Oxford Dictionary defines “emergency” as a “serious, unexpected, and often dangerous situation requiring immediate action.” That definition does not apply to the Sunshine Coast water shortage, according to a staff report from last Thursday’s infrastructure services committee meeting.
“While the current water supply situation is serious in nature, it would be difficult to qualify it as unexpected,” said the report.
Instead, the report suggested the word “crisis” more accurately applies, and directors agreed, voting to move ahead with an amended declaration, which had originally been brought to the board by Elphinstone director Donna McMahon in April.
“I’m fine calling this a crisis rather than an emergency, especially since the term emergency seems to have been recently downgraded by the federal government,” said McMahon at the June 20 meeting.
Other amendments included adding a paragraph outlining measures the SCRD would take to address the crisis, such as reducing its water use, assisting large users with conservation and stepping up enforcement of water restriction infractions, including mandatory fines for those who have already received a warning.
During the discussion, Gibsons director Bill Beamish said fines at Stage 3 – set to take effect June 27 – should be mandatory. “We’re declaring this a crisis but we’re still giving mulligans. I just want to stop that,” he said.
McMahon disagreed, since summer residents might not be aware of the crisis. “I’m OK with the warning the first time, but perhaps we should create a repeat offenders fine, because there’s no excuse the second time,” she said.
At the meeting, directors also returned to the question of whether the SCRD could curb development to address the water crisis, a discussion they initiated in May.
Sechelt director Darnelda Siegers identified zoning amendments, subdivision approvals, subdivision servicing standards and a resolution for comments on subdivisions as the growth-related tools “that could withstand legal challenge.”
Those measures could apply across the Coast, including shíshálh Nation, Sechelt and Gibsons.
After some discussion about how these items would work municipally versus regionally, Siegers made a motion that staff report back on the scope of influence of water conservation measures the SCRD could implement in its subdivision servicing and zoning bylaws.
In response to a question about developers covering the costs of water system upgrades, infrastructure manager Remko Rosenboom suggested waiting until after the SCRD’s long-term water plan is updated, since water projects and their associated costs would be known and that could then inform whether to amend the cost development charges bylaw. A staff report suggested that development cost charges could indirectly regulate water use by offering financial incentives for low water use developments or imposing location-based fees to support the development of water services.
The report looking at zoning and subdivision bylaw changes is expected to come back for discussion before the water summit, anticipated to take place this fall or winter.
