Being on the south end of a 40-kilometre lake that flows south means a lot of flotsam and jetsam ends up on Slocan’s beach.

Every spring during freshet, many tonnes of sticks, branches and tree trunks land on Slocan beach’s shore. This year saw particularly high water and strong currents bring a lot of material to the beach. While staff clean up wood blocking access to the boat launch, they usually wait until the end of the freshet before they begin to clean up the real mess. That’s when they can get heavy equipment onto the sand to do the work.

“Starting clean-up before the water begins to recede would exhaust Village resources,” wrote CAO Gordon in a report. “It is high season for other Village projects and operations, and with debris continually washing in daily, and several weeks expected until freshet has subsided, this would not be productive.”

But the public is complaining a lot to councillors, and that prompted Councillor Madeleine Perriere to say the Village has to try harder.

“If you have public works come every day, remove it, not just push it, we have 20 acres we can dedicate a place to do that,” she told council. “I am sure after one week we will see a difference. If it’s a thing of not going on the sand, with the machine, there’s a good old wheelbarrow, you just start moving it further, and the loader can take it away.

“I don’t see any other place where they wait for water to go down... We have to get on it and get it cleaned up. Especially this year with the late high water.”

The mayor defended the public works staff’s reasoning, but said council does have to address the problem.

“… The model we’ve been using, it’s not sufficient, and we should provide the resources and if that’s a contract so that there’s somebody doing landscaping and beach cleanup, well, that’s a contract for somebody,” she said.

But that’s planning for next year’s budget. In the meantime, council directed that the public works crews to clean up the boat launch area.

Other beach-related motions passed addressed setting aside the west side of the beach from the dock for non-motorized craft to launch, and setting up part of the parking lot for boat trailers.

Big lift for community gym

There’ll be new equipment coming to the community-run fitness centre. Council approved giving just under $4,000 to the centre for a new treadmill and weight set.

The total cost of the equipment is over $12,000, but the centre received another grant, from the Columbia Basin Trust, to cover the first $9,000. The money to complete the project will come from the fitness centre’s reserve account, which is administered by the Village. A bit more may have to be withdrawn, depending how prices for the equipment has risen. That fund will still have about $9,000 remaining after the purchase.

The plan to build a four-season greenhouse in Slocan to support food security got a nod of approval from council. The WE Graham Community Service Society would like to build a $30,000 greenhouse on part of the Village-owned land the non-profit currently uses for the food bank garden.

“Food prices are soaring, and climate change is impacting our ability to grow food,” wrote WEGCSS Executive Director Miryam Bishop in a letter to council. “Between wildfire smoke and extremes in heat and rain, a more controlled environment for growing food will increase our adaptability and resilience to these changes.”

The society is seeking Agriculture Canada and local funding for the $160,000 project, which also includes improvements to food storage facilities and other work. They asked council to support the project, including permission to build the permanent structure on the Village land.

That will take rezoning the land from residential to parks and public institutional use. Staff is beginning to prepare the documents for the required public process that will begin when the society receives its funding to build the project.

Staff will also write a letter supporting the society’s applications to various funding agencies, and begin discussing the term length for the licence of occupation of the Village lands.

The Village is going to take another crack at tendering its downtown beautification planning after receiving only one bid on the project.

“Staff predict this is due to timing of the [Request for Proposals], and many consultants are busy with other projects,” CAO Michelle Gordon wrote in a report.

The Harold Street North Detailed Design Plan is a $75,000 project to hire electrical engineers, landscape designers and road builders to scope out and design the new downtown core of the community. The project will also see lot lines, building envelopes, drainage and infrastructure in the area all mapped out in detail. The goal is to beautify and firmly establish the area as the village core.

But that work will now likely be put off a few months as the Village waits for market conditions for labour improve.

Gordon said the Village will consult with its RFP contractor and reissue the tender when the timing seems better.

John Boivin, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Valley Voice

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