RDN and Sustainable Gabriola put ideas on table for island
Derek Kilbourn
derek@soundernews.com
Tuesday, January 26 2010
Taking the next step in opening communication lines, Sustainable Gabriola representatives met with the upper management team of the Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) last Monday afternoon.
The goal, according to both Sustainable Gabriola member Dyan Dunsmoor-Farley and RDN chief administrative officer (CAO) Carol Mason, was to have a conversation to get a better idea of where the goals of the Sustainable Gabriola group meet up with the mandate and plans of the RDN. The entire meeting was set up through the efforts of RDN Electoral Area B director Gisele Rudischer.
Carol said, “We were very impressed; they had a comprehensive number of areas which line up with a number of things we are working on such as watershed protection, drinking water and alternative forms of energy.
“As a regional district, we’re busy on those issues all the time and anything we would take a look at is dependant on the electorate. For example, we are pursuing options for public transportation on Gabriola.”
Carol added that management plans for the 707 park and the Coats Marsh will continue through 2010, as will workshops related to ongoing groundwater programs.
“All of these are priorities. The relationship between what we’re doing and what [Sustainable Gabriola] is doing is very strong.
“With things that are going to be long term projects it’s good to have people in the community who are champions and proponents.”
Dyan said, “Our request was to come together to talk about some of these really important issues and see where Sustainable Gabriola’s interests converged with the RDN’s mandate. There are clearly things we are interested in that are beyond their mandate.
“But, just the fact their CAO and staff showed up, I was heartened. The conversation was very thorough.
“We’ve taken the position for a long time that Sustainable Gabriola is really about keeping a place open for dialogue and exploration.
“This was an opportunity for an in-depth conversation on what each organization is doing.”
Not everyone from Sustainable Gabriola was at the meeting, nor was the meeting open to the public.
Dyan said, “We had people there who have projects that are consistent with the RDN mandate.
“The bus project, composting, transportation, emergency planning, water issues. It was really excellent. Many thanks to Gisele and Carol for making it possible for all the staff to be there.”
Dyan said that quite a few of the grassroots projects started on Gabriola have reached the point that the upper management staff at the RDN are now aware of them.
The bus service proposal is one such project and there have been conversations back and forth with the RDN and BC Transit.
Asked how Gabriola, as Electoral Area B, differs from the rest of the RDN, Carol said, “I think the difference is because the [Islands] Trust takes care of land use planning; the RDN deals with all the other unincorporated areas.
“With any land applications coming forward on Vancouver Island, we’re handling it. So you get a sense of where the issues are contentious. I think that’s where a lot of the disconnect is.
“We do have the Regional Growth Strategy. The Trust did not participate for land use, but Electoral Area B will participate. We did talk about how those issues are connected with each other and that we do have a good relationship with the Trust in terms of what we’re doing and what they are doing.”
One of the core parts of Sustainable Gabriola is that the group is a loosely organized, organic, community grassroots organization.
“We’re trying to be issue driven, not leader driven.
“That makes it difficult for us to communicate to Gabriolans sometimes.
“The role we play is to knit the pieces together.
Dyan wanted to remind Gabriolans that Sustainable Gabriola is about sustainability.
“I don’t know where the idea that we’re about self-sufficiency came from. Sufficiency is good, but we’re about sustainability.”
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