April 7 Council In Focus

Packed agenda covered a lot of ground

The April 7 Council meeting arrived with a jam-packed agenda containing more than 350 pages of reading for interested residents.

Council members were all present in person, and the agenda was quickly adopted.

Mayor Ken Berry, reporting from an earlier closed session, said that Council had discussed and agreed upon the costs and details of the awarding of a contract. He did not specify the nature of the agreement or whom the contract was with, however he said the information would be made public in the coming weeks.

Valeriote Makes Appearance

In the delegation section of the evening, Member of the Legislative Assembly for West Vancouver — Sea to Sky Jeremy Valeriote provided a brief general update to Council about developments in the region and at the BC Legislature. He was accompanied by Constituency Lead Jatinder Sidhu and a pair of interns.

He addressed the February withdrawal of Green Party support from their cooperation agreement with the sitting NDP government, citing what he called an "unimpressive" showing on the promises made to work together. In spite of the slow movement toward improved regional bus transit, he said the Transportation Minister says he is still committed, and that Sea to Sky residents should "stay tuned".

Valeriote said that he and MP Patrick Weiler continue to explore the possibility of a private-sector solution to CN Rail's upcoming "discontinuance" of the rail line running through the Sea to Sky corridor. He added that while he is also continuing to lobby for improvements to Squamish General Hospital, improved emergency management and highway safety, anything that costs money is being shelved by what he termed Premier David Eby's "hidden austerity" budget. He said this was part of the reason his party couldn't gain any traction with the cooperation agreement.

Valeriote fielded a number of questions provided by Berry on behalf of Council, noting that he would respond more fully in a letter later in the month.

Berry said he was looking for Valeriote's advocacy to improve communication between the various government agencies to support of small communities during a crisis.

Valeriote said he would support Councillor Neville Abbott's initiative with regard to the provision of portable drinking water units for small community use in an emergency, and said he was happy to advocate for Lions Bay in such matters as the possible repurposing of the gravel pit for parking or housing. He also expressed interest in attending the discussion among municipal and First Nations leaders along the Sea to Sky corridor that was proposed in March by Councillor Jaime Cunliffe.

Questions from residents included protections for fee-simple ownership, and whether any thought was being given to highway upgrades in light of the intensive development along the Sea to Sky.

At the end of the Q&A session, Berry thanked Valeriote for attending, and called a brief recess.

Public Participation, Questions & Comments

Long-time resident Tamara Legere offered some background for the history of the Lions Bay House Concerts, and made a request for in-kind and cash support for the series.

Sunset Drive resident Val Morton addressed the derelict state of the property at 115 Mountain Drive. She said the property has been under construction and in a state of disrepair for years, with garbage including wild animal attractants, plastic and a discarded mattress strewn about behind a broken fence. She asked about the possibility of creating a bylaw to limit the length of time a disposal bin can be left on a property.

Mountain and Sunset Drive neighbours Tony Strong (a Lions Bay resident of 53 years) and Judith Jordan each spoke in support of Morton's concerns. Strong said he felt enforcement would be difficult if the homeowner had run out of money to continue building.

Jordan asked if bylaws are regularly reviewed for relevance, and how the consequences of not following bylaws are enforced. Blackwell assured her that the Village's aging bylaws have been noted by Council, and that staff are working to bring forward updates.

Kelvin Grove resident Vincent Reiche raised a question about the recent appearance of a secondary access to a nearby property. He was instructed to visit the Village Office for more information.

Bylaw amendments

• Zoning: Staff were directed to schedule and facilitate a public hearing in accordance with the Local Government Act on changes to zoning and lot sizes.

  
  

• Alternative Means of Publication: Deputy Corporate Officer Kristal Kenna presented the bylaw seeking alternative means of publication for legally required notices for third reading. Kenna noted that this reading specified using the Village Facebook page, and the Village Update. Councillor Neville Abbott spoke in defence of a mail drop as a third possibility. The motion passed.

  
  

• Water Use Bylaws [No. 385, 2006]: Kenna said that the existing Water Use bylaw (from 2006) was given third reading in 2025, but has since been undermined by the new building bylaw, and requires re-wording. The newly-worded bylaw was successfully given third reading.

Staff Reports

• Director of Operations Eric Villeneuve presented a report outlining various options for Parking Demand Management (page 114). Chief Administrative Officer Ross Blackwell asked Council to review the options and choose those they would like staff to further investigate.

  The approved options included:

  • An investigation of existing towing and enforcement practices, and a look at the possibility of other means of enhanced enforcement such as increased towing and booting of vehicles.

  • Exploring possible use of the gravel pit for parking. Berry noted that Mayor Mark Sager said that West Vancouver managed to gain some temporary parking in one of their municipality's gravel pits.

  • An examination and possible adjustment of the parking fee system.

The declined options included:

• Discussion with the school district about monetizing the school parking lot.

• An investigation into increasing transit options for hikers.

• An exploration of a reservation system, which it was decided was too complex to explore at present.

• Increasing the number of parking spots.

• Municipal Accountant Karen Jeffery presented a report regarding the Grant in Aid Applications (page 121). The total value of support requested was just under $24,000, with $18,500 in cash requests, along with $5,500 of in-kind support.

• Blackwell presented a summary of the results of the recent online Citizen Satisfaction Survey (page 178) to Council members for information. After discussion, Abbott suggested a COW meeting to do a deeper dive into the material, and that decision passed.

  
  

Mayor and Council Reports

• Councillor Ron McLaughlin made a recommendation (page 276) that Council follow up on the undertaking of a review of the facility user fees, which was approved.

• McLaughlin also recommended a CAO Review Hand-Off (page 278) in accordance with 2026 being a municipal election year. He recommended that the CAO review be completed by Council prior to the closed Council meeting on July 7, and, a review with the CAO be scheduled for the July 21 closed meeting. Discussion was focused around the length of time and cost of the most recent review, completed in February, but it was decided to approve this as a less-formal review, to pass to the incoming Council.

• Blackwell noted that he had set up a placeholder to allow for reports from Bear Working Group meetings, which are held once or twice a year and include the Conservation Officer. Abbott is the facilitator for the group, but did not report as there had not been a recent meeting. Blackwell said the Conservation Officer has agreed to come to meet Council at a future date.

  
  

Emergency Services

Fire Rescue Dispatch Report (included with correspondence on page 288 and 346):

In February, Lions Bay Fire Rescue (LBFR) attended nine incidents, with 11 uses of apparatus and 66 members attending. Average turn-out time for the month was 6:23, average travel time was 20:31 and the average time on scene was 66:45.

In March, LBFR attended eight incidents, with 11 uses of apparatus and 45 members attending. Average turn-out time for the month was 8:29, average travel time was 3:50 and the average time on scene was 59.41.

Correspondence

Public correspondence (beginning on page 280) opened with a letter from Lisa Gyrokos from the Town of Spallumcheen regarding a UBCM resolution on natural gas policies.

Others included:

• Prince George Mayor Simon Yu regarding public safety measures (page 287).

• Kim Haakstad, President & CEO, BC Council of Forest Industries, regarding the forest sector (page 292).

• Abbotsford Mayor Ross Siemens, seeking support for UBCM resolutions (page 301).

• Duncan Malkinson, Corporate Officer of the Village of Pouce Coupe, regarding transparency in negotiations for Indigenous land title (page 303).

• View Royal's Mayor Sid Tobias, regarding Provincial Housing Legislation (page 306) .

• Assistant Commander John Brewer of the BC RCMP regarding increased police presence during this year's FIFA championships (page 309).

• Tracey Saxby of MySeaToSky, regarding the amended FortisBC application for waste discharge into Howe Sound (page 311).

• CN Rail regarding rail line vegetation management (page 343).

  
  

The only correspondence from a local resident was a letter from Arlene Halstrom regarding the Fortis BC effluent discharge (page 351).

New Business

Harking back to a question asked by Kelvin Grove resident Vincent Reich earlier in the proceedings, Abbott put forward a motion seeking more information about a temporary access road that has been set up to facilitate construction in Kelvin Grove.

A heated discussion among Council members flared around whether the property was being subdivided. Blackwell offered an explanation of the process, said that such decisions were to remain in the hands of staff, and that it is illegal for Council members to interfere with the subdivision decision-making process.

Blackwell said that when Councillors are addressed by residents about the status of such on-going projects, he recommends directing all enquiries to staff.

After further discussion, a suggestion from McLaughlin to table Abbott's motion to the next meeting was approved.

Other Items of Note

• Minutes from the regular Council meeting on March 3 were approved without changes, and the minutes for March 17 were approved with a minor change.

• Action Items Log (page 113).

  • With regard to the Fleet Electrification Study update, Villeneuve said he has engaged a grant-writing consultant to move forward with the project.

  • Villeneuve said that noise sensors for the highway have been ordered, and have an 8-10 week lead-time, He has connected with the street light contractor who will install the sensors.

• Organizer Tamara Leger was granted a relaxation of the noise bylaw for Lions Bay House Concerts held at the Village Hall between the hours of 8 — 11:00 p.m. for the rest of 2026.

• In the Public Comment session at the end of the evening, resident Dierdre Bain asked when Utilities bills are expected. Kenna said they typically arrive in April or May.

The next regular meeting of Council is scheduled for April 21, with the open portion of the meeting beginning at 7 p.m.

The Watershed welcomes your thoughts.

Leave your comments below,

or email us at editor@lionsbaywatershed.ca 

Like what you're reading?

For as little as $5/month, you can support local independent journalism

by subscribing to The Watershed HERE.