by Loni Taylor | Dec 4, 2023 | CKTZ News
Strathcona Regional District (SRD) regional directors recently had a chance to explore the impacts of new housing rules that will take effect throughout the province in May 2024. The new rules intend to limit short-term rentals on residential properties, require AirBnb operators to register as a business, and increase the density of single-family residential zoning lots. The SRD held their monthly meetings on Nov. 8, discussing some of the new pieces of provincial legislation announced on Oct. 20 and Nov. 2. Regional Director for Cortes Island (Area B) Mark Vonesch commented at the general meeting that he “welcomed” the new rules. “I welcome this legislation,” he said. “I think it’s a good solid move by the province to just think about housing as homes rather than investments, especially in small communities like our own.” Robyn Mawhinney, Regional Director for Quadra Island (Area C), had several questions on the interpretation of the current rules during the regional area’s committee meeting the same day. “The report, which said that short term rental use is essentially illegal on Quadra Island, and that all of them should be on a commercially zoned land. And it seems to me that a short term rental use, which is incidental to the residential use lands within the description of the home based business definition.” “I think it seems strange to me that you would consider that a commercial use rather than an incidental to the residential character of the building, which is containing the home occupation, which is in the definition of home occupations,” Mawhinney continued. “… So I’m concerned that staff is choosing to consider...
by Loni Taylor | Nov 27, 2023 | CKTZ News
Cortes Island residents and BC Ferries staff are concerned about the number of ferry cancellations over the last months and how those shortages may impact safety. A recent BC Ferry annual report attributes a growing number of cancellations to staff shortages, which caused 39 per cent of the cancellations on all routes between July and September of this year. Between Campbell River, Quadra, and Cortes there were 58 sailing cancelled during that time due to crew shortages. In the entire previous fiscal year, those same routes saw a total of 19 sailings cancelled due to crew shortages. Cortes Islanders rely on the ferry system to connect to Vancouver Island for essential services and resources. Community members in attendance for the most recent public Ferry Advisory Committee (FAC) on Sept. 27 had a long list of grievances including safety concerns related to staff shortages. Rebeka Carpenter was one of those community members in attendance and shared with CKTZ that it was difficult to connect with the company. “If there’s an issue that you talk to them about, they literally give you a piece of paper that says to contact BC Ferries directly about it. And these are often issues that they’ve been trying to get addressed for a decade,” Carpenter said. “Safety is really my big thing. If you’ve got safety down, I think everything else takes care of itself.” A BC Ferries worker spoke with CKTZ on the condition of anonymity due to the fear of retribution by their employer. They shared their insight about why they have seen so many colleagues leave the company in recent years. “It’s...
by Loni Taylor | Nov 27, 2023 | CKTZ News
Last week, the school bus route on Cortes Island slightly changed to add a bus stop for the Klahoose First Nation. This change added 4 minutes to the commute, increasing the total travel time to about 58 minutes each way for kids from Whaletown. It only takes about 30 minutes to drive from Whaletown to the Cortes Island School. The Klahoose First Nation and Squirrel Cove are also about a 30 minute drive to the Cortes Island School, but those towns are located about 30 minutes away from Whaletown. There is only one bus and one route for the Cortes Island School. A media relations representative for School District 72, Jennifer Patrick, responded to CKTZ News in an email on the bus route change. “School districts are not required under the School Act to provide transportation services and the district provides busing as a courtesy, free of charge. Without ridership fees, we must make difficult decisions about the routes and service levels and operate within the funding set by the Board of Education as money spent on transportation is money that could be used to directly support learning in schools and classrooms. As such, we are always evaluating our routes with the bus drivers to try to find efficiencies.” Carie Taylor, a parent in Whaletown, spoke up publicly on the main Cortes Island website (Cortesisland.com) on the lengthy bus commute. In the post she suggested the possibility of a split route, which would require two buses. Taylor spoke with CKTZ about her statement. “I just think that an hour each way on the bus is too long,” she said....
by Loni Taylor | Nov 17, 2023 | CKTZ News
Executive Director of the Cortes Housing Society (CHS) Sandra Wood has retired after five years with the organization, and Sadhu Johnston has stepped into the role. The new executive director has a background in housing in Vancouver as the Deputy City Manager and City Manager. Johnston is looking forward to helping the society take a multifaceted approach to improve housing access and equitability on Cortes Island. “I feel like we’ve got a few years to really take some actions and hopefully be able to have an impact before it’s too late,” he said. The Cortes Community Housing Society applied for the BC Housing Grant to fund the Rainbow Ridge housing project for the third time on Nov. 17. The first two application attempts were denied in past years. Johnston hopes to broaden the focus of solutions, while continuing to develop the Rainbow Ridge Project. “There’s other innovative forms of housing; a tiny home village, affordable home ownership programs, or rent to own programs.” “There’s different ways that different people could get into secure housing here …we need to be pursuing lots of different avenues concurrently,” Sadhu continued. The former city manager is looking forward to hearing from the community to learn what solutions are locally supported. The Cortes Community Housing Society is hosting a community chat at 10 a.m. on Dec. 2 at Mansons Hall. There will be a way for community members to participate virtually during the event. To hear more about the future of CHS, listen to the CKTZ News Update below:...
by Loni Taylor | Nov 10, 2023 | CKTZ News
The Forest Trust for the Children of Cortes Island (FTCCIS) held a 24 hour Mycoblitz last week. Similar to Bioblitz, the educational community event records the biodiversity of a specific region, like Cortes Island, and the data is utilized by scientists to determine the range and abundance of any specific species. Sometimes this data contributes to the declaration of at-risk or nearly extinct species due to loss of habitat. The public event featured three mycologists: Andy MacKinnon, Paul Kroeger, and Paul Stamets and saw participation from all ages acting as citizen scientists, collecting information that will be used in multiple scientific databases including the UBC’s Beaty Biodiversity Museum. CKTZ attended the event at the Linnaea Education Centre on Nov. 1 which saw about 80 participants. The experts were asked why this moment in time is a significant opportunity to publicly engage communities about fungi. Stamets explained how we can learn from how mushrooms cooperate. “Every mushroom that you pick is a doorway into a vast underground network of mycelium that builds upon these elaborate relationships, guilds. Fungal networks create guilds of cooperating microorganisms, bacteria and so many other organisms that cooperate and the contribution of the skill sets of all these other organisms work in a guild, builds community strength and community immunity.” “I think Cortes in particular, is at the threshold of being a part of this paradigm shift,” Stamets continued. “The respect for the indigenous people, the respect for biodiversity, ethnicities… this culture here works, and maybe people don’t understand it.” Kroeger, president of the Vancouver Mycological Society, is responsible for documenting 3,500 mycelial species in British...
