Islands Trust | Zoning Bylaws…

Gabriola land use & official community plan is done through the Islands Trust, a unique form of government, created by the province in 1974 to control unbridled development and “preserve and protect” the islands.

The object of the Trust is to preserve and protect the Trust Area and its unique amenities and environment for the benefit of the residents of the Trust Area and of British Columbia generally, in cooperation with municipalities, regional districts, improvement districts, other persons and organizations and the government of British Columbia.

Land Use planning involves using many different tools to achieve long term stability in the development of the island land base. In the Islands Trust Area, the focus of all long-range planning is the preservation of the environment and community sustainability. The Zoning Bylaw for Gabriola can be located on the Islands Trust website at: http://www.islandstrust.bc.ca/ltc/gb/pdf/gbbylbaselub0177.pdf

Also of interest, in 2008 there was a profile done on the community which can be viewed online at: http://www.islandstrust.bc.ca/ltc/gb/pdf/gbrptcommunityprofile.pdf

Launching a sailboat on Gabriola

It took us almost a month for my husband and I find a few hours together during the day to launch our little sailboat. On Friday that timed up perfectly with slack tide. We had heard that False Narrows would be the right place to launch our Nordica sail boat, so we thought we'd give it a try. The boat launch for False Narrows is located just off of El Verano on Gabriola. The launch couldn't have gone any better, the sandy bottom and the slack made it really easy for us. When we got to the dock we worked on rigging up the mast and the shrouds, not a bad job for our first time, but we'll have our neighbour come and have a look before we set sail. There are a few options for launching a boat on Gabriola, there is a place at the end of Gray Road (Degnen Bay), a small boat launch at Twin Beaches (Gabriola Sands), and you can also arrange it at Silva Bay for a small fee. With all the outer islands in such close proximity, Gabriola is the perfect place to begin your explorations at sea.

Gulf Island Adventures

Yesterday we celebrated out mom's birthday on Saltspring Island. We wanted to create a memorable day. We like to celebrate birthdays with experiences, so we thought this year we would let her join the circus.

Our adventure took us from Gabriola over to Saltspring Island, a southern gulf island that has a ferry leaving from Crofton. We went for a beautiful drive to the amazing Flying Dreams Aerial Studio. Greeted by Victoria the owner and extraordinary teacher, we went into to the beautiful studio called the "Temple", it has 40 foot ceilings, an amazing view and is breathtaking in itself. Victoria gave us enough courage to try some of the basic skills on both the aerial silks and the trapeze. We’re not sure if we did more climbing, upside down manoeuvres or laughing & not sure which caused the soar rib cages today! It was an amazing experience and a “must do” if visiting Saltspring. It's part of the beauty of exploring the islands, there are plenty of unique experiences and adventures to partake in.

Happy Birthday Mom!