Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Quadra Island’s Community Plan was drawn up in 2007 and some of the Outer Discovery have land use plans dating back to the 1990s, but Area C needed an overall comprehensive vision. The Strathcona Regional District (SRD) started the consultation process leading to an Integrated Community Sustainability Plan in 2019. Then COVID arrived and everything was put on hold. Last year the SRD recruited a community focus group, hired a facilitator and proceeded to finish the job. On Friday, June 16, The SRD Board announced the approval of the Integrated Community Sustainability Plan for Electoral Area C (The Discovery Islands & Mainland Inlets).

“Anytime we do any sort of comprehensive planning process, one of the biggest challenges that we have is finding common ground amongst all  the disparate ideas, visions, goals and challenges of people living in different areas - and with being diverse people themselves.  In this case because it is a vision for the entire region, it was much more important that we were able to come together, find that common ground and that shared vision.  That required a lot of intense discussion and a lot of work together,” explained Meredith Starkey. SRD Manager of parks and planning.  

“The success story is that we were able to come together and craft this plan that may not be perfect as far as how each individual person  would have written it, but everyone  is happy with, and that we can all carry this forward into the next phase of the planning process into official community plans and zoning bylaws and  really implement it because it is something that is largely accepted, agreed upon and shared.” 

“We structured this plan around five community systems, recognizing that they all  build on each other and they're interconnected and they're interdependent. So a change or an influence in one area has impacts on all of the others and vice versa.” 

 “The five structures are: 

climate change and natural environment, 

Developed areas, housing and infrastructure, 

community wellbeing and health, 

the economy and employment 

and governance and reconciliation.”