Cortes Currents

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - SRD staff have been instructed to prepare studies on residential waste collection, the legal status of short-term rentals and roadside parking on Quadra Island. These topics arose at the Electoral Areas Services Committee (EASC) meeting on May 10th. Regional Director Robyn Mawhinney made the following motions, all of which were seconded by Cortes Island Director Mark Vonesch.

“The reliability and costs of solid waste collection services on Quadra Island is causing some islanders to wonder about alternatives. Within the Stratcona Regional District, some electoral areas such as Cortes Island and the Sayward Valley have solid waste services provided by the SRD,” Mawhinney explained.

“I’m curious about the costs of such a service for Quadra Island. Has a study looking into this ever been done before? And what are the steps needed to investigate this?”

Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) David Leitch replied, “To my knowledge, I don’t think we have since this Regional District’s been in existence. So I think the answer is no.”

To which Mawhinney replied, “I would like to move that staff prepare a report on options for residential waste collection on Quadra Island.”

The next question pertains to the legality of short-term rentals

“Strathcona Regional District’s 2022 housing needs survey for Area C detailed that short-term vacation rental numbers have exponentially increased. In 2016, there were 54. By 2021 there were 177. Interestingly, the 2022 housing survey details that 86% of the short-term vacation rentals in Area C are entire dwellings, which leads me to wonder what the legal status of short-term vacation rentals is within Area C,” said Mawhinney.

“I understand that short-term vacation rentals may fall under the home occupation provision of the Quadra Island zoning bylaw. Not withstanding that I would like to move that this committee receive a report on the legal status of short-term vacation rentals in area C and avenues for managing their growth.”

Mawhinney also wanted information about how to deal with problematic vehicles parked along Quadra Island roads.

 “There are several incidences of long-term parking of vehicles including commercial vehicles on Quadra’s roadsides. Until recently, the Ministry of Transportation was able to check insurance and uninsured vehicles could be removed,” said Mawhinney

“However, ICBC is no longer providing expiry date tags, so Ministry of Transportation has no way of knowing if a vehicle is rightfully insured or not. The Quadra Island zoning bylaw has parking provisions for off-street parking. What I’m curious about is how or what the process is now for removing non-conforming commercial vehicles from roadside parking.”

“Summer is coming. Quadra’s roads are significantly busier and long-term parking of wide vehicles in some cases is impinging on traffic and active transportation safety. I would like to move that a report be prepared on the legalities of commercial vehicle roadside parking, long-term roadside parking, and how these matters would best be managed or enforced.”

EASC passed all these motions and SRD staff will prepare the reports

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - The Strathcona Regional District’s rural Directors often feel they do not have much input in Board decisions. The topic came up at the May 10 meeting, when the board passed a resolution that staff prepare a report on methods to increase public consultation for regional services.’ A second resolution calls for a policy to have the Municipal Services Committee refer new services to the Electoral Areas Services Committee (EASC) for public consultation prior to a feasibility study.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Local naturalist George Sirk was sick for Cortes Island’s Spring Bird Count earlier this month, so bird watchers had to rely on a new app to help them identify species. This new app, called Merlin, is one of many topics that he and Nancy Kendel, from the Cortes Island Museum, discussed with Cortes Currents.

The conversation started out with Kendel (NK) giving an overview:

 “For quite a number of years, the museum has sponsored two bird counts every year. In December and early January, we co-host with Bird Studies Canada, the Christmas Bird Count, where groups of people spread out around the island and count the actual numbers of birds that they see, as well as recording the species.”

“The Spring Migration Birding Event happens the first Saturday of May and usually includes the day before and the day after. This year the count was on May 7th and included birds spotted on the 6th and the 8th.”

“This birding event has a slightly different purpose. We only count species that we have observed, and it gives birders the opportunity to spend time together, share information and their knowledge with each other. We encourage families and interested novices to birding, to join us. They may pick up some tricks on identifying certain species of birds.”

“The Christmas Bird Count has been happening on the island since 2001, and the Spring birding event has been going since 2004.”

“Birding is a really fun thing to do. George Sirk actually encouraged me to help organize the first Christmas Bird Count. It was one of the most fun things that I had been doing during the whole year, getting out for the day with other people and seeing the birds. Kudos to George for getting this going even way back then.”

To which George Sirk (GS) responded, “I just want to point out that it's just great that the museum takes on the task of organizing the event and then later tabulating all the data and then putting it all on the museum website. Everybody can look at all the different species that have been recorded in the Spring.

“I just wanted to talk a little bit about the ebb and flow of the birds of Cortes.

“All the ducks are in Manson's Lagoon or off of Smelt Bay, or in Squirrel Cove or Whaletown in the wintertime, because ducks from up north come down here. They overwinter here because the area's so rich for food. Sometimes there are over 500 Surf Scoters in the Gorge. There are huge numbers of birds. They're well recorded and documented in the Christmas bird count.”

“Over 95% of them leave here and they go to their nesting territories way up in northern BC, Alaska, and the Yukon.”

“A few of those winter birds stay over because they're probably non-breeding birds, takes 'em a couple of years to mature. They hang around here. So when the museum plans the bird count in the first week in May, they're actually catching the tail end of the wintering birds. They're around in small numbers.”

“The museum's also catching the migration coming up from the Neotropics, from Central America, South America, the birds that come here in the summertime. So a completely different group of birds. Most of them are forest birds. They're still coming every day or every couple of days.”

“Barn swallows weren't on the count in the 6th of May, but John Sprungman got them a week later because the Barn swallow has to come from Argentina, that's a long flight. Not all of them come from there, but that is one of the longest migrations of any of our land birds.”

“Our Wax wings, Western wood pewee and Olive-sided fly catcher have not yet arrived. They come a little later, and of course the last one to arrive is the Nighthawk on the 7th or so of June. It does not like any cold weather. They come here and they're the first to leave in September.”

“That's the ebb and flow of the two groups of birds. And then the third group we have here are the residents. Pileated woodpecker, Varied thrushes, Song sparrows. They're here year round.”

Greg Osoba/ CKTZ News - The Comox Strathcona Waste Management Centre on Vancouver Island is launching a new marine waste eco pick up service next week.

Services Coordinator Stephanie Valdal says the centre will send trucks with large bins to communities to pick up marine waste that has been collected by individuals, community groups and First Nations. She adds that at this point the service will be by request and will be monitored to measure demand.

She says spring is typically the time when community groups organize beach cleanup efforts to collect materials that have accumulated due to storm surges, the aquaculture industry and boaters, prompting launch of the pick up service at this time.

Valdal says one of the first mobile pick up events is occurring May 27-28 on Quadra Island. Local waste management depots on Quadra and Cortes islands have contracts with CSWM.

She adds that a partnership with the Ocean Legacy Foundation allows for most of the collected material to be recycled and not added to landfills.

De Clarke/ Cortes Currents - he Cortes Community Forestry Co-operative held its annual AGM on May 7th at Mansons Hall. The Co-operative is an equal partner with Klahoose First Nation in the Cortes Forestry General Partnership, locally known as the “Community Forest.” Mark Lombard is the General Manager for the Partnership.

At the Forestry Co-op AGM, Mark reminded attendees that a public meeting would be held soon (May 11 at the Klahoose Multipurpose Hall). At this meeting he would present a review of the Partnership’s activities to date, and their plans for the next few years. This event would mark the launch of a public input period for the “Five Year Plan” for the Community Forest project.

At this point in the planning process, the five year plan is wide open for comment and feedback. And if there’s an area that someone thinks would be a sensible area to operate in — in the next five years — that hasn’t been considered, please bring that forward.

If there are any other features or concerns or ideas… basically what I’m trying to say is, it’s wide open to public feedback, so we’d like to hear from people, and everything’s on the table at this point.

— Mark Lombard

Currents interviewed Mark on May 19th, to offer our readers/listeners an overview of the material he covered in his May 11 presentation. [The audio version of this interview is quite different from the image-heavy text version, so we recommend that interested readers check out both media.]

The Cortes Forestry General Partnership, a community forest management body, was formed in 2011. It’s a 50/50 partnership between the Forestry Co-op and Klahoose Forestry Limited Partnership. Each organisation, one settler and one indigenous, appoints three representatives to sit on the CFGP board.

The Partnership was awarded a Community Forestry License by the Province in August of 2013. It now manages 3,869 hectares of public land, and is licensed by the Province to cut about thirteen and a half thousand cubic metres of wood per year.

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - About 350 people* came to Squirrel Cove for Seafest on Saturday May 20. There was a flow-though crowd and not much more than a third of this number appeared to be at the six-hour long festival at any given time.

“I think it's great it gets, a lot of cultures together and lots of different seafood,” said Sharon Francis, a Squirrel Cove resident and member of the Klahoose First Nation..

Curt Cunningham, owner manager of the Squirrel Cove General Store which hosted this year’s festival, added, “They've done an incredible job. We're gonna have a good day, a good summer, and this is gonna kick it off.”

There were unusually long line-ups at his store, and Cunningham later commented that his sales were more typical of peak tourist season than a normal Saturday in May.

Vancouver resident John Earl said that in terms of friendliness, good food and good music, Seafeast was the best festival he has seen in the past 50 years.

Some of the other visitors came from Victoria and Nanaimo.

Trude Allbright-Sweeney was a Cortes Island resident for more than four decades before she moved in with her daughter in Rochester, New York, last year.

“ I'm enjoying the Seafest. I've come every time it's here, and every time on Cortes. So far I don't think I've missed any.”

CC: What’s special about Sea Fest?

“Meeting all the people, all my neighbors. I don't meet when I'm back in the house, it's very nice. I love it.”

Her hearing is no longer what it used to be, and Trude’s companion typed my questions onto a cell phone so she could read them.

“It works,” I commented.

“But it works,” she laughed.

“I have one more question for her.”

“Okay,” responded her companion.

CC: Trude’s Cafe Konditorei used to be a favourite stop for visitors and local residents alike. Does she miss the cafe?

“My cafe: Yeah, In a way. It was a lot of work, but it was fun having the people come. It was fun baking for it and it was good coffee because I swore when I open a cafe I'll have the best coffee I can find, which I did. The coffee beans I used came from Quadra. I said maybe I had to send away for it, but I didn't. It was even delivered to the house. Isn't it great?” replied Trude.

Local filmaker Morgan Tams said, “It's fantastic to have Seafest return after the hiatus of Covid and particularly to have it in such a beautiful space as Squirrel Cove, to reflect the diversity of the island by having it in a different location is really nice, and nice to just see everybody here and start to gather again. It's a really nice, hopefully auspicious start to the summer.”

Squirrel Cove resident Bobbie Jean Hanson added, “ I love that it's in Squirrel Cove. It's a fun new location, sort of revitalizes the area a bit. It's great.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Mansons Friday Market’s ‘Outdoor Season’ officially started on May 19.

“I think it's great. It's a beautiful sunny day and long weekend and, but still mostly locals, which is really nice to have their support,” said Sara Stewart, of Reef Point Farms.

CC: Can I ask, where do you do most of your business?

“I have a lot of different venues. There's the farmer's market. I also have the farm stand. I sell to the co-op and to Hollyhock and the Gorge Store when it's in the middle of the summer,” she replied.

 One of her customers, Judyth Weaver, interjected, “I go all the way down to this farm stand. Is it happening already?”

“In a couple weeks,” said Stewart.

“Okay. I was wondering, and I love it when she comes here. I've been buying her greens whenever she's had them at the Co-op, so I've been eating off of you for a long time.”

CC:  How long have you been operating Reef Point Farms?

“I have a business called Wildfire Produce, lease land there and started in 2020. So this is my fourth season,” explained Stewart.

Rod Lee has been selling his cedar bird houses ever since he took up his perminant abode on Cortes Island, about 23 years ago.

 “I'm an amateur and birdhouses struck me as being something I could make out of small pieces of lumber that were available from mills in the reject pile, where I could cut defects out and create a usable piece of wood. So birdhouses and the boxes are a variety of sizes. I just simply wait till I get a number of pieces of a similar size, make a box or a birdhouse out of them,” he explained.

CC: Are there specific houses for specific birds?

“There can be. For instance, I make a Swallow House because Swallows fly directly into the nesting area without using a perch. Whereas most of the other smaller birds, including Wrens, will use a perch before they climb into the nest box. Some of the ducks that use nests like Harlequin Wood Duck, have to be close to water. The young, when they come out just fall to the ground and then carry on. They use a different size box and often there's a bit of a ramp built into the box to give the ducklings access to the opening. So yeah, there's some differences.”

CC: What do you use the boxes for?

RL: “I made up a little piece of paper that said ‘you can use them for anything you want.’ My wife told me my dresser top was messy, so I now have a wooden box with all my stuff in it. She's happy and I'm happy. I know where everything is, but people will use them for anything. I've had people buy them for sunglasses. I've had people buy them to use in display areas. I've had people buy them with lids as jewelry boxes, key boxes. Some workers have kept special screws, nuts or bolts in them.”

CC: Where do you sell your boxes and birdhouses?

RL: I’ve been a salesman all my working life, so it's a natural habit for me.

I enjoy it and I enjoy meeting people. As a member of the Cortes Island Craft Shop, located in Squirrel Cove, I get to meet people from all over that are holiday or coming off their boats. It’s always fun.”

“I will sell here on the island at the Friday and Saturday markets, Mansons and the Gorge. I do have one off island company, Shar-kare in Campbell River who take my bird houses.”

Loretta from Tenant Farm did not want to be recorded, but had no objection to my photographing her interaction with two customers examining a colorful hand spun toque.

Most of the action is still indoors, where there were about 17 booths set up in the hall and entrance foyer. That is far too many people to interview.

Roy L Hales/Cortes Currents - On Monday, May 15, Rami Rothkop and Oliver Scholfield unveiled their ‘Business Roadmap for Value-Added Forestry Products’ on Cortes Island at Mansons Hall. 

Most of what they presented has been discussed before, the difference being that they were not just talking about ‘ideas.’ These were things they had already accomplished. That is why the Cortes Community Forest Cooperative hired them. 

They previously met with local mill owners Ron Wolda, Henry Verschuur, Aaron and Jeremie Elingsen, as well as Kevin Peacey from the Klahoose First Nation.

“We took the information that we gathered, and tried to create several different options for the community to look at, to analyze, and to then choose which direction they want to take forward,” explained Rothkop. 

“I'd just like to say thank you to the people I’ve met, and the new friends that I've connected with here. This is really an enjoyable  project and  I'm pretty optimistic about it. The prerequisite is having people moving forward with ideas, because without that it won't happen, but the ingredients are here for this to work.”

“My approach has always been precautionary with business, and with forestry in general. One of the roadmap options that we came up with, embraced what a couple of the local mills are already doing. We created a vision that would utilize a short-term plan of their expertise and would test the waters for a couple of years with the intention of starting a facility later on Cortes. That would be centralized, assuming these first few years were positive and showed promise.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - On May 16, Mark Vonesch, Regional Director for Cortes Island issued a press release stating, “I’m excited to let you know that the provincial government has approved Cortes Island's short term rental tax application. Starting on July 1st, tourists will pay an extra 3% on their short term rental bookings and the funds will be collected by the provincial government and sent to the Cortes Housing Society on a monthly basis to contribute to the development of Rainbow Ridge rental housing.”

“This is the first time in BC history that a community is using the tax entirely for housing and the provincial government had to amend their legislation to make it possible.”

The application was made by the Cortes Community Housing Society, whose Executive Director Sandra Wood explained, “The issue has been that once a place becomes discovered by tourists, a lot of homes and cottages that used to be providing year round rental accommodation to locals become part of the Airbnb or other vacation rental sites. The owners of those properties can make more money from tourism rentals than they can from long-term rentals to locals.That has created a shortage of housing on Cortes and many other

islands.”

According to the 'Collecting Stories of Where We Live Survey,' last Spring, at least 159 Cortes Island residents were either living in ‘unstable’ conditions, or homeless.

The Strathcona Housing Needs Assessment found that 150 Cortes households are paying more for rent or mortgages than they can afford.

Vonesch wrote that the housing crisis was one of the big challenges that led to his decision to run for the position of Regional Director.

 

“We need to figure out ways for the free market to offer up more rentals and support development that makes land affordable for young people and families who are currently renting and can’t afford to compete with tourist land prices.”

One of his first acts, as incoming Regional Director for Cortes Island last November, was to seek SRD support for an application for a 3% tax on short term rentals. 

“This is a tax that  affects all short term rentals on Cortes, whether you do that through Airbnb or other online platforms, or you rent your place out privately. It also applies to the ‘hotels’ on Cortes, which are the Gorge Harbour Marina, the Cortes Island Motel and Hollyhock. In order for this application to be submitted, you need at least 50% support from the ‘hotels’ on the island. We were really fortunate to have Hollyhock, the Gorge and the Motel all sign on. Part of my argument to the Regional District is, ‘Look, there’s the support from 100% of all the ‘hotels’ on Cortes!” 

The new SRD Vice Chair, Ron Kerr, was enthusiatic about the project, “I think this is an opportunity to really show what this board can do and not drag things on, but try and move them forward.”

Incoming Area C Director Robin Mawhinney agreed, “I love it. I wanted to add that I believe that the Cortes Island Housing Society is doing great work. They have land, a plan and community support. I fully support this community initiative. I think it's an inspiration and a model, and I believe that a letter of support from the board fits within our Strathcona Regional District vision statement, which is to lend support to individual community initiatives.”

At their inaugrial meeting, on November 9, 2023, the SRD Board unanimously voted to write the letter of support which accompanied the Cortes Community Housing Society's application to the provincial government.

Vonesch’s press release explains that, “For short term rental operators using AirBnB or VRBO, this tax will automatically be collected by the online platform when customers book their stay, so there is no action required from you. For those not using these online platforms, and making more then $2,500 from their short term rental, you must register to collect PST and MRDT.”

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - British Columbia's Office of the Fire Commissioner (OFC) is the Provincial government office tasked with providing support to BC's fire services through fire investigation, collecting statistics, fire prevention and establishing standards for fire service training. It is based in Saanichton and operates through numerous Local Assistants. At the request of the Cortes Island Fire Department, the Strathcona Regional District Board is recommending that Fire Chief Eli McKenty be appointed Local Assistant to the Fire Commissioner for Cortes Island.

This matter came up at the Board’s May 10 meeting.

Chief Administrative Officer David Leitch explained, “It traditionally has to be someone in the local area. Cortes is clearly an island, it, it wouldn't make sense for anyone off island. Historically that assistant has been the Fire Chief. There is an interim Fire Chief there right now, and they're requesting that person be appointed as the local area Fire Commission.”

Mark Vonesch, Regional Director for Cortes Island, said, “I would like to move that the Regional District recommend to the office of the Fire commissioner, that the Fire Chief Elijah McKenzie be appointed as the Local Assistant to the fire commissioner for Cortes Island.”

Regional Director John Rice seconded the motion, which carried with no opposing votes.