SCCA ENews: Reed Road Forest, Gospel Rock Covenant, and SCCA AGM June 25th.

SCCA NEWS

Virtual Annual General Meeting - June 25th
We hope you can join our SCCA team for our very first online AGM! We considered postponing until we might be able to enjoy getting together in person, but we've missed connecting with our members, and like many of you, we're becoming much more tech-savvy these days. So we're excited to extend the invitation for you to join us for our AGM meeting over Zoom.

When: Thursday, June 25th from 5 to 6 pm.
Where: Online through Zoom! See invite and details below.

Join us to learn what we've been up to since we last met, what we're currently working on and what initiatives we're looking forward to advancing over the coming year. Find out about the many ways you can get involved and support our work to preserve the biodiversity of the Sunshine Coast! See the agenda here.

Membership & Voting: if you were a member in 2019 and would like to have voting privileges at the AGM, please follow this link to renew your membership in advance of the AGM.
NEW members must be in good standing for at least 90 days before the AGM to have voting privileges. To find out your membership status, contact Sarah at: membership@thescca.ca.

Interested in joining the Board? We would love to attract some new Board members to our team, and in particular, we're interested in recruiting a youth director (really, anyone under 30! ;), and are keen to include greater diversity. Contact Naomi, our Program Manager, if you'd like to learn more about joining our team: office@thescca.ca.

Help with Zoom: if you haven't used Zoom yet - never fear, we're here to help! Check out this handy introductory video, and if you still have questions, contact Naomi at the email above and she'll walk you through getting set up.
You can choose to download Zoom and use the application, or simply follow the invitation link to join the meeting through your web browser. You can also call in to join the meeting over the phone.
We highly recommend that you plan to join the meeting at least 5 - 10 minutes before we start so that you can adjust your settings and ensure everything is working well.
Note that you do not have to be on video if you don't want to or don't have a camera on your computer.

The SCCA has worked in partnership with the Friends of Gospel Rock Society (FOGRS) to secure protection of ecologically rare and sensitive lands in the Gospel Rock Neighbour Area since 2004. In 2013, The Town of Gibsons adopted the Gospel Rock Neighbourhood Plan, which outlined its commitment to protect over 47% of Block 7, a 44-acre privately owned parcel on Gospel Rock, as a combination of Greenspace and Park. ‘Little Africa’, the ‘Cross Rock’, the forested slopes down to Gower Point Road and the entire waterfront on Block 7 are to be protected.

In 2018, the SCCA engaged the (new) Block 7 property owner and partnered with The Land Conservancy (TLC) to secure a legal covenant over the proposed conservation area. We worked to create a draft covenant agreement and expected to reach agreement in 2019 but things stalled with the Town of Gibsons.

In recent months the SCCA learned that the Town staff wants to build a multi-use transportation trail through the fragile conservation area as they believe it is required in the 2018 Development Agreement. The SCCA and the property owner were working on the basis that the original Development Agreement trail map was a draft rather than a mandate. The SCCA has always advocated for low-impact pedestrian access on Gospel Rock and the 2019 draft covenant agreement would allow this. The SCCA supports development of a boardwalk trail on the waterside of the road and implementation of traffic calming measures to ensure cyclist safety through this scenic area. We cannot support a multi-use trail through the covenant area.

The SCCA appeared as a delegation to the Town on May 5, 2020 to initiate dialogue with Gibsons Council on this issue. We are asking Council to amend a 2018 development agreement signed with the property owner to clarify that all trails through the covenant area will be low-impact and pedestrian access only.

Click here for our submission to the Town of Gibsons, and check out the Council meeting video below to see our team in action.