by George Le Masurier | Oct 2, 2018
The last in a series of in-depth voter information pages published today.
dropcap]R[/dropcap]ural area candidates seeking to represent their electoral areas on the Comox Valley Regional District board answered a series of questions for a page that published today on this website. It’s the last in a series of pages giving candidates the opportunity to share their thoughts on election issues in their own words. Decafnation has previously published Courtenay, Comox and Cumberland candidate pages this week.
Two of the electoral area candidates, Ron Nichol in Area B and Jay Oddleifson in Area C, chose not to respond.
You can jump to the Election 2018/Rural candidates’ page by clicking this link. The page is also available from the main menu: topics – politics – Cumberland Candidates Respond, or by clicking one the pages at the top of Decafnation’s home page.
Cumberland candidates talk about the issues
Cumberland mayor and council candidates competing in the Oct. 20 municipal elections discuss a variety of topics in a page published today on this website. It’s the third in a series of pages giving candidates the opportunity to share their thoughts on election issues in their own words. Decafnation has previously published Courtenay and Comox candidate pages this week. A page devoted to rural regional district directors will publish tomorrow.
Only one council candidate, Eric Krejci, chose not to respond.
You can jump to the Election 2018/Cumberland candidates’ page by clicking this link. The page is also available from the main menu: topics – politics – Cumberland Candidates Respond, or by clicking one the pages at the top of Decafnation’s home page.
Comox candidates explain their positions on a variety of issues
Candidates for Comox Town Council and mayor explain their positions about a variety of topics in a page published today on this website. It’s the second in a series of pages giving candidates the opportunity to share their thoughts on election issues in their own words. A Courtenay candidate page published yesterday.
Both mayoralty candidates, Russ Arnott and Tom Diamond, responded to the survey. But not all council candidates responded, just the new challengers. Incumbents Maureen Swift and Ken Grant declined to respond.
You can jump to the Election 2018/Comox candidates’ page by clicking this link. The page is also available from the main menu: topics – politics – Comox Candidates Respond.
Courtenay candidates take on taxes and other issues
What do the 16 candidates for Courtenay City Council and the four candidates for mayor think about tax rates, air quality and amalgamation?
In the first in a series of four special Election 2018 pages published today on Decafnation, the candidates have shared their thoughts and positions on these and a variety of other topics in their own words.
Decafnation invited candidates to respond to nine questions and allowed them up to 500 words to answer each question. Some chose to respond in a long and detailed fashion, while others opted for brevity. Readers can easily compare the candidates as their responses are sorted by the questions and alphabetically by the candidates’ last names.
Readers will have to weigh the significance of the absence of four candidates. Two mayoralty candidates, Erik Eriksson and incumbent Larry Jangula, chose not to respond, as did council candidates Tom Grant and Jin Lin.
All other candidates graciously responded with thoughtful responses — some candidates said they spent considerable time on the project — in order to help you become a more informed voter.
You can jump to the Election 2018/Courtenay candidates’ page by clicking this link. The page is also available from the main menu: topics – politics -Courtenay Candidates Respond.
Similar pages featuring Comox, Cumberland and regional electoral area candidates will publish later this week.
And don’t forget to vote Oct. 20.
by George Le Masurier | Sep 17, 2018
Former council member Murray Presley blames the current mayor and council for overspending and wandering from its core functions into pipelines, GMOs and running daycare centres. He wants to contract out more city services and get the Stotan Falls park
Murray Presley, a retired accountant who served on Courtenay City Council for 15 years, is making a comeback in order to reduce the cost of local government.
Presley, who retired from his practice at Presley and Partners earlier this year, said he’s disturbed by what he’s seen happen at City Council the past four years.
“It’s two against five every time; Jangula and Theos get outvoted,” he said. “We need four like-minded people on council. I’m hoping two will join me (and Theos) in getting elected.”
Presley says the council has wandered off its core function into things like a nuclear-free zone, GMOs, the TransMountain pipeline debate and other irrelevant issues.
“Why is the city running a daycare and a fitness centre (at the Lewis Centre)?” he told Decafnation, though admitting his own kids went there. “We should ask what services the city should provide — water, sewer, public safety, roads — and stop doing the rest.”
FURTHER READING: For more interviews with candidates and a full list of who’s running for councils, regional district and school board, go to our Elections 2018 page
Presley, who calls himself a fiscal conservative, uses a Yellow Page phone book analogy to explain his position.
“Open up the Yellow Pages, if there’s a service listed there that the city is also doing, we should consider contracting it out,” he said.
That’s because local government’s priority is to not get sued or screw things up, he said, while a private business is driven by a desire to do things more efficiently.
“We have great employees at the city, but we don’t have good management up top, at the council,” he said. “Council makes policy, but if it’s not doing a good job and without a strong mayor, the staff will step in and set the policy.”
Presley says the cost of government is too high. The tax increases over the last five or six years have exceeded the cost of living. “It’s not sustainable,” he says.
The housing market is one area that has suffered from too much government interference, he says.
“We have to reduce the amount of red tape or make the development process faster, that will bring down housing costs.” he said. Presley also supports smaller lots and smaller houses and permitting secondary suites.
In the City of Langford, Presley says a building permit takes only three days and a development permit just two months. But in Courtenay that kind of turn-around is unheard of.
Meanwhile, the city spends time on a tree bylaw, which Murray says he agrees with in principle, but counts as an added layer of bureaucracy that just adds to the cost of housing in the city.
“I like the idea of a green canopy,” he said. “But take a drive down Ryan Road hill. What do you see? Trees all over, we’re surrounded by a green canopy.”
Earlier this year, Presley widely promoted the idea of an Agriplex for the Comox Valley Exhibition Grounds, and helped raise money for the project. But he realizes that could be a conflict of interest if he’s elected, and insists he’s pulled back from it now.
“I’m not running on this issue or to promote it,” he said. “And, in any case, it would have to eventually go to a referendum … to see if the public has the appetite to take on the debt.”
But Presley is not pulling back his support for 3L Developments 700-house subdivision along the Puntledge River near Stotan Falls.
“The park is more important than the subdivision,” he said. “If that’s what it takes (green lighting the subdivision) to get the park, I’m okay with that.”
Presley points out that under existing zoning, the developer can proceed with 10-acre lots and “then we won’t have access to the falls.”
Presley said he doesn’t plan to knock on doors or campaign aggressively before Oct. 20, because he doesn’t care if he gets elected or not. But he does want to raise awareness that Courtenay’s spending needs to be controlled.
And one way to make all Comox Valley governments more efficient is through amalgamation, he says.
“We’d be better governed as a district municipality, or at least Courtenay, Comox and maybe Area B,” he said. “Why do we need three public works yards, three city halls?”
Presley was born in Scarborough, England. His father was in the Canadian Air Force and his mother was in the British Air Force. They met and married, and were stationed to Sea Island in 1954 (the site of the Vancouver airport).
The family moved to the Comox Valley in 1961, and Presley graduated from Courtenay High School in 1964.
Presley says that he also running to help create more jobs by adding more industrial land and encouraging clean industries. That, he says, would help young people stay in our community.
by George Le Masurier | Sep 17, 2018
Jin Lin wants the City of Courtenay to spend less and not raise taxes every year, include food waste in its recycling program and talk more with 3L about Stotan Falls
Jin Lin, the co-owner of the Maple Pool Campground and RV Park, wants voters to know that she is not running for municipal office to settle any scores over the city’s failed lawsuit to shut down her business, and cost her family about $180,000.
Nor would she use a council position to lobby for a common room for residents of Maple Pool that would help her tenants reduce their electricity costs, but which they haven’t done because building in a flood plain requires too many additional rules and restrictions.
“I’m popular, I think, because people know I won’t do things for myself,” she said. “So no lobby for common room.”
She is running to help the city cut its expenses and lower taxes.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to raise taxes. Once in awhile, okay, but not every year,” she told Decafnation. “People can’t afford it.
“The city has to think how to save money from expenses.”
She is concerned about this year’s hiring of 16 new employees, and thinks the city took the “easy way” of raising taxes, instead of reducing its expenditures.
FURTHER READING: For more interviews with candidates and a full list of who’s running for councils, regional district and school board, go to our Elections 2018 page
Lin and her husband, Dali, emigrated from Taiwan 25 years ago to start a sawmill that eventually closed, along with most independent sawmills in BC, due to the softwood lumber issue with the United States.
Since then, the couple have operated the Maple Pool Campground that caters to summer tourists with campsites along the Tsolum River and reserves another 53 year-round sites on higher ground as low-income housing for people living in RVs and trailers.
The Lins charge $360 per month for a trailer/RV site that includes water and sewer hookups. Residents pay their own BC Hydro bills.
They get new requests to rent sites every day. They give priority to young families with children, then seniors on fixed income and then the unemployed.
“I feel bad, I don’t have more,” Lin said. “But it’s not just simple as a business, we live and work on site, because it’s easier in management. Financially, we just can’t afford to hire employee.”
Lin said whether she gets elected or not isn’t important because politics for her is “a learning journey.”
She believes her cultural difference from everyone else on council could help bring more civility to the meetings.
“Don’t vote yes or no on issues, but to support things. Talk and negotiate, find the best solution,” she says. “We have different views, but we can talk.”
She think the Comox Valley Regional District should follow that principle and talk more with 3L Developments over their proposed Stotan Falls project.
Saying “it’s a beautiful property,” Lin would have to know more about the technical aspects of the proposal to comment specifically. But she says “the CVRD shouldn’t just say yes or no.”
“Many people don’t like houses there, but they (3L) have the land, they have the right,” she said.
Lin takes a similar approach to the city’s traffic problems. Before another bridge gets built, the city must look at other ways to reduce congestion. She mentions widening Cliffe Avenue and other approaches to the bridge, and thinks cloverleafs or overpasses aren’t out of the question.
“(They would be) expensive, but if they solve problem, then we have to think about it,” she said.
Lin would also take a cautious approach to decisions relating the legalization of marijuana next month.
“People have a right to smoke, but people also have right to clean air,” she said, noting that Maple Pool has a zero tolerance to illegal drugs. “We have to protect all the people.”
She’s hoping the provincial pot regulations will guide the city, and she is looking to the BC Lodging Association to learn more about how to handle marijuana issues at Maple Pool. Although she doesn’t think it’s a good idea to smoke around children.
Lin wants to borrow good ideas from Japan and Taiwan on recycling.
In Taiwan, she says young children are taught about the need to protect the environment and how to recycle in the schools, starting in the early grades. She thinks more education is the long-term answer.
“For example, Comox and Cumberland can recycle food waste, but not Courtenay. Why?” she said.
Lin is currently president of the Comox Valley Multicultural and Immigrant Support society, which helps new immigrants adjust to Canada life and encourages them to share their own culture.
She would like Courtenay Council and city staff to be as welcoming to different ways of thinking about “the little things that affect daily life.”
Lin says if the city would communicate better, it would help reduce conflict and lead to better solutions.
by George Le Masurier | Sep 11, 2018
Harold Long says Courtenay has outgrown small town thinking, should plan for sea level rise, calls a subdivision at Stotan Falls a ‘bad idea’ and wants to densify the urban core to preserve downtown businesses. And he’s disappointed in incumbent Mayor Larry Jangula
Harold Long, a three-term Courtenay council member in the 1980s, will launch a return to city politics this week, this time in a run for the mayor’s chair.
Long, who was born and raised on 21st Street, was first elected to City Council in 1984. He ran for mayor in 1990, losing to Ron Webber by only 25 votes.
He’s stayed out of the political scene since then because he didn’t want “to be a heckler from the sidelines.”
But Long is jumping back in now because he is disappointed in the city’s lack of a long-term vision and particularly in the performance of incumbent Mayor Larry Jangula, who he believes has alienated the council and failed to bring them together.
“I think, in general, it’s time for the city to think outside of the box,” he told Decafnation. “We’ve outgrown small town thinking.”
Long spent most of his career as a plumber and pipefitter, working on many of the Comox Valley’s major infrastructure projects, such as the Brent Road sewage treatment plant, the sports centre, Driftwood mall and a renovation of St. Joseph’s General Hospital.
He’s probably best known recently as a land developer. His biggest project was the Valley View subdivision that essentially created East Courtenay.
Asked if voters might wonder if he has a conflict of interest, Long says he has no big projects planned and hasn’t done any developing in Courtenay for eight years. All the property he owns in the city is his house and five acres near Glacier View Lodge.
FURTHER READING: For more interviews with candidates and a full list of who’s running for councils, regional district and school board, go to our Elections 2018 page
And for someone who might get stereotyped as a conservative — Long is a fiscal conservative — he talks about many progressive ideas.
Long favors densification of the urban core, says the city should be planning for sea level rise and moving infrastructure inland, believes the Stotan Falls area is a bad place to put a subdivision, wants to upgrade sewage treatment facilities to produce effluent that can be reused and opposes dumping wastewater into any body of water.
He also believes Courtenay residents “won’t stand for more tax increases” and should look more closely at ways to reduce costs. At the same time, Long thinks the city hasn’t spent enough on maintaining its important infrastructure, such as the Fifth Street bridge.
On housing
Long worries that middle income families, as well as young people, have been priced out of Courtenay’s housing market.
“To get ahead, people have to own it (their property),” he says. “Equity is everything.”
So he supports smaller houses on small lots, removing obstacles that prevent developments targeting lower-priced houses and requiring new developments to have a mix of varying priced homes.
Long knows the city has lost several affordable housing projects because the bureaucratic tangle was overwhelming.
“If we don’t work on a long-term housing plan for both availability and affordability, I’m afraid of where we’re headed,” he said. “The next generation of seniors will be much poorer, their pensions eaten up by rent or mortgages.”
He supports allowing secondary suites, especially around the downtown core.
“The only way to preserve our downtown is to put people on the street,” he said. “Not just during the day, but 16 hours a day. Retail is a tough business and it’s more important than the development community.”
On the environment
Long recognizes that “a lot of environmentally sensitive people” live in Courtenay, and more are moving here because of its natural assets.
“This wasn’t an issue when I was a kid, but it’s vital now,” he said.
Long will lead council to do more planning for the effects of climate change, such as sea level rise.
“That’s (rising sea levels) a big issue with the sewer line along Dyke Road; it should be on land where we have the opportunity to clean up any potential spill,” he said. “It’s going to be expensive, but necessary.”
He thinks the region should also rethink wastewater outfalls considering the thousands of homes proposed for the Royston-Union Bay area and the sensitivity of Baynes Sound.
“Technology has improved to the level where we don’t necessarily need outfalls,” he said. “We need to start looking at that. We can treat wastewater so it’s reusable, even drinkable.”
On Stotan Falls
Long doesn’t hesitate to call the 3L Developments proposed 540 house subdivision on the Puntledge and Browns rivers a “bad idea.”
“It’s sitting on rock, and everything drains toward the river,” he said. “It could be built to protect the rivers, but what happens if it fails?”
While he says Riverwood would not address the Valley’s affordable housing issues, Long also believes the regional district should open up more settlement nodes.
“There’s no significant available land in Courtenay,” he said. “90 percent of the land available is in Crown Isle.”
He said it’s too expensive for a developer to consider a 10 to 15 acre subdivision. To make it worthwhile these days, Long says a developer needs a minimum of 100-200 acres.
On traffic
Long says council needs to think outside of the box on transportation. He doesn’t have a silver bullet, but says the city should consider ways to improve traffic flow while making long-term plans for things like another crossing.
He envisions a cloverleaf on the east side of the 17th Street bridge and making Fitzgerald Avenue a major route to move traffic off Cliffe Avenue.
On the Airpark
Long supports the Courtenay Airpark and the Kus-kus-sum projects, and dismisses suggestions that the land might be better used for housing. He says people don’t realize what’s under the Airpark property.
“There’s bits of concrete, a mixture of soils and general rubble down there that makes it totally unsuitable for development,” he said. “It’s partly fill from when we had to cover up the sewer lagoon, and it contains heavy metals.”
And what hasn’t been discussed is that the whole area is a First Nations midden, according to Long. In the late 1950s when the marina was being built, he remembers there were arrows and skulls and more turned up during the excavating.
“I don’t see this as developable land,” he said.
Economic development
Long would like to promote the city to the technology sector and attract remote workers who can enjoy a higher quality of life here than in larger cities. It’s a clean industry that comes with high paying jobs, he says.
On marijuana
Long regards the legalization of marijuana as a federal issue that City Council cannot change or impact. However, he would create a special, site specific zone for marijuana retailers.
“I think we need to pay close attention to public opinion as we move forward on this one,” he said.
Full disclosure: My youngest son and Harold Long’s son have been long-time friends, but this interview was the only time he and I have talked one-on-one.
by George Le Masurier | Sep 9, 2018
After a one-term absence, Starr Winchester is carrying on a long family tradition of public service in seeking another term on the Courtenay City Council
Former Courtenay Mayor Starr Winchester hopes to extend her 21 years of leadership by once again seeking a City Council position.
Winchester has already served two stints on council, the first one for 12 years and the second for three years before losing by just a few votes in the 2014 election. In between her City Council terms, she also served six years as mayor.
“I love local government,” Winchester says. “It’s in my blood; it’s all I’ve know since childhood.”
Winchester’s father, Bill Moore served several terms as mayor of Courtenay in the 1970s, and was the MLA for the North Island in the 1950s and 1960s.
Losing her seat in the 2014 election was a disappointment, but it turned out to be fortuitous. In the last four years, she’s beat breast cancer and mourned the loss of two close friends.
“It became a good time for me to reflect on what I really want to do with my life,” she said.
FURTHER READING: See who’s running for local government this year on our Elections 2018 page
This time around, Winchester is focused on traffic and taxation issues.
She feels the council mishandled the recent hiring of 16 new staff and reclassifying one employee, and she didn’t like to see the staff criticized in public over the issue. It’s the council that makes these decisions, she says.
“How did we get to the point where we needed to hire 17 people all at once,” she said.
The former mayor sees tax savings in combining selected services with Comox and the rural areas, such as planning departments, fire departments and public works.
“It can be done,” Winchester said, pointing to her efforts in the past to form the Regional Playing Field function at the regional district and in creating the Comox Valley Art Gallery.
She counts an improved status for provincial funding among the benefits of consolidating services.
Looking back on her terms as mayor, Winchester cites splitting the Comox and Strathcona Regional Districts into two separate jurisdictions as her “proudest moment” and greatest accomplishment.
“Finally, the Comox Valley could do its own planning,” she said.
On traffic issues, Winchester believes a third crossing of the Courtenay River is inevitable. But the cost will have to be shared regionally, especially with Comox.
In the meantime, she thinks a widening of the 17th Street bridge could relieve traffic congestion to tolerable levels.
She also thinks the city has too many traffic studies.
“We just need to get them all out, review them and make some decisions,” she said.
But she fully supports the Courtenay Airpark and the Kus-kus-sum project, indicating that 21st Street isn’t a good third crossing option because it threatened both.
Winchester thinks the city’s regulations on carriage houses and secondary suites should be relaxed, so people don’t have to apply for a variance to create them. She wants to increase density in the city’s core and make housing more available and affordable.
And to increase government transparency, she would like to see internet streaming of all regional board meetings, including the water and sewer commissions.
