Goose culling
Blue Ocean Golf Course is pushing the district for an exemption to its firearm policy so that the golf course can cull geese making a mess of the greens.
Council had previously denied the request but Blue Ocean representative Len Pakulak pressed council again for the exemption during a delegation on May 3.
Pakulak said the goose problem was an issue for the district as well as the golf course because the course pays the district annual lease fees based on its green fee revenues for the year, and goose poop is deterring players from visiting.
“Off-Coast visitors, golfers, when they get goose poop on their shoes and clothes, very few of them ever come back,” Pakulak said. “So this creates a fairly significant economic problem for the golf course.”
Pakulak said the abundance of goose excrement on the greens also creates possible health issues that extend past the gates of Blue Ocean.
“With so much goose poop on the golf course, soiled clothing, shoes and golf carts, when loaded into cars and other vehicles, spreads the health issue a whole lot further than the golf course,” Pakulak said.
He noted the golf course has been able to cull “four to six geese per year” for the past 10 years, which has kept the problem at bay because “that’s all it takes” and stressed the course has never had any complaints about its use of firearms.
Council said they would rather the golf course find another means of moving the geese off the course, such as using dogs or loud noises, but Pakulak said they have tried other ways without success.
Mayor Bruce Milne said council could reconsider their previous decision to deny Blue Ocean a firearm use exemption but noted it would take either two members of council or the mayor to bring the issue back for discussion and another vote.
He also said if there was a real health concern produced by the goose poop that was documented by Vancouver Coastal Health, council would likely reconsider.
Art wraps
If you want to see your artwork in the streets of Sechelt, consider submitting a design for a utility box art wrap before May 29.
Sechelt is seeking artists to create original designs that will be reproduced and affixed to BC Hydro utility boxes in Sechelt.
Artists will be paid a $500 honorarium for designs accepted and the new wraps will be installed this summer.
Artists will be responsible to create the original artwork, lay out a design template, convert images to proper scales and file formats and edit the final design to the district’s standards.
Download the submission package at www.sechelt.ca by searching “call for artists.”
