Residents of the Mercer Road neighbourhood in Halfmoon Bay were celebrating after the Sunshine Coast Regional District board decided on Feb. 5 to extend the water main to their homes. The wells in the neighbourhood, like many on the Sunshine Coast, are contaminated with natural arsenic and are not safe for drinking. Some people have installed private filtration plants, and others have been hauling drinking water since 1994 when the arsenic was discovered. The neighbourhood has repeatedly petitioned the SCRD to provide regional water.
The SCRD will get a $580,000 grant from the provincial and federal governments to pay for about two thirds of the cost of the project. Homeowners will pay a fee of about $5,000 when they hook up to the water supply, which is estimated to pay off the balance of the cost within 10 years.
Eleanor Lenz, who lives on Backhouse Road, said she was grateful.
"It will mean we can turn on our taps and actually drink from them," said Lenz. "It's been a long haul."
Garden stands to be legalizedGarden stands will soon be legal on rural residential properties larger than 2,000 square metres. On Feb. 12, the SCRD planning committee recommended approval of a new "horticultural sales" bylaw allowing the seasonal sale of fruits, vegetables, flowers and other horticultural products from a building 10 square metres or smaller.
The SCRD decided to legalize the garden stands after a furor erupted over the closure of a popular flower stall at the home of Olga Towert on Lower Road in Roberts Creek. Like retreat centres, garden stands are common on the Sunshine Coast yet illegal according to current zoning bylaws, and the SCRD shut down Towert's flower stand last summer after a neighbour complained. After a massive public show of support for Towert, the SCRD decided to legalize horticultural sales.
Pender retirement homeA retirement village development near Lagoon Road in Pender Harbour also got the thumbs-up from the planning committee Feb. 12. The development is planned to include 11 duplexes, five single-family homes and a supportive care home providing meals, laundry and in-home caretakers.
Dayspring RetreatThe SCRD board gave approval Feb. 12 to the Dayspring Retreat in Roberts Creek. Dayspring is run by a non-profit charity and hosts spiritual retreats and workshops.
After reviewing the comments from a public hearing held Jan 15, which were overwhelmingly in favour of legalizing Dayspring, the SCRD board gave third reading to rezone the six-acre Day Road property Auxiliary Residential Assembly, RU1C, a new zone intended specifically to permit retreat houses and other "charitable, cultural, educational, philanthropic, political or religious" gatherings. The gatherings are limited to 12 people and the house may have only five guest bedrooms. Currently, such gatherings are not legal in people's homes under any zoning, and the SCRD ordered Dayspring to cease its operation last year after a neighbour complained.
A restrictive covenant on the Dayspring property will prevent future encroachment on Clack Creek.
