Emily Carson-Apstein
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder
In a meeting on April 17th, 2025, island trustees unanimously voted to rezone 793 Lockinvar Lane for updated propane storage for the Mid-Island Co-op.
Kelli Cartwright, the area manager for several Mid-Island Co-ops including the gas station on Gabriola, attended the Islands Trust meeting to request that the trust consider their application to re-zone the area behind the Co-op to allow propane storage.
Cartwright explained that Technical Safety BC recently changed the regulations governing propane storage, and now the existing tank is too close to the buildings housing the gas station and the BC liquor store. If no changes are made by the end of the year, the Co-op will be unable to sell or deliver propane. Many Gabriola residents rely on propane to heat their homes, cook food, or power their generators in the case of a power outage.
Between private and commercial customers, the Gabriola Mid-island Co-op delivers more than 400,000 litres of propane annually on Gabriola, in addition to the propane sold at the gas bar.
793 Lockinvar Lane features a currently mostly unused building which was previously a medical clinic.
The house on 793 Lockinvar Lane will be demolished to make space for a large propane tank surrounded by fencing.
The Co-op recognizes that Gabriola residents currently use the space and building steps as a sitting and social area, and in that spirit they intend to install a seating area and endeavor to keep the two trees that grow in front of the house. If the trees do need to be removed, they will be replanted. The Co-op supplied the Islands Trust with detailed safety procedures that apply to the current and future storage of propane, and the risk to the public should be the same or less than it is currently (especially for those in the gas station and liquor store, given the proximity of the current propane tank). Having been approved by the trustees, the motion now goes to Islands Trust staff to draft the paperwork necessary for the changes to Land Use Bylaws and the Official Community Plan.
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