By JULIA GRACE

I was deeply saddened by trustee Christine Torgrimson’s statements that she leans towards voting against the Salt Spring Coffee Company’s proposed development.

I own an organic business on Salt Spring. I want to see other organic enterprises grow and develop here. I think it’s a good basis for sustainable development — not the only one, but a good one.

I lived the first half of my life in Nova Scotia, a province that had an indigenous economy just about as fragile as Salt Spring’s. I watched it be destroyed by foreign ownership, by tourism, by hard economic knocks and by a lack of vision. Both Nova Scotia and Salt Spring have had to make their peace with tourism. It fuels our economies. We’ve had to make peace with foreign ownership. Really, the nicest people choose us and they bring wealth, education and often a desire for community as well. And who could turn down the kind of economic contribution tourism brings to our little piece of paradise.

We still have to dig deep, though, to find jobs for the winters, services and housing that people can afford, and the sense of dignity and pride that our communities are productive places, that we embrace all our members.

If the coffee company’s proposal does not wash despite their desire to build a sustainable environmental project, despite their willingness (thus far) to live with all the covenants thrown at them — name me a business enterprise or approach that could. Not that many communities in this country turn their backs on companies that want to invest in them. Salt Spring may go down in history as a community prepared to reject any business enterprise regardless of their willingness to design incredible environmental projects or their willingness to negotiate.

Last year, the Trust had to negotiate some pretty delicate passage between organic farmers on the island and our fire department. Both sides on the Fulford training site issue were forced to recognize just a bit more about the issues and concerns of the other. Both sides had to face up to some of the weaknesses of their own rhetoric. At the end of endless meetings, unexpected turns of event, and miles of e-mail, we found a compromise. We may not yet be on the same page, but maybe we are now in the same book. We got there because neither side was allowed to say “no.” We have the trustees to thank for that.

I’d like to pass this history on to trustee Torgrimson. Do not say “no” — at least not until you have completely exhausted “not yet.”

Your job is to find a way to make this work. This company is a valued part of our community. They are prepared to find a way to make their project work so that the ecosystems of the Ford Lake neighbourhood are protected. Call them on that. Also, call on those who protest the development to step outside the “no” and come up with proposals that would protect the ecosystem. Find ways to build the “yes.”

Let the coffee company be the one to say “no” — it’s too expensive, too regulatory, too impossibly hard.

This is a huge challenge for all of us, but there is ground between. The desire to cherish and protect the wild does not exist on only one side. Trustee Torgrimson, please do not give up. Just imagine the community pride we will feel if we can find our way down the middle.

The writer is a co-owner of Moonstruck Organic Cheese.