Long-time Squamish citizen Bianca Peters has announced that she will be running for a seat on council in the upcoming municipal election on October 20, 2018. 
“Our community is currently experiencing uncontrolled growth” says Peters. “Many people, including our children and seniors, can no longer afford to live here, and long- time residents and volunteers are cashing out. Local businesses can’t find and retain employees. Affordable housing is scarce, while infrastructure is being taxed to the limit. We have thousands of development units coming online threatening our wildlife and environment. Why is this happening? Because decisions have not been based on what is best for the community.”
Former Mayor Corrrine Lonsdale has also thrown her support behind Peters.
“I am confident Bianca is a great candidate for Council,” says former Mayor, Corrine Lonsdale, “Bianca knows her community, has common sense, is a hard worker, takes her commitments very seriously and most importantly is putting her name forward because she truly cares about Squamish and our future.”
Peters studied Russian and Canadian history at UBC, marketing and sales at Langara, and graduated with honours from BCIT’s Broadcast Journalism Management program.
She was a television producer and reporter for Shaw TV from 2003 until 2008 covering Squamish issues, organizations and people. She was contracted to work as Community Relations for the Sea-to-Sky Highway Improvement Project and Director of Marketing for Chances Boardwalk.
She spent three years as Executive Director of the Downtown Squamish Business Improvement Association between 2014 and 2017 advocating for local businesses, property owners and stakeholders on issues ranging from beautification, employment, crime prevention, events, re-branding downtown and parking.
“Our BIA Parking Committee put out a survey in 2016 and 69% of respondents said parking was a top issue in our community. As the community expands, this issue is still a priority that needs to be addressed,” she says.
“It may be necessary to increase the amount of parking stalls developers include in their projects with a portion of their development costs going towards the construction of a parking lot. EV infrastructure and carsharing programs are paramount to ease the burden on our environment.”
Peters left the BIA to pursue her own marketing, media and events company, BP Communications Inc, full-time to support local economic development and tourism with the production of this summer’s Squamish Street Market and Taste of Squamish publication. “It’s been a privilege to work and meet with so many locals, newcomers and tourists” says Peters.
“Grass roots businesses need opportunities like the Street Market, Farmers Market and Refresh Market to get a foot hold into the market.” Says Peters. “Current storefronts are too expensive for many small businesses while expanding businesses are finding new inventory unsuitable and out-dated bureaucracy unhelpful. This must be examined and changed.”
Peters is also the president of the Squamish Historical Society which she founded in 2006. She is a member of the Rotary Club of Squamish and Tourism Squamish.
She has recently taken a leave of absence from the Squamish Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, including seats on the Policy, Governance, and Membership Committees, to run for council. Peters is married with two children. The estuary is one of many favourite places to spend time.
She says the district should be offering incentives to homeowners and businesses for supporting green technology and best practices.
“I’d like to see solar panels on roof tops, vegetable gardens in place of grass, wildlife corridors incorporated into designs and green roof tops on new construction. Thirty years from now, I want to be able to look my children in the eye and tell them I did my part to support a healthy and vibrant community when we had the opportunity.”
Peters’ website is currently under construction which will outline her platform in more detail. A Facebook page will be going live shortly.
Toby FK says
I am sure many residents want to see a slower pace of housing development. But it is either naive or disingenuous to suggest that can co-exist with lower house prices. Restricting supply raises prices.
Dave Colwell says
Toby: It is the type of housing development that is important. We need more lower cost rental buildings. The only way to do this is to dedicate rezoned land to rental only and to get some form of subsidization. Also loosen up the restrictions on land splitting for lane way housing and multifamily dwellings. Allow trailer parks in non-floodplain areas. We have a large industrial park but it doesn’t, shouldn’t, mean that we could not have some lower cost housing there too. Some people would not mind being close to Walmart or Home Depot. Look how close housing is to Park Royal. Our Bylaw system needs a major overhaul. Pardon me, but I have to say this: Look at our East Indian community. They don’t build a condo to house their multifamily members, they build a nice looking large house which looks like a single family dwelling but accommodates all their family, sometimes three generations…good on them!
But there are also other ways of solving our problem too.
Dave Colwell says
Bianca. I will vote for you.