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question that will be asked is: “Are you in favour of the Board of the CVRD adopting “CVRD Bylaw No. 3542 – North Oyster Fire Halls Debt Repayment Service Establishment Bylaw, 2011” and “CVRD Bylaw No. 3543 – North Oyster Fire Halls Construction Loan Authorization Bylaw, 2011”, which would authorize the CVRD to create a debt repayment service and borrow up to $3,030,000 for a 20 year period to finance the design and construction of two Fire Halls to serve the North Oyster Fire Halls Debt Repayment Service Area within a portion of Electoral Area H – North Oyster/Diamond with a maximum requisition amount of $240,000 per year, which corresponds to an annual parcel tax of no more than $248.96.”? YES or NO? Local Government Election and Referendum Dates After consulting my family and others, I have decided to seek re-election as your Electoral Area H representative. It has been an honour serving you; if re-elected I look forward to serving you again. Local government elections take place on Nov. 19. Please write this date down in your calendars. There are also two advance polls for those who may have commitments on the 19th – one on Nov. 9 and one on Nov. 15. Please write those dates down as well. The referendum on the proposed new fire halls will also be held on the same dates and at the same location.
CVRD - Area G BY MEL DOREY Many links on the Trans Canada Trail are being filled in and the hope is that the complete trail across Canada will be complete by 2017. Saltair has some of the trail running along the old E & N Railway right of way which is owned now by the Island Corridor Foundation which is an amalgam of all local governments and First Nations along it. The trail through Saltair has some open links that are scheduled to be built in the next two years barring unforeseen circumstances. One of the biggest obstacles is the gully where Stocking Creek runs under the railway. This gully has a big gravel fill and a big culvert for
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the creek to run through it. The gravel fill will have to be widened and the gravel shored up with cribbing to provide a surface for the trail. This is expensive, probably $100,000 or more. All of the funding comes under the CVRD Regional Budget and almost all of it is paid for by grants from other organizations and senior governments. Canadians want to see this trail completed because it will bind Canadians together as well as provide a healthy transportation route. One of the most desirable features of Saltair is its rural nature, green spaces, parks and trails. This we want to preserve and make more accessible to residents. The ocean is also a central feature in Saltair that creates a viewscape and a background for enjoyment. In the next year we want to make the ocean more accessible by improving some of our beach accesses. Our predecessors planned for beach accesses about every 1300 feet along our waterfront which we are truly thankful for. Many communities on Vancouver Island did not have this foresight. For example, Mill Bay has a fairly large population with very few accesses. Most of our accesses are owned by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure and they have final say as to what happens there. Usually they are amenable to our plans and are very cooperative working with us. While we are fortunate to have all these accesses there is still the fact that it costs quite a bit of money to develop and maintain these sites. Some of these sites are still undeveloped for this reason. The more difficult ones are steep and require expensive stairs to be constructed. The Saltair Parks Commission which meets the first Monday of the month does the planning and sometimes does the actual work on these sites. We would love to have it so that a person can go down to the beach on one access and then walk a distance along the beach and then return to the higher ground on a different access completing a circle. It gives your stroll more variety and interest. And the more you get out there the healthier and happier you will be. On another note, the cell tower that was planned for Olsen Road in Saltair by Rogers Communications will probably be built in another location. Many residents objected to the site and the company is making different plans more likely on industrial lands.