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Love it! Share it! Protect it! says Shawnigan Lake candidate Sierra Acton in re-election bid

Water and housing are extremely important for our area

Sierra Acton is running for the Area B (Shawnigan Lake) director’s seat at the CVRD.

Love it! Share it! Protect it!

It has been an honour to represent the community of Shawnigan Lake for the last year. As your area director I have learned a lot. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to represent Shawnigan Lake again, if re-elected on Oct. 20. A successful director strives to build community, create consensus and hear both sides of the story. It is a great role and I am a creative entrepreneurial thinker with a “can do” attitude.

Our community misses out on many opportunities due to the fact that the 100,000 tones of contaminated fill still sits at the top of our watershed; it has to be removed. I have built an excellent working relationship with the Ministry of Environment staff, our Shawnigan Research Group and our MLA (and mentor.) This ongoing issue is a priority for me. I am also concerned with supporting the preservation of our natural areas while thoughtfully developing our village, so the community can live and work locally.

Not only have I learned a lot about myself and the community, I have also learned that nothing gets done without funding. In order to have funding come back to our community, CVRD board approval is required. Around the board table I have been your voice. I have demonstrated and earned the respect of the board which has resulted in bringing home funding to our community. Despite the challenges associated with non-regional functions, we were able to have an illegal garbage dumping campaign, $175,000 of regional support for our community centre and a professional plan for managing the milfoil. In addition, through ongoing work with Economic Development Cowichan we will receive support and funding for signage to support our village and local businesses in 2018-19. I have also just initiated a new policy framework for amenity contributions, to remove the subjectivity and improve the outcome for the community during a rezoning (more to come on that.) I am also awaiting a review of extending the time between committee meetings and final decisions at the board in consideration of a longer public input time period to help improve transparency.

Like you, I have just one vote for the referendum questions. Water and housing are extremely important for our area and the region. I know the people of Shawnigan care about each other, our local environment and the ability to have safe affordable housing for children, youth, families and seniors. Currently it is very difficult for youth and aging seniors to stay in Shawnigan Lake if they want smaller, more affordable housing. With this in mind, I have also started a conversation on our zoning and bylaws in support of the housing crisis. I look forward to additional conversations on how electoral areas can play a role in creating the housing stock we need in our community by reviewing and modernizing some of our bylaws and zoning. If elected, I would like to start the modernization of our bylaws so that they reflect the way we want to live now versus 20 years ago.

I have built significant momentum on a number of key issues and I hope I will be given the opportunity to continue with these initiatives and more over the next four years. On Oct. 20, vote for SIERRA ACTON.

Please get informed on the referendum questions; www.cvrd.bc.ca/drinkingwater & www.cvrd.bc.ca/housing

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Sierra Acton