Chemainus Residents Association

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  • Hear candidates March 27

    Candidates in the April 12 North Cowichan by-election: David Bellis, Ramon Farmere, Becky Hogg, Johanne Kemmler, and Joanna Lord.

    CRA all-candidates meeting at seniors centre

    Candidates in the running for the April 12 North Cowichan by-election will exchange views and answer questions at a March 27th all-candidates meeting to be held at the Chemainus 55+ Activity Centre. The meeting is being organized by the Chemainus Residents Association.

    Nominations for the by-election closed March 7 with five candidates signed up for voters to choose between: Joanna Lord, a former teacher in the Cowichan Valley School District, who has also worked at Vancouver Island University; Raymon Farmere, a computer technician and English as a second language instructor; Becky Hogg, a small business owner; David Bellis, a retired teacher and administrator; and Johanne Kemmler, a former trustee with the Cowichan Valley School District.

    The by-election has been called to replace Councillor Debra Toporowski, who resigned after winning a seat as an NDP candidate in the Oct. 2024 provincial election.

    Candidates will have three minutes to make opening statements and two minutes for closing statements.

    People attending the meeting will be asked to sign in. If they want to ask the candidates a question, they will be given one half of a numbered ticket; the other half will be entered into a box to be drawn later. Those randomly selected during the question period will have one minute to ask their question; the candidates will have two minutes to respond.

    The all-candidates meeting will run from 7 to 8:30 p.m. (doors open at 6:30). The Chemainus 55+ Activity Centre is located at 9824 Willow Street. Advance voting for the by-election will be held April 2 and 8.

  • Protected: Henry Road commercial project presented to residents

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  • CRA Secondary Suite workshop draws interest

    Municipality of North Cowichan Mayor Rob Douglas said affordable housing is a top priority for council, and secondary dwellings will be an important part of the solution.

    Secondary suites are a primary concern with the Municipality of North Cowichan and with residents, who are looking to build them.

    About forty people attended an Oct. 24 ‘secondary suite workshop’ at the Chemainus 55+ Activity Centre. Organized by the Chemainus Residents Association, with funding from the Rotary Club of Chemainus, the evening brought together homeowners, North Cowichan representatives, and building tradespeople.

    CRA Chair Kristi Hagen opened the meeting by pointing out that the housing crisis affects not only those who cannot find an affordable place to live; it also affects the ability of businesses to retain workers and store owners to maintain sales.

    North Cowichan Mayor Rob Douglas said affordable housing and homelessness are top council priorities. He pointed out that the Chemainus Official Community Plan—a document that will guide decision-making over the coming decade—calls for increased density in Urban Containment Areas like Chemainus, and that secondary suites and Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) will be an increasingly important part of the housing mix.

    In the OCP, a secondary suite is defined as an additional dwelling that is attached to the primary residence on a property; an ADU is a dwelling unit in a separate building on the same lot as the primary residence—like a carriage house or garden suite.

    “Our OCP does have many policies that are very supportive of both secondary suites and accessory dwelling units on residential lots,” he said. “They are a way of creating what we call ‘gentle density’, as opposed to putting in a big apartment complex in a family residential neighbourhood.”

    The municipality wants to streamline the application and approval processes to get more secondary dwelling units built faster. North Cowichan’s building bylaws, which haven’t been updated for more than a quarter century, have to be rewritten, Douglas said.

    “One of the big challenges facing North Cowichan is we’ve got a 26-year-old zoning bylaw that’s totally misaligned with our OCP. We’ve got one of the oldest, most outdated zoning bylaws in Canada,” he said. An updated bylaw will make it easier for North Cowichan to approve secondary suites and ADUs..

    CRA board member and retired building contractor, Tim Openshaw, outlined the process for getting secondary dwelling units approved and built. It’s important for homeowners to work closely with municipal planning and building department staff to get through the process. It’s complicated and sometimes lengthy, he cautioned, but ‘persistence’ pays off.

    “I would like to encourage everyone who embarks on this type of project to be persistent. It will take time, energy, resources, and probably a fair bit of money to get through to completion,” he said.

    As well as providing homes for tenants, secondary suites and ADUs are a source of income for new home buyers and for people facing rising interest rates and inflation.

    Municipal Planner Christina Hovey outlined grants that are being made available to homeowners interested in building secondary suites. She referred to the B.C. Housing Secondary Suite Incentive Program which provides up to $40,000 in ‘forgivable loans’ to applicants who are willing to rent their units at ‘below market rates’ for a five year period (go to bchousing.org and search for ‘secondary suites’).

  • Free Secondary suites workshop offered by CRA

    A free workshop offered by the Chemainus Residents Association will take participants step by step through the process of planning and building a secondary suite.

    Secondary suites can be a win-win-win for homeowners, renters, and communities looking for ways to address the affordable housing crisis.

    So the Chemainus Residents Association—with funding from the Rotory Club of Chemainus—is teaming up with the Municipality of North Cowichan, representatives from the building trades, and financial advisors to present Secondary Suites: Getting Started, an October 24 evening workshop that will cover the basics and let participants ask questions.

    Affordability affects renters and homeowners alike, and legal suites—Additional Dwelling Units is the official terminology in North Cowichan—offer relief both ways: for renters, they increase the availability of quality housing; for homeowners, they are a source of income to help meet the escalating expenses of buying and maintaining a property.

    “Providing affordable housing options is essential for the health of communities like Chemainus,” CRA Chair Kristi Hagen said. Without a stock of affordable housing, workers can’t find places to live, and businesses suffer because residents are spending so much of their income on accommodation. “That’s a lose-lose,” Hagen said.

    Although the free workshop is being organized by the CRA, it is open to anyone in the North Cowichan region who wants to attend.

    Workshop speakers, beginning with North Cowichan Mayor Rob Douglas, will present information about what homeowners need to consider and steps they need to take to get from conception through completion of their projects. They will also outline municipal bylaw and procedural changes being implemented to make it easier to get ADUs approved and built.

    For the last half-hour, the floor will be open for participants to ask questions.

    “We hope a forum like this will encourage people to consider building secondary suites, adding to our stock of affordable housing,” Hagen said.

    The workshop will be held Oct. 24 at the Chemainus 55+ Activity Centre, 9824 Willow Street, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. More about the CRA is available at chemainusresidents.com/.

  • Old School doesn’t cut it in 2023

    North Cowichan Council made the right decision last night when, by a 4-3 margin, it decided to uphold the principles of the municipality’s new Official Community Plan.

    But the tenor of the debate left me feeling we’re not yet at the point where we can say it made this crucial decision for all the right reasons.

    Municipal politics have never been more complex or important than they are today, and the 2022 update of our OCP is a case in point. As a document that will guide decision-making for the next decade or so it will have to be read and re-read for its full reach and implications to be appreciated.

    It speaks to environmental issues from a global-to-local perspective; provides guidance on essentially humanitarian issues like homelessness; looks to sustainability and stability by focusing on a ‘regenerative economy’.

    If you wanted to design a course in principled decision-making, it would make a pretty good syllabus. Perhaps the day will come when historians look at documents like our OCP and say, ‘It was ahead of its time.’ Hopefully the survivors of the environmental and social degradations we are now witnessing won’t end up saying, ‘It was too late in coming.’

    Councillor Bruce Findlay, whose motion to offer a two-year ‘amnesty’ to property owners whose land was removed from Urban Containment Boundaries, said he was acting on behalf of the people who elected him.

    That’s old school any way you look at it. The election’s over, councillors are now tasked with thinking and acting on behalf of all the citizens of North Cowichan, and (here’s the rub) to do that job properly in the 21st Century they have to place their decision-making in a global, humanitarian context.

    I voted for a council that takes all that into consideration when it approves zoning, influences community policing, builds a road.

    CraigSpenceWriter.ca

    Note: I am a board member of the Chemainus Residents Association, and attended the Feb. 1, 2023 meeting of North Cowichan Council from that perspective.

  • CRA Board Elected for 2022-23

    Special guest North Cowichan Mayor Rob Douglas responded to questions from the floor after the CRA’s AGM.

    Members of the Chemainus Residents Association elected a new board by acclamation at their Annual General Meeting Nov. 24. Past Chair Bernie Jones, who has indicated he will not take on the role in the coming year, said participation in the first in-person AGM in more than two years (due to the COVID pandemic) was encouraging.

    Six members will form the new board: Bernie Jones, Lorraine Taylor, Kathy Wachs, Tim Openshaw, Kristi Hagen and Craig Spence. A seventh member had to step down after the election for personal reasons. Positions on the board will be decided at its first meeting in early December.

    In his Chair’s report on the previous year’s activities Jones highlighted the all-candidates meeting for October’s District of North Cowichan municipal election; participation on the MNC’s Official Community Plan advisory committee; and outreach communications via the CRA’s web site, eNews updates and social media.

    After the official AGM concluded, the meeting was turned over to North Cowichan Mayor Rob Douglas, who was joined by Councillor Chris Istace, taking questions from the floor. Topics raised included:

    • Affordable housing
    • Homelessness,
    • The Official Community Plan
    • Updating the Chemainus Town Centre Revitalization Plan
    • Progress on a Kin Beach to Old Town waterfront boardwalk
    • Managing the MNC’s municipal forest
    • Ongoing dialogue between the municipality and residents’ organizations like the CRA.

    You can receive Chemainus Residents Association news via the ‘Connect’ link on chemainusresidents.com/. You can also register to become a member via the ‘Join’ menu item.

  • OCP Survey closes Dec. 8

    Residents of North Cowichan have just one week left to share their thoughts on the guiding principles that could determine development and planning decisions over the next decade or more in the district municipality. Dec. 8 is the last day for filling out a survey, expressing opinions on an Official Community Plan document two-years in the making.

    Focus areas in draft OCP are:

    • Climate action & social justice
    • Growth management
    • Resilient communities
    • Housing
    • Regeneration & protection of natural environment
    • Food security & local agricultural systems
    • Local regenerative economy
    • Infrastructure

    For Chemainus, one of North Cowichan’s identified ‘growth areas’, the draft plan includes several ‘targets’ that will affect development in the coming years, including:

    • 75% of new residential units will be in growth centres
    • Increase number of social infrastructure facilities including quality, affordable childcare, recreation centres, and increase amount of accessible public realm, and park space
    • Increase the number of resident trips made by active modes or transit
    • Increase the number of purpose-built rental units by 20%.
    • New housing units approved and built will be a mix of 30% detached 70% attached

    Those targets, and the goals they are listed under, are to be achieved with nine ‘principles’ in mind. Two of the principles – Climate Action and Social Justice & Equity – are overarching, and will influence all aspects of the OCP. The remaining principles come under the headings: Regeneration and Interdependence; Healthy and Safe Community; Economic Opportunity; Community Engagement; Reconciliation and Relationship Building; Change Adaptation and Resilience; Responsive Governance and Active Leadership.

    You can read the draft OCP or download a PDF copy from the Municipality of North Cowichan website. You can also complete the survey from the MNC website.

  • All-Candidates Forum format

    The following format has been shared with candidates participating in the Cowichan-Malahat-Langford All-Candidates Forum, to be held Sept. 16, starting at 6PM, at the Water Wheel Park bandshell…

    Candidates may arrive early (5:30 pm) and circulate among the public until the questioning period starts. The five candidates and the moderator will be seated at tables on the stage of the bandshell. A timer will be seated on the benches on the ground level in front of them. A corded microphone will be available for each candidate.

    Once we are finished with introductions, each candidate will have two minutes for opening comments. The order of these will have been randomly selected.

    We have previously used with success the lottery ticket system we’ll be employing this evening and believe you’ll find it satisfactory. As people enter the bandstand area, they’ll be told they will have a chance to ask a question if their number is drawn. They will be given one-half of a two-part numbered ticket. A volunteer will also circulate and hand out tickets to anyone who would like to have one. The other half of the ticket goes into a hat and tickets will be drawn by a volunteer.

    When an audience member’s number has been called, he/she will have one minute to pose a question for all the candidates. Candidates will have two minutes to answer the question. The timer will notify you when ten seconds are left and when your two minutes are up.

    When the questioning period is over, each candidate, again in random order, will have two minutes for closing comments.

  • Can we afford not to have Affordable Housing?

    This 36 minute video captures the key points made by John Horn, executive director of the Cowichan Housing Association, during an April 8, 2021 presentation and dialogue on homelessness, hosted by the Chemainus Residents’ Association.

    John Horn, executive director of the Cowichan Housing Association, said right off the top that $250,000 in operating funding and another $500,000 in capital funding budgeted by the Cowichan Valley Regional District to support affordable housing initiatives, doesn’t sound like a lot.

    “It’s not enough to buy much affordable housing, as you can imagine,” he told participants in an hour long presentation, hosted by the Chemainus Residents’ Association on Zoom April 8. “I think $500,000 is one or two units in today’s market. So it’s really about participating in broader and bigger building schemes.”

    But then he went on to describe how the CHA is leveraging its funding to make low-cost housing solutions available to the homeless and people for who have a place to live, but are facing ‘rent stress’.

    “John Horn has offered many ideas for tackling the housing affordability challenge,” said CRA Chair Bernie Jones after the session. “The Chemainus Residents’ Association will be digesting John’s ideas to see what we can possibly do to address the problem.”

    The 36 minute video above captures the key points made during the meeting.

  • New Board chosen by CRA

    The newly elected board of the Chemainus Residents Association will be rolling up its sleeves Feb. 1, making plans for 2021, which promises to be a challenging and interesting year.

    Positions on the board will be decided at its first meeting. Four members were re-elected: Lia Versaevel, Chair; Bernie Jones, Vice Chair; Craig Spence, Communications and Lorraine Taylor, Membership and Treasurer. Kathy Wachs will join the board and has expressed an interest in liaison with other organizations in the community and region.

    Versaevel recounted a busy last term. On top of everyone’s mind has been the impacts of the COIVD-19 pandemic on the community, and what plans will be in place to help with recovery.

    She also mentioned in her report to the AGM that the Chemainus Residents Association:

    • Organized three forums, connecting voters to candidates in federal, municipal and provincial elections;
    • Participated in the process of developing a new Official Community Plan for the Municipality of North Cowichan;
    • Heightened visibility of the CRA, and awareness of the issues it is tracking through its web site, social media and newsletter.

    Versaevel invited residents to work with the CRA. “Our population is small, and we are at the northern reaches of the Municipality, but we are happy to continue to advocate for the residents of this place,” she said.