Month: October 2017

The Islands Trust has sent out our rezoning request to be reviewed by a number of agencies, about 30 different agencies (APC, CRD commissions, Provincial agencies, etc), plus 14 First Nations groups.  This gives all these agencies a chance to give their input.  Unfortunately, all these referrals take time.  We have heard back from some of them and so far there have been no concerns from any agency.

Our rezoning proposal was first on the agenda at the latest APC (Advisory Planning Commission) meeting last Thursday, October 19th.  This is one of the many referrals from the Islands Trust to other agencies.  A number of the Dragonfly Commons committee and our Islands Trust planner Rob Milne attended the meeting.  Rob presented his report and Fernando gave a short description of the project.  There were a number of good questions from the group allowing clarification.  There are a number of people on the APC with a variety of backgrounds – design, planning, environment, etc.  There were many positive comments and they voted unanimously to recommend our project to the LTC.

As reported by the Driftwood on Wednesday Oct 11, 2017:

The Salt Spring Local Trust Committee made steps toward meeting the island’s affordable housing needs by moving three project applications forward at Thursday’s business meeting. 

The LTC started its run at advancing nearly 100 new units by giving first reading to a rezoning application for Tami and Fernando dos Santos’ Dragonfly Commons development on Drake Road, which proposes 20 low-cost micro homes that eligible people employed in the community could purchase.

“This initiative has my unqualified support,” said trustee George Grams. “We know housing is perhaps our most pressing issue at the moment. I thank you for bringing this forward and making this opportunity possible for the community.”

Link to the Driftwood article online

We would like to also congratulate our fellow affordable housing projects on their first readings – Croftonbrook and Salt Spring Commons.