Happy to learn yesterday that Katherine Lesyshen is returning to the District as our new Senior Planner effective mid-January. She and her family live here, and this career move will eliminate the weekday commute to Colwood, where she's been a planner since 2017. She started her career in New Zealand, then spent a decade in Sooke led by then-senior planner Gerard LeBlanc and alongside her colleague Tara Johnson (who is also back after a leave of absence with our "ace," as i insist on calling it for good reason, planning crew with Ivy Campbell and Teunesha Evertse).   

Job one, as I understand it, for Ms. Lesyshen in 2020 will be to quarterback our long-awaited, much-anticipated Official Community Plan review. The City of Colwood completed a new OCP of its own last year, so she will be walking in with all the best practices and direct experience to pull off one of the most daunting of every municipality's planning challenges and legislative requirements. 

Council discussed the OCP at this Monday's Committee of the Whole. The legal context along with useful constructive criticism of the current document and a menu of gaps to be filled in the next one are detailed in Ms. Campbell's report available in the Dec. 16 COW agenda here (link). 

All of us on council are naturally eager to get the OCP started ... or rather re-started after the excellent initial public engagement phase (late 2016, complete with three online surveys and multiple public feedback sessions) and suggestions from then-planner Danica Rice on how our zoning categories could be modernized for an aspirational smart-growth community. 

Things came to a halt back in June, 2017 because the planning department was short-staffed and then-CAO Teresa Sullivan had no choice but to reassign Ms. Rice to frontline planning work (until she herself tired of the daily commute from her home in Cowichan Bay and took a position with the City of Duncan).

As it turned out, however, the delay was a good thing as it allowed the District time to initiate a now near-complete set of essential foundational documents -- namely updated Parks & Trails and Transportation masterplans along with the Housing Needs Report (now posted on the District's website), Child Care and Lot A reports -- as the backbone for the next OCP. (We also likely would benefit from an update of the 2009 Town Centre Plan, however there is only so much $$$ we can lavish on consultants and the existing document captures the waterfront vision for a commercial/residential waterfront hub nicely ~ a definitive snapshot of #SookeSmartGrowth and an example of what in recent years has been dubbed the "20-minute neighbourhood.") 

We're also fortunate that a wealth of statistical data (aka the "Sooke Baseline Study") is now being prepared independently and at no cost to us by masters' students in Royal Roads University's School of Tourism & Hospitality Management program. Drawing on Sooke's own reports and numerous other sources, it will cover transportation, housing, standard of living, the environment, sports, safety, arts and culture, education, health and wellness, "belonging and leadership" and tourism. 
 
Some of the conversational threads I raised on Monday afternoon as I recall them four days later ... 

i) Unlike the non-prioritized recommendations in the current OCP, let's see its policy suggestions divided into short, medium and longer-term categories so that council and staff get clear direction on what to tackle next. I noted that the 2010 Parks & Trails Plan had it right in creating a series of "Priority Class Projects" ~ A (1 to 5 years); B (6 to 12 years); C (13 to 20 years); and D (20+ years). In this way, the OCP can focus on the immediate future while also looking at more distant horizons. (As Langford did so successfully and in its unique way in the 1990s, when A-list community planner Avi Freidman was hired as a consultant for a masterplan that continues to unfold largely as intended today; just in case we hear any accusations of us dragging our feet with the OCP, please note that Mayor Young's latest OCP is two years older than our own and there's no word about its update that I've heard.) 

ii) In terms of process, we are leaning, it seems, towards a traditional OCP steering committee featuring one or two (not all of us, as several of us wish) council reps and a set of VIP public appointees. On Monday, I made the rather clever suggestion, I daresay, that rather than issuing a general call for committee members that will net who knows whom, we instead ask our leading community groups -- the three Lions clubs, Rotary, Transition Sooke, Sooke Region Community Health Network, Chamber of Commerce, Community Association, SEAPARC, SD #62 board, Sooke Arts, etc. -- to canvas their ranks and put forward one appointee each. I can't imagine a better way to get fulsome community engagement while eliminating any possible suggestions that the OCP has been "hijacked" (as one former councillor has said of the current doc) by special interests. 

iii) To save time and consultant dollars (budgeted over 24 months at $200k, which is in the mid-range of what OCPs cost BC communities), let's visit Staples, buy a box of red pencils and ask our TBD committee to salvage the "good bits" from the 2010 OCP while excising the dross and adding new material based on the next rounds of public input. It seems vital to me that we honour the work of the past and identify the enduring threads of community consensus that connect our previous OCPs (2010, 2001) and the CRD local area plans that preceded them. 
 
iv) I also noted on Monday that I routinely get north-star inspiration and perspective from the OCP infographic (see below) that Ms. Rice created based on her 2016 public feedback. What a beautiful, responsible, inclusive, everyday visionary set of "big goals" and "key directions" to embed in the next iteration of our reliably #LetSookeBeSooke community plan. 
 
PS What follows is a cut-and-paste of the closing portion of Ms. Campbell's COW report since you're very likely time-stressed and have opted not to open the agenda. (Of everything I've seen in my first year in office, the one recurring fact I find myself applauding time and time again is the professionalism and expertise District staff ~ and their CRD counterparts, for that matter ~ display in following logical, proven, Local Government Act/Community Charter-sanctified best practices. This is just the latest in a long line of such examples.)   

"Guiding Principles for an updated OCP:
 
It is important to establish a set of guiding principles for an OCP re-write to help steer the process and create a policy document which provides the greatest benefit to the community. The principles are general statements that outline not only the type of OCP that is most desirable for the District, but the way in which it is developed. 
 
As the project progresses, the principles of the OCP review process can be further developed and enhanced. While staff believe that Council input is critical to establishing the principles, the following are some initial ideas for Council to consider. Council's Strategic Plan provided important direction for the creation of the guiding principles.
 
1. First and foremost, develop an OCP that is created with a high degree of community input and fully endorsed by the community. Residents and stakeholders should have multiple opportunities for meaningful input before they perceive that changes are set in stone. This can be achieved through comprehensive public consultation at the outset, continuing through the process. (Effective and consistent communication). 
 
2. Develop an OCP that provides clear and consistent guidance and direction for Council, staff, and the development community. (Effective governance and Long-term thinking)
 
3. Establish a user friendly OCP that is easily understood by the public, decision makers and staff. (Effective governance and consistent communication). This can be achieved through the following ... 
 
a. A logical and organized bylaw structure
b. Strategic use of info graphics and illustrations
c. Clear language and well-defined terms
d. Clear and concise table of contents and index digitally linked to relevant sections of the document; and
e. Easy online use
 
4. Achieve an OCP that defines and enhances the unique character and future of Sooke. (Community Vibrancy and Long-term thinking)
 
5. Improve development guidelines to achieve a desirable form and character of development in Sooke. (Community Vibrancy, well-being and safety)
 
6. Focus on incorporating the provincial framework for a Healthy Built Environment: Neighbourhood Design, Transportation Networks, Natural Environment, Food Systems, Housing all with a social/economic underpinning. (Community well-being and safety, Vibrancy and Environmental leadership)
 
 
Next Steps
 
The process of developing a new OCP evolves as new information is received/obtained, consensus on the process is reached and interim decisions are made. It is important that expectations are managed throughout the process. For example,  it may be determined partway into the process that it’s a priority for the community to focus on
economic development and as a result it is proposed to Council that funds either be reallocated or additionally budgeted for in order to develop an economic development strategy for the community which would then provide an 'update' to section 4.4 of the current OCP. Another example might be placing priority on the environment specific to
climate change which could also lead to the need for additional funds or reallocation of funds towards the creation of a climate action plan with a subsequent update to several sections of the current OCP.
 
Once the Senior Planner has started they will need approximately one month to become familiar with the current OCP and related documents (draft TMP and PTMP; Housing Needs Report; Child Care Needs Assessment, Economic Analysis, growth projections and previous OCP engagement work). Other planning staff are in the process of
preparing "white papers" for use during the OCP review which would serve as a method to inform the project consultant on the specific challenges that Sooke is facing. 
 
The white papers will address the following areas in the existing OCP: Development Permit Areas, Land Use Designations, Housing Policies and Climate Action and Adaption. They will identify current challenges in those areas with respect to how the current OCP policy has responded to real world conditions for the past decade. This critical review will assist in creating an understanding of the effectiveness of these policy sections in achieving Sooke's goals.

​After this review is complete an RFP will be drafted for publication on the District website and civic web. Once proposals have been received and reviewed by staff, a report will be presented to Council to approve awarding the
project to the successful bidder. After the successful bidder is awarded the contract OCPs take approximately two years to complete." 

PPS Here's how accelerated growth is being planned for the future commuter (GO Train-connected) Metro Toronto town of Inisfill south of Barrie ~ current population 40k and projected for three times that by 2060. As its Mayor says in this clip, the idea is to densify a boldly reimagined town centre and let the rest of an otherwise rural community retain its existing character.  A game-changer for us and the rest of the South Island, of course, would be if the BC government makes a serious commitment to rapid transit in its South Island Transportation Plan, due for release early next year. (Our best hope for the 71% of Sooke residents commuting by bus to work, I figure, is that the province embraces the idea of a fleet of fast buses running to major employment centres from Langford, to which we'd be connected by our own set of express routes.) 

Just as we enter what might be called the third trimester in the extended birth of Sooke's new library ~ the 100-year land lease is finalized, the Development Permit will be presented to council on Monday night ~ the Sooke News Mirror has weighed in with a truncated, largely accurate Coles Notes account of the decade just past, crowned in thorns with a clickbait headline and the image of someone holding up a 'Help' sign for what I can only assume is a touch of cynical humour. (The headline didn't read, of course, "hooray, we're almost there," as that might sound a bit too cheerleader-ish for a hardboiled community weekly, I suppose. That's my job as I'll hopefully proceed to do here.) 
 
I'm attending my fourth Vancouver Island Regional Library board meeting this year on Saturday in Nanaimo, and I'll be pleased as the District's current representative (following in the footsteps of Kerrie Reay and Ron Dumont) to report that we are indeed close to the wire after much spirited to-and-fro between reps from our respective organizations ~ all of us with a shared desire for the best possible public facility that $6 million can purchase in today's construction market. 
 
No champagne corks need be popped, as the Mirror suggests, as those already went off in March, 2017 when Councillor Reay announced that an agreement for the northwest quadrant of Lot A had been completed and a new library on that site was in our future. Let's save the next celebration for opening day. 

Gestation 
As I told the News Mirror last week, it's been a long and winding road to this point. Back to that pregnancy metaphor, the first trimester led us from the gleam-in-the-eye of initial meetings in 2008 to the March, 2017 agreement that Lot A was the right, perhaps even perfect, town-centre home for the library.

The second trimester has seen blueprints developed and the exactingly fine details of the lease and permits completed.

The home stretch will be the actual labour of construction and then the delivery of a sweet, bouncing, bibliophilic, 11,076 square foot  temple of takeaway content and learning ~ "a go-to hub of community," as VIRL likes to term 21st century libraries, complete with increased staffing and extended operating hours, green features like radiant floor heating and cooling systems, lo-flow toilets and passive solar design ... plus such user perks as an expanded array of computer terminals, free WiFi, a makerspace, a boardroom and meeting area (with kitchenette) available to community groups, and a variety of welcoming nooks with comfy chairs in which to read the daily papers and relax in a peaceful oasis. For life-long library aficionados like me: Bliss. 

Patience and process have been the keywords this year, necessarily so when staff from two professional organizations are involved in negotiating fine details of a project funded through BC's triple-A rated Municipal Finance Authority. As you'll see in the Nov. 25 staff report prepared by Manager of Planning Ivy Campbell and her team, much care and attention has been dedicated to all manner of essentials: the access road with sidewalk; pedestrian trail connections; stormwater management; landscaping on the grounds and in the parking lot; low-impact but effective 'dark sky' exterior lighting; streetscape appearance; the application of CPTED (Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design) principles; west-coast design features (as dictated by our Town Centre Design Guidelines); bike parking spaces (24) and EV charging stations (4); and contingencies for solar panels should future budgets allow. 

Should all go well on Monday night (see the detailed design drawings in the agenda package here) and with the District now undertaking due diligence on Lot A with geotechnical, archeological, environmental and civil assessments of the property, VIRL will soon be in position to put out its construction tender and began work next year. Yes, we've heard that before -- construction was due to start in 2018 until VIRL had to pivot and redirect its budget to remediating unexpected asbestos issues at several libraries on the North Island. And there was optimistic talk of ground being broken this year once VIRL filed its Development Permit with the District. Said DP was indeed filed as a first draft in January only for prudent District staff to weigh in with their own recommended revisions and fixes, which required still more negotiations that have continued through late last month. 

Context Statements 
It's important to note that we're one of 39 branches in the VIRL system, all of which merit due attention and care. The Nanaimo HQ team led by Executive Director Rosemary Bonanno has overseen substantial renovations or new builds in a dozen communities since 2011 while also funding upgraded furniture, equipment and IT resources in all its branches. (Check out the sleek new self check-out machine by the front doors in Sooke, for instance.) 
 
VIRL is Canada's 13th largest regional library system and we in Sooke are not alone in wanting the trifecta of bigger/newer/better. Campbell River, Tofino, North Saanich, Queen Charlotte, Port McNeill and Ladysmith all desire new-build libraries as part of planned civic developments that will feature shovel-ready land donated by each municipality to VIRL.

The Parksville and Sidney branches have undergone upgrades over the last 12 months. A new prefabricated library (based on a scalable design for pocket-sized communities in the system) opens in Sayward during Christmas week and in  the Village of Woss north of Campbell River next year. A beautiful new 5,000 sq foot library in Chemainus (also designed, like ours, by HDR Architecture's Juanito Gulmatico) is slated to open in early 2020.  
 
Of course, it has been Sooke's turn for some long years now. We certainly deserve our fair shake since local taxpayers have been routinely sending VIRL approximately 3.5 percent of our annual tax bills -- or $630,366 exactly in total from Sooke taxpayers this year. That's almost the same as what we collectively pay BC Transit. (In comparison, $2.9 million goes to the CRD, $4.7 million to School District #62, and $8.1 million to the District of Sooke for municipal services; another $2.1 million is coughed up by residents in the sewer specified area for sewer parcel fund taxes).  Bottom line: The 2019 VIRL take (on Sooke's $492k average assessment) was about $95.00.    
 
Our assessment maintains existing services for the 5,300 or so VIRL card-carrying Sookies in the region. It pays the building rent, light and heat, and the salaries of our VIP crew of helpful, friendly librarians. This investment gives us access to the 23,000 or so physical holdings (books, magazines, DVDs and CDs) in the current library. And, if you're a so-called "power-user" like me who knows how to work the 'hold' system to your advantage, you can also reserve any of the 3.4 million titles in the overall system. (Items without other holds arrive to my astonishment in a matter of days; inter-library loans from other BC library systems are also possible).

These numbers don't include the 1.6 million online-only e-holdings available through services like Hoopla, Kanopy and Libby, which this old luddite is learning to navigate now that I'm growing comfortable with my iPad.  

56 Years of VIRL Service in Sooke
Sooke's first VIRL branch (as documented by Elida Peers here) opened in 1963 in what is now Barb's Barbershop, relocating several times (once into the current home of Route 14)  before landing in its 2,639 sq. ft home on Anne Marie Road in the mid-1990s.  

We've been top (or hovering near it) of VIRL's new-build priority list since at least 2008 (some claim earlier still). The sticking point was the District had no public land to donate to the project ~ land banking having not been a municipal priority since incorporation in 1999 when significant matters like a sewer system took precident. (Land, as other local governments understand to their profit, is a safe, rewarding investment that can become a civic goldmine through strategic rezoning.)  
 
A request for proposals to local land owners was issued during Mayor Milne's term after he raised a ruckus about the lack of action in 2013. While this netted some useful leads (including Lions Park on Murray Road), none of the raw land on offer was big enough for VIRL's purposes (it wanted a 10,000 sq. foot minimum, one-story building due to its staffing requirements, and hence needed to expand out, not up.) 
 
Councillor Reay made a Notice of Motion (Feb. 23, 2015) that the southwest corner of John Phillips Memorial Park might be a suitable location, and a staff report was to be readied on the subject (with the proviso that the District hold onto land title, as is the case with the lease in the current scenario.)  Then, bravo, the District did move smartly in early 2016 to purchase the five-acre, Waddams Way-fronting "Lot A" for $1.42 million with the intention of dedicating 20 percent of it to the library.  
 
Silly season kicked in when the District and VIRL banged heads over who'd pay to clear the promised land in the northwest corner. SEAPARC was suddenly (and, fortunately in many/most local minds) only briefly in the mix as an alternative location even as council argued that any library worthy of the name "public" was best suited for the heart of town. Happy, happy, joy, joy on March 18, 2017 when the announcement came that the VIRL board had voted to accept Lot A on our terms and would prepare the land at its own cost.  
 
“Hats off to the library board, and Rosemary and her staff," Reay told the Voice News that day. "They don’t give up. It was a collaborative effort – District of Sooke staff, Sooke Council, the staff and executive of VIRL, Juan de Fuca Electoral Area Director Mike Hicks, and the library board itself." All involved thought the project would get underway within a year, but then cue the hold-ups and delays.

One big milestone moment came with the unveiling of the architect's plans for our unique library-in-the-round in May, 2018. It's a striking building, described by HDR Architecture's Gulmatico as an "iconic addition to Sooke's dynamic growth ... the circular form of the building was inspired by the idea of a 'log' section wrapped with vertical cedar paneling that emulates the texture of a 'tree bark.' The circular form also responds to the functional requirement fo the library in which a clear sightline should be maintained from the central service desk to the majority of the space for security." 

Further from Gulmatico: "The library's main entrance offers a welcoming feel and a strong street presence defined by heavy timber columns and beams supporting the canopy strcture ... the building's west coast character is enhanced by stone accent cladding that compliments the rustic look of vertical cedar siding. The use of corrugated metal cladding adds texture and contrast to the exterior palette." 

All Good Things In Time
In my experience this last year, there has been a respectful, healthy exchange of ideas between District staff on one hand and VIRL and its architects on the other. No "help!" signs have been required, thanks the same.

One of my first acts on council upon being appointed as the VIRL rep was to take a roadtrip to Nanaimo with our then-acting CAO Brent Blackhall to meet with Ms. Bonanno and VIRL's Finance Director Joel Adams. VIRL filed the first draft of the Development Permit in January, triggering a set of referrals to outside agencies (Ministry of Transportation, BC Hydro, Telus, CRD Water Services) and District departments.  

Our Engineering, Planning and Parks & Environment teams all had sets of valid questions, which were addressed as the DP evolved to its current state (the latest of five revisions to the Landscape Plan, for instance, was filed on Oct. 31). Only when the Development Permit is accepted by council can the lease (which itself has gone through a series of rewrites) be signed.  
 
Boldface closer: I've argued, and will continue to do so, that getting it right is vastly more important than getting it done fast when the project in question is intended to serve Sooke's growing population for the next generation or two. 

Links of Related Interest

~ Canadian Library Association
~ Canadian Urban Libraries Council 
​~ Canadian Federation of Library Associations 

~ Public Libraries in British Columbia (Province of BC website) ~ "British Columbia has 71 public libraries with 241 service locations in which more than 15.6 million items are available to borrow. In 2017, 52 million items were checked out, and libraries offered 74,000 programs to the public, attended by 1.74 million people. B.C. libraries have 3,600 computers available for public use." 

​~ British Columbia Library Association 

~ "BC Municipalities Want Province To End Library Funding Freeze" (September, 2019; the District of Sooke was among the BC municipalities that submitted a letter in support of this campaign to increase provincial funding for public libraries) 

~ Neil Gaiman and Chris Ridell ~ On Why We Need Libraries 
 
~ Links to Libraries ~ Learning to read proficiently is a child's best chance for success in school and in life. By increasing their access to books, Link to Libraries strives to inspire young readers and enhance the language and literacy skills of children of all cultural backgrounds. To date, Link to Libraries has distributed over 650,000 new books to school libraries and to the home libraries of children in need, many of whom have never previously owned a book.

~ 100 Most Borrowed Books ~ A foundation for a well-stocked library 

~ "What Libraries Do" ~ "Libraries level the playing field. As great democratic institutions, serving people of every age, income level, location, ethnicity, or physical ability, and providing the full range of information resources needed to live, learn, govern, and work." 

~ Libraries (Pinterest collection of images) + Quotes about libraries 

~ CBC Radio's Michael Enright ~ "In Praise of Librarians" 

~ 12 Authors Write About the Libraries They Love ~ New York Times article featuring recollections by Barbara Kingsolver, Amy Tan, Annie Proulx and others. 

FYI This #Sooke-specific tally from the Capital Regional District's 2020 provisional budget, approved on Oct. 30 by the CRD Committee of the Whole (aka board) and subject to minor tinkering in the months ahead. It calls for a 2.12% hike on the 2020 bill we will receive in the spring.

Based on Sooke's average home assessment ($490K), this means homeowners in Sooke will pay an average of $658.62 to the CRD in 2020 ~ up $13 from last year. For this, we receive clean, verifiably lead-free water on demand; waste management, landfill and recycling services; access to a superb parks system (including our beloved Potholes and Goose); and regional emergency management planning, among other services. 

For perspective: The South Island's current year-to-year inflation rate is 2.7%. Largely because we're not on the hook for a share of the $775m wastewater treatment facility at McLoughlin Point, our 2020 CRD increase is relatively low compared to other municipalities, i.e. Victoria (6.17 percent), View Royal (9.78 percent), Colwood (10.37 pecent), Saanich (6 percent), Esquimalt (7.11 percent), etc.

Drilling down on the chart ... Regional costs shared with all 13 CRD municipalities are listed in its top third. Sooke-specific services are identified in the second third. And towards the bottom are two categories every homeowner in the region pays into: long-term debt servicing (water treatment facilities, for instance) and regional hospitals/health-care facilities.

Among the services tailored to Sooke, you'll see that the lion's share finances our recreation centre and its related facilities. SEAPARC's $3.4 million Fitness Centre addition is set to open in January, then the masterplan calls for a new pool roof (2022), a $1 million upgrade of the Sooke Skate Park (2023) and the construction of a multi-sport (lacrosse included) box in Sunriver (its timing contingent on whether the District receives a six-figure federal infrastructure grant this year).

We in Sooke also pay specifically for ...

* Sooke Region Museum operational funding; 

* Contributions to the Regional Housing First Fund, now paying off locally via the Knox Vision apartments, a pair of incoming BC Housing affordable rental projects in the town centre and the strong possibility of a third (perhaps paired with a senior/youth activity centre on Lot A) given the demand identified in Sooke's newly released Housing Needs Assessment report;

* Access to the CRD Arts & Culture Service, which Sooke subscribed to late last year thanks to the wise advocacy of Cllr. Parkinson. The Sooke Community Choir, the Sooke Folk Music Society, the Sooke Philharmonic and the Sooke Festival Society have received CRD project grants this year; 

* Animal care services (which I've suggested the District might eventually want to take in-house once the current contract lapses in 2023. Ms. Rodriguez and Sooke pet-owners in general might appreciate an animal shelter closer to home than Elk Lake, we could hire a team of experienced locals to run it, and a revenue stream would be available through both the current contract fee and the ongoing sale of microchip-embedded tags).

Our overall tax bill also includes, of course, direct payments to the District of Sooke (approx. 40 percent of your/our total bill), the Vancouver Island Regional Library, BC Transit, School District #62, BC Assessment and the Municipal Finance Authority.

Everyone has a view/opion about the value of the CRD for us here in the region's westernmost fringe. After attending a dozen or so meetings this year as Sooke's Alternate Director, I've become a sincere fan of a sharp, professionally run (or so it seems to rose-coloured me) organization that delivers an array of essential services while also planning responsibly for a growing population (750k in Greater Victoria by 2100, double the current total), purchase green space (the next focus being west of the Sooke River) and deal as best we can with the climate emergency.
​
Not that we have a choice in participating, of course. Amendments to British Columbia's Municipal Act in 1965 created regional districts as the mechanism by which to coordinate urban, suburban and rural communities with shared borders and needs. The CRD was created two years later. Regional governance is fated to evolve in the years ahead contingent to some degree on how the Victoria/Saanich amalgamation talks proceed, yet we will likely always be part of a regional confederation ~ perhaps one distant day in an alliance with west shore communities only.

Scanning the unpublished draft entries for this blog, I found this early March overview of the District's annual financial planning process in which council was then absorbed. I believe the numbers and rationales I'm citing are mostly accurate even though the 2019-23 plan was still being tinkered with at the time i wrote, so I publish it here with a few touch-ups but mostly unvarnished and as-was. 

Traditionally the vast majority of us in Sooke have paid the piper by the early July property tax deadline. This year, 6,237 tax notices were distributed, and I'm told the District's front office team of Cassidy Thagard, Chandra Frobel, Stacey Dalep, Teresa Burkett and Deborah Knight again came through with flying colours in dealing respectfully and professionally with the paperwork crush as well as the occasional (happily rare) aggrieved resident steamed about this year's hike.   

​I'm not sure where I saw the following number recently, but I believe the stats show that the Sooke tax base is 85 percent residential. The District continues to face growing costs of doing business, so obviously this and future councils will need to be assertive and creative in encouraging more industrial and commercial tax folios ~ most logically through ...

* the long overdue hiring of an Economic Development Officer;

* the relaunch of some fresh variation on the Sooke Economic Development Commission to liaise with the Sooke Chamber of Commerce (now undergoing another of its periodic transitional phases) and the smaller, more nimble Economic Development Group (given that it's a group of local business people who focus in collegial fashion on specific projects ~ #DividedBy14 originally and now the Municipal Regional Development Tax to finally get Sooke fully into the tourism marketing game).  Sooke's EDC was established in the mid-00s by Mayor Evans complete with an 'Advantage Sooke' website. It was replaced by Mayor Milne in 2012 with the Advisory Panel on Economic Development, RIP 2015. (One participant in the Steve Grundy-led panel, Michael Clouser, wrote a comprehensive overview of local and regional ED initiatives following council's 2015/16 decision to opt out of participation in what has evolved into the South Island Prosperity Project.)  

* and, perhaps most sensibly if we want to boost business/commercial taxes and create local jobs, extend the sewer system across the Sooke River to service underdeveloped industrially zoned lands (in addition to the the First Nation, two schools and residential areas with failing septic systems in the Kaltasin area). This proposal was one of the top-two next-step (along with Whiffin Spit North) recommendations for future sewer development in Sooke's 2010 Liquid Waste Management Plan (Sanitary). It will only be possible once we've dramatically upgraded and doubled the capacity of the existing wastewater treatment system, currently at close to 70 percent capacity and prone to possible spillovers during winter's heavy rainfalls. There's also the option of a satellite waste treatment site on the east side of the river. Or perhaps we simply accept the fact that we're a bedroom community and leave it at that ... much discussion sure to follow, maybe complete with the revival of WRATH (Worried Residents Against Tax Hikes), which rallied against the establishment of a sewer system back in the early '00s. 

Okay, all this said, back to my abandoned and now revived post from the late winter/early spring. Bonus: A few musical selections ~ #1 ... #2 ... #3 ~ as accompaniment if you choose to read on.  

Here's a collection of point-form notes arising from the 2019 Five-Year Budget Planning session. Bottom line: Taxpayers across all nine property classes of taxation will pay 7.2 percent more this year. For homeowners, that works out to $7.28 per month on residences with an assessed value of $481k (the average for Sooke homes in 2019 as determined by BC Assessment) or $87.41 for the year. 
 
The District snags approx. 40 percent of your total tax bill. The rest is collected on behalf of the Capital Regional District, School District #62, BC Transit, the Regional Hospital District and the Vancouver Island Regional Library. Use this Sooke tax calculator on the District's website to see how your 2019 property bill is divvied up for municipal services. And check out these Union of BC Municipalities fact sheets -- Local Government Revenues & Expenses + Property Assessment + Taxation + Financial Planning & Accounting --  for the big-picture story on how municipalities collect, manage and spend. 
 
Our Sooke tax hike will deliver the following ...  
 
* The hiring of six new municipal employees (1.9 percent tax increase for a partial year of salaries) deemed to be essential in building a professional municipal operation and aiding existing staff manage the workload here in Van Isle's second-fastest growing community ...  
 
~ Career Firefighter 
~ Municipal Engineer (a position vacant locally since 2015)
~ Records Management Clerk
~ Chief Building Official 
~ Permit/Plan Coordinator
~ Waste Water Operator 
 
* Payment for consultants and the full public engagement processes for a set of documents that will redefine Sooke's masterplan for the next decade, namely ...  
 
~ Official Community Plan (budgeted for $200k over three years) 
~ Staff Organizational Review ($50k, to be helmed by our next Chief Administrative Officer) 
~ Parks & Trails Masterplan ($71k) 
~ Transportation Masterplan ($100k) 
~ Housing Needs Assessment ($35k) 
~ Child Care Needs Assessment (paid for through a provincial grant) 
~ CAO Executive Search ($20k) 
~ Lot A Planning ($25k) 
 
*  Employer Health Tax ~ 1.06 percent tax increase. The District has traditionally paid $30k roughly in Medical Service Plan premiums to cover health plans for its employees. The DOS this year has to pay that amount plus $81k of the new employer health tax. Next year and beyond, we're on the hook for just the employer health tax. 
 
* Road Maintenance Contract  ~ 1.3 percent tax increase likely this year. The District's contract with Main Road is up for renewal. (Update: The RFP for submissions is Aug. 23).  Given local growth and regional cost increases, it's expected we could be paying as much as $100k more for the contract. The time will eventually come when the District creates its own works department or in some future amalgamated partnership with other west shore communities. 

* Paid On-Call Volunteer Firefighter Wages ~ This year will see the first in a phased series of pay increases to align local practices with provincial standards as championed by the Volunteer Firefighters Association of BC. It's a critical next step in ensuring retention of the volunteer force (currently three dozen, which is a dozen or so short of Chief Mount's optimal roster) that backs up our small team of career firefighters. 
 
* Debt Servicing- $129K (1.6 percent tax increase). We have a number of loans through the Municipal Finance Authority still outstanding, including the sewer, Lot A (for which we'll be paying down $284k  + $9k interest this year), and some necessary equipment upgrades for the Fire Department (ladder truck, water tender truck and, new this year, a replacement for Engine 3, which will be purchased in $400k instalments this year and next). 
 
* Road Improvement Program - budgeted at $800k. Year two of the five-year program is $100k more than anticipated in last year's budget, a reflection of increased costs on the south island. 
 
* EV Charger Program ~ $75k (1 percent tax increase). Click for details. 
 
* Mayor and Council Salary increase ~ $20k (0.25 tax increase) to boost our salaries in a first pay hike since the automatic annual cost-of-living bump was eliminated in 2011 (by a council comprised of folks with good salaries and healthy pension plans, it must be said. To reiterate, this increase will bring us closer to the average for BC commuities of our size and is a first step in encouraging gifted and engaged young and mid-to-late career individuals to run).  
 
You're entirely free and welcome to disagree, of course, but the belief of council and staff is that this tax increase is necessary. We're growing like topsy out here and the District must keep pace. The last two councils kept tax increases low ~ artifically so, one might argue. The key positions of Director of Planning and Municipal Engineer were left unfilled when the incumbents left in 2014 and 2015 respectively.

​Mayor Milne campaigned on cost-cutting and he delivered with a cumulative 1.61 percent increase over his three years. The last four years, meanwhile, has seen a total increase of 9 percent.  That's a 10.83 increase since 2012 ~ barely enough to keep pace with the Consumer Price Index. Meanwhile, the demands on staff, infrastructure and services have grown exponentially. As those of us who attended the recent Local Government Leadership Academy sessions in Parksville learned, zero tax increases are fine and dandy in the short term yet the deferred costs can only be kicked down the road so often before the cracks show and the potholes multiply. 
 
FYI  Here's how the tax increase numbers break down over the last seven years: 
 
2018 2.79%
2017 5.58%
2016 0.85%
2015 0.00%
2014 0.02%
2013 1.59%
2012 0.00%

Perspective: Other municipalities have also set significant tax increases this year, including Kelowna (4.43%), Tofino (7.4%), Duncan (3.89%), Saanich (5.37%), Victoria (4.3%) and Vancouver (4.5%) .  Here's a municipal tax calculator for 160+ BC municipalities (2018 figures). 

Reality check: Property tax increases are just one measure of living costs, and costs are up in many areas of life, especially here in lotus land.  The Consumer Price Index rose nearly 2 percent in the Victoria region compared to last year.  BC Consumer Price Index stats can be found here. Compare then and now with this British Columbia Inflation Calculator (i.e., $100 CAD in 1960 would be worth $867.74 CAD in 2019.) 

Closing words courtesy Grumpy Taxpayers of Greater Victoria. Plus these thoughts on taxation from American linguist George Lakoff, who discusses the differences in how taxes are framed as either a necessity that supports civilized life as we know it here in this privileged part of the world ... or a burden from which relief is needed ... depending on whether one's mindset is progressive or conservative. The key, far smarter and accomplished people than me have said repeatedly, is that tax dollars be spent wisely and strategically for the betterment of communities. Hopefully that's what we're accomplishing here in Sooke.  
 

Happy to report that the District of Sooke yesterday issued a call for applicants to the revived Climate Change Action Committee. Interested individuals have until May 31, two Fridays from today, to put their names forward via  the form found at this link.

Chairperson Cllr. Tony St-Pierre, council's appointee to the CRD Climate Action Intermunicipal Working Group, is seeking up to 10 individuals to join him and District staff around the table to identify local actions and broader advocacy campaigns to address the CRD and Sooke declarations of a climate emergency. At a planetary scale, of course, there's also the five-alarm reports of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and, just recently, the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity bombshell revealing that one million animal and plant species are threatened with extinction.  

Tony is a super bright, engaged, savvy and passionate advocate for rapid action on climate change. He regularly reminds council of the IPCC's call for governments large and small to move to war footing in dealing with the crisis in the immediate future (#2030). Like us all on this council, Tony recognizes that climate change is the big-picture lens through which we must view local issues: housing, local economic development, transportation, Smart Growth, energy infrastructure, hiking/cycling trails and all the rest. Backing us up in this view is the fact that the Official Community Plan (both the current 2010 model and the early public feedback for the next one) clearly cites a healthy environment as the #1 priority for Sooke residents. 

With a mind to doing what we can as best we can locally, Cllr. Beddows and I would both like to participate on the committee as well (however council will need to revise the Terms of Reference to make that possible.) Al is keen in his unofficial and, I reckon, hugely invaluable role as a bridge to a vital sector of Sooke society that he jokingly but respectfully describes as "red neck" (and in which he counts himself; personally, I find him a wholly reasonable, common sense gentleman -- and there's no question that practical, common sense solutions are what's needed as we face what's looming ahead of us.) 

Me, I'm the Transition Sooke alumnus and former chair of the Climate Change committee in the final two years of its six-year existence. The likes of T'Sou-ke Nation solar project manager Andrew Moore, the Rotary Club's Mark Ziegler (a former federal government economist in the Climate Change Secretariat), Solar Colwood's Nitya Harris and the Pachamama Alliance's Michael Tacon were all part of the committee along with council liaison Ebony Logins and such key District staff as Laura Hooper, Brent Blackhall and former fire chief Steve Sorenson. We dreamed big yet didn't accomplish all that much given all the other priorities the District had on its plate then. For the record, our conversations focused on such seemingly achievable undertakings as a community solar project (solar farm, solar parking lot, and/or solar panels at EMCS or/and the Municipal Hall); a yard-waste depot in the District's Kaltasin works yard; EV charging stations (which is one good evolving legacy thanks to the work of the District's Paul Butterfield);  a local compost facility as potentially facilitated by Net Zero Waste that could serve local farmers and backyard growers; and potential collaboration with the BC Sustainable Energy Association on its Renewable Energy By 2050 campaign (with which the District of Saanich is now well underway). 

That was then and this is later (i.e.,now). If indeed you're planning to apply to the resurrected committee, please explore some of these related links: 

* Two foundational documents that guided the Climate Change committee previously 
~ Sooke Climate Energy and Emissions Plan (CEEP, 2014)
~ BC Climate Action Charter (2008), to which Sooke and all BC municipalities are signatories.

* Capital Region District agendas and videos re: this winter's Climate Emergency Declaration    
~ Feb. 13: CRD Board of Directors meeting at which Climate Emergency was formally declared
~ Jan. 23: CRD Parks & Environment Committee meeting at which a Climate Emergency declaration was first discussed following a motion by Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps, Saanich councillor Ned Taylor and Sooke's own Mayor Maja Tait. 
​
​~ CRD Climate Change website page 
~ CRD Climate Projections for the Capital Region (2017 PDF report ... in brief: drier summers marked by extended droughts combined with wetter winters featuring heavy storm events) 

* Government of British Columbia
~ BC Climate Action Toolkit + "Sooke's Innovative Town Centre Takes Shape," 2010
~ CleanBC (2018)
~ PDF of the CleanBC plan released in Dec., 2018
~ Community Energy Association of BC summarizes the plan  
​~ Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives analysis of CleanBC  

~ BC Energy Step Code + its new website 

Regarding local governments, CleanBC states "they will play a critical role in areas such as developing new clean energy sources, supporting active and cleaner transportation options and helping B.C. transition to zero waste. Their ongoing efforts to make communities more compact, complete and energy-efficient are essential to this strategy’s success. B.C. local governments are leaders on climate action, managing their corporate and community wide GHG emissions and creating clean, compact, more energy efficient communities." 

* Government of Canada
~ Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change
~ The Paris Agreement
~ Canada's Climate Plan

* Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
~ Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 C (final report)
~ The Guardian on the IPCC report 
~ Wikipedia entry 
~ National Geographic coverage 

* Generation Now & Next  
~ Greta Thunberg's TED Talk + address to COP24  
​~ BC Climate Strike
~ Profiles of Canadian Climate Strikers 
~ Sooke's Finn and Chloe Unger on the Declaration of the Right to a Healthy Environment (the BlueDot initiative passed by DOS council in February, 2015 as a relatively early adopter to a document now signed by more than 300 municipalities across Canada). 

~ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's New Green Deal 
​~ Canada's New Green Deal (May, 2019) 

* Greening Sooke/T'Sou-ke
~ Climate Emergency Declaration (passed unanimously by Sooke council on April 8, 2019) 
~ Plastic Bag Bylaw (draft received by council on May 13, 2019; public hearing set for June 10)  
~ EV Charger Station program (2018/19) 
~ FireSmart program and emergency response preparedness by the Sooke Fire Rescue Department as we in BC prepare to deal with potential local impacts of the "fifth season." 
~ Draft tree protection bylaw (spring 2019) 
~ Environmental due diligence in the development of Sooke's Lot A public lands 

~ DOS achieves carbon-neutral municipal operations in 2015, earning Level 3 (highest) recognition from UBCM

~ Sooke Climate Energy & Emissions Plan approved by council in Oct. 2014. Priorities: 
i) Promotion of home retrofits & demand-side management programs;
ii) Improved walking infrastructure;
iii) Organics diversion from Hartland;
iv) Urban containment (i.e., less sprawl, more OCP-directed town centre development)

~ BC Transit's Sooke Local Area Service Plan review (2019) 

~ T'Sou-ke Solar City
~ T’Sou-ke Centre for Sustainability Housing Innovation
(skills training in the creation of energy efficient housing for BC indigenous communities)

~ Transition Sooke (founded 2010) 
~ Zero Waste Sooke (founded 2015)
~ TS Pesticide Education Group (founded 2016)
~ TS Ecohome Tours (2016/17/18)
~ Planet Earth Party: Earth Day Sooke (April 22, 2018)

~ Sooke Region Food CHI
~ Sooke Farmland Trust Society
~ CRD Foodlands Access Program

 ~ District of Sooke council is among the Vancouver Island councils that have accepted the District of Highlands' 2019 Municipal Survivor Climate Change Challenge. Global Footprint Network's personal calculator here.  
 
Miscellaneous other reasons why it's getting easier to be green and proud of it locally ... 
​
~ Roadside clean-up: The iconic, heroic Sifu Koshin Moonfist (aka Broomfist) 
~ Tradition of litter-busting with Rotary Club, EMCS Youth Engagement Team, Zero Waste Sooke & other community groups
~ First/only BC municipality to vote, via electoral plebicite, for a ban on increased oil-tanker traffic 
~ Youth for Change students fundraise for EV station at Edward Milne Community School, 2016/17
~ Youth for Change group revitalized by EMCS leadership students in spring 2019
~ Tidal power: Accumulated Ocean Energy (in collaboration with T’Sou-ke Nation and academic institutions) 
~ Solar installation: Viridian Energy Co-Operative + Endless Energy & Solar Solutions + independent contractors 
~ T’Sou-ke Nation, Timberwest and EDP Renewables Canada announce intention (2013) for $750-million in large-scale wind power projects on Vancouver Island's southwest coast.  
~ Geothermal heat pumps in select homes at Woodland Creek
~ Built Green Canada Gold standard met by Harbourside Cohousing
~ Green residential builders in the region include Keary Conwright + Frank McKendry + Forest Adam + Tony Johnson + David Dare, among others. 
~ Invasive species removal by the Juan de Fuca Trails Society and the Greater Victoria Green Team 
~ Regional beach clean-ups by Surfrider Foundation Vancouver Island
~ District of Sooke's Subdivision and Development Standards bylaw requires that street trees are planted on new roads 
~ Urban tree inventory is part of the District's GIS mapping system (photographs, caliper size, species name)
~ Community Gardens at Sunriver and the Sooke Baptist Church
~ Food gardens at John Muir Elementary and Edward Milne Community School (the latter being the 2019 winner of Farm to School BC's Polllinator Award) 
​

More Big Picture Links 
~ NASA website: Global Climate Change ~ Vital Signs of the Planet (evidence) 
~ The Royal Society - Climate Change Evidence and Causes 
~ Climate Atlas of Canada - Climate Change: The Basics 
~ "The last five years were the hottest ever recorded" ~ National Geographic, Feb. 2019 

~ Al Gore's Climate Reality Project + "The Green Revolution is Unstoppable" 
~ Heartland Institute on Climate Change (American think tank for the conservative movement) 

~ Climate Change Denial: Articles from The Guardian  
​~ Skeptical Science: "Getting Skeptical about Climate Change Skepticism"
~ DeSmogBlog: "Clearing the PR Pollution the Clouds Climate Science" 
~ "How to Talk to A Climate Change Denier" 

~ International Monetary Fund report (May, 2019) on global fossil fuel subsidies 
"The Canadian government spends $58 billion per year in fossil fuel subsidies to the oil and gas industry. 
That’s $1,600 per person." 

Departing tomorrow for the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities Convention in Powell River, so I thought it best to finish this rough transcription of notes from my previous such learning-curve depth dive  ~  hosted by the AVICC in association with BC's Local Government Leadership Academy in Parksville in mid-February. I was scribbling madly and likely got a fair few things wrong, but I'm capturing it here for future reference and refinement. 
 
109 registered delegates
63% of us newly elected 
37% re-elected 
 
Keynote: Greg Moore, former Mayor of Port Coquitlam
"Lessons for a Happy Political Journey" 
 
* "Stand for what you campaigned on but be flexible and flow with reality ... my mission statement at start of my final term in 2015 was 'end homelessness in PoCo.'  Didn't happen but we worked towards it." 
* "'Politician' is seen to be a bad word ... Be proud. You are serving your community." 
* Enjoy the networking. Real conversations, real people. 
* "Learn how to disagree with your colleagues without being disagreeable." 
* Port Coquitlam budget document - "super document" easily understood by the public 

Challenges 
 1. Massive Time Commitment 
Upside is that the municipal year follows a somewhat predictable cycle 
- January - somewhat quiet
- Feb/March/April - busy (budget)
- May/June/July - busy
- August - holiday break
- Sept/Oct/Nov - busy
- December - quiet-ish
 
2. Random encounters with residents with questions, asks and viewpoints  
 "Thank you, here's my business card, let's set up a meeting, please get in touch with me"
 
3. Hearth and home 
- politicians tend to prioritize politics over family life
- five divorces among council members over his 16 years in office
- vent with your partner!
- avoid losing touch with the people and things that really matter to you  
 
4. Dealing with single-minded people 
 - elevate the discussion to a more expanded, inclusive level
- professional perspective vs. community perspective (job is to rep the community perspective)
- councillors are residents, too. 
 
5. Social Media
- "Eroding the quality of community debate" 
- "Terms of Service" and "Policy of Engagement" for councillor social media pages
-  Be clear with your followers:  Respectful dialogue is encouraged. Three times rule-breakers are out. 

6. Knowing when time's up 
- "Plan your exit before the community plans it for you." 
 
Media relations 
- call press back within an hour if possible 
- tough conversations are to be expected
- they'll be friendly but they are not your friend
- hone in on three messages about any given topic, and stay on message  

Reality checks
- people will eventually want new blood no matter how good you are
- have fun along the way
- you're an individual doing the best you can 
- relax, you're not the Prime Minister
- important distinction:  "residents" not "taxpayers or ratepayers" 
- you can never say 'thank you' enough
 
 Gary MacIsaac, UBCM
"The Local Government Weather Channel"  
 
Major issues currently faced by the Union of BC Municipalities 
 
* Housing/Homelessness
- a UBCM policy paper released in 2018 helped shape current provincial strategy
- focus on seniors and indigenous communities
- housing to some degree has been downloaded to municipalities -- playing catch-up for an entire generation of non-action by the federal and provincial governments
- zoning for rentals and innovative new housing types 
 
* Building Code in BC
- revised in 2018
- major pressures on the system, hold-ups are the norm throughout the province
- a worst-case example are the six cities in Metro Vancouver area, where 115k development and building permits are currently in process 
 
* Cannabis Regulations
- UBCM page here
- May, 2017 federal announcement ... "then Ottawa abandoned the field" and left it to provinces and municipalities to sort out retail and cultivation policies  
- land use issues 
- policing
- ALR land 
- TBD: revenue sharing from Ottawa and the provinces to local government 
- TBD: policies on edibles and manufacturing of same 
- TBD: micro-cultivation and regional sales of "craft" weed 
- A punworthy subject ~ 'hazy/dubious/zoned out/joint committees' 
 
* Opioid Crisis 

* Health & Social Development 
- policy page 

* Environment & Climate Change 
- UBCM policy home page
- extreme weather incoming
- BC Climate Action Charter in 2007/08 
- Wildfire threats: Emergency Operation Centre in the interior was open for six months last year 
- local governments can tap many resources, i.e. BC Climate Action Toolkit 
 
 
Local Government Organizations & Services 
* Association of Vancouver Island & Coastal Communities 
- one of five regional associations in BC
- represents 53 member municipalities and Regional Districts 
- 346 elected officials in all representing 18 percent of BC population
- at annual convention (Sooke in 2013; Powell River this), three sessions are held to debate resolutions which, if passed, are moved up the food chain to the UBCM convention in the fall (where, if successful, they will then be forwarded to the province)
- in discussing resolutions, delegates line-up at a pro or con mic, thus allowing facilitator to get a quick read on the mood in the room and move the process along efficiently 
- BC Ferries ... socio-economic study re: rates and schedule 
- Oil company culpability - passed at AVICC in 2018, defeated at UBCM

Municipal Finance Authority of British Columbia
"Created in 1970 to contribute to the financial well-being of local governments throughout BC. The MFA pools the borrowing and investment needs of BC communities through a collective structure and is able to provide a range of low cost and flexible financial services to our clients equally, regardless of the size of the community. The MFA provides long-term, short-term, and equipment financing, investment management, and other financial services to communities and public institutions in BC."

- it will take six months to get a borrowing bylaw approved
- municipalities must borrow their long-term debt from MFA 
- MFA has a Triple A credit rating
- municipalities cannot run a deficit; if one does, the deficit must be repaid within a year (unlike long-term provincial and federal deficits)
 
Municipal Insurance Association of British Columbia 
- Insurance provider for municipalities
- "we fight frivolous, nuisance lawsuits on your behalf" 
- very real liabilities and risks faced by local governments

- Local Government Management Association
"LGMA is dedicated to supporting excellence in local government by providing high quality, practical training and resources; encouraging the development of professional networking and connections; and facilitating the exchange of ideas and best practices among members."
 
BC Assessment 
- "Meet the Johnsons" video for overview 
- Just over 2 million properties in BC
- $1.99 trillion is total value 
- 4300 percent increase in assessed value between 1974 (year of BC Assement's foundation) and 2018 
- 45 percent of municipal funding, on average, is from property taxes
- Assessments determined as of July 1 of prior year 
- 1.25 percent of BC property assessments are appealed annually; less than 0.25 percent are typically successful
 

DYNAMICS & DECISION MAKING 
Tracey Lorenson 
 
* Advice to elected reps: "if you're made of glass, get over it!"

 * Rule of thumb: Most residents are indifferent to what you're doing until it effects them directly. 

 * Clear, crisp, understandable communications from local government to the public is essential (show of hands in the room indicates that most municipalities have dedicated communications officers). "Don't be shy to brag!"   

 * The media twist: Civic government processes can be boring; therefore the media will find ways to make a story compelling by focusing on  personalities and polarities. Clickbait is their job. "Doing good things well for your community is not news, unfortunately." 

 * "Worry about the opinions of those you respect ... not the average social media critic." 
 
* Business tax rates are not the #1 determinant as to why a savvy business or developer will want to invest in your community; instead, focus on developing a track record of good, effective and consistent municipal governance. 
 
* It is incumbent on council to  ensure that as wide a range of viewpoints and perspectives as possible is addressed and acknowledged in working towards a decision -- even if those representing these viewpoints aren't in the room. 
 
* "You're in the business of disappointment" 
 
* Danger of over-responding to the agendas of others -- especially those who gripe in public, at council meetings or in the local press. Conversely, don't ignore squeaky wheels, " because certain wheels could be about to fall off." 
 
* All decisions need to be filtered through 1. Official Community Plan. 2. Bylaws. 
 
* Councils need to pace themselves. Some are addicted to doing too much too soon ~ a bias for action intended to reveal that the decision-makers are "quick, deep and assertive." Often better to move at a slower pace, be more contemplative, table decisions for further discussion. 
 
* Careful of asking too much of municipal staff. Every report is approximately a $3k to $4k investment in staff time.  Specify whether a minimal, mid-level or in-depth report is desired. 
 
* Taxation: A zero percent tax increase effectively reduces municipal funds by 2 to 3 percent given average annual inflation.  Generally speaking, there is underinvestment in essential infrastructure. Future taxpayers will shoulder the bill sooner or later to replace failing roads, sewers, etc. 
 
* Residents get what they pay for with their taxes. Whether a community receives gold, silver or platinum service is a direct reflection of tax rates. Less cannot deliver more. 
 
* Council relations 
 i) "The essence of strategy is in choosing what not to do" - Michael Porter. Any four-year Strategic Plan must be given an annual update and check-in ... something not enough councils do. 
 
ii) Listen carefully to each other and focus efforts on mutual differences and sticking points
 
iii) Respect each other's views and opinion. "Lean into the circle of council and staff as you move towards a resolution." 
 
iv) Always be ready and prepared to change your mind - fixed opinions are the death of creative, evolving processes.  
 
v) Have the confidence to say, 'yes, I expressed concerns about x, y or z, but now I realize the wisdom of moving ahead having given it further thought and weighed it from multiple angles.'  Or vice-versa in moving to 'no.' 
 
vi) Be curious, not certain. Do not play to the gallery with grandiose or obvious statements. 
 
vii) Choose your battles, use your equity wisely, manage your air time during meetings. 
 
viii) Council as a whole will be characterized by the public according to the worst behaviour of any one of its members. 
 
ix) Read agenda packages. If you've not done so, stay quiet and vote as best you can based on the insights of staff and informed councillors. 
 
x) “Opinion is really the lowest form of human knowledge. It requires no accountability, no understanding. The highest form of knowledge is empathy, for it requires us to suspend our egos and live in another's world." ~ Bill Bullard 
 
 
"We're Got to Stop Meeting(s) Like This" 
Tofino Mayor Josie Osborne & Bob MacPherson, CAO, District of Tofino 
 
Warning Signs 
- councillors who stray habitually off-topic
- take 10 minutes to say something that should take two
- personal attacks on members of the public or each other
 
* Each councillor has the right to shape the process. Always be ready, if a debate is heading off the rails, to call a point of order and ask for a break. 
 
* Motions made on the fly are a bad idea ... must be in writing and available ahead of time for public comment
 
* When in doubt, postpone decisions so that staff can have time to weigh in, address questions and clarify grey areas.  
 
* In the case of complex, double-barrelled motions, split them into component parts and address them in succession 
 
* OFEEDS (acronym for best-meeting practices) 

- Focus (on the agenda as approved) 
 
- Efficiency (watch the clock, keep things moving) 

- Equality (for fairness and informed voting; each councillor to speak once in the queque before having a second opportunity; likewise with public comment period & public hearings)  
 
- Decorum (dignity, respect, Roberts Rules of Order)
 
- Safe (meeting environment for everyone in the room) 
 
* Statement to the public at the start of action-packed meetings: "We have a heavy agenda tonight, and we need your help in running a smooth, efficient meeting." 
 
* Council's job is to collect available wisdom in the room; question, follow-up, focus on the issues/proposals. "Engage the brainpower of those around the table to reach wise decisions ... thoughtful, judicious, balanced and informed decisions ... It is not acceptable to surpress valid and relevant input even when it might threaten your desired outcome of a vote." 
 
* Pay attention during meetings! Do not text, email, check Facebook nor (as in one infamous example) read a newspaper.  
 
* Heckling/booing/applauding during meetings is not to be permitted. Leads to creation of a potentially toxic meeting space where some may be afraid to speak. There are cases where human rights complaints have been filed against municipalities on these grounds. 
 
* Active listening is a good strategy always. Ask the public during hearings: "Does anyone have something new to add to what's been said already? If so, we'd like to hear from you." 
 
* Council members should come to meetings with open minds, not 'empty' minds. "It is a dangerous myth that changing your mind is a sign of weakness and lack of integrity." 
 

Local Government Law 101: Rights, Risks & Responsibilities
Ryan Bortolin, Stewart McDannold Stuart 
​
- Province has authority over local government. Municipal governments were viewed as "junior level of government" 30 years ago, however there is an ongoing shift of power and much less micromanagement from on high
- The federal criminal code supercedes any local bylaws 
- The Community Charter and the Municipal Act grants "natural person powers .. a person at law" status (like a corporation) to municipalities 
- Councillors can be subject to libel (written commentary) or slander (spoken). Section 115 of Community Charter defines responsibilities of councillors 
- Province has "duty to consult" with First Nations. No duty to consult at the municipal level, however it is a good practice to do so always. 
- No advantages to be given to private business in advancing their interests
 
Public Hearings  
- A public hearing, from a councillor's perspective, is actually a "public listening." 
- Often wise not to vote the same day as a public hearing; table the decision to the next meeting so that the public's input can be considered over time. 
- Councillors asked their thoughts on an issue prior to a public meeting are well advised to say: "I'll tell you after I've heard from the public." 
- When a hearing is closed, no more input is permissible
 
Local Governments & Indigenous Communities 
 * 230,000 indigenous peoples (First Nation, Metis, Inuit) in BC 
* 70 percent live off-reserve
* 203 of Canada's 600 First Nations are in BC 
* 46 percent of BC indigenous people under the age of 25
 
* Treaty negotiations: Annual report at www.bctreaty.ca 
* Province of BC draft principles: "free, prior and informed consent" 
 * C2C (Community2Community) Grants available through Ministry of Indigenous Relations & Reconciliation 
 
* First Nations structure 
- Hereditary leadership -- the Chiefs, key to traditional knowledge
- Elected leadership
- Administrative leadership 
- Influential citizens 
 
* "Ask a question, be clear you want a response, wait six weeks before following up" 
* Patience, understanding and respecting cultural differences is key
 
 
Post-Election Assessment - Results, Turnout, Trends
 CivicInfoBc 
- 3,339,483 eligible voters in BC
- 35.7 percent average voter turnout in municipalities & districts, October, 2018
- 27 percent average voter turnout in regional districts, October, 2018
- Approx. 10 percent voter turnout for school board trustee elections 
- Voter turnout was often highest in smaller communities with Wells, Canal Flats, New Denver, Belcarra, Stewart, and Tahsis all reporting turnout rates of over of 70%. Also: Bowen Island (67.4%), Fernie (63.7%), and Qualicum Beach (58.9%).

Local Government Finance 101 
- Assessed Value x Property Tax Rate (aka Mill Rate) = Payable Taxes 
- Five-Year Plans are rolling documents
- look to 10 and 15-year horizons for capital expenditures
- SOFI (Statement of Financial Information) report document staff salaries in excess of $75k along with remuneration and expenses for councillors
- Sooke Property Tax Calculator 
 
- Legislated timeline:
* ideally begin a new 5 Year Financial Plan process in fall (most councils wait until the early new year and face extra stress in meeting legislated deadlines)  
* May 15 
* June 30 (SOFI and Annual Report) 
* July 2 (taxes due) 
* End of September (tax sale) 
* Oct. 31 (permissive tax exemptions) 
 
- Revenue sources
* Property taxes ~ "zero percent increases have come back to bite us" - north island councillor 
* Parcel taxes ~ sewer service 
* User fees (staff meetings, DP and Public Hearing expenses, etc.) 
* Development Cost Charges (see "DCC Guide for Elected Officials") 
* Grants 
 
- Expenditures
* manage expectations of public based on available revenues and reserves 
* strive to keep operating costs within the 2 pecent consumer price index annual increase
 
- Borrowing referendums 
* rules set by the MFABC 
* terms for five, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 years 
* 15 years is ideal borrowing term in terms of burden on residents

Three of our town's, nation's and planet's pressing issues will be discussed at tonight's regular council meeting. It starts at 7 p.m. at the Municipal Hall.  As ever, you're welcome to address any agenda topic during your two-minute (max) turn at the mic during public comment period. And you'll be able to weigh in at length during the evening's public hearing on the regulation of cannabis retail stores in the District. Join us! Best Monday Night Entertainment In Sooke TM. 

Climate Emergency Declaration: The CRD declared a climate emergency in January as advocated by Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps, our own Maja Tait and teenaged Saanich councillor Ned Taylor. The CRD Board of Directors is now asking the region's 13 municipalities to do likewise within their own boundaries. Victoria and Saanich have done so already in joining the eight municipalities across Canada that have made declarations to date. They align with 439 regional and national governments world-wide representing nearly 40 million people. If you know any lingering skeptics, point them here ... then ask them to listen to Greta.) 

Cllr St-Pierre made the motion for a Sooke declaration at our last meeting, I seconded it, and yet council decided (rightly, i agree) in its wisdom to let the idea marinate for awhile as we ponder what such a declaration entails. We'll be discussing it further tonight. 

My thought is that making such a declaration would be a renewed, big-picture signal that we in Sooke get it that an established pattern of rising temperatures and unpredictable weather -- a record dry March, to cite the latest evidence, followed by a stuttering start to what should be our traditional April showers -- is reason to act urgently in response to the 2030-or-bust call for action issued by the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC; full report here; distilled media coverage here and here).

The CRD Board of Directors has identified an advocacy strategy with other levels of government to push for accelerated climate action (open the file at the end of this post for a three-page summary of suggested actions at federal, provincial and CRD municipal levels). There's an overarching call to fully implement the Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change and push for effective implementation of Premier Horgan's CleanBC Plan. The CRD also suggests continuing and expanding "direct funding programs and partnerships with regional and local governments related to low carbon building retrofits, zero-emission transportation, waste management and processing, adapted and low carbon community infrastructure and other local government influenced priority areas." 

Of course, it's all hugely complicated and much brighter minds on this subject than dim me are exploring how to truly move the CRD towards carbon neutrality by 2030 (i.e., Highlands councillor Ann Baird, whose insights into carbon offsets and how to count emissions can be found here).  

How might we act locally while thinking planet-wide?  To repeat a few thoughts off the top of my shiny ... 

* #SookeSmartGrowth (i.e. truly making a commitment to keep our density and major thrust of growth in the town centre containment area, which i'll suggest extends east to Kaltasin so that we can entertain the idea of a sewer-system expansion.)

* Alternative energy initiatives in collaboration with the T'Sou-ke Nation

* A yard-waste depot and compost facility (as recommended by Sooke's Climate Change Action Committee to zero uptake nor acknowledgement by council in 2015/16) 

* A bold local food security initiative as recommended to council in February by EMCS teacher Patrick Gauley-Gale involving the purchase of Woodside Farm (possibly through the new CRD Regional Food & Agricultural Strategy and/or in partnership with a post-secondary institution). 
 
I know some of you will suggest hypocrisy: As I said two Mondays ago, it's sadly ironic that we were contemplating an emergency declaration mere minutes after approving a town-centre drive-through here in an already auto-centric Motor City. And yet, as noted above, there are many things this council can tackle while ensuring that we make our decisions through a climate-emergency filter (as we've committed to do through earlier agreements).

Also attached below you'll find the powerpoint of the presentation I made to council in November, 2017 in association with the BC Sustainable Energy Association ~ politely received, instantly filed and forgotten (and I now better understand how that can happen given the crush of mostly micro business that consumes staff and council time -- as it rightly should given, as Metchosin Mayor John Ranns reliably says, bylaws, infrastructure, emergency services and land-use decisions should be the prime focus of local government, not big-picture issues like climate change).

Included in that powerpoint is a slide listing the commitments the District has made over the last decade: 

* DOS signed the British Columbia Climate Action Charter in 2008. <clip> “Governments urgently need to implement effective measures to reduce GHG emissions and anticipate and prepare for climate change impacts.” 

* Climate change highlighted in Sooke’s 2010 Official Community Plan. <clip> “Establish the importance of energy to all aspects of the community’s social, economic and environmental well-being…demonstrate leadership in sustainable energy.” 

* Sooke Community Energy & Emissions Plan (CEEP) endorsed by council in Oct. 2014. Provides guidelines on short, medium and longer-term actions to reduce greenhouse gases. The District's municipal operations are now rated as net zero. The CEEP needs to be revisited and revised, a good task for a reconstituted  Climate Action Committee or some variant thereof. 

Cannabis Retail Stores: Municipalities across Canada have been and continue to craft their own unique approaches to cannabis retail and cultivation under the watchful eye of provincial licensing authorities ~ the B.C. Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch in our case. Council has received a series of reports from the planning department over the last four months, and we've tinkered to the point where a zoning amendment has reached tonight's public hearing stage.

Following best practices from other municipalities, we'd like to add the definition of a "Cannabis Retail Store" to the zoning bylaw and allow four stores to operate in site-specific locations ~ three of them existing stores, the fourth an innovative new hybrid of retail store and post-secondary cannabis educational facility. All are separated by at least 300 meters from SD #62 schools and are spaced out along Sooke Road as far east as Saseenos. We'd initially thought three stores were sufficient for Sooke needs as they've been these last few years, however this latest option is an intriguing one.  

* The two locally run independents are 642 Cannabis (in the site of the former Salvation Army thrift store in the town centre) and Castle Naturals Cannabis Dispensary, run by sisters Lori Ritaller and Lisa Taylor from the east wing of our Sooke River landmark. The two stores opened in June and August, 2016 respectively and have been operating continuously since while selling a wide range of locally grown products. Like all pot stores, they'll need to have switched entirely to federally licensed cultivators (168 from all corners of the country as of the latest tally) once they secure their licenses. (Council will be turning its attention to micro-cultivation proposals once the retail picture is settled. Best idea I've heard to date: A cooperative greenhouse facility in which our various craft-weed producers could grow their various "Best In BC" strains under federal license). 

* Earth to Sky Cannabis Inc. will be setting up in the former Medijuana store at the corner of Otter Point and Sooke Rd. It's owned by Ian Laing, whose many regional holdings include the Sooke Business Park. He's also a partner in Specialty Medijuana Products with the publicly traded Choom (founded in Honolulu in the early '70s),  "dedicated to building a dominant Canadian cannabis company" and now has gathered more than 50 retail shops in Alberta and BC under its wing. Another partner is Michael Forbes, who (as I understand it) has acquired the adjacent former laundromat and will open a related pharmacy (possibly under one or both of Forbes' established brands --  Forbes Pharmacy and/or Clarity Cannabis. A west shore resident, Forbes will operate one of the five Langford stores being allowed by Stew Young and his council. Also in the masterplan is Choom's "marijuana production growth strategy" featuring greenhouse production in the Sooke region. (Choom infographic.) 

* Also now in the frame for Sooke is a potential Cooper's Cove retail shop and cannabis campus that offers post-secondary education for the new wave of employees destined for Canada's cannabis industry. Programs of various kinds are now being offered by McGill University, Vancouver's Kwantlen Polytechnic University ("cannabis career training") and the College of the Rockies in Cranbrook (which combines "science and customer service in the cannabis retail specialist program).  This is a venture between Stickleback and West Coast Adventure College owner Scot Taylor, his education director/partner Phil Foster, and GrowX Global's Jas Basi, a retired RCMP career officer based in Vancouver who has been working with the UBC Centre of Excellence to develop cannabis products to reduce opiod addictions. The master plan calls for a  move into edibles once legislation is sorted. 

Concerns? Questions? Is four the right number for Sooke? Come out to the public hearing tonight and voice them. 

Four Lanes from Connie to Glinz Lake: Eric Boucher and his neighbours from the North Sooke Residents Association are back before council for a third time in six months to express their concerns about the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure's plans for their section of the Sooke Road.

Based on their understanding from negotiations with MOTI staff, the new stretch "will be a four-lane, limited access, divided highway," said Boucher. "We've heard different versions on whether or not intersections will be signalled and if Gillespie Rd. will be signalled or have an underpass ... (the route) is generally a straight line between the intersection of Sooke and Connie Rds behind the 17 Mile to the intersection of Sooke and Glinz Lake Roads." 

Councillor McMath, Interim CAO Don Schafer and I attended an association meeting in the EMCS library last week. The neighbours are frustrated by the secrecy around the project given that matters related to land (as well as legal and labour) are to be dealt with behind closed doors, as i've learned during our council in-camera meetings. As Mayor Tait has said, she and council have not been privy to MOTI plans beyond what we've all been able to read in last summer's Corridor Improvement Study (in which a highway realignment at 17 Mile was cited).  

The North Sooke contingent is back again tonight. Their issues relate to road alignment, emergency service access, the impacts on wells and drinking water supply, and the potentially nightmarish traffic hold-ups during what would be a two-year construction period beginning a year from now through the fall of 2022. They'd also like to see MOTI and the JDF Water Distribution System take this opportunity to extend the water line from Cooper's Cove to Connie -- no small price tag at an estimated cost of $800 per meter over 2.6 kms. 

The most disturbing suggestion I heard the other night was from a North Sooke resident who said one MOTI negotiator called this phase one of three phases ... phase two being a four-lane from Connie Rd. to Langford and phase three being four lanes heading west to Sooke. As Boucher notes: "The Sooke OCP clearly indicates our desire to preserve the small town rural nature of our community. A high-speed commuter route to Langford is not consistent with the Sooke OCP." AGREED and AMEN.  

Following up on last November's bumper Hwy #14 blog post on this beautiful spring day when Sooke is again experiencing some frustrating traffic hold-ups due to Sooke River Road interchange work. My two-part item today references that project as well as the four-lane stretch between Connie and Glinz Lake roads. 

1. Good news: Latest report (Friday, 2 p.m.) from the Ministry of Transportation & Infrastructure is that "we are in the home stretch of the Sooke River Rd intersection project. The community of Sooke's continued patience is very much appreciated while we complete the project, and it is understood that patience has worn thin on these recent delays ... Yesterday's paving impacts were not acceptable under our contract terms, and today's paving is being watched like a hawk. Paving on the highway will stop by 3 p.m. today, when (the work crew) will shift over to some minor touch-up work on Edward Milne off the highway ... a minor amount of paving will be completed on Monday."

(The installation of the stoplight itself and the rush-hour traffic impacts it will generate is still ahead of us. As said before, a roundabout at this intersection would have been ideal, and was, in fact, called for in our 2010 Transportation Master Plan. I was told at the Open House last summer the budget could only handle a signal light, not what would have had to be a two-lane roundabout). 

Looking back over the last three months, MOTI notes: "This Sooke River Rd project has been almost entirely delivered during the day and through the first 3 months of work, delays midday were held below 10min, with free flowing rush hours." (Night work is a considerably more expensive option for contractees - in this case Jacob Brothers Construction of Surrey, BC -- if they anticipate creating traffic delays above those 10 minutes. Yet apart from a handful of "stuff happened" SNAFUs, Jacob Bros. has reportedly done well.) 

Yes, there has been understandable griping from drivers experiencing (on a happily few number of occasions) lengthy hold-ups. (I'm not a commuter, but the handful of five-or-ten minute roadwork delays I've faced over my 15 years in Sooke have made me edgy and impatient  -- I still aspire to master a zen attitude and learn to relax when the blessed normals around here undergo a minor interruption in service).

Yet the happy news is that many locals gracefully have recognized that short-term pain leads to lasting gains in traffic flow and efficiency. In fact, a Sooke River Road pal of mine was so grateful for the way work crews waved him onto Sooke Rd. over the last number of weeks that he splurged on coffeeshop cash cards and gifted them to the crew with much gratitude. 

2. You may have read in the Sooke News Mirror this week that negotiations are underway between the BC Ministry of Transportation and landowners in the 17 Mile House area of North Sooke. To quote the story's misleading opening paragraph, "The process of creating a four-lane highway between Langford and Sooke appears to be moving forward ..."  

The article's points about negotiations and expropriation is true, or so I understand. But the contention that this is a prelude to the full meal #14 four-lane deal is patently false, alarmist and sadly typical of some SNM news coverage of late. 

​As identified in the Highway 14 Corridor Improvements Study released by MOTI early last summer (see the report's third last page, which includes a tentative routing), this is a short realignment of the road from Connie, routing behind the 17 Mile House and going potentially as far as Manzer or Glinz Lake Road in phase one. This plan addresses the potentially dangerous bottleneck at Sooke Rd. and Gillespie.  It will better allow traffic to move on accident days. And the short four-lane will provide easier pullover opportunities for logging trucks and Sunday drivers, enabling the rest of us to establish a safe, steady 70 kmph (optimal, I'll say again) pace along Sooke Rd. 

Council was not officially informed of this plan by MOTI nor is it cited among the actions in the current $10 million improvement program. Personally, I heard about it from Col. Boucher of the North Sooke Residents Association at the Parks & Trails Masterplan Open House in late January. He's one of the effected landowners quoted in the SNM story. He and his association colleagues have visited council chambers twice in the last year to insist that MOTI's plans align with the District's Transportation Master Plan.  

In reading the Corridor Improvements Study, the SNM reporter may or may not have seen its second last page, which is  titled "Why not build a new highway?" (i.e., a four lane from Langford to Sooke). Here he'd have read MOTI's rationale for why it won't be happening in any of our lifetimes, and i quote in full:
 
"The mountainous terrain is a major obstacle in designing and constructing an entirely new highway between Langford and Sooke. Challenges include:

~ Need to route the highway around the higher terrain/mountain peaks
~ Much steeper grades affecting truck traffic
~ Increased snowfall, as some of the route would be above a 200m elevation
~ Need for multiple bridges to span major creeks
~ Environmental impacts
~ Need to pass through one or more regional parks
~ Construction would require major rock cuts and retaining walls
​~ High cost ($20-50M per kilometre)

Okay, let's figure out that pricetag: The distance from the end of the Sookahalla to Cooper's Cove is approx. 12km (if indeed I have worked things out correctly just now with the Google map calculator). The anticipated project cost of a four-lane Hwy #14 along that stretch, therefore, is $240-$600m.

For perspective, the Mackenzie overpass was budgeted at $85m when it was announced in 2016. MOTI also has a half-dozen other major infrastructure projects in BC to fund, including no end of minor ones (but major to the communities involved, of course) ~ all listed in full on the ProjectsBC website. (And here's MOTI's Service Plan from now through 2022.) 

Reality check: it's unrealistic if not absurd to think that a community of our size would warrant these kind of expenditures. I could be totally wrong and Minister Trevena's South Vancouver Island Transportation Strategy will have some huge surprises for us when it's released later this year, but somehow I think we're an afterthought in MOTI's bigger Malahat-centric plan. (Short and long-term mass transit solutions, please and thanks, are desperately needed.) Besides which, the Save The Sooke Hills contingent backed by the Capital Regional District's Board of Directors would reject incursions into the watershed. 

Much wiser to predict that MOTI will continue to make relatively minor tweaks and adjustments as promised along the lines of what we've seen to date: a new Roche Cove bridge, the pullover at Sombrio and dramatically improved road markings and lines (now being repainted twice annually).

Last summer's Hwy #14 Engagement Summary Report (screenshot below) identifies the top three future priorities as passing lanes, wider shoulders and slow vehicle pullovers. This current realignment, if indeed it goes ahead, will address all three priorities, albeit at a cost to be paid in terms of peace and privacy for the effected, hopefully well recompensed homeowners in North Sooke.  Certainly not the first time BC's Expropriation Act has been exercised on behalf of what mandarins and consultants have deemed to be the public good. 

The inevitable conclusion is that we must again recognize that Hwy #14 is a limit to growth ~ which we need to manage and control without letting it spiral further out of control.

Bonus: Also worth noting that the District's Paul Butterfield has been working smartly and stategically to expand EV charging stations in town. Level 2 chargers will be installed on Eustace near the Legion, the Municipal Hall, Ed Macgregor Park and elsewhere. And recently he filed a $200k grant application to the FCM's Green Municipal Fund for more. Skyline Retail REIT will install four chargers as part of the Tim Hortons expansion.  

Woke up yesterday morning shaken by a nightmare: I'd voted in favour of a Tim Horton's drive-through in the heart of Sooke's town centre. Pinched myself, and realized it was no dream. Consider me glazed and a little confused, to borrow the title of a Macleans article.  

We as a council certainly did vote unanimously on Monday night to approve issuance of a Development Permit for a single-storey, 6,300 sq. foot retail space in the southeastern, Sooke Road-fronting section of Evergreen Mall. Said building has been customized for a Tim Hortons restaurant with drive-thru lane plus space for two smaller retail shops.  

​Designed in a west-coast style consistent with our downtown design guidelines, the building is positioned at a right angle to the site of the two-storey, mixed-use structure that went up in flames after a dumpster fire in July, 2013 and has since sat vacant ~ a bare concrete pad used by liquor store customers and for impromptu gatherings of the show-and-shine crowd.  

Yes, you're absolutely correct: This will be a second Timbits mecca in town after a history of none whatsoever ~ Sooke being too small to rate as investment-worthy until our latest, fastest growth spurt towards city status. The TH half of the gas bar and donut shop on T'Sou-ke land east of Edward Milne Community School will also be operated by the same franchisee (who also owns a TH outlet in Langford). Chain supply economics make it logical and cost-effective to also operate a larger restaurant in Sooke. (The Sooke PocketNews broke the story of a second Tim Hortons last September.)

All in all, in my opinion, Timmies is a case study in late-stage capitalism at its aggressively expansionist peak, fuelled by mass cravings for sugar-shock treats and caffeine wrapped in red and white branding. Our two outlets will soon join 3,900-something others in Canada. Another thousand locations operate in the U.S. and overseas. Chinese expansion began last month with a first restaurant in Shanghai. This is an iconic Canadian-themed multi-national with majority Brazilian ownership, some bad press of late and yet with a reputation as a community hero. Difficult to believe, but stats say TH serves eight of every ten cups of coffee sold in Canada every day, year round.  

I am not averse to roadtrip patronage nor its maple-dipped temptations, yet almost invariably feel regret after indulging (one donut is never enough, three paradoxically at least two too many).  Likewise, I have regret and second thoughts about my vote the other night. Rather than positively reframing the inevitable, I could, perhaps should, have flatly voted no to a third town centre drive-through (Tim Hortons isn't the primary concern, it's the encouragement of more auto traffic that bothers me most).  True, a nay on my part  wouldn't have made a difference to the final outcome but it would have made it easier to live with myself these mornings after.    
 
Upsides  

* The District's Head Planner Ivy Campbell and her team worked extensively with the new mall owners Skyline Retail REIT (based in Ontario and an emerging heavyweight in the Canadian mall business) to ensure the specs and amenities were right. You'll find design drawings, streetscape images and the full staff report starting on pg. 119 of the agenda package. It makes for fulsome reading and is indicative of the quality and care that staff, in my experience to date, pore into these kind of documents.  

* As my council colleagues mentioned, the development will deliver local jobs and tax dollars while replacing the gap tooth in the mall's fire-damaged layout. Many in Sooke will be delighted to have an up-Sooke Timmies as a hang out. And as much as we all want independent business to thrive, none apparently was knocking at Skyline REIT's door and the new landlords wanted to get busy with creating a suitable home for an eager fast-food client. 

* Unlike the accident-waiting-to-happen drive-thru at McD's across the street, this one is purpose-built with a relatively long serpentine entrance ramp  ~ a set-up that will theoretically handle the expected auto volume (as identified in the required traffic impact study).  The line-up of cars awaiting their double-doubles will be hidden from Sooke Road sight by a berm planted with three dozen red maple saplings.  Four EV charging stations are included in the revamped parking grid along with a new dedicated parking lot across from the liquour store. 
 
* The road access to the mall off the roundabout will be marginally revamped and improved.  There will be a new set of sidewalks; those crossing Evergreen's access road will be slightly raised and will serve as rolling speed humps to slow traffic. Mayor Tait lobbied for interlocking pavers (rather than standard poured concrete) along the full extent of the eastern sidewalk leading into the mall to the edge of the right-turn into the drive-thru and new retail zone.   
 
* The Mayor also noted that drive-thrus are favoured by young families and the disabled. Idle stop-start technology is now a thing with new gas-guzzlers and EVs alike. No idling signage should be posted in reminding drivers of the (effectively unenforceable) CRD bylaw.

My turn at the mic 
 
When my turn in the speakers' queue came around, it was evident that a clear majority of us would be supporting staff's recommendation to okay the Development Permit. Nobody had addressed the downsides of the proposal, so I embarked on a rambling critique. Here are the key points as I recall them, fleshed out well beyond what I'm sure would be a much shorter, considerably more ramshackle verbateman transcript of what I actually said. 
 
* The notion of drive-thrus and chain retail is anathema to Transition Sooke, of which I was president for five years, and so my views are coloured. TS champions local business, human-scale community, Sooke Smart Growth, public transit mode shift, cycling, alternative energy, the circular economy (dollars spent here, stay here), #keepitintheground, and zero waste. (A few scraps  of "roll-up-the-rim" litter from Langford turned up in the Zero Waste Sooke street clean-ups in which I've participated in recent years, but just a fraction compared to trash from our local McDonalds. The ratio will surely change in future clean-ups).

​* The CRD has just declared a climate emergency. Approving as classic a car-culture perk as a drive-through here in Motor City at this time isn't the least congruent with acting responsibly in the face of said emergency. 
 
* A town without a Tim Hortons ... or a Starbucks or London Drugs or any number of other chains you'll find within a 20-minute drive of here ... is a rare and precious thing worth preserving.  Quaint, quirky, off-the-beaten path Sooke! Still with its own sense of itself! Not entirely awash in an A to Z of chain operators! (In my campaign literature, I'd mentioned that a moratorium on new chain businesses, or at least any found as nearby as Langford, was worth investigating ~ exactly what several reps from the Sooke Bike Club mentioned during public comments at the start of the night). 
 
* The new retail-only structure replaces a building that served a variety of useful purposes -- bank, newspaper office, dance studio, insurance broker and a high-tech firm.  It's those kind of office-space uses that we in Sooke are lacking, not more retail space at prices affordable only to chain franchisees. (A fond RIP once more to The Reading Room, which represented Sooke independent business as its best.) 
 
* I said I didn't like contravening the spirit and letter of our current Official Community Plan. As Ms. Campbell's report noted, the OCP includes the line "encourage redevelopment of the Evergreen Mall in a manner that discourages vehicle dependent businesses such as automative services and drive-thrus." (Conversely, it also states, four clauses later under Economic Development Policies 4.4.3A, "focus high-traffic generating businesses on the north side of Sooke Road and pedestrian-friendly businesses on the south side of Sooke Road." I noted that a previous council had approved not one but two traffic-generating car washes on the south side of Sooke Rd., so anything clearly goes.)
 
* As much as many in Sooke are "screaming out" for a TH (as one councillor said in reference to young people), a significant number have been "screaming at' (I believe was my phrase) the prospect for some years now. 
(I didn't recite recent history the other night, but this full-service TH and the T'Sou-ke outlet is the culmination of an extended saga of false starts over the last seven years at least. A gas bar and TH combo was cited in an unsuccessful Belvista Place/Sooke River Hotel rezoning application in May, 2012; the applicant at the time told the Land Use and Environment Committee that TH belonged in a service commercial zone, not the town centre. Nine months later, Three Point Properties proposed a drive-thru TH on the old Haldane family lot at the corner of Dover and Sooke Road; it fell through for reasons I can't fathom after reading the skimpy council minutes of the period. Likely because it was a lousy spot from which to manoeuvre volume traffic off and back on the Sooke Rd.)  
 
Shifting to the positive reframe/concession
 
I noted that council and staff had initially pushed (as per the desire of the Official Community Plan) for a multi-storey, mixed-used structure ~ commercial on the ground floor, office and other uses upstairs. Yet the reps from Skyline Partners REIT noted that i) they're operating a business within their legislated zoning as legal land owners; ii) office space requires dedicated matching day-long parking spaces for employees and there aren't enough spots at Evergreen to handle existing and new customers; iii) they were creating a building that suits the demands of a prospective anchor tenant.  The only solution, we were told, would be an underground lot, and that simply isn't in the cards nor budget at this time. 
 
Evergreen Mall is an important part of our town centre, I noted in conclusion while looking Skyline's two representatives in the eyes, and we're counting on them to deliver on several other fronts in the future, namely ...

i) Facilitating the expansion of the West Coast Family Medical Clinic through takeovers of square footage currently occupied by H&R Block and Subway; and

ii) Redevelopment some day of the Western Foods section of the mall so that Evergreen can become contiguous with and blend somewhat seamlessly into the multiple uses planned for Lot A directly to the north. Silencing the noise of freezer and cooler fans at the back of Western is essential if we're to create a peaceful oasis in the plaza and market area envisioned for the sunny southwestern corner of Lot A. 

And, on that note, I bowed out of the discussion until the motion was called. I voted with the team and have been kicking myself since. 

Related Links

* Skyline Partners REIT
~ Sooke marketing package 
~ Corporate home page 

* Tim Hortons/RBI 
~  The Untold Truth of Tim Hortons 
~  Tim Hortons: How A Brand Became Part of Our National Identity (Globe & Mail, 2014) 
~  11 Very Canadian Facts About Tim Hortons (Mental Floss) 

~ Restaurant Brands International (RBI) was formed in 2014 when Burger King merged with the coffee chain. RBI is majority-owned by the Brazilian investment company 3G Capital. Company blurb: "Restaurant Brands International Inc. ("RBI") is one of the world's largest quick service restaurant companies with more than $30 billion in system-wide sales and over 25,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries and U.S. territories. RBI owns three of the world's most prominent and iconic quick service restaurant brands – TIM HORTONS®, BURGER KING®, and POPEYES®. These independently operated brands have been serving their respective guests, franchisees and communities for over 45 years." 
 
PRO "Vancouver's Drive-Throughs Leave Car Captives Wanting More" (Georgia Straight) "You see all sorts of people of all walks of life gravitate to it. It serves as a community center almost. It’s the antithesis to fancy latte culture, a place where anyone can feel comfortable."

CON "Study Says Restricting Fast Food Drive-Thrus Has Benefits" (Toronto Star) "The study identified 27 Canadian municipalities that implemented full (city-wide) or partial bans on drive-thru windows between 2002 and 2016 for reasons ranging from cutting down noise and traffic, to limiting litter and pollution, to protecting the local economy ... much of the research on the topic identifies obesity and chronic disease as major reasons to adopt a drive-thru ban." 

* Drive-Thrus: Options range from banning new outlets to tightening zoning bylaws to restricting hours of operation (Canadian Press, 2007) 

* Natural Resources Canada ~ Idle-Free Zone 

* Capital Regional District Idling Bylaw 

(my Zero Waste Sooke photo, summer 2015) 

Quickly jotting down my hopes as we move in earnest into the Parks & Trail and Transportation Masterplan public process hosted by the consultancy firm Urban Systems this afternoon at EMCS (4 to 8 p.m.) and Sunday at SEAPARC (2 to 6 pm). 

Those hopes are fourfold as I think of them now ... 

1. Updated, line-edited, creatively retweaked versions of the current plans that reflect the full range of needs, wants and  bright ideas of citizens, council, District staff and our top-drawer consultants.  

2. A set of practical short, medium and long-term action points, each costed out in 2019 dollars and ranked by priority so that we have consensus and direction to slide them into future five-year financial plans and tackle each in turn as dollars and opportunities arise.  

3. Funding strategies and reality checks to manage expectations (the current PTMP does this nicely; the Transportation plan, on the other hand, had an overly ambitious timetable for what it predicated would be an extensive set of roundabouts, stop lights, crosswalks and one east-west connector in place by now. This said, it is a fine, substantial document with much to recommend it.) 

4. Affirmation that the District has and continues to move forward strategically at a realistic, best-possible pace with its various parks, trails and transportation initiatives.  

[Re: point #4 ... Our transportation priorities as outlined in the 2018 Five-Year Plan are the five-year secondary road improvement program; new sidewalks (Otter Point Road to the Hope Centre ... then the long-awaited West Coast Rd. stretch from Maple to Brooks Rd. on the north side as a solution to boat-trailer congestion across the street); a $700k makeover of Charters Road (currently budgeted for this year); a rainwater infrastructure program; and modest expenditures on streetlights and transit stop enhancements. 

As for Parks, the team led by Laura Hooper and Jessica Boquist are focused on a number of fronts, including a  wayfinding trail signage and trailhead program in collaboration with the JDF Community Trails Society.  In the works this year, budget willing, are the creation of kayak access spots at Prospect Point and the end of Kaltasin Road; construction of a retaining wall at Ed Macgregor Park; and a replacement for the aging untreated-wood staircase in our (the Batemans) favourite, still surprisingly secret, local beauty spot -- the pocket park at the end of Austin's Place with its sweeping ocean views (proving the world is indeed round) just 10 minutes walk from where I sit here in Whiffin Spit. 

On the order-and-install list is a vault toilet at the northwestern edge of John Phillips Memorial Park (near the Municipal Hall). The parks department has some equipment to purchase in keeping Sooke's green spaces trimmed, clipped and collected.  Looking ahead, the 2020 Capital Plan pencils in money for a dog park/run and a replacement of the vault toilet at the end of the Spit. The big spend ($150k) currently planned for 2021 is a new splash park at the Broomhill playground. (All of the above is subject to change based on priorities in the new Parks Plan.) 

Beyond these four points, I intend to enjoy creative, collaborative engagement with a hopefully sizeable number of informed locals as we dream large while also keeping feet, tires and wheels rooted in the realities of terra firma.

Is it time for a second Sooke River crossing? More parks or raw land acquisitions? Should we be making and doing more with what we've already got? Encouraging transportation mode shift? Improved street cycling infrastructure? Development of more beach combing, sea-level waterfront access? Wayfinding signage and maps for residents and a new wave of tourists who visit, stay and play here in town? Whatever the case, may it all resonate with the established principles of #SookeSmartGrowth. 

It's been fun already tinkering with the consultant's survey apps for each plan ~ you'll find them here (Parks) and here (Transportation). Feel free to submit a second survey if you get fresh brainstorms about items or locations you overlooked at the first attempt. I've particularly enjoyed the Map It! app, which allows one to zoom in on a particular Sooke street or neighbourhood to indicate exactly where you'd like to see a trail, green space, playground, crosswalk, through road, sidewalk or amenity. 

I didn't save my input for the transportation survey, but for whatever it's worth, at the end of this page you'll find the unedited stream of views and opinions that I pumped into the parks survey last night. Much is based on what I've read over the years in the current plan but it also reflects the grounded, far-seeing perspectives I absorbed on a recent daytrip in the SEAPARC bus visiting Sooke's natural assets with (speaking of which) our hosts, the estimable Ms. Hooper and Ms. Boquist along with their department colleagues and our afternoon driver, SEAPARC's Steve Knocke.

Who's Next   

Related ... 

District of Sooke pages
~ Parks & Trails Masterplan 
​~ Parks & Trails 
~ Parks & Greenspaces 
~ Dogs in Parks 
​~ Urban Forest 
~ Parks & Trails Advisory Committee (RIP for now) 

Cycling
​* Map My Ride ~ local cycling routes  
​* Galloping Goose/Sooke River Road connector (2015) 
​* Harbourview mountain biking trail network

Hiking
* Walks In the Juan de Fuca & Sooke Area (compiled by Rosemary Jorna for The Rural Observer) 
* Map My Walk guide to Sooke walking routes 
* Hiking Trails ~ Sooke Region Tourism Association

Parks 
* JDF Park Watch
~ Galloping Goose Trail
~ Sooke Potholes Regional Park (CRD) + BC Parks guide + Victoria Trails guide 
~ Ayum Creek Reserve + Land Conservancy page 
~ Millennium Park
~ Viewpointe Estates 

Regional
​~ William Simmons Park Otter Point 
~ Seagirt Ponds Community Park  East Sooke
~  Devonian Park
~  Matheson Lake
~  Roche Cove  
~  East Sooke Regional Park 
~  Priest Cabin Community Park French Beach 
~  Sandcut/Jordan River

Kayaking 
~ Whiffin Spit to East Sooke Park 

Dog Issues 
~ Dog Park Public Hearing, Feb. 2015 submissions 
~ Off-leash on the Goose? (Times Colonist article, fall 2018) 
~ Citizen Canine's guide to off-leash in Greater Victoria 
~ "Off-leash dog options are shrinking" ~ PocketNews, July 2018
~ City of Victoria's "Paws In Park" page 
​~ Guide to dog parks in BC 
​~ CRD "Poop and Scoop" enforcement