Parksville council declined to forward a resolution to the upcoming UBCM convention that would have called on the provincial government to establish a framework for local watershed governance boards, along with the necessary funding.
The motion by Coun. Amit Gaur aimed to have local governments collaborate with First Nations and others involved with local watershed management to improve governance, increase resilience and ensure sustainable water management.
“We are telling the province, it’s your resource that we manage, and you’re asking us to build all this density and all this," Gaur said during council's June 2 meeting. "We want you to be present with monies attached to it for the development and the operation of these watershed boards.”
Gaur's motion recognized that many communities in B.C. are facing challenges such as multi-year droughts, floods and wildfires. He brought an altered version to council, after it was initially deferred during the May 21 meeting.
Coun. Sean Wood pointed out Parksville taxpayers already help fund a “regionally respected drinking water and watershed protection technical advisory committee” through the Regional District of Nanaimo.
The RDN's Drinking Water and Watershed Protection technical advisory committee brings together hydrologists, engineers, biologists, local government staff and First Nations representatives, he added.
“If and when there are concerns, the more expedient and effective process would be for a councillor to appear as a delegation to the technical advisory committee, bringing forward verifiable information,” Wood said.
Mayor Doug O'Brien added that the DWWP conducts studies and hosts delegations "that exceed any other provincial requirements that are already out there, or should be out there”.
The DWWP serves in an advisory capacity only, according to Gaur.
“It has no governance attached to it. It has no formal way of advocating for the watershed regions together," he added. "There is no way for them to hold the province to account — when a watershed board will have provincial representation.”
Coun. Joel Grenz said he has received “quite a few" emails that indicated the public was misinformed on what the resolution was meant to accomplish.
“I’ve heard very, very strongly that the community sees this motion as a way to stop development in Parksville,” he said. "The emails I’ve received are conflating what people in the community perceive as too much housing being built in our community, with this particular resolution.”
Gaur said his resolution is not meant to stop development.
“I cannot really control what the perception is out in the community,” he added. “I just want to make sure we are responsible with water governance in Oceanside”.
O'Brien suggested Gaur could withdraw his motion and council could look at it again once a nearly-complete comprehensive water study is done.
“This report is going to be huge, folks. It’s going to have everything in it that we’ve all asked for, for our particular region,” he said.
A preliminary presentation will be given to council on June 16, according to chief administrative officer Keeva Kehler.
Council voted against the motion, with Gaur and Coun. Mary Beil in support and Coun. Adam Fras, Grenz, Coun. Sylvia Martin, O'Brien and Wood opposed.
