[ISL] "Salt Spring Island residents wrestle over incorporation"

[rfmcdonald]

Katherine Dedyna, writing for the Times-Colonist of British Colombia, looks at the controversy on British Colombia's Salt Spring Island on the subject of being incorporated as a municipality.

Bucolic Salt Spring Island boasts a lot of sheep, artisans, well-aged hippies and world-class waterfront. But as the largest population centre of the Gulf Islands, the question of whether residents should shuck their rural status and incorporate as a municipality is firmly on the front burner.

A referendum on the issue is possible as soon as the new year.

A 141-page transition plan just passed by the Islands Trust council notes that Salt Spring’s 10,000 permanent residents and 3,000 non-resident property owners might have concerns about the “value for service” they’re getting and the number of sources tapped to provide services from water to police.

“So many decisions are made elsewhere that it’s ridiculous,” said incorporation advocate Ken Marr, owner of the island’s Windsor Plywood outlet.

A resident since 1969, he cites frustration with the duplication of effort required to get things done, with a building permit for a house requiring several separate stops. And don’t get him started on the runaround to get the hole at the bottom of Ganges Road repaired.

Road maintenance and policing come via the province, which also pays for the RCMP, sewer and recreational services come via the Capital Regional District, water from several sources, and land-use planning and development management from the Islands Trust. The 26-member Islands Trust was formed more than 40 years ago to deal with the threat of inappropriate or over-development given most of the land is privately owned.