I hope everybody has had a good summer. Once again, the road to Tahsis started the summer in good condition but was allowed to deteriorate to a dangerous state that is always harmful to our economy as it is the chief deterrent to tourism. There have also been a few accidents this summer. We have always heard the same excuses as to why it isn't maintained regularly: too dry, too wet. We know that dry roads can be graded in concert with water trucks. This has been done in the past, but the contractor is unwilling to do this. I have said it before, but maintaining roads for profit is a failed model and will never lead to maintenance levels that we used to enjoy before it was passed to the private sector. The Union of BC Municipalities Convention is coming up in September, a time to meet with provincial ministers and ministries regarding our local issues. We have once again been turned down by the Minister of Transportation and Transit for a direct meeting. At the last Strathcona Regional District meeting I brought forward a motion for the SRD board to provide support in advocating for a direct meeting with Minister Farnworth; it passed unanimously. This is not necessarily tied to UBCM and is in fact a better option in my opinion, given our poor history there in regard to road advocacy. If this works, I believe our best strategy is to use the history of this road and its politics, along with the growth in tourism and other economic activity to advocate for full sealcoating and other improvements. I personally spent $1000 last week replacing a spring and shocks due to pothole damages.
As an update to our wharf plan, the revised tender is going out to rebuild our boat launch to the proper grade and to build a launch float beside it.
Our old airplane dock was recently closed due to safety concerns. Repairs will be quite expensive and we will be meeting soon to discuss our options. In the meantime, it is fenced off. Please do not attempt to use it as we don’t want anybody getting hurt or worse.
The museum rebuild is proceeding with replacement of rotted sections, strengthening foundations, replacing wiring and plumbing, new windows and interior renovations. It will be reopening next year with new displays that will include first nation history, mill history, natural history and an expanded display of the unique cave resources of the region.
It’s pleasing to see the uptick in tourism in our area as it expands beyond sport fishing to include growth in cycle tours, kayaking and hiking, primarily of the Nootka Trail. Water taxi use is expanding rapidly with more boats entering service. While US tourism may have decreased due to political instability south of the border, we have seen a flood of European and Canadian tourism to Tahsis. The opening of new meal services provide more choice and are popular new additions to our community.
Last week I attended the ceremonies in Gold River around the launch of the 'Explore Nootka' water taxi, a recent acquisition of Mowachaht Muchalat First Nation. It will be used to provide direct access for MMFN members to Yuquot and other communities in the region. It was good to meet again with Chiefs Maquinna and Jack and to keep those paths of communication open. The MMFN have recently begun land claim negotiations over their traditional territory. This will not impact municipalities or privately held lands.
A boardwalk has been built on the south side of Malaspina Lake, with a small landing platform to be built soon. A composting toilet is also under construction nearby.
Our wastewater upgrade project is nearing completion but there are still a few bugs in the system that need working out. One interesting finding is that decommissioning the north plant produced a massive amount of wetwipes which caused huge problems for the plants and prevented their proper function. They were removed and landfilled. Now we can extract wetwipes before treatment. It’s notable that wetwipes generate 1-2 garbage cans full every day, which public works has to landfill. This takes them away from doing other work and increases costs. Wetwipes are garbage; they are not recyclable or biodegradable. They should be banned or redesigned to be biodegradable as this is a problem wherever they are sold. The city of London, UK is currently removing an 'island' of wetwipes from the Thames River!
One more item of note: starting last year I participated in a radon detection program, as part of a national study. I placed it in my basement and it showed radon gas there to be almost double the safe limit. This is a common problem and there are ventilation strategies to mitigate it. It can cause lung cancer over time.
