How the Pender Islands Conservancy Was Born
Various green space issues had been brewing for some time on North and South Fender Islands and many people had talked amongst themselves, wondering what could be done in a positive way to preserve some of the special places on the islands. The Galiano Conservancy Association had been formed and had successfully completed land conservation campaigns. Some of us started to wonder why there wasn't a Pender Islands Conservancy.
A long-overdue review of the Official Community Plan for North Fender was underway. The Trustees at the time were Bob Allison and Phil Clark. Subcommittees, chaired by APC members, were established to deal with Transportation and Highways, Water Supply, Home Occupations, Commercial/Industrial Activity (including Tourism), Agriculture, Forest and Woodlot, Marine Resources, Residential and Community Social Services. Questions about the future of the Fenders were in the air.
The community learned that the Magic Lake Estates Local Services Committee (Water and Sewer) Committee intended to sell a beautifully treed 4.67 acre piece of land (Remainder) at the SW corner of Ketch and Sailor Roads to help defray sewer costs. A public debate began, ending with a referendum vote being sent out to Magic Lake properly owners. After much debate, the property was preserved for green space. This one incident was the lightning rod which galvanized concerned residents in Magic Lake to save this green space.
These people from Magic Lake, together with residents from other areas of the Fenders, went on to do the groundwork needed to form a conservancy. The time was right; the community recognized a need for such an association and people were willing and able to do the work. Thus the Fender Islands Conservancy Association was born.
Some of the submissions found in issues of The Pender Post in 1992 help tell the story.
Letter to the Editor The Pender Post March 1992
A good beginning has been made toward creating a land conservancy society on Pender Island. Two meetings, each of upwards of thirty people, have discussed the pros and cons and representatives of the Galiano Conservancy Society have visited us to give us their suggestions and the benefit of their experience. A further meeting will be held on Saturday, 29 February 10 a.m. at Angus McMonnies' home on Clam Bay Road. Please attend if you are interested,
We hope we are making some progress in preventing the sale of the 4-acre parcel in Magic Lake by the Water and Sewer Committee of the CRD. Unless there is strong opposition to the sale of this green space, originally planned as park, it will be sold for residential housing and lost to us forever.
Chuck Harris
Report from Magic Lake Estates Local Services Committee (formerly the M. L. E. Water and Sewer Committee), March 1992 in The Pender Post
Proposed Sale of Property at Ketch and Sailor Roads
Because the proposed sale of the 4.67 acre parcel on the SW comer of Ketch and Sailor Roads has raised many concerns, members of the Local Services Committee are meeting with members of the Magic Lake Property Owners Society Executive to discuss the situation.
Respectfully yours, Doreen Ball
Notice in The Pender Post April 1992
All North and South Pender Islanders are invited to attend a public meeting at the Community Hall on Saturday April 4 at 10:00 am. A member of the Galiano Conservancy Association will speak at the meeting. We need your support if we are to form a conservancy association on the Fenders. Let us work together to preserve our threatened green spaces and do our bit to enhance the quiet rural atmosphere of these Islands. Remember 10 am!
C.Harris
Letter to the Editor The Pender Post April 1992
Many years ago on my first visit to Pender Island, I travelled along a beautiful fern-lined trail which has since been closed to the public. Some twenty years ago, when my sister first enjoyed the natural splendour of Pender Island, she hiked a spectacular trail through the forest with the azure water of Bedwell Harbour below her. Her experience, too, is no longer available to Islanders or visitors. One by one, the secluded beach spots or special forest walks we have sought when we wanted to enjoy unfettered nature are disappearing.
Some of us have been somewhat complacently sitting back, "doing our thing", and enjoying our island paradise, while quietly bemoaning each advent of "progress" which is thrust upon us. Many of us are somewhat bewildered by the machinations of commissions and committees, or are afraid to attend meetings because we don't think our opinions are important.
We on the Penders are now at a very crucial stage in our development as a community. I believe it is time for us to begin to think globally, and to work together as Pender Islanders, not as residents of one particular area, or as members of one group; we are people who together live on two small and vulnerable islands. In the Magic Lake subdivision of more than 1200 lots, only slightly more than half are now developed. Our forecast is that our population will rise to 5000 in 15 years. What will our community be like in 15 years? Do we care!?
The future of the Pender Islands is now up for grabs. How can we become involved and have our say?
The Advisory Planning Commission together with the Islands Trustees have embarked on a review of the Official Community Plan for North Pender which is a very important document. Concerns which will impact on all of us are being discussed. So far, our lack of attendance at various meetings has shown them that we do not care what happens here. They want and need our support and opinions.
Efforts are being made to establish a Pender Island Land Conservancy which will raise money to purchase land for community use. The Government or anybody else will not do this for us. If you believe that sonic of the special places on the Penders should be kept for public use, attend the public meeting on Saturday April 4 at the Community Hall. This Land Conservancy will be launched only if strong community support (i.e. attendance) is shown for it.
On May 9, at 10 am at the Legion, the Magic Lake Water and Sewer Committee will be meeting with owners of property in the Magic Lake area to discuss the future of a 4.4 acre parcel of land. Do the people of Magic Lake Estates wish to keep the land as green space for public use, or do they wish to sell it? It will be sold unless the community attends the meeting and directs the committee to do otherwise.
The Trustees of North and South Pender Island and their Advisory Planning Commission members, and other groups, have been working hard on our behalf to preserve the treasured rural qualities of our community.
Now is the time for the rest of us to leave our easy chairs or our gardens for a few valuable hours to lend a hand. I hope that you care enough about our community to decide to become involved in some way to help shape the future of North and South Pender Islands.
Doreen Ball
May 1992 The Pender Post
Pender Islands Conservancy Report
Strong community support has given the go-ahead for the formation of a community-based conservancy.
An enthusiastic crowd at the April 4th public meeting indicated their readiness to contribute time, talent and treasure to this endeavour.
Accordingly, the inaugural annual general meeting will take place at the Legion Hall on Saturday, May 2nd at 10 am. Ten dollar memberships will be available at the door. Items on the agenda include election of directors, constitution, formation of committees, and policy direction.
Here is your opportunity to be present at the birth of an island organization dedicated to the preservation and wise stewardship of our environment. If you wish to become involved but cannot attend the meeting, please complete and mail the form on page 45.
No name given.
June 1992 The Pender Post
Magic Lake Property Owners Society
There have been a number of suggestions coming out of our Magic Lake community, in recent months, that THIS Society, and THIS Board, should become more involved in a broader range of matters impacting our properties and our life-style, here in Magic Lake Estates. In other words, that this Society and this Board should become the vehicle to influence local events or changes. I would like to think and I do believe, that we try to do these things, in as much as our time, our resources and our abilities permit. Can we do more? I suppose we can, and we who work to represent your interests agree there are two ways this GROWING community might assist in this perceived direction.
Lance Butler went on to encourage everyone to join MLPOS and to serve on the Board of Directors.
Half Page Ad May 1992 The Pender Post
The text of the ad reads:
Public
Meeting
Magic
Lake Property Owners
Saturday
9th May 1992
10
am Legion Hall
The
Water & Sewer Committee needs your
input.
Should a 4.4 acre parcel be sold
to
defray sewer & water costs or
should
it be kept as green space?
Come and express your opinion.
For
further info:
D.
Ball 629-6392. E. Donahue - 6416
May 1992 The Pender Post page 45
Survey Of Public Support
Address: _____________________ Name(s): ____________
Telephone: (Home) ____________ (Business): ____________
I support a land conservancy on Pender and want to help in these ways by:
1. Being a dues paying member
2. Helping to set up an information library.
3. Helping with the telephone committee.
4. Helping with fund raising.
5. Helping with publicity.
6. Doing research.
7. Donating a service or item for an auction, specify: ____________
8. Donating additional money.
9. Donating land.
10. Other: __________
Please return completed forms to Mary Reher. R.R. I, Pender Island, VON 2MO
TOGETHER WE CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT.
June 1992 The Pender Post
Reports
Summary of the meeting for the magic lake property owners and the magic Lake local services committee to discuss the proposed sale of a piece of Land. Forty-five (45) property owners from the Magic Lake area attended a meeting on May 9 to discuss the fate of a 4.67 acre parcel of land at the corner of Ketch and Sailor Roads. The Chairman of the Local Services Committee (formerly the Water and Sewer committee) outlined the reasons behind the decision to sell this property. Three years ago, the members of the committee decided to sell this property in order to help defray water and sewer repair costs. When the meeting was opened for questions and discussion, an overwhelming majority of residents attending the meeting voiced opposition to the sale of this parcel in the form of a motion that no further action toward the sale of the Ketch and Sailor 4.67 parcel be taken (I opposed) until the Annual General Meeting of the Magic Lake Property Owners Society to which non-member property owners will be invited.
Some of the concerns raised were:
- When the Magic Lake subdivision was marketed, parcels including this one were identified as park land, and the cost of the parkland had, at that time, been factored into the lot prices. Therefore, people questioned, why were we being asked to buy a piece of land that we had already paid for?
- With Magic Lake Estates being such a densely populated area and with the recent increase in the number of lots developed, we need to preserve any community land we can, rather than to sell it for development.
- Once greenspace is sold, it is almost impossible to get it back,
- Two issues were involved here, community land use and sewer and water repairs. Other parcels such as the disc park and the ball diamond had been transferred to the Parks Commission with no price tag attached; why was there a cost assigned to this piece of land?
- The local services committee advised that a referendum on this question was being mailed with the May water bills to all property owners. A motion to stop any referendum going out with the water bill was passed. (2 opposed) The consensus was that property owners were being asked to answer a question without having been given sufficient information to allow them to make an informed decision.
The strong message from those in attendance at this meeting was that water and sewer capital projects should not be financed through the sale of community land. At the same time, the property owners present were appreciative of the work being done by the Water and Sewer Committee members and were pleased that this meeting had provided members of the community a chance to ask questions, become informed, and to express opinions.
Peter Kappele
September 1992 The Pender Post
Pender Islands Conservancy Association Auction
The Hope Bay Store sprang to life on August 2nd, as Fender Islanders and visitors gathered for the Conservancy Association's first fund raiser, a Time, Talent and Treasure Auction. Five enthusiastic auctioneers coaxed members of the crowd to part with over $6,000 as almost 100 items were bid on. Thanks to Ellie. Bob, Christa, Brent and Bill for taking on a difficult task and for doing it with such flair, and thanks to Ellie & Alan White for cmceeing the afternoon for us.
We
were totally unprepared for the wonderful response to our request for
donations. A grateful thanks to all
those donors who made the auction both interesting and possible. Due
to lack of space, names cannot be listed.
Many people helped with the planning, advertising, organizing, and orchestration of the auction. Thanks to all of you who readily dug in when help was needed. Thanks especially to Judy and Jacquie.
We especially appreciated Bob and Carol George for giving us the splendid venue at Hope Bay. It somehow seemed so appropriate to have the auction there, and it was wonderful to see so many people in and around the store again,
And finally, thanks to all you who came to be a part of the auction and bid on the treasures, talents, or time. It is this kind of community effort that makes Pender such a special place in which to live. More of this kind of effort will be needed to ensure that the Conservancy Association will fulfil the hopes and expectations that so many of us have for it.
Doreen Ball
October 1992 The Pender Post
Pender Islands Conservancy Association
The logo competition was won by Pamela Williams, for this attractive design.
The artist based the design on a photograph of an owl which stayed with her for a few days.
Typography for the design was by Neville Avison using the computer program Corel Draw.
The Medicine Beach campaign started not long after this. I'll try to finish this history at a later date.
(Lily, on a personal note, I had forgotten a lot of this, but two things that did help a lot were that I was on the Water and Sewer Committee (so I knew what was going on) and Ellie Donahue was the President of the Magic Lake Property Owners' Society. Ellie worked very hard on the campaign. It was a bit of a struggle because many of the members on the boards of the two groups were not in favour of saving the Sailor/Ketch lot for greenspace but in the end, the larger community prevailed.)
Pender Islands Trust Protection Society
Tribute to Margaret Griffiths
I have been asked by the Pender Islands Trust Protection Society to write a tribute honouring Margaret Griffiths. Those of you here today know what Margaret contributed to Galiano Island. My goal in this tribute is to let you know how the ripples caused by the pebbles that Margaret and her colleagues dropped into the Salish Sea made their way to other islands and helped them preserve their special places. The Gulf Islands were communities deeply in transition in the 1990s. Islanders were scrambling to bring their Official Community Plans up to date in order to be able to preserve and protect their islands. North Pender Island was no exception. We kept a close watch on the goings on of other islands in the Islands Trust and we all benefitted from the positive activities of other island communities. On North Pender as we fought to preserve some of our most treasured environmental places, in particular Medicine Beach and Brooks Point, we were inspired by the newly formed Galiano Conservancy Association, one of British Columbia's first community-based land trusts. With inspiration and help from Ken Millard and other Galiano visionaries, we formed our Pender Islands Conservancy Association and were able to save Medicine Beach and Brooks Point.
In the early nineties, on North Pender Island, Trustees Bob Allison and Phil Clark began a long-overdue Official Community Plan update. Many arms were twisted and committees met to agonize over their subject areas. Many of them turned to other islands’ OCPs for ideas. Again Galiano was there to help.
That North Pender OCP Bylaw was passed in 2002. Despite our best efforts to put together a document that would protect our natural areas, development challenges continued. George Ravenscroft, who was North Pender’s Trustee from 1996 - ‘99, said that Margaret Griffiths was a great mentor to him, advising him on the inner workings of the Trust. George says the best word to use to describe Margaret is “stalwart.”
We fought many battles to slow down development and had some dark moments. Two clear beacons of hope for all of us in those years shone from Galiano Island where many visionary and courageous individuals fought to uphold the Islands Trust’s preserve and protect mandate. It must have taken a great deal of courage in 1995 for the Galiano Conservancy Association and the Galiano Local Trust Committee to launch court challenges against MacMillan Bloedel. Margaret Griffiths was a remarkable player in the latter, having been personally sued with the other LTC members for fifteen million dollars. The LTC refused to be cowed by MacBlo, drawing a line in the sand. As Margaret mentioned in her book, when she asked her husband, “Suppose we lose everything?” he replied “Then you will be a bag-lady and I will be a bag-gentleman, and you will have stood your ground for your community.”
I remember Bob Allison describing how Margaret at the pre-trial examination for discovery was grilled on the witness stand for nine days, calmly answering everything that was thrown at her by the best lawyers that MacMillan Bloedel could buy. She would have been 75 years old. Then later at the trial, Margaret was called again, this time as an adversary’s witness and wasn’t allowed to communicate with her counsel. Her husband, who was dying of cancer, sat in court the whole time Margaret was on the stand. Bob was amazed by Margaret’s quiet strength under such tremendous pressure. Having served in the British Women’s Auxiliary Air Force in the Second World War, she understood that sometimes one must stand up to bullies. She never wavered, and Madame Justice Southin ruled in favour of the Galiano LTC. Thanks in large part to Margaret Griffiths, that case set a precedent which underscores the right of local governments to make land use decisions that affect the environmental integrity of their communities. It must have been an incredible moment to have been in that courtroom and to hear Madam Justice Southin began her ruling with a reading of Matthew Arnold’s Dover Beach, a poem about love and trying not to lose faith in the goodness of the world.
Margaret’s support for her community didn’t end with the Appeal Court decision. Her contribution was remarkable and those of us who were following the Trust’s battles on Galiano Island in the 1990's will never forget the personal sacrifices she made. George Ravenscroft says that we often talk about how one person can make a difference; Margaret Griffiths is a shining example of that. To honour Margaret for all she did to preserve this special place in the Salish Sea, the Pender Islands Trust Protection Society has made a donation to the Trust Fund Board. Margaret, thank you, and may you rest in peace.
Doreen Ball