two of this project. As I previously explained, it's all centered
in that historic phase one section that has the end dump material that is just
not holding up as well as it needs to. Um [snorts]
and the large reason that uh that was chosen is again just due to the uh
conversations we were having with our design engineer and the cost estimates
that we were receiving. It was believed at the time that
tackling the entire seawalk even the two zones that we were hoping for were going
to be cost prohibitive based on the funding that we had available.
Uh the initial archaeological review that was completed in 2023 assumed that
all of the restoration work was going to happen from the top of the pathway and
no machines would be uh required to enter the intertital zone. Uh as we got
deeper into the required restoration work, we realized that that was not
going to be feasible and therefore some additional archaeological reviews were
required uh just to ensure that we weren't encroaching on any features
within uh the foreshore. uh that was attempted on December 5th of
last year, but unfortunately the tide levels did not drop low enough to expose
all of the features in that intertidal zone and therefore the archaeologist was
forced to delay until the spring uh when those tides reached more optimal level
and she was actually able to survey uh the entire foreshore. So there was
unfortunately significant delays uh created by that but uh there it was
unfortunately a we were fighting against the tides which is a losing battle. Um
[clears throat] after receiving our uh archaeological assessment on April 20th
uh we received a report about a month later that identified several features
uh that our current design had conflicted with. Um so at that point uh
we went back to the design table with our engineer uh put our heads together
and came up with some options to avoid those conflicts. Uh we were able to
avoid all but one. Uh and through consultation with Tommination and the
archaeologist it was determined that complete avoidance of that feature was
the desired path forward. And so we revised our design to accommodate that
feature and went to tender as as quickly as we were able. [snorts] Um part
[clears throat] of the requirements for the archaeological process is uh she
performed some updated site mapping that more specifically uh located the
archaeological features down the beach. Previously the entire beach uh up into
even up the hill uh towards the highway there was designated as an
archaeological significant zone uh which is not necessarily reflective of what is
actually in that area. Uh so the work that the archaeologist was doing was to
revise that mapping uh bring it down to its true location which actually did
remove a good portion of that seawalk from the uh what's just known as more or
less the red zone uh which allowed us to do the work that we were planning on
doing uh without without going through the site alteration permit process which
is upwards of a year uh processing time with the BC archaeology branch. [snorts]
uh that site mapping uh was sent into the BC archaeology branch shortly after
the report was created. Um there's unfortunately no committed turnaround
time on that response and uh given the permitting times that the archaeology
branch is typically maintaining, it's not a quick review. It's not a quick
turnaround. Uh but we did have some confidence that we would get a response
uh before this fall at this time. We are still waiting for that response and so
our project start date is still a precaution to be transparent. Um but the
city has done absolutely everything we can to be ready to start uh when we get
that green light to go.
Uh so as I mentioned uh tender results uh the city issued a tender uh in July
which closed uh early August. We did receive four compliant bids from some
reputable contractors. Uh we were actually quite pleased to see that uh
some of the uh sub well most of the submissions we received actually were
quite a bit lower than the cost estimate that our engineer had put together. Uh
which is um a first for me which was very exciting to see. Um the low
submission was from Hazlewood Construction at a value of $819,513.36.
Um and after evaluating Hazelwood uh based on their submission uh and also
helps that our design engineer had some experience working with them in other
projects and was aware of you know the the type of company that they are and
therefore uh it is city staff's recommendation that this contract be
awarded uh to Hazlewood.
Uh regarding the Power River Community Forest funding, uh as noted at the
start, uh Power River Community Forest has provided a letter uh confirming
their financial support for the Seawwalk. Um and this is at a total
value of 1.53 million. And I would just like to clarify that uh this number was
originally conceived uh based upon the original cost estimates that we had
received from our design engineer and also in anticipation that this work
would be phased over a number of years. Uh so that secondary the phase two value
did have uh some cost isolations uh added to it for uh the duration
essentially that was expected before we began with that work. Um as well as to
account for remaining archaeological monitoring, environmental monitoring uh
you know construction administration support
nation culture and heritage technicians as required through construction uh to
take us to uh the end of the project. Um
uh any unused funds from this project will remain in the reserve and be
available for other opportunities as recommended by community forest and
approved by council. Um, and as I'll get into in my next uh paragraph here, uh,
if the city is successful in the grant application that we are interested in
submitting, I some additional funds will be able to remain in that reserve uh,
and not be not be used on this project and available for future opportunities.
Uh so the build community strong fund uh has been identified as a significant
funding opportunity for the Seawwalk restoration project. Uh if approved,
this grant could potentially cover up to 50% of our remaining costs. Uh that does
include construction uh contract administration, environmental
archaeological support. Um so we do have a good opportunity to recoup uh some of
the dollars that we invest in the Seawwalk. I I've confirmed that
construction costs can be retroactively claimed. So, um you know, depending on
when our when our start date actually is and when that grant award is announced,
um is not exactly relevant to us, you know, being awarded that funding at the
end of the day, which is a a great thing for this project.
Um, one thing that I would like to note which I think just potentially has not
been uh discussed in past grant opportunities is the opportunity cost
that's associated with this type of uh with this type of opportunity. And of
course, while this does require some staff time and investment in creating
all the information, um, submitting, uh, monitoring, maintaining, reporting the
grant, I believe that the significant funding that is available is well worth
the staff efforts. Um and of course the time that's required could potentially
have impacts to you know other projects but we have reviewed uh and confirm that
we don't believe that there's going to be any you know major shifts or changes
or any major critical path items that are affected with this grant submission.
Um, as I had noted, the Seawalk restoration project is included within
the city's approved capital budget. Uh, the project funding currently is uh
entire power entirely Powell River Community Forest backed. Uh, but the
hope is that we will also secure some of our some of this build community strong
uh funding to offset some of the Pow River Community Forest costs.
um based on the results of the tender and
the other estimated remaining costs. Um of course you'll see that there's a bit
of a discrepancy between our estimated uh construction cost and our total
available budget. It is city staff's recommendation that that total budget be
left available for this project. Uh the reason for that is that at the start of
this project, due to the uh anticipated costs of the work, we did trim a few
scope items out that would be desirable to include back in if we do have the
funding to do it. Uh for example, there's a few areas outside of the
critical and optional zones where a few stones have come loose from uh you know
tidal activity, uh winter storms, that sort of thing. And it would be uh
beneficial to uh the community and this project if we were able to include some
of those additional items that we had cut originally uh from scope. We are
seeing that it's quite stringent the planning permitting uh environmental
archaeological assessment process to get into the intertitle zone and so we do
believe it's most advantageous to fit as much as we can uh in this current
project. Um, we are going to look at some improvements and enhancements that
we can potentially make to the current design with our design engineer. Uh, but
I I don't want to commit today to what those might look like at the end of the
day.
Um, [clears throat] uh, construction of the Seawwalk
restoration project is going to be delivered primarily through external
contractors and consultants. Uh following completion, the restored
shoreline and seawalk infrastructure will continue to be maintained through
existing city operations. Uh the improvements are expected to reduce wave
action hopefully uh reducing frequency of over topping or losing any gravel on
that trail which will hopefully in uh at the same time reduce the amount of
maintenance uh that is required down there.
Um [clears throat] uh during construction, temporary pathway closures
and traffic management measures are going to be required. And uh we will
work with uh uh excuse me, [clears throat] work with
the contractor to minimize disruption to residents, businesses, and visitors
through the appropriate communication, construction, staging, and signage.
And just the last item that I'll note is just that this project aligns with uh
council's strategic priority for healthy community uh providing facilities and
staff for recreation and culture activities that define our community and
make it where people want to live. Um while working with nonprofit partners
through grants and partnerships to achieve social goals.
» There any questions? >> Thank you very much.
» Councelor Isacson. >> Thank you mayor. Um, one question
through the mayor to staff. Um, the build community strong fund is the
source that you that have been identified as prime for this. I'm
wondering, uh, and this may be a question for the CEO or other staff. Um,
were there other projects that were considered for the build community
strong fund that were deci that were put aside and this one was decided that it
was most suitable and and what was behind that decision? uh prime reason
for selecting this project was the shovel ready requirement that's
associated with that grant fund. Uh we did look at a couple other projects as
well. Um some of the other projects actually already did have some grant
funding approved for them and so it was determined that the seawwalk made made
the most sense for this particular project and this particular value.
» Councelor Palm. >> Thank you worship. Uh first of all I
just want to say uh great job on a very comprehensive uh report. It has all the
uh details fully involved and uh gives us a good look at where we're at.
um start of this term, my phone was ringing,
if not monthly, bimonthly, as to where are the repairs on the seawalk from our
citizens and uh just had to keep referring to
staff and say, "Hey, we've we've got some turnover issues that we're dealing
with and things aren't moving too quickly." And then uh we heard the ark
branch was involved which further complicated the issue issue of m uh
restoration. But you know I can't jump up and down
today because the money's there from thank goodness from our community forest
as always. Uh uh what they do for this community is outstanding and if it
wasn't for them uh we would be in deep dudu financially.
But the bottom line is we can't jump it up up and down today because we're still
waiting for an answer as to when we can start the project. Is there a time limit
on the tender that uh has been accepted? >> [clears throat]
» uh based upon the uncertainty with uh the timing of the response from the BC
archaeology branch, we actually did put a total completion requirement of May
31st of the following uh this following year of 2027. Uh so we have that
contractor until then essentially. >> I understand in your report uh the
archeological branch work uh there is being expedited.
» That is correct. >> Very good. Thank you very much for your
report, Council Silka. >> Thank you, Bishop. Um, thank you very
much for reporting to this about this. Um, as councelor Palm says, huge
interest in our community and we've heard over and over actually recently
not so many questions, but people are patient and they still want it. Um
so I as I remember from the report there is no conflict between receiving that
report to so the go for the project and the uh build a community strong grant.
My real question is can you explain briefly the difference between uh the
phase one and phase two? Is it rip wrap on the surface or end dumping? I don't
know what that or end dump. Not sure what that term means. I more or less
picture a large dump truck that is simply just dumping the rocks out the
end of the truck to put it very simply. Uh it's not being keyed in properly like
a puzzle like you'll see in that north and south section more or less a pile
that has been pushed up against the revetment
» and that will be on the surface of the like the instead of rip wrap basically
» it still will be rip wrap it'll be it will look the intention is for it to
look quite similar to what we have on the north and south sections. we
actually are going going to go with uh a bit more of a shallow slope so it will
stick out you know a bit further which will help to slow down that wave action
and protect that part of the pathway better. Uh but the intention is to end
up with something that looks similar to what we have in those north and south
sections. >> Thank you.
» Okay. Uh would anybody care to put forward motions? Uh yes, Council Isaac.
» Uh thank you. I move that council receive the results of invitation to
tender uh 1220-20-0704
for the Seawwalk restoration project that council award contract number
2320-20-2375 for the Seawwalk restoration project to
Hazelwood Construction in the amount of 819,513.36
excluding GSD. The council received the Pel River Community Forest letter
confirming its financial contribution toward the Seawwalk restoration project
in the amount of 550,000 for phase 2 and a total project of amount of 1,530,000
and that council authorized staff to submit an application to the build
community strong fund BCSF local impact stream in British Columbia with a U not
an O uh for funding in support of the Seawalk restoration project. Thank you.
» Thank you Omita. Any further questions? Call the motion. All in favor?
That's unanimously. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Mayor Council.
» Thank you, John.
» Next item is 11.2. But just before we get there, I know that our CEO has had a
challenging day. [laughter] Um, would you like to excuse yourself at this
point?
» Well, uh, thank you for the offer. I'm okay, though. Thanks.
» Is Willington Beach campsite bylaw update director of parks?
» Thank you, mayor, for the opportunity to present this report to you and council.
This report outlines proposed changes to the bylaw that regulates and fixes rates
for the Willington Beach campsite. It follows direction from council in
February of 2025 to increase revenues from recreation fees by 10%. Note that
part of this direction has already been accomplished through the adoption of
bylaw 27742025 which fixes rates for the recreation
complex. For context, staff would like to remind
Mayor and council that the Willington Beach campsite is a unique operation
being the only yearround municipally campground of its size and nature in
British Columbia. Generates significant revenue for the
city of Pal River with an average revenue of $440,000 per year for the
last three calendar years. Approximately 85% of this revenue is generated from
visitors outside of our regional area. The proposed new rates will increase on
average by 10% during our 2027 peak operating season with modest increases
of about 2.2% per year for the two years following.
In the development of the new proposed rates, staff took the opportunity to
rightsize pricing inconsistencies, ensuring a logical and methodolog
methodical approach to assigning specific values to amenities such as
electrical hookups, water hookups, sewer hookups, and ocean views.
Senior rates are proposed to remain at a 10% discount.
Offseason extended stay rates are proposed to remain at a 20% discount.
Overall staff anticipate demand for the campsite to remain constant and that a
10% increase in revenues be recognized for the 2627 camping season.
Staff are recommending that bylaw 2823 2026 be given first, second, and third
reading. Happy to answer any questions.
» Thank you, Bishop. Just one question. Um,
it's been my understanding for a long time that CPI is not a good indicator of
actual inflation of costs. Uh, you know, we know what it's indexed
to. Um, but it so the question is, is it is it reasonable or is it wise? Like
obviously you've made this suggestion because you believe it is. So I'm I'm
wondering why we index 2 CPI because it's a cost related um um factor here
increasing our revenues from the uh campsite designed to track costs and not
and not uh the inflation of um revenues basically for everybody. So is that a
clear did I express myself clearly? I always wonder
» through the mayor uh we didn't analyze that too deeply. We're our typical
standard practice is to increase roughly by by that factor. Uh however in this
case um this is a this is a bit more of a revenue driver than it is an expense.
Uh that said, we will take that into
consideration when we're looking at other fees and other increases and
perhaps be a bit more prudent in what we are raising what we are comparing our
raises to. >> Thank you. I appreciate that.
» Okay, councelor out.
I want to thank you for the report and as my recollection when we were talking
about the budget and how much we're going to have to ask the taxpayers to
pay, we were looking for additional sources of revenue that we could
reasonably get without costing people in Fall River more money. And uh made sense
to me to vote to increase the revenue from the the park basically to uh help
us to avoid tax increases. Pretty good idea, I think. And uh I appreciate the
report and I hope it works.
» Chair, just a quick um historical perspective here. Uh wasn't too long ago
when we were told by staff that were producing a couple hundred,000 in uh
revenue, which was profit on an annual basis. I see your figure is 440.
I know the operational cost uh trying to get somebody to run the campsite has
also increased. Um in terms of revenue generation out of that 440, what are we
looking at on an annual basis? >> I don't have those numbers specifically
in front of me, but I can easily get them for you.
» Thank you. >> Okay, we have a motion. If there's no
further discussion, I will call a motion. All in favor?
I don't think it's been moved yet. >> We move the motion.
» Move the motion. Um, >> move the motion
» that the city of Pal River bylaw 2823- or comma 2026 be given first, second,
and third reading. >> Seconded by
Omea. [clears throat]
All in favor? Passes unanimously. Thank you very much.
We'll now move to 11.3 sanitary sewer system user rate amendment bylaw.
» Thank you, mayor and council. The purpose of this report is to propose
amending the sanitary sewer system user rates bylaw to establish rates for the
common nation's connection to the city's sanitary sewer system. This is a great
news story for the city. It shows regional cooperation that achieves
economies of scale and spreads the cost across a larger user base. It was
important to both parties while generating the rates that the rates be
equitable for all users and this made it a real pleasure to work with the
combination. Uh the rates are outlined in the report
and they include all the major rates that current city payers uh pay. Um and
this is included of debt for the construction wastewater treatment plant.
Um I'm happy to take any questions at this time.
» Questions?
Council Dou. >> Oh, do do these rates take into account
uh the future maintenance of the facility, the the wastewater treatment
plant and the and the piping that's in the ground. So, we've got we're going to
have some revenue to maintain all of this as we go along
» through the mayor. That is correct. They are included in those rates. So these
rates are inclusive of everything that city user rates uh user users would pay
and so that includes maintenance uh that includes the debt for the construction
it uh eventually once we start putting money towards a future wastewater
treatment plant it'll be inclusive of that as well.
Yes, >> to the chair, uh your worship, um just
one pertinent point in your your report, uh for the public, um even though these
rates are not above what our citizens are paying, uh it needs to be uh pointed
out that because of the Colaman buyin um on the original grant funding we
received from federal and provincial sources for the rebuild of our sewer
plant, Wahan was a main player in our application.
should be pointed out. Thank you very much.
» Yeah, thank you worship. Um, one of the really salient points in this
report, which if you read it carefully comes through clearly, very clearly, uh,
is that the frontage fees that the city pays are bulked into the, um, one fee
that that LMAN will pay per each um, residential unit or whoever it is that's
that's u built for the uh, service out there. uh when you just look at the two
different charts that are presented here, they're really big different
numbers and I I wonder if you just might want to go over that a little bit
specifically for the purpose of understanding in the uh in the community
because those numbers really are different and that's I would anticipate
that should bring up some questions.
through the mayor. Are you referring to the sanitary uh system user rates the
schedule A that has the in effect?
basically just the um it's stated in the report that the
combined frontage taxes along with the user rates so the all three different um
um rates that the city residents are paying um are all bulked into one. I
just thought that would be worth highlighting because of the differences
in the numbers. It's um you know I expect questions to be asked and if
those questions are answered before they're even asked then that makes it
real simple >> for sure in my experience
» through the mayor I can definitely add some highlights to that. So yes so a
typical user in the city of Powell River essentially pays three fees. There's the
the user fee and then there's the two frontage fees. And so the the the fee
that we incorporated for the combination is those three combined. Um and that was
to make sure that there's equity across all parties and to make sure that uh all
parties are contributing to the wastewater treatment plant equally.
Thank you very much. Somebody care to put forward a motion.
Councel South move that the sanitary sewer system user rates bylaw 2733 2023
amendment bylaw 2824 2026 be given first second and third readings
by councelor all in favor
passed unanimously you'll
now move to new business uh 14.1 C3 meeting request regarding water
sustainability plan for the POW and Lois Watersheds
to speak to this item.
» Uh thank you your worship. I can advise that this letter was passed forward uh
through the Cath Regional District and just added to the agenda for council
input in regards to whether or not they were interested in participating. I
would note that the actual motion as noted in the letter goes all the way
back to May and we're basically in August now. So, it for whatever reason
has taken a while to get to council, but um we're just looking for some direction
from council in terms of uh if they would like to participate. Uh noting
that the chances of anything taking place before the end of this term are
probably pretty slim. Thanks.
» A question. This is under new business. I I understand it's just here for
information.
uh through the uh through the chair, through the mayor. Um there is a request
in the letter and so the request is being brought forward for council
consideration.
» Isacson, >> I I was just going to unless there's
happy to pause for questions. I was going to propose a motion.
» Great. Um I move that council direct staff to respond positively to the
request to um participate in a C3 meeting to explore a water
sustainability plan for Powell and Lewis wersheds.
» By councelor Omita. Any further discussion?
Please cut. >> I have no objection to the uh motion.
Um, and there's no time frame here. So, I'm confident that uh this could be
added to [gasps] a future C3 meeting as when as and when one occurs.
» Uh, all in favor your worship just clarifying question please.
» Yes. In in the um memo to council here that is before us, there is a
mention of a nation uh with a different name than Kahaman. Are we referring to
Clam Nation or is it another entity? >> Shashelle Nation. That's Sea Shel.
» Oh, interesting. Why does Sea Shel Nation factor into our
water resources? Is it the geolog the geographic
map that shows that there is some overlap within areas?
» Oh, >> Shel Nation goes all the way up to
include part of Lois and um Palm Bay, Palm Beach area and stuff.
Yeah,
could speak [clears throat] to the motion. Um I think my my reason for this
is this is um largely a this is a regional district um initiative and so
this is getting their staff to organize it and it's us to respond positively and
so it'd be great for the future council to be able to attend a meeting um uh a
C3 meeting and have uh something tangible on the uh agenda to explore and
it would um it would set up the next council for um for a specific topic to
act in the spirit of CAFED working together. Thank you.
» See no other comments, questions. I'm going to call
the motion. All in favor? Opposed? Passed unanimously.
Okay, we'll now move to 14.2, two, which is the letter from the mayor of Gibson's
regarding updating route three horseshoe beta Langdale service levels for
performance term 7. There's uh
staff wish to comment on the letter uh through your worship. I would just
note that it was councelor Palm who requested this letter to come forward.
So I'm thinking that he probably has some comments to speak to it. staff um
do not have any comments on the letter. >> Pom, would you like to comment?
» You worship. Uh yes, I did ask uh when I saw this letter uh of our CEO
to add this to tonight's agenda for discussion. I think it is an excellent
letter that has been crafted uh by the uh the mayor of uh Gibson's
uh pointing out the growth of our population that was previously pointed
out by our speaker earlier this evening. um this uh staffing and whatnot and how
many fairs are running on that Langdale run is up for debate and a new uh term
of reference will be coming a ironically on April 1st 2028 and that is quite
ironic um knowing the state of uh the uh
queen of Siri or otherwise has referred to in the press as the queen of sorry.
We are in need of another ferry on that route and the bottleneck that exists
needs to be overcome for not only the lower Sunshine Coast but how river
itself and recently mayor we have had two meetings in our community at the rec
complex dealing with ferry traffic to Vancouver Island and there because of
the increase on reservation from 35% to 85%
that has uh a ripple effect on a lot of the
passengers on that ferry, whether they have a motorcycle, whether they have a
medical uh condition that they have to get to, um or they just want to visit
family out of uh town at a reasonable price because now people are paying much
more to reserve a spot on the ferry in order to travel.
Now, I've dealt with fairy issues since the day I came on with this council, and
the only way we got some serious traction on the issues of our fairies
was through either our advisory committee with face-to-face meeting with
uh BC Ferry personnel directly in town or
at UBCM, we were able to have a meeting with the Minister of Transportation.
under the Liberal government at the time. And we did manage to get new
fairies. We did manage to get free passage for youth traveling on sports
teams out of town through uh the school district taking that on out of their
school district office um and
kept rates reasonable. Now, what is going on in the ferry situation these
days with the budgeting population and more and more visitors all the time
needs to be addressed and I think it should be upon council. I wish we had
started up another ferry advisory internally when ours went down and they
they refused to come to town any further. Um, Gibson's made a proactive
uh stance and established their own. Good for them. We do not have that here,
but we should establish something in the next term to serve this community
better. we should advocate at UBCM and uh a letter from us at this point in
time, your worship backing up Gibson's letter from the mayor and pointing out
the need for better service on the Langdale run and also follow that up
with an explanation of uh that the citizens are not happy with the 85%
reservation and the ripple effect that has had on so many. Um, so I'm asking if
council will consider having the mayor write a letter backing up um, the
Gibson's letter to not only Randy Neil, but also the Minister of Transportation,
the Honorable Mike Fworth.
» Is that a motion? >> But yeah, I'm going to through our CEO.
Is it appropriate before we finish discussion to have a motion come forward
or did that wait until our discussion is finished? And if councelor
» I I think either way would work. If someone wants to bring a motion forward
and then speak to it, it's one thing or if council wants to to respond to uh
councelor Palm's um um statements.
Um, but it's it's really up to the the body to determine where to go with this.
» Okay. So, Doubt
going to ask councelor Doubt to continue and then we'll go back to Palm if you
wish to put forth. >> I'm going to go with what I think the
appropriate thing is that a city council is to have a motion to debate before we
debate it. And I'd like to move that the mayor council requests that the mayor
write a letter to minister Randine Neil and the minister of transportation.
going to speak slowly requesting their support in advocating for a formal repos
reassessment of the contractual service for route three horseshoe bay langale
and the route from Earl's Cove to Sultry Bay as well as the route from Pow River
to Komox as part of the province's preparation
for performance turn seven. If there's a secondary, I'll talk to that a little
bit. >> Seconded.
» And uh I I like the letter. It points out the dissatisfaction that everybody
has uh with ferry service. Obviously, Gibson's in a is in a little different
situation. They have their own fair local ferry advisory committee set up.
We don't have one here. have slightly different interest and and other
interests than Gibson's has because we've got actually three routes that we
depend on for any kind of transportation and any kind of highway to anywhere
except our own city in Gary and I think we should deal with that.
you know, we're talking about the the reservation system and, you know, I
personally I don't I don't see a a benefit in adjusting the reservation
system. I think it's more of an added problem than it is a solution and I
don't think it's helped anybody and it's just confused things. But I would like
the mayor to write a letter to those ministers, point out that we're unhappy
with the situation and asks that all three of the roots uh that we're looking
at and depend on here be be uh considered in the performance term seven
evaluation that they say they're doing. >> Great. Any further discussion on the
motion? Councelor Palm. Yes, I I second councelor Doubt's motion and um we'll
just add that the bottom line on the Gibson's letter as an ask of
face-to-face communication with members of the BC Ferry staff in their uh
jurisdiction, not on a screen like as what has recently transpired here where
that ask was made and there was no follow through um that's a shame. Uh
they need to come and face the music. Thank you, your worship. It's
» through our CEO. You had a >> uh Thank you, your worship. I just
wanted to clarify that we had got the motion correct. Um councelor Doubt,
could you please just confirm if we're missing anything on that?
Yeah, I just I'd like to add the root numbers in, but I don't have uh the
three root numbers all memorized. I'm sure we could find them online. I
bet counselor's got it right in front of them. [laughter]
» 17 is to Comox and Route 7 is Salt Tree Bay, I believe.
» Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. I I I seem to remember
additional words at the end of councelor Doubt's motion. It's um in the leadup to
performance term 7. I think you had referenced that
» uh beginning April 1, 2028. >> Yeah.
» Yeah.
» Okay. >> Um so if I could speak to the motion, I
I um as we all have heard many uh frustrations with the changes to the
ferry service, the reservation system, the prices um and so many of those
concerns are very valid. it's impacting people's ability to uh travel freely
around the province. I did want to add to the conversation though because I've
actually heard a lot of appreciation from young families for the new system
because many of the routes are much cheaper uh and they're able to plan
their summer holidays, their their precious summer holidays with their
children to go away to visit family. And so the booking um on non high demand
routes are actually substantially cheaper when you're traveling with
children. And um and so It's more there's more to it than that.
There are many uh frustrations that are very valid, but that's not the whole
story. Uh I've heard from many young parents how it's it's been lovely for
their summer planning [clears throat] and uh and their wallets. Thank you.
» Great. Council Aita. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um I'm totally in
favor with this letter and um Oh, there's a small typo on horseshoe. There
we go. Um, and I agree conversations need to be have had to improve our
system, whether it's for the quantity of boats or the size of the boats or the
frequency of the routes and stuff. Um, last year at UBCM, um, the CEO and a few
other executives from BC Fairies was there in person. I was actually quite
surprised how few um, counselors were actually at that session. Uh but that
gave me a chance to to ask some questions and one of those questions
seemed to have led to a change. I don't know if I was fully responsible for it
or not, but um I'll take some credit. Um but to comment on um some of what
council Isacson said, being a family of four little ones, um I can understand
some of the frustrations that the community has had with uh reservations
for those that uh don't have a credit card or easy access to a computer. um it
can be a little bit more challenging. Um but for those that have been planning
trips, I I can show physical evidence just from this past couple weeks. Um the
the difference it can make with uh with reservation. In fact, just um as we were
having this conversation looking at a ferry reservation for September, uh a
round trip for one person if reserved is $80. Uh that's for a round trip. Um, and
I paid $75 for one way um, in June. So, I also believe I I could be wrong on
this. I I went back and read the the memo that BC Fairies brought in May when
they brought the new system in. I have a feeling I'm I'm not 100% certain uh cuz
I'll be honest, BC Fairies is not great at communication. So, we definitely need
a face toface meeting. Uh but I believe um that from that uh press release in
May, this current system actually might just be a temporary um uh thing for the
summer. I think it was only supposed to go to mid-occtober. Um and so um from my
understanding they were evaluating how they can relieve pressure on the middle
routes of the day by offering advantages to uh travel on the um on the morning
and evening fairies. And uh when I last came across uh last week, um I had a
chance to speak to one of the staff members at the booth um who um um
agreed to my stance there that uh the the afternoon sailings due to some of
the prepaides and the and the saver fairs was definitely uh a lot less
congestion at the ferry terminal. Um and I think that's what BC Fairies was
doing. Is there many places to improve for certain? Um and as as councilors and
the future council, uh that's what we need to advocate for. Um but I I think
BC Fairies was attempting to try some different things to reduce congestion.
Uh obviously room for growth. Um but I I can comment it definitely wasn't a cash
grab. So I'll be in favor of this though.
» Okay, we have a motion. Going to call it. All in favor?
Motion passes unanimously. We'll now move to public clarification.
and subject to rules of conduct. Members of the public may ask questions to
clarify items discussed during the meeting for a maximum of two minutes.
Does anybody wish to come forward?
Mr. Galinski, do you have a question?
you very much. Do we have anybody online?
No. Well, then I'm I'm going to move adjournment of the meeting. Thank you
very much for coming