Season’s Greetings, Everyone!
We hope you’ve all had a wonderful holiday and are off to a Happy New Year. As always, it’s been a busy fall period for your OPSRRA Board. Here are some of the things we’ve been working on…
2018 All Candidates Meeting
We had a wonderful opportunity to hear our candidates for the CRD Director and Milne’s Landing School Trustee positions discuss their backgrounds, platforms and answer questions from the audience at OPSRRA’s all candidate meeting on September 30, 2018, at the CRD Regional Services building in Otter Point. The session was well attended by almost 60 people and we were also fortunate to recruit several new OPSRRA members.
The candidates
The audience
Jordan River and diitiida Welcome Signage
We’re very pleased to announce that we were able to secure funding for the new wooden welcome signage for Jordan River (JR) and diitiida through the generous donations of $1500 from BC Hydro, red cedar wood posts from Queesto, and an additional $1500 from CRD’s Grant-in-Aid Fund.
We are in the process of drying the wood posts, creating the wooden sign faces with the help of Murray Tompkins, and finalizing the signature wave design for the community.
We hope to have these signs set in place by this coming spring. This will help demonstrate to the public and travelers in the area that JR and diitiida still comprise a vibrant and culturally rich community.
Community Notice Boards and Existing Community Welcome Signs
OPSRRA also successfully received Grant-in-Aid funding from the CRD in the amount of $700 to repair and maintain notice boards in our three communities, in addition to the four large existing “Welcome” signs in Otter Point and Shirley.
Unfortunately, we did not have a lot of volunteer uptake from our membership to assist the small team working on it this fall and so we’re hoping to recruit volunteers to help out when things dry out this coming spring.
We need you to make it happen! If you would like to help us out with this project in any way, please contact our directors, Brenda at director1@opsrra.ca or Fiona at secretary@opsrra.ca.
Future CRD Regional Park Acquisitions Visioning Workshop
Your OPSRRA president, Bill Dushenko and director, Brenda Mark, participated in a workshop on November 9, 2018, at the Village Food Market Meeting Room in Sooke, to identify areas of high ecological and social value west of the Sooke River with the idea of supporting the development of a Land Acquisition Strategy for potential future CRD Regional Parks expansion.
The session was well attended and included other OPSRRA members attending in different capacities.
Regional Parks staff presented a landscape analysis using the best available ecological information to map and highlight areas with high natural/ecological values and potential for connectivity with existing parks and protected areas in the region. The workshop part of the session involved hearing, from the participants, any information or other knowledge missing in the landscape analysis, in addition to values on conservation and recreation in the Juan de Fuca, to better improve their analysis and development of a Land Acquisition Strategy. The Muir Creek watershed and its protection were particularly on the minds of many of the attendees.
We look forward to hearing more from the CRD on their strategy in the future.
Soil Deposit and Restoration Activities on Clarke Road
OPSRRA and concerned residents have been watching the activities of Granite Resources, which is proposing to deposit soil (up to 20,000 m^3) for the purposes of restoring a tributary to King Creek, as well as road construction to support a proposed subdivision on its 58 ha property along Clark Road (Section 42) in Otter Point.
The parcel was previously logged and cleared by the former owner under the Private Managed Forests Land Act resulting in damage to the creek and its riparian area.
A soil permit application has been submitted to the CRD for this purpose and will have been reviewed by its Land Use Committee (LUC) at its meeting on December 17, 2018.
It is anticipated that the overall condition of the property will be improved by the proposed watercourse and wetland restoration work. The CRD staff, in its report to the JdF LUC Meeting are, therefore, recommending “approval of the soil permit subject to the recommendations and conditions of the Environmental Overview Assessment, the conditions listed in the Approval for Works in and About a Stream from the Ministry of Environment, the conditions listed in the Permit to Construct, Use, and Maintain Access to a Provincial Public Highway from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, and subject to public notification”.
If this permit is approved and restoration activities continue, residents will no doubt be monitoring activities closely to ensure that the proponent is closely following specified conditions.
All the best for the coming New Year, everyone!
OPSRRA was successful in obtaining funding through its Grant in Aid application to CRD in the amount of $700 for the maintenance and refurbishing of the 37 notice boards in our communities. If you would like to help our team with this project, please contact Brenda at director1@opsrra.ca.
Thanks to our volunteers Arnie, Bob & Dom who are diligently out there working to keep our local notice boards looking good.
We need more great volunteers to also help freshen up our Welcome to signs. If you’d like to help, please reach out to Brenda (director1@opsrra.ca) on our board who is spearheading this initiative.
OPSRRA needs volunteers as part of a subcommittee to do some maintenance on our Welcome to Otter Point and Shirley signs.
These signs were made possible through fundraising by OPSRRA in 2011 and with the help of volunteer labour by OPSRRA members. They are a real asset to our communities.
The signs have been inspected and need cleaning and some touch-up painting, possibly structural shoring-up of one post on one of the signs.
We have received a small amount of grant money from the CRD to carry-out repairs, so OPSRRA will cover the costs of materials needed.
Ideally, this work should be carried out before the end of September 2018, and before the rains start. Depending on the number of member volunteers, 1 or 2 teams could form and do the work quickly.
Timeline: August to September 2018
If you can help, please contact:
Brenda Mark
director1@opsrra.ca
phone 250 646 2598
Fiona McDannold
secretary@opsrra.ca
phone 250 646 2730
Diane Foster
treasurer@opsrra.ca
Sunday, August 19, 2018
11:00 AM to 4:00 PM
(followed by BBQ Salmon Dinner)
We are looking for volunteers to help staff our OPSRRA Booth again this year as part of our membership drive.
It’s a great way to meet and chat with local residents and talk about issues that matter in our community.
OPSRRA enrolled a number of new members at this event last year and our booth was well attended.
If you can help out by staffing a shift at the booth, please contact:
Diane Foster - treasurer@opsrra.ca
or
Brenda Mark - director1@opsrra.ca
Welcome to 2018! We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and are off to a happy and prosperous new year!
Here’s what your Board and OPSRRA have been up to in the fall of 2017.
Hwy 14 Safety and Access
This issue has probably been foremost on everyone’s minds lately, and OPSRRA was pleased to host a panel discussion held on November 5, 2017, at the CRD Services Building in Otter Point, called Safety, Speed and Noise on West Coast and Otter Point Roads. This included representatives from the RCMP, Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement, Timberwest, Forest Safety Council, first responders, and CRD, as well as a representative attending from the office of our MLA and Premier John Horgan. With over 50 people in attendance, there was some good dialogue and discussion on possible solutions as well as the issues.
This panel session, and OPSRRA’s September 21, 2017, letter to John Horgan’s Office, seem to have helped in providing input to the Premier’s announcement on November 20, 2017, that the province will be expanding its study and review of Highway 14 (including Sooke and West Coast Roads) extending to Port Renfrew. OPSRRA submitted a letter to the editor in newspapers in the region emphasizing the safety issues, our efforts, and lauding the Province’s announcement. OPSRRA’s president and a resident from JDF EA also had a meeting with CRD and representatives from the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure on November 29, 2017, to discuss immediate safety issues along West Coast Road, as well as ongoing discussions on upgrades to Otter Point Road between CRD and the Premier’s Office. Discussions amongst these and other agencies continue.
Community Signage
OPSRRA submitted a request letter on November 21, 2017, to Mike Hicks for funding from CRD and/or BC Hydro to replace deteriorating community signage (“Welcome to Jordan River”) at the east and west borders of the Jordan River along Hwy 14 (West Coast Road). BC Hydro responded that they would look into it, and we will continue to follow up with them.
Board Member Change-up
Wendy Morton has stepped down as director from the OPSRRA board, but will be continuing her good work supporting OPSRRA’s activities in the community.
We’re also pleased to welcome Dan Peiser as an interim director to the board. Dan has spent over 30 years working in the not-for-profit sector in Canada and the U.S., and has served as volunteer, staff, consultant, or board member with dozens of organizations, in social services, environment/conservation, health, higher education, and international development. He is currently a consultant in not-for-profit management, communications, and fund development based in British Columbia and now resides in Otter Point. We look forward to his knowledge and experience as our newest board member in assisting OPSRRA with its communications activities. Welcome Dan!
Next Board Meeting
Our next Board meeting will be February 4, 2018, at 7:30 PM at the CRD Services Building on Butler Road in Otter Point.
As always, please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions, concerns, and/or you wish to volunteer your time and assistance in any way at president@opsrra.ca. In the meantime, have a safe winter and we hope to see you at our Annual General Meeting this spring (date to be announced).
Help promote OPSRRA at the Sooke Christmas Fair
Saturday, November 25, 2017
9:00 am to 4:00 pm
Sooke Community Hall
We’re going to have a table promoting OPSRRA, as we did at Shirley Days.
We let people know what we’re doing, encourage them to join up, answer questions.
Even an hour of your time would be great.
Contact us: opsrra@gmail.com
Help with our community bulletin boards
OPSRRA has 28 community bulletin boards located next to Canada Post boxes in Otter Point.
The boards require regular maintenance and sometimes need replacement.
Our two volunteers need help with the following:
- Board painter (boards brought in for repair).
- Semi-annual tour of the sites -- cleaning and minor repairs.
- Board replacement (includes post-hole digging).
We could also use donations of materials:
- Scraps of plywood( ½ inch, 5/8 inch or ¾ inch) to form the sign core. Minimum size: 24 x 36 inches.
- 4 x 4, 8-foot treated posts.
- Post hole digger.
- Green and brown exterior paint.
Call Arnie Campbell at 250-642-3113 or email d.acampbell@shaw.ca
OPSRRA is embarking on an active OPSRRA membership drive this year including developing new brochures/posters for distribution, articles in local newspapers (e.g., Sooke Mirror), and setting up booths at local community events.
To this end, we’re currently looking for volunteers to staff (along with our directors) an OPSRRA booth at Shirley Day to attract new members.
Sunday, August 20 11:00 am to 4:00 pm
Don't forget the BBQ 4:00 to 6:00 PM
Let us know if you are able to help out and lighten the workload.
Email: opsrra@gmail.com
Thanks so much!
