ORIENT LIFT UPDATE PAGE 2
LADIES IN RED PAGE 7
VOLUME 16 ISSUE 11
NOVEMBER 2 — NOVEMBER 30, 2018
YOURS FREE TO TAKE HOME SUNPEAKSNEWS.COM // @SUNPEAKSNEWS
WE’VE MOVED! Bear Country administrative offices are NOW located at Nancy Greene’s Cahilty Hotel & Suites 3220 VILLAGE WAY SUN PEAKS, BC V0E 5N0 1.250.578.6969 info@bearcountry.ca bearcountry.ca
The next four years New council looks toward future SPR’s last term with an appointed councillor NIKKI FREDRIKSON & BRANDI SCHIER
SUN PEAKS MOUNTAIN RESORT MUNICIPALITY’S (SPMRM) NEW COUNCIL WILL BE SWORN IN AT THEIR INAUGURAL MEETING ON NOV. 6. This year three seats were up for election and Rob O’Toole joined incumbents Ines Popig and Mario Pozza as councillors. Mayor Al Raine was acclaimed. O’Toole received 64 per cent of the vote with Popig following with 58 per cent and Pozza with 48 per cent. Mike Grenier received 41 per cent, Katheryn Coleman received 29 per cent and Bruce Mitchell 26 per cent. Reflecting on his total, newcomer O’Toole said he was shocked he received the highest amount of votes. “More than anything I was quite surprised that was the case and humbling as well too,” he said. “That’s where I realized it didn’t necessarily come from one particular demographic in the community. There was across the board support.” Despite advance polls looking strong, only of 311 votes were
(LEFT TO RIGHT) COUNCILOR INES POPIG, MAYOR AL RAINE, NEWLY ELECTED COUNCILLOR ROB O’TOOLE AND COUNCILLOR MARIO POZZA. MISSING FROM PHOTO COUNCILLOR DARCY ALEXANDER. Photo SPIN
cast from an undetermined number of eligible voters. Raine said he was disappointed in the voter turnout and stated he hoped to see 400 to 500 votes cast but conceded there were several factors that may have played into the lower numbers, including it being low season in resort. Some residents also may not be Canadian citizens or had not been living in B.C. long enough. He estimated 50 to 60 per cent of resort properties are owned by B.C. residents who were eligible to cast a non-resident vote giving another potential
400 to 500 votes, however less than 20 non-resident owner ballots were received. Darcy Alexander, general manager of Sun Peaks Resort LLP (SPR), will be appointed by the provincial government to the fourth council seat at the early November meeting. Alexander did not respond to request for comment. As per a decision by Selina Robinson, provincial minister of the Ministry of Housing and Municipal Affairs, this will be the last term SPR has an appointed seat on council. “While unique in character,
Sun Peaks Mountain Resort Municipality is also maturing as a municipality and should soon therefore have a council that is fully democratically elected, autonomous, responsible and accountable to exercise authorities within its jurisdiction,” she stated in a July 30 letter to Raine. The appointment is unique among municipalities and was something Raine told Robinson he still felt was valuable for the community due to land usage within the resort boundaries. When the municipality was
incorporated in 2010 SPR was given a seat as they are the only company that has access to Crown land and set development densities through their master plan development agreement with the province. “It’s worked very well. If Sun Peaks Resort was to push something through that wasn’t in the best interest of the community they would need two other councillors to join them,” said Raine, adding council has had less than a dozen split votes in eight years. Council now has four years to plan how to continue cooperating with SPR without the corporation being allocated an official seat. Raine said he believes the answer lies in a planning and advisory committee made up of members from SPR, the municipal council and the public at large. “So by the time a recommendation came to council it’s been vetted SPR to make sure it is consistent with their master development agreement, because that’s one of the things that we still can’t be in conflict with, or need to resolve it if we are,” said Raine. “There are two visions here. We need to make sure SPR’s vision and the community’s vision are at least dovetailed. It won’t always be the case, we will have some conflicts, but we need a forum where those conflicts can get ironed out.” Raine said he is generally looking to involve the public more through various committees throughout his next term and is planning an official community plan (OCP) meeting as well. “I think moving forward we are going to have more discussions
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VOL 16 ISSUE 11 NOVEMBER 2 — NOVEMBER 30, 2018
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