Boycott Marine Trail Resort

The rezoning application to enable the sprawling marine trail resort complex is moving ahead, despite strong opposition from local concerned citizens. This public hearing will be the last chance to have comments heard by local governments, before the project moves to third reading at the CRD meeting in October. It’s up to us to show up and ensure that this project is stopped. Come to the meeting and have your say, or simply be present to support your friends and neighbours.

When: Tuesday, September 6, 5pm
Where: Edward Milne School (6218 Sooke Rd)

Bus #61 from Victoria stops right in front of the school, or you could RSVP for the Sierra Club’s carpool efforts.

VicFAN is organizing a bbq starting at 4pm, featuring free food and drinks with special guest speakers. As they say:

All 2500 people who signed the petitions, sent postcards, and emailed directors and the province should come on down to the hall. It’ll be like a house party with everyone together in one big room.

See you there!

At tomorrow’s CRD meeting, Saanich councilor Vic Derman will put forward a motion to have Ender Ilkay’s Marine Trail Holdings resort proposal declared inconsistent with the CRD’s Regional Growth Strategy.  The motion is an attempt to allow the entire CRD board to have a say on this regional issue, and if it passes it could stop the rezoning application from proceeding.

“The Regional Growth Strategy is very, very prescriptive and the CRD is forbidden from passing a bylaw inconsistent with the RGS. In my view this should have gone to the board for a ruling some time ago,” Derman said.

Derman believes that this could be the end for the controversial resort proposal to build 257 cabins along 17km of the Juan de Fuca trail.

CRD board Geoff Young agrees with Vic Derman’s conclusion, but not his methods.”I am not in favour of the development and I agree that it’s inconsistent with the RGS, but that’s not relevant at the moment,” he said. “Once there’s an action taken by Committee A or a municipality that’s inconsistent with the RGS, the board has the option of challenging it legally,” he said.

Juan de Fuca electoral area representative Mike Hicks will not be at tomorrow’s meeting due to previous work commitments, though he has wasted no time in claiming that director Derman’s motion is “an assault on the governance of the Juan de Fuca”.

It remains to be seen what effect this motion will have if it does indeed pass tomorrow. Land Use Committee A could hold that it has no legal weight except as advice to the committee, while the board could claim the right to be able to overrule its own sub-committee. It seems a legal challenge is inevitable, regardless of the outcome.

Read more:  http://www.timescolonist.com/Proposed+resort+beside+Juan+Fuca+trail+centre+controversy/

At the recent board meeting, the CRD’s Land Use Committee A voted to approve Ender Ilkay’s Marine Trail Resort proposal through first and second reading, and forward the issue to a public hearing.

Committee members Mike Hicks, Langford Councillor Lanny Seaton, Sooke Mayor Janet Evans, and Colwood Mayor Dave Saunders voted in favour, while Metchosin Mayor John Ranns voted against the project and voiced his disapproval at how the process has been handled so far.  Notably, John Ranns exclaimed that he had received over 1,000 letters on this issue, with only 2 in support.

“Our primary concern is to determine the public will,” he said. “Nobody can honestly say the public wants this. The first of our tests as public officials has failed.”

There is no date set for a public hearing, but it is expected to be sometime in early September.  This public hearing will be the LAST CHANCE for any residents or members of the community to have their voices heard.  Committee A seems to have already made up their minds to support it, so it will take a heroic effort to convince them otherwise.

See you in September….

The long list of public speakers eager to speak out against sprawl in the CRD caused most of the agenda to be postponed again.  The meeting resumes this Wednesday July 13 at noon at CRD headquarters (625 Fisgard, 6th floor). No speakers will be allowed as this is being considered a continuation of the last meeting.

In total, 46 people spoke to either the Marine Trail Holdings proposal in the Juan de Fuca, or to one of several mega-sprawl projects in Central Saanich. 44 were opposed, 2 were in favour (one of which was an official representative of resort developer Ender Ilkay). Over 4 and a half hours in all. The CRD directors heard from Pacheedaht members, Sierra Club BC, Dogwood Initiative, Wilderness Committee, Protect Our Parks, and many more. The debate among the directors was fascinating to watch. The whole thing was live-tweeted by Cam Gray of Wilderness Committee. @CameronSGray on Twitter.
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Thanks to everyone who came to the meeting, even though we didn’t get
a chance to speak. It was something to watch, anyway. The board spent
an hour arguing over the very first item – the agenda. Alice Finall,
mayor of North Saanich, prevailed with a motion to delay the vote on
the Marine Trail Resort bylaw until the board gets more information
from the province. (The directors are still trying to figure out if
they can all vote on it as a regional issue.)

Of note was CRD Director John Ranns, Mayor of Metchosin, speaking out against the development and the people within the Land Use Committee who wish to approve it. Mr. Ranns said he had received over 1,000 letters and e-mails opposing the planned resort, more citizen feedback than he has ever received on any issue. He is adamant that the CRD has the obligation to listen to the public and shut down this project. He reminded all other directors why they were present, and who put them there – the public! A big congratulations to Mr. Ranns (in our view, the only member of Land Use Committee A who isn`t either insane or in the pocket of real estate developers).

Also deserving of thanks are Alice Finnell (mayor of North Saanich) and Vic Derman (Saanich councilor) for strongly supporting wise environmental stewardship, public parks and democratic processes, and speaking out against unconstrained suburban sprawl. Kudos to you both!

Juan de Fuca electoral area director Mike Hicks, seemingly Ender Ilkay`s strongest supporter from within the local government, was absolutely livid at this outcome! He seems to believe that listening to the citizens of the CRD is an affront to democracy for making it hard for him to act as he pleases. Sounds crazy to us. Send him an e-mail and let him know that we`re not going to give up!

So it seems all the work that everyone has done so far is having an effect. Even CRD chairman Geoff Young was swayed by the massive outpouring of opposition to this project from the public. Let`s keep the pressure up!

We’ve created alternate gateways to this page at http://www.marinetrailresort.net/ and http://marinetrailresort.org/. All part of the show…