Area B - Shawnigan Lake Area Director Candidate

Website: www.bFAB.ca

Q1. Please tell us a bit about yourself and why you are running.

A: I am a retired computer programmer with property on Shawnigan Lake. I have been coming to the lake to my father in law's cottage since 1978 and now own the neighbouring property.
I have been active locally since 2007, first with the Shawnigan Residents Association, then on the Official Community Plan (OCP) Steering Committee, and as an editor of the Shawnigan Focus.
I am running to put the option of Area B Incorporation before the voters. I believe we are ready for incorporation in Area B and that incorporation will be a benefit to our area.
See bFAB.ca

Q2. The community survey results placed a high priority on sustainability, in particular on protecting our watersheds, water supply and water quality, as well as on creating a more sustainable local economy. If elected, please describe what your approach would be to those issues.

A: While my platform emphasizes Incorporation, a new OCP, and Open Government, issues such as water quality and opposition to contaminated waste dumps in the watershed are central.
I have been active on water quality and water quantity issue for several years. Grant Price, Graham Ross-Smith and I installed water level gauges on Shawnigan Creek which I monitor. I attended the Lake Keepers course in 2013.
I attended 2 of the 3 Watershed study session hosted by the CVRD.
Visit brentatthefocus.blogspot.com then search for water to find the many articles I have written on this subject.

Q3. The survey results indicated citizens want to see more consultation and accountability between elected officials and their constituents. If elected, please describe what your approach would be to those issues.

A: My platform stresses Area RESIDENT development of both a new OCP and an Incorporation Study. Residents identify their Vision for the community in the OCP, then the services and taxes they expect of that community in the Incorporation Study.
Bringing decision making into the community from the CVRD board, with open local government, makes the residents the government, not just people to whom the local government is accountable.
Full open disclosure from day 1. Open government is my key goal for the Incorporated Area B.
See bFAB.ca click on Open Government.

Q4. What is your position on municipal tax rates and the corresponding level and allocation of services?

A:  I believe we can incorporate Area B and supply all the existing services with no increase in taxes. Incorporation will involve a citizen developed Incorporation Study for Area B that will determine the costs of all current services. It will also determine the services residents actually want and the appropriate levels and costs of those services.
I am against the Alternative Approval Process (negative billing which is illegal except in local governments in BC) and would decline to use it in Area B, or support it's use in any other Area.
See bFAB.ca and click on Incorporation Study or Taxes.

Q5. What is your vision for this area, and how would getting elected help achieve it?

A: Business as usual is taking us down a slow path to urban sprawl. Current rezoning of forest land outside the Village Containment Boundary, contrary to the Official Community Plan, is exactly what the OCP was written to prevent.
I oppose rezoning ruled out by the OCP.
An incorporated Area B can define a vision of a rural municipality where growth is concentrated in the village core, more services are added there, and the non-village areas regain the forested rural values that attracted me, and I think may other residents, to Shawnigan Lake.

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