The Solid Waste Management Plan (SWMP) will be making its debut for public review towards the end of this month.
At the June 2 Sunshine Coast Regional District's (SCRD) infrastructure services committee meeting, Dion Whyte, manager of sustainable services, explained the review process and how the plan is intended to work towards the ultimate goal of zero waste.
Open houses will be held in Gibsons, Sechelt and Madeira Park to gather public feedback. SCRD staff will then create a consultation report from the feedback for directors to review and discuss possible revisions to the draft SWMP.
A special infrastructure meeting will be held on Friday, July 22, at 9:30 a.m., which will allow staff to proceed with any recommended revisions in August and submit a revised final draft SWMP to directors in September.
Fruit trees vandalized
Six fruit trees planted at the SCRD offices were vandalized on Monday, May 31.
It appears the vandal(s) kicked the trees, resulting in four of them being broken at the base. Two were pushed over entirely with their root systems disturbed.
Angie Legault, manager of legislative services, said once the damaged trees were discovered, staff tended to them. Planning secretary Jean Stevens applied a pine tar solution around the breaks to act as a cast for the broken trees, and they were tied to stakes for further support.
"The trees appear to be recovering, but we'll have to wait to see how they fare over the coming weeks and in the hot weather," Legault said.
The trees were planted in co-ordination with the Sunshine Coast Fruit Tree Project.
Emissions plan
The infrastructure committee was presented with the first quarterly community energy and emissions plan (CEEP) report last week.
The report cited substantial progress has been made under each CEEP goal area, including various energy efficient land-use and green-building workshops, secured funding to partially support the home energy retrofit pilot program, and the recent Bike to Work Week.
The next quarterly report is planned for September.
Public hearing
The SCRD is looking at making amendments to its property division bylaws.
Currently, section 946 of the Local Government Act allows for a property owner to subdivide without consideration of the local government's minimum parcel size regulations. The only requirements include five years of land ownership and the subdivision being exclusively for immediate family members, including in-laws.
Amendments, however, would stipulate that an officer from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure approve a subdivision. The decision would be based primarily upon advice from the Ministry of Health.
SCRD senior planner David Rafael said the SCRD felt some controls and limits should be placed on the use of section 946.
After discussion and referrals it was decided that allowing the minimum parcel size set in the zoning bylaws could be reduced by 10 per cent and then 20 per cent when section 946 was being used.
Rafael said the decision was made to allow for some flexibility while maintaining the integrity of the SCRD's policies.
While only a handful of people attended the May 31 public hearing, residents expressed concerns over the amendments, including real estate price issues and the need for directors to support families.
