ISLANDERS SECURE LAND ASSOCIATION (ISLA)
Directors Meeting
September 11, 2006 Community Health Care Building, Hornby Island
Present: Jan Bevan, Tony Law, Scott Sweeney, Michelle St.Pierre, Kevin McMahon,
Regrets: Michael McNamara, Rian deSilva, Ian Thomson, Laura Busheiken, Veronica
Graham
Chair: Jan Bevan
Minute-taker: Tony Law
M I N U T E S
1. Call to order
The meeting was called to order at 12:15pm.
2. Minutes of the previous meeting
It was agreed to defer consideration of minutes to the next meeting.
3. Correspondence
A letter was received from the Hornby Island Community Fund stating that ISLA will receive $1,500 from the fund. Michelle, on behalf of ISLA, had requested $1,000.
A letter was received from the Citizens Bank offering a funding opportunity. This is limited to registered charities. (Michael McNamara will follow up regarding the potential for a future application once ISLA has received registered charitable status>)
4. Reports
a) Executive Committee
Jan reported that the Executive Committee had met on 23 August. The Committee had discussed the Islands Trust Staff Report on the Weiss application, the Community Fund, the Citizens Bank opportunity, Crown land, and the Denman north lands
b) Fundraising Committee
Michelle and Kevin reported that, in addition to the $1,500 received from the Community Fund, about $500 had been raised at the recent Coffee House.
The directors expressed their strong appreciation for the work of Michelle and Kevin in organizing the coffee house and to all others who had contributed to its success.
There was discussion of a proposal to request that local businesses and real estate agents be requested to donate a percentage of takings to ISLA. Contributers would be acknowledged in ISLA material. It was noted that a number of issues would need to be addressed and that the timing would have to be right.
c) Other Committees
The other committees had not met over the summer.
5. BUSINESS
a) Fall Fair
Tony assumed the chair and Jan did not participate in discussion of the following item.
M/S/C Scott/Michelle - That ISLA apply to the Fall Fair Committee to be recipient of raffle proceeds.
Michelle and Kevin will ensure that a letter making this request will be delivered to the Fall Fair Committee.
Jan re-assumed the chair.
b) Appointment of Board Member
It was noted that a letter of resignation had been received from Eleanor Kneffel and that Paddy O'Connell has agreed to join the Board.
M/S/C Scott/Michelle – That Paddy O'Connell be appointed as a Director of ISLA.
c) Membership
Jan reported that Darlene had suggested that the membership function be transferred to the Fundraising Committee. Kevin agreed to take on administration of the membership data base and will send out letters to acknowledge receipt of each new membership. The Outreach Committee will continue to set up opportunities for soliciting memberships.
6. NEW BUSINESS
a) HICEEC
Tony, speaking in his capacity as ED for HICEEC, stated that the HICEEC Board has approved a work program including housing as a priority issue. This will enable Tony to provide organizational support to ISLA. Tony reported on his meeting with Henry Kamphof, Executive Director of the Capital Region Housing Authority, and on the proposal for a conference on Housing Solutions for small and rural communities.
b) Organizational capacity
There was discussion about the organizational capacity of HICEEC, noting the high community expectations for the organization, the work to be accomplished and the generally low attendance at Board meetings. The question was raised about whether there is a need to draw more people in. It was suggested that there could be more interest and involvement once there is a definite project happening.
One suggestion was to see if a “walk-about” for directors could be arranged on the land proposed for donation by Bernard and Christa Weiss. Michael will be asked to approach them to see if this would be possible. This could lead to identification of issues that ISLA needs to begin working on.
It was also suggested that the Land Use and Projects Committees be combined into one committee for now (and possibly also the Research and Legal Committees could also be combined).
c) Weiss property
Islands Trust planner David Marlor has provided the Hornby Island Local Trust Committee with a preliminary staff report on the application. The LTC has referred this to the Advisory Planning Commission for comment. The APC meeting is held in public and ISLA may want to provide input.
David Marlor has also suggested that the LTC instruct staff to arrange a community information meeting at which the applicant and staff will present information and receive feedback. ISLA should be prepared to participate in such a meeting.
Tony will set up a Projects Committee meeting and will find out when the APC and community information meetings will be held.
d) North Denman Lands
Tony reported that the proponents will likely be looking to community groups such as ISLA to be involved in looking at potential uses for the community managed lands that will be designated in the proposal. ISLA will have to consider how it wants to participate in this process.
d) Fall Fair
There is an opportunity to have a table at the Hornby Fall Fair. Scott will organize this and Tony will assist.
e) Articles
Board members indicated appreciation for the articles in the First Edition and the Flagstone. Tony suggested that it would be good to have other members writing articles. Scott agreed to put together the next article and Tony offered to provide assistance.
f) OUR Ecovillage
Jan provided an overview of her visit to OUR Ecovillage at Shawnigan Lake, noting that the people involved were gaining valuable experience in dealing with the community consultation and regulatory issues involved in this kind of unusual mixed-use proposal. They also have had success in accessing funding.
7. NEXT MEETING
The next meeting was scheduled for October 13 at 1pm on Denman Island. Paddy will be asked to see if the Community School is available.
8. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 3:00pm