DBIA requests more funds
The Downtown Business Improvement Association is up for renewal with the district. The non-profit association comes up for renewal every five years.
Officials with the association presented information during council’s community development meeting Tuesday.
Since 2006, the association has been granted $45,000 a year from the district through a levy on all commercial properties within its boundaries. The amount of each contribution is associated to land-assessed value.
The association is requesting the levy increase to $85,000 in 2016 and increase 2.5 per cent every year starting in 2017.
To oppose the details of the renewal, business owners within the association’s boundaries of Pemberton Avenue to the north and Westminster Street to the south must file a petition response form by 5 p.m. March 15 available at municipal hall.
Financial manager retires
Joanne Greenlees, former general manager of financial services at the District of Squamish, has retired after 30 years at the district.
Council passed a motion Tuesday night to appoint Christine Mathews, the district’s manager of financial planning, interim chief financial officer and designated the CFO to act in the place of the general manager of financial services.
Greenlees worked for the district first from 1977 to 2000 and then came back in 2010 under former mayor Greg Gardner. In the interim, she was in local government administration on Bowen Island.
Camping gets council nod
A low-cost campground aimed at hikers, paddlers and climbers who like to tent is one step closer to becoming a reality.
Council passed third reading Tuesday night of a rezoning amendment for a tenting campground proposed for 2023 Centennial Way on 4.1 hectares along nearly 500 metres of the Mamquam River.
The not-for-profit Mamquam River Access Society is behind the proposal for an approximately 40-spot campground near Brennan Park Recreation Centre.
The founder of the society, John Harvey, has said the campsites would be “affordable,” at about $15 a night, and no RVs would be allowed at the campground.
At a public hearing prior to council’s vote Tuesday, speaker Eric Andersen expressed concern over the rezoning of the land from industrial, as he said Squamish is losing its industrial land. Mike Wallace of the Squamish Valley Rod and Gun Club said the club supported the campground, but he voiced concern over unauthorized access to the gun club by campers wandering off the campsite and concern over campers complaining about noise from the club or calling 911 because they hear gunshots.
Council said covenants could be added to the bylaw to mitigate the complaints.
The society also applied to the province for a 30-year Community Institutional Crown Lease with Nominal Rent Tenure.
The proposal will be back before council for ratification of the zoning bylaw.
New SSAR leader, new funds
A provincial $10-million injection to search and rescue groups announced last week will help Squamish Search and Rescue (SSAR), according to the group’s newly minted president, B.J. Chute.
The money will be distributed to the 80 B.C. ground search and rescue agencies through the British Columbia Search and Rescue Association. The one-time fund is earmarked for training, administrative support and equipment renewals, according to a government news release.
Chute said SSAR will be getting funds, but he wasn’t sure how much, what they specifically would use it for or when it would arrive. A media release from the provincial association said it would be making decisions on how to distribute the funds in February.
Chute was acclaimed president of SSAR on Jan. 25 at the organization’s annual general meeting. Former president John Howe chose not to run again, Chute said, but is still involved in the organization. Tennessee Trent is now the vice-president, a role Chute previously filled.
Award for Squamish woman
Erin Yeo of Squamish Terminals is one of two 2015 recipients of the Site Coordinator achievement awards from Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. Yeo spearheaded a shoreline cleanup in the fall involving 200 volunteers removing 1,134 kilograms of trash from the Squamish Estuary. Yeo has been a site coordinator with the cleanup for five years. During that time, she has led more than 1,000 volunteers who collected more than 6,600 kilograms of trash and removed 735 bags of garbage and recycling.
