After sitting down for a strategic planning session earlier this month, the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District (SLRD) board adopted its priority initiatives at Monday's (Jan. 23) meeting with three major items to focus on - improved communication, determination of projects for federal gas-tax funding and foundation building.
The gas-tax item was moved to the top of the list because it is time-sensitive, said SLRD board chair Susie Gimse, as the SLRD will need to decide quickly which projects will be earmarked for funding application before the deadline.
"It's a fairly significant project to get all of the jurisdictions in the regional district coordinating towards a project supported by all of the jurisdictions," Gimse said Tuesday (Jan. 24). "That's what we're working on now. We're trying to identify the top priority we'll pursue funding for.
"A couple of ideas have come forward - the Sea to Sky Trail, for instance; issues around solid waste management and composting. There's been discussion around transportation."
Gimse said discussions between SLRD chief administrative officers (CAOs) will be ongoing to pare the list down. In the interest of her Electoral Area C constituents - those living just outside the Village of Pemberton - Gimse said she'd like to see the Sea to Sky Trail pursued.
"I'd like to see that development continue," Gimse said of the trail that, once completed, will serve as a multi-use recreational trail, will span the corridor from D'Arcy to Lions Bay.
Earlier on Tuesday, Gimse attended the Pemberton council meeting and used public question period to ask whether the Village would be "on the same page" as Area C by highlighting the trail as its top priority. Mayor Jordan Sturdy seemed supportive of that idea but said he would like more information from Pemberton's CAO, who was absent from Tuesday's meeting.
With an area as far-flung and diverse as the SLRD, Gimse noted that it can be difficult for all involved to find projects that have positive impacts for the entire regional district. She pointed to bus shelters in Pemberton, Whistler and Squamish as a recent example of such a project that received gas-tax funding and benefited multiple communities in the SLRD.
New Area D director Maurice Freitag on Tuesday said project that the SLRD pursues for gas-tax funding has to be regional in scope, so input is required from each of the four electoral areas as well as the three member municipalities. "There are short timeframes," Freitag said.
Squamish Director Patricia Heintzman on Wednesday (Jan. 25) said the deadline for gas-tax funding applications is September, but added, "We want to get our priorities really well established to qualify for the grant."
Better communication was something Gimse campaigned on in the fall and she said it would have topped the list if not for the time sensitivity around the gas tax funding applications.
"It was really encouraging to see all of the board members agree that communication is our No. 1 priority," she said. "Communication has a number of different aspects to it There are things we can do better in terms of communicating amongst ourselves, our staff, our citizens."
Some of those things Gimse listed ranged from upgrades to the SLRD website to helping bring high-speed Internet access to all areas of the regional district.
"We have to look at a variety of different methods," she said.
- With files from David Burke, The Chief
