For the first time since 1983 Belcarra has a new mayor as Neil Belenkie was handed the job Saturday by voters.
Belenkie won with 199 votes, according to CivicInfo BC. The town’s long-time mayor Ralph Drew did not seek re-election after serving in the role for 35 years.
Newcomers Liisa Wilder, Carolina Clark, and Robert Begg, were elected as city councillors, along with incumbent councillor Bruce Drake who was re-elected.
Below is the full list of mayoral and councillor candidates.
Candidates
Mayor
Jamie J Ross
Neil A Belenkie
Colm P Cole
Council
Robert G Begg
Jennifer J Glover (incumbent)
Carolina S Clark
Bruce W Drake (incumbent)
Deborah L Struk
Liisa M Wilder
Boundary
Sitting at the entrance to the Indian Arm, Belcarra lies to the west of Belcarra Regional Park, south of Buntzen Lake, and right across the water from Deep Cove in the District of North Vancouver.
Population (2016)
643
History
“Belcarra” — an Irish word understood to mean, “fair land upon which the sun shines.”
It’s a name given to a small community situated just off Burrard Inlet.
Formally incorporated in 1979, the village’s history dates back as far as 800 BC, when the earliest occupation is believed to have happened in the area.
Once inhabited by the Tsleil-Waututh people, the site where Belcarra sits now is believed to have been abandoned by them amid a smallpox epidemic in the early 1850s.
A major turning point in its history came when settler John Hall had a plot of land in what would become the Village of Belcarra registered in his name.
In 1882, he is sentenced to seven years of hard labour in the murder of his mother in law, and the title is turned over to his lawyer, his lawyer’s partner and his father in law. Hall’s lawyer gives the plot the name “Belcarra.”
In 1979, property owners in Belcarra joined together to look at the possibility of incorporation as a municipality. The provincial government allowed it later that year.
Median total income of couple economic families with children (2015)/B.C. median
$173,568/$111,736
Political representation
Federal
Fin Donnelly (NDP)
Provincial
Rick Glumac (BC NDP)