1. How should North Cowichan approach new development in the municipality?
Encourage mixed-use developments in the Urban Containment Boundary, but the Official Community Plan shouldn’t be carved in stone if there are developments that make sense for our city, and they should be looked at.
The OCP is a guide and should be revisited every five to 10 years to handle growth.
2. What should North Cowichan do to address climate change?
The municipality should promote energy efficiency in buildings, rain-water harvesting for lawns, irrigation or even grey water.
North Cowichan should also promote drought-resist gardens, and encourage ride-sharing services to reduce traffic congestion and emissions.
3. How should North Cowichan be dealing with social issues, particularly the social disorder in the highway corridor area?
When putting together an in depth community safety plan, there needs to be set bylaws in place.
For instance, no loitering, no soliciting, no open drug use unless in a harm-reduction site, and no blocking of sidewalks or streets.
Also by expanding the workforce of bylaw officers and hours, placing them on foot and bikes in the highway corridor area, and near schools and public parks.
4. What should North Cowichan do to see more affordable housing provided in the municipality?
That would be accomplished by speeding up the permitting process, offering a one year tax break for affordable housing, and supporting higher density buildings and mixed-use developments.
5. What would you like to see done to keep property tax increases as low as possible?
The only way to stop the increase in property taxes is to create more revenue and stop the unnecessary spending.
One way of creating revenue would be to explore the municipal forest reserve, which spans more than 5,000 hectares in North Cowichan.
It’s a publicly owned working forest, and it has the potential to be a real source of sustainable revenue for our community.
Without exploring these options or making it more attractive for businesses and developers to come here and contribute to our taxes, we will be on an upward climb that will push more and more people to not being able to even afford their property taxes, let alone all the other rising costs associated in just every day life.
