Access routes on agenda as Island municipalities meet

Calls for emergency routes for communities with only one major access road — such as Port Alberni’s Highway 4 — and for a provincial housing coordinator to work with the homeless are among 57 resolutions up for debate at the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities convention, taking place at the Victoria Conference Centre from today to Sunday.

Resolutions touch on everything from the environment to health and social development, transportation, and community safety and policing, as the AVICC marks its 75th year of representing local government.

The call for a provincial housing co-ordinator comes from Nanaimo, with the resolution saying that homelessness and housing instability in the province have been growing “at an unprecedented rate.”

It notes that while the province has invested in supportive housing, it can be challenging for people in recovery to find housing options “that support an addiction-free lifestyle.”

The housing co-ordinator would work with those people, the resolution says.

“We have a lot of folks who are not in need of supports but just need a place to live,” said the Nanaimo Mayor Leonard Krog.

The Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District, meanwhile, wants to see an inventory of water sources and projected future needs, saying climate change “is causing increasingly unpredictable and extended summer droughts throughout Vancouver Island and the coastal region.”

A resolution from the Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District says that, in the wake of last summer’s lengthy closure of Highway 4 due to a wildfire near the Cameron Bluffs, the provincial government should work with communities with a single access route to establish alternative routes in the event of emergencies.

The Highway 4 closure affected the health, safety and well-being of residents, the resolution says, and had “devastating economic impacts” that included job loss and permanent business closures.

The highway closing, the result of falling debris from roadside slopes compromised by a wildfire, began June 6 and full two-way traffic didn’t return until the end of August.

An alternate route via Lake Cowichan and the Bamfield route was established but was rough and took about four hours to drive.

The situation sparked discussion of the need for a more direct alternative.

Krog, the former NDP MLA in the Nanaimo riding, said he attended AVICC conventions while in provincial politics and continues to value them as a mayor.

“Generally speaking you get a very solid attendance at local gatherings like the AVICCs,” he said.

“You get a chance to compare notes with others, find out if you’re experiencing the same problems, exchange a little gossip and news, find out where the politics are.”

In recent years, the conventions have alternated between Victoria and Nanaimo because they have the largest facilities, Krog said.