Two separate votes, one in the Town of Gibsons and one in the combined Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) areas of Elphinstone and West Howe Sound, will decide whether to incorporate into a new municipality, B.C. Community Services Minister Ida Chong has decided. A majority of affirmative votes will be necessary in both of the votes, to be held Nov. 18, in order for incorporation to proceed.
Chong announced her decision Monday in response to the asserted positions of the restructuring committee to hold one cross-boundary vote, of the Town to hold two votes (one vote in the Town and one in the combined rural areas) and of the SCRD to hold three votes (one in the Town and one in each of the two rural areas).
"This decision has not been an easy one," Chong wrote in a Sept. 15 letter sent to Gibsons and the SCRD Monday.
"On the one hand, I am sympathetic to the concept offered by the restructure committee to the extent that an overall vote would reflect the intent of a new municipal structure becoming a new governance for the overall community. On the other hand, I respect the desire, as expressed by the directors for electoral areas E and F, and by the many letters I have received from the public, that each area should make an independent decision on the change."
She noted the governance of Gibsons residents would remain municipal, while electoral area residents' governance would "change fundamentally."
"While individual electoral areas are important as divisions for the purpose of electing local representatives to sit on the Regional District board, this is not a reason to distinguish between them for the purpose of decision making on this proposal for fundamental change in how they are governed," Chong wrote.
The proposed municipality's boundaries would exclude Gambier, Keats and Anvil islands. The ballot will also ask voters whether, if there is an affirmative vote on incorporation, the new municipality should be called the District of West Howe Sound or the district of Gibsons.
"I'm glad that it's not a pooled vote," Area F (West Howe Sound) director Lee Turnbull said. "I think having the rural areas separate is better than putting them together. I am upset that Minister Chong did not respond to the express wishes of the voters."
More than 600 letters were sent in favour of a separate vote for each of the rural areas, Turnbull noted.
"I really thought that the sheer number of people who were writing in asking for a separate vote would really make a difference to her. I think it helped get this separation. I feel like we swayed her somewhat. I feel that all those people who wrote, it was probably worth the effort," Turnbull added.
Gibsons Coun. Gerry Tretick said the minister's decision was fair since it fits in between two opposite points of view, and noted her decision was well explained.
"It should go well in terms of determining what people want," Tretick said. "It's exactly the same proposal as when the restructure guidelines were set out by the province."
Lorne Lewis, SCRD director for Area E (Elphinstone) echoed Turnbull's reaction to the vote structure.
"It's disappointing that we can't all vote as individual constituencies, but I think she felt that she was giving a compromise to what the committee recommended and what the community feedback was," Lewis said. "The fact that [the islands] have not been included in the study is a concern to a lot of people."
Turnbull said the next step would be for the SCRD board to meet with Islands Trust.
"I'd like to know what the islands want, what they would prefer," Turnbull said. "To me that's the starting point." Some possible options for the islands, Turnbull suggested, could be to join electoral Area D (Roberts Creek) or form their own electoral area. Or the islands could ask the minister for a vote on joining the Gibsons municipality.
"I specifically asked for the islands not to be in when we started this whole thing, because I didn't feel they would want to be a municipality.
"One of the big pluses of restructuring is that you have much more control over your planning, and Islands Trust already has control over their planning," Turnbull said.
Tretick added that, "Everybody is interested in knowing how that will work out, including the islanders of course, and we're anxiously waiting to see what direction that will go in."
