Strathcona Gardens & Quadra Island

Strathcona Gardens: Still in the Deep End

On March 25, the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) board voted 7–6 to move forward with drafting a bylaw that would add Quadra Island — not all of Area C — to the Strathcona Gardens recreation service area. Although that vote was a blow to many residents, it's not the end of the road by any means. In our third article on the unfolding situation, we look at what options are legally on the table, how they can be navigated, who is involved, and how you can still have a say.

The foundation for all of this is that under the BC Local Government Act (LGA), there are three ways to get elector approval before a new service area bylaw can be adopted. SRD's Corporate Officer, Tom Yates, confirmed that two of them don't apply here.

The 2/3 consent mechanism is not available here, as it cannot be applied to only part of an electoral area. Since the Mar 25 vote was for Option A, which applies to Quadra only — not all of Area C — it does not meet that requirement. The Alternative Approval Process (AAP) is limited to a maximum tax requisition of $0.50 per $1,000 of assessed value — the Strathcona Gardens rate is currently $0.73, well above that threshold, rendering it also unavailable.

That leaves one option: assent voting, more commonly called a referendum. However, the SRD board decides who votes in it. If Campbell River and Area D vote alongside Quadra, Quadra's smaller population is outvoted before a single ballot is cast.

That's not a technicality — it's the central question this process now hinges on. The numbers don't lie. As reported in our last article, adding Strathcona Gardens would increase the average Quadra household's total SRD tax bill by 66% in one fell swoop. At the projected annual rate of $943,114, Quadra's contribution over 30 years would total approximately $28.3 million — at current rates, before any increases. The overall project budget has already grown from $71 million to $131 million. Once included in the service, removal is unlikely, making these costs effectively permanent.

The 2/3 Question

If the amendment bylaw appears on the April 29 agenda, the board could give it all three required readings in a single meeting. At that point, Director Mawhinney, as Area C Director, would formally refuse consent.

The board could then attempt to pass a resolution to dispense with her consent — in plain terms, override her refusal. That resolution requires at least 2/3 of the votes cast. Tom Yates indicated that, in his opinion, this vote would be weighted — though how that is interpreted in practice remains an open question.

If the board reaches the 2/3 threshold, the bylaw moves forward without going to residents — unless Director Mawhinney appeals to the Minister within 14 days. The Minister can then allow the override to stand, OR require a referendum or an AAP.

If the board doesn't get the 2/3 vote, it can't move the bylaw ahead on its own. It would have to go to a referendum instead.

But the board still decides who gets to vote. It could include Campbell River and Area D alongside Quadra in a single vote. At that point, it becomes a numbers game — areas that would see a tax decrease voting alongside a much smaller population facing a significant increase.

This is why the Minister's independent power under Section 349(5) matters. She can order that Quadra votes separately as the primary electorate — regardless of the board's decision. No one yet knows when a referendum would run. The board could attach it to the October 2026 municipal election to reduce costs, or call a standalone vote sooner. That timing is also the board's to decide.

Behind the Scenes

Since the March 25 vote, Director Mawhinney has formally written to both Minister Christine Boyle and the Inspector of Municipalities, requesting an "exclusive assent process (aka binding referendum) which meaningfully consults Quadra Island residents, rather than a process which simultaneously polls the 40,000+ residents of the areas already within the service."

In her letters, she noted that the Strathcona Gardens service has taken on $122 million in loans over the past two and a half years through AAP processes that Quadra residents had no voice in. She has also spoken with staff in the provincial local governance branch and requested an in-person meeting with the Minister.

Long-time Quadra resident Mark Alexander submitted carefully researched letters to both the Minister and the Inspector on April 13. Many others in the community have written directly to the Minister and Inspector as well.

Former Area C Director Jim Abram, who served the area for 35 years, has been chasing down his connections across BC government on behalf of the community, making sure the right people know what's going on.

A 1,226-signature petition spearheaded by Mike Gall, along with hundreds of formal written submissions, has been added to the public record over years of Quadra residents actively opposing this expansion. The community response has been organized, documented, and sustained.

Mark's letters centre on procedural fairness, Quadra's exclusion from a decade of planning, consultation, and financing decisions, and whether the current attempt to include the island aligns with the Local Government Act.

A retired airline captain and flight instructor, his decision to dig into the issue comes from a career where process isn't optional. Working directly from the public record, he lays out a straightforward argument: Quadra was not included as a participating area during the AAPs and bylaws that established the service and its financing, and is now being considered for inclusion after the fact.

His submissions are detailed, sourced, and now before both the Minister and the Inspector ahead of the bylaw review. He has also made his full documents publicly available at bit.ly/3QznRtc, encouraging others to read through the material themselves.

Minister Christine Boyle, BC's Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs, holds independent authority under Section 349(5) of the Local Government Act to order that Quadra Island residents vote separately as the primary electorate — regardless of what the board decides.

Her Ministry is already aware of the situation. Director Mawhinney has requested an in-person meeting. Mark Alexander's formal submission is now on record with both the Minister and the Inspector, and others in the community have written as well.

The Inspector of Municipalities must also approve the bylaw before it can be adopted — a review that can take anywhere from days to months. Multiple formal submissions raising concerns about the process are already on record ahead of that review.

Getting the Minister and Inspector informed and engaged as early as possible is not just strategy — it is the most direct legal path available to Quadra residents right now. With that context in mind, it's worth taking a closer look at the evidence the board relied on to get here.

The consultant's own report acknowledges there is no standardized or legislated approach to recreation funding in BC, and that every model is different. The SRD's situation is described as unique — something worth keeping in mind when weighing the recommendation it produced.

The first report, presented to the SRD board in August 2024, included a table of comparable island communities along the BC coast. It listed Hornby Island, Denman Island, and Quadra Island identically — none fund recreation services in other jurisdictions. The same report also states that remote communities with limited functional access "should not automatically be presumed to benefit at the same level as communities with routine and practical access" to a hub facility.

The second report recommended full participation for Quadra anyway, citing the Comox Valley recreation model as a comparable. But the Comox Valley Regional District explicitly excludes its own ferry-dependent islands — Hornby and Denman — from that service. Instead, they contribute approximately $33,000 combined per year through a separate, purpose-built mechanism, confirmed by the CVRD's General Manager of Corporate Services.

That report's island comparables table notes that of all the island communities examined, only one funds off-island recreation at all. Read together, the consultant's own documents point in a different direction than the recommendation they ultimately produced.

According to former Area C Director Jim Abram, the true cost of accessing Strathcona Gardens from Quadra extends well beyond the ferry fare — fuel, admission fees, and meals for all passengers add up quickly on top of an annual tax that applies whether residents use the facility or not. BC Ferries fares increase annually under the Coastal Ferry Act framework. The 45-minute catchment area used to define Quadra's inclusion was a threshold chosen by RC Strategies themselves — not a provincial standard — and was calculated using Google Maps travel time, a tool that does not account for ferry wait times, sailing schedules, or missed connections.

Your Turn

A letter generator is now live, click the button below — built specifically for Quadra residents to send sourced, documented letters directly to Minister Boyle and the Inspector of Municipalities. Every concern comes with its source embedded. No data collected. You choose what matters, copy, paste, send. Use it. Share it. Send it to every Quadra resident you know.

The more people who understand what's happening, the stronger the community voice becomes. We will continue to add future articles and publicly available resources as they come.

Director Mawhinney's community survey closed April 22 — results coming soon. The April 29 board meeting agenda is expected around April 24 at agenda.strathconard.ca. If you plan to attend in person, start planning now. On March 25, Quadra residents filled the board room, the lobby, and the main floor. April 29 at 12:30pm — who's in for round two?

A $943,000 Question: Quadra and the Strathcona Gardens Vote

On March 25, the Strathcona Regional District (SRD) board voted on whether to add Quadra Island to the Strathcona Gardens recreation service area. Around 80 Area C residents showed up to watch — enough to fill the boardroom, spill out through the open double doors into the lobby, where even standing room was tight. The SRD livestreams their board meetings on YouTube, so small groups of residents huddled around phones watching their own local government meeting from the parking lot outside. Inside the lobby, the meeting's audio played from multiple phones on a slight delay, making it difficult to follow unless you were actually in the boardroom.

The crowd was made up mostly of seniors and parents with young children — showing up for the community, making their presence seen and felt. A few protest signs waved gently. The tension in the room, the lobby, and all the way outside remained sharp. Standing only a row or two back from the open boardroom doors, it was difficult to hear what was being said — but everyone knew exactly why they were there.

Here is what they were there to oppose. Under the proposal on the table, every household on Quadra would be charged an estimated $558/year to help fund Strathcona Gardens — a recreation complex in Campbell River that, even under ideal conditions, requires roughly 15 minutes to the ferry, a wait, a 20-minute crossing, and another short drive on the other side — just to get there. That cost would be permanent.

To understand how significant that is, consider that Area C residents currently pay the SRD $840 per average household for every service the regional district provides, combined. That covers administration, the library, community parks, the community hall, planning, 911, the emergency program — everything. Adding Strathcona Gardens would increase that total by 66% in a single stroke. It would instantly become the most expensive item on Quadra's tax bill by a wide margin — more than double any existing service. Meanwhile, adding Quadra to the bill would save Campbell River households about $50 a year and Area D households about $27.

Over the past two years, 1,226 Area C residents signed a petition spearheaded by Mike Gall, opposing the expansion and requesting a referendum. In November 2024, Director Mawhinney moved for an Area C referendum before any action was taken. That motion was defeated.

Director Mawhinney spoke directly to the board before the vote. She reminded directors that those 1,226 signatures represent 44% of Area C's entire population, and that she has received close to 300 letters from residents over the past two years — including one from a senior named Christine who has written 11 times asking for updates and expressing concern about being taxed for a facility she had no vote on. Mawhinney pointed out that the study did not explore alternative funding models used by other regional districts in BC, such as contribution service agreements or utilization-based funding, and questioned why Quadra residents should pay the same rate as communities with direct, ferry-free access to the facility and its economic benefits. She asked the board to defeat the motion and "go back to the drawing board to look at more equitable options."

Mawhinney then moved an amendment requesting that staff also examine options for a contribution service agreement with consideration for the additional access costs island residents face. The amendment was defeated 7-6 and the original motion — to prepare a bylaw adding Quadra Island to the Strathcona Gardens service — carried 7-6.

The vote happened quickly and quietly enough that many people in the lobby and outside didn't even realize it was over. Word spread slowly through the crowd. One attendee's voice cut through the noise: "You just made an enemy out of your neighbour." Others called out "Shame on you!" to the board. When the meeting broke for recess and SRD staff began asking people to clear the room, a small group of seniors refused to move, instead telling the staffer himself to sit down. It was about the least threatening thing you could say — yet the staff member responded by saying they had RCMP on standby and would call them. Zero to RCMP in seconds, over seniors telling you to sit down.

Strathcona Gardens is currently funded only by Campbell River and Area D. The facility is nearly 50 years old and in the middle of a massive rebuild called the REC-REATE project, with a total price tag of $131 million. The SRD tried three times to get federal infrastructure grants to help pay for it — in 2019, 2020, and 2023 — with requests ranging from $6 to $70 million. All three applications were denied. Phase 1 construction started anyway in fall 2024, and bids came in $22 million over the 2023 budget estimate. The original borrowing bylaw authorized $64.6 million intended to cover both phases of the project. That barely covers Phase 1 now, and the board has since approved a second borrowing bylaw for another $57.1 million just for Phase 2. After the federal government said no three times, the SRD turned its attention to expanding the tax base — enter Quadra Island.

The study used to support the expansion was prepared by RC Strategies, the same consulting firm that conducted an earlier regional recreation feasibility study in 2024. It recommends considering Quadra Island as part of the Strathcona Gardens service area — but it contains no Quadra-specific usage data. The consultant acknowledged at the meeting that the movement data could not isolate Quadra Island residents. The entire basis for estimating Area C's connection to the facility is 944 accounts in the booking system, accumulated over eight years. That is not visits, not individuals, but the number of households that have registered for a program. The study's own geographic data shows that 16% of visits come from more than 100 km away — but there is no breakdown showing how many come from Quadra specifically.

If this goes through, Quadra would be on the hook for over $28 million in the first 30 years alone, with no end date attached. Nearly a million dollars a year in permanent new taxes for a project its residents have made overwhelmingly clear they oppose. A petition opposing the expansion, signed by 1,226 Area C residents, has not changed the board's course. Every request for a referendum has been voted down. An amendment asking staff to even explore alternative funding models — like the ones already working in other BC regional districts — was defeated. Yet the entire case rests on data that cannot answer the most basic question: how many of us actually use this facility?

Other regional districts are handling this differently, particularly when it comes to smaller, ferry-dependent island communities.

The Comox Valley Regional District confirmed to the Bird's Eye this week that Hornby and Denman Islands are not full participants in their regional recreation complexes service. Instead, the islands contribute through a separate service — the greater of $25,000 or $12.62 per resident based on census data — totalling approximately $33,000 per year. Applied to Area C's population, that formula would put Quadra's contribution at roughly $35,000. Under the current proposal, it's $943,000.

Now that the board has voted to move forward, an amendment bylaw will be prepared — likely for the next board meeting. But voting to prepare a bylaw is not the same as passing one. While the board can give first, second, and third readings in a single meeting if they choose to suspend the rules, the bylaw cannot be adopted without elector approval.

There are three methods available, and the Bird's Eye reached out to SRD Corporate Officer Tom Yates to understand which ones apply.

The first is 2/3 consent, where the electoral area director gives or refuses consent on behalf of residents. Yates confirmed this option is ruled out — it cannot be used for only a portion of an electoral area, and Option A adds only Quadra, not all of Area C.

The second is the Alternative Approval Process (AAP), a type of negative petition where the bylaw passes unless 10% or more of eligible electors formally object. Yates noted that given the level of community opposition, an AAP would likely just trigger a referendum anyway.

The third is a referendum — a direct vote. This appears to be the only realistic path forward. But there is a catch. The board gets to decide who participates in that vote, and at the March 25 meeting, the CAO indicated he would expect all affected electors to vote, meaning Campbell River and Area D residents alongside Quadra.

There is another piece to this. Director Mawhinney confirmed to the Bird's Eye that she has already been in contact with Ministry of Municipal Affairs staff and plans to follow up directly with Minister Christine Boyle. Under the Local Government Act, the Minister has the power to order that Quadra votes separately on this question. That provision exists specifically for situations where a change would have a significant impact on a specific community; a permanent 66% tax increase for a service that residents have loudly petitioned against would hopefully qualify.

There are many questions we are still working to answer. How was elector approval obtained when the Strathcona Gardens service was originally created in 1970? This is a question even SRD staff haven't found an answer to yet — Yates told us they will need to examine records inherited from the former Comox-Strathcona Regional District. Here's hoping they used archival paper.

The next SRD board meeting is April 29, with the agenda likely to be published on April 24. If the bylaw is on the agenda, the board will need to determine which elector approval method to use and who is eligible to vote. What legal options are available to the community going forward? We will be exploring this and more in a third article later this month.

This coverage is intended to help inform a complex and evolving situation — not to represent a complete picture. We hope it helps bring some clarity. We always encourage readers to do their own research and check sources.

Wednesday, March 25 SRD Board Meeting Update

If you've been on the Corkboard this past week, you probably already know what this is about.

This Wednesday, March 25, the SRD Board of Directors is meeting. On the agenda is a staff report recommending the Board consider expanding the Strathcona Gardens service area to include Quadra Island. The Board will choose between three options: add Quadra only, add all of Electoral Area C, or take no action.

Strathcona Gardens is a recreation complex in Campbell River — pool, arenas, and fitness facilities. It is currently funded through property taxes by residents of Campbell River and Electoral Area D. The facility is in the middle of a $131 million renovation project. Although the SRD applied for federal infrastructure funding three times between 2019 and 2023, requesting up to $70 million, all three applications were denied. Neither Area C nor Quadra Island alone has ever been part of this service.

Under the Quadra-only option, the SRD's own financial modelling shows Quadra's share at $943,114 per year, spread across 1,535 households, averaging $558 per home. That is an average — households with higher property assessments would pay significantly more. This would be an ongoing addition to property taxes with no defined end date, including debt repayment stretching up to 25 years. All of this on a renovation Quadra residents were never consulted on or given an opportunity to vote on.

The SRD commissioned a study to evaluate the case for inclusion. The study argues that Quadra benefits "indirectly" from having a recreation facility in Campbell River — even for residents who never set foot in it, saying the "broader impacts" include "workforce attraction, regional service capacity, rehabilitation access, event hosting, and economic spin-off effects." These claims are not quantified in their report. The study's own data raises questions. It reports that 935 Area C family accounts were created at the facility over seven years, but does not report how often those accounts are used. In addition, its cellphone-based movement data tracked 62,613 visits of persons over 19 years of age in 2024, but does not break that total down by electoral area — meaning there is no published figure for how many of those visits came from Quadra. The study proposes an annual cost for Quadra households based on data that does not quantify Quadra's actual usage of the facility.

This is not a new fight. Last year over 1,200 residents signed a petition opposing inclusion. Hundreds of letters have been submitted to the Board. Two community delegations have presented in opposition. In November 2024, Area C Director Robyn Mawhinney moved that an Area C referendum be held before any action was taken. The motion was defeated. Eight directors voted against it, including five from Campbell River.

Even if Wednesday's vote supports adding Area C or Quadra, this does not immediately add us to the service. If the Board chooses to proceed, staff would prepare an amendment bylaw. Under the Local Government Act, elector approval is required before a service area can be expanded — but how that approval is structured is determined by the Board, not by Quadra.

The unofficial plan for people wanting to be in the room is to catch the 11:30am ferry. The meeting begins at 12:30pm at the SRD offices, 990 Cedar St, Campbell River. The Bird's Eye will be there and report back next week with what happens, what it means, and what comes next.