I recently asked the District of Sooke's Director of Operations Jeff Carter for an overview of 2021 road infrastructure design and construction priorities. He replied today to all of us on council in his typically precise, professional fashion with what follows below. 

I wrote because I repeatedly hear the plaintive, often agonized question "what the heck is the District doing about the growing and increasingly crazy amount of traffic in this town?!" (paraphrased minus a few choice expletives).  Answer: A great deal, as it turns out, both now and in the future as identified in the District's 2020 Transportation and Parks & Trails Master Plans. 

The estimable Mr. Carter has provided all these details to council a number of times over the last six months during various Five-Year Financial Plan presentations (including the 2021 Budget Open House virtual session; he begins at 38:40 here) . Yet rather than risk my own likely faulty interpretation, I thought it best to ask the expert. Over to him ...  

"Please see the following in regards to 2021 Capital Projects as well as Design initiatives in alignment with Council's adopted 2020 Transportation Master Plan and Parks and Trails Master Plan. 

1. Church Road Corridor Project – Final design in progress, anticipating tender in spring and construction in       summer/fall.

• Roundabout at Church and Throup inclusive of corridor construction up to and just south of Wadams Way
• Intersection upgrades from HWY 14 to approximately the RCMP detachment including extension of southbound right-hand turn lane into the town center.
• Active Transportation infrastructure (bike lanes, multi-use paths, sidewalk) will be included primarily on the southbound/west side of the corridor within scope up above points as per “collector” standards. 
• As development progresses/occurs on the east side of the corridor, property acquisition will be required to include a northbound sidewalk in the future.
• Design will be completed in the center section of the corridor from approximately the RCMP detachment/Country Road to just south of Wadams Way;  This section is not in the 2021 budget allocation for construction, but cost will be determined from final design estimates for Council consideration to be included in tender pricing.  This will provide an option to complete the full corridor improvements as part of this project to capture opportunity cost savings by economies of scale and avoid higher cost to complete this small section in the future.
• This project is a complex corridor project involving alignment of District construction with required frontage construction projects for current developments.
• District staff are ambitious and confident in pushing this project through to completion in 2021.

 
2. Otter Point Road Corridor Active Transportation Project – Final design in progress; currently at 85% detailed design from HYW 14 to Grant Road West.

• Project is inclusive of completion of bike lanes, sidewalks, boulevard improvements, lighting, and pavement resurfacing – both sides of corridor.
• This project is included in the 5-Year Financial Plan for construction in 2024; however, a significant grant opportunity to fund the majority of this project will be presented to Council for consideration at the January 25th Regular Council Meeting.
• Pending Council’s direction, in conjunction with a successful grant application, this project may be completed in 2021.

 
3. Charters/Drennan Intersection Upgrades - Required for BC Housing developments

• Final Design for the intersection projects has just been engaged – I have been in contact with the owners of West Coast Auto Shack to ensure access to their business will be considered through the final design process
• As discussed, although this project is budgeted for construction 2021, my recent discussions with MOTI have determined it will be beneficial to possibly delay this project until 2022/23.
• This project is required to support additional density from the 2 BC housing developments, but it is strategic to implement these intersection upgrades closer to, or in conjunction with, the Throup connection to Phillips Road.  This will ultimately reduce congestion on HWY 14.

​4. EV Charger Eustace & Bus Shelter upgrades

• Pending outcome of (3) above, the Eustace EV charging station, and addition of bus shelter at the Sooke Brewing Company location on Otter Point near Eustace, will be tendered as part of the Otter Point corridor project; otherwise, EV charger at Eustace location will be completed independently in 2021.

 
 5. Brailsford Place Connection – Anticipated completion through 2021  
 

Corridor Design Projects 2021

i) Phillips Road Corridor – HWY 14 to north of SEAPARC;  - “Arterial” Standard – Procurement in Progress: Award anticipated in February.

ii) Charters Road Corridor – HWY 14 to Throup Road; - “Collector” Standard – Procurement in Progress: Award anticipated in February.

iii) Throup Road Connector – Phillips Road to Charters Road; - “Arterial” Standard – Procurement in Progress: Award anticipated in February.

iv) Otter Point at Wadams Roundabout/Grant Road West Realignment; “Arterial” Standard – Conceptual Design in Progress; anticipate 50% design completed by summer 2021.

NOTES: Corridor construction projects for existing alignments will follow corridor standard within the TMP, but will be adjusted accordingly based on Right-of-Way Allowances.


Key Community Capital Projects to be engaged in 2021

1. Bluffs Staircase replacement – pending grant success for 100% funding
2. Sooke Potholes access improvements – pending grant success for 100% funding
3. Multi-use sports box in Sunriver – In progress
4. DeMamiel (Little River) Bridge pedestrian crossing – pending grant success

For further reference: 2021-2025-Financial-Plan-Package.pdf 

Major capital projects are currently earmarked within the 5 year financial plan; but may be expedited to early dates for Council consideration pending funding opportunities. Operationally, the goal is to have most major designs completed over the next year so projects are shelf ready for when grant opportunities come available.

2021 Budget virtual open house 2021 Budget Open House: Presentation is about 1.5 hours; Operations section is from 40-58 minute mark. 

Hope this summary information is helpful, please let me know if any further information is required.

Respectfully,
Jeff Carter
Director of Operations

**************************************************************

PS JB back again to add a few Transportation Master Plan page references if you wish to explore the logic behind these actions and the District's short/medium/longer-term intentions for all modes of active and automobile transportation. 

* pg. 10: Challenges Sooke faces today (i.e., lack of street connectivity and sidewalks; the increasingly busy Highway 14 corridor; inadequate transit service) 

* pg. 16: Future pedestrian network

* pg. 23: Future cycling network 

* pg. 31-37: Future transit service (based on the 2020 Local Area Transit Plan, which will be implemented by BC Transit likely post-pandemic)

* pp. 38-52: "Complete Streets" traffic policies, street network, existing and projected traffic volume through 2038, intersection upgrades, short-and-long-term improvements, street classifications, neighbourhood traffic management, "Sooke's Roundabout First Policy," and parking design & management 

* pp. 52-57: Electric vehicles, e-bikes, ride hailing 

* pp. 60-68: Action plan featuring short, medium, long-term and 20 years+ priorities 

* pg. 69: Funding sources (general revenues, Development Cost Charges, provincial and federal grants, carbon tax rebates, etc.) 

* pp. 78-83: Diagrams of "Complete Streets Cross-Sections" that illustrate the differences between "arterial," "collector" and other street types. 

More about transportation matters from this blog: 
~ Parks & Transportation Masterplanning (July 2020)
~ Highway 14 Revisited (March 2019) 
~ Fresh Paint, Familiar Refrain for Sooke Road (Nov. 2018) 
~ Cycling Forward (March 2014) 

PPS I've been gifted with final versions of both the TMP and PTMP. I also have large-format colour copies of the draft editions and will happily move them along to the first of any dear readers who request one/other/both via email. Smartly conceived, rooted in public engagement, filled with realistic actions that address challenges and lay the groundwork for a complete, smart-growth community + beautifully designed and readable. Worthy of some kind of BC local government planning award, I'm sure. Kudos again to all responsible. 

The federal government's Safe Restart Agreement with the provinces and last month's announcement of BC's COVID-19 Safe Restart Grant program has sent a one-time $2.98 million in operational funds to Sooke. In short: Christmas has come early in this most topsy-turvy of years.

A District Safe Restart reserve fund is being promptly created and the monies banked for mindful application next year and in future. Victoria has imposed tight spending guidelines, but the good instant news we're learning in Monday night's council agenda (pp. 409-462) is that $553k of the cash can be used in 2021 -- reducing next year's projected tax hike to 3.31% from the proposed 6.67% we saw in the first draft of the Five-Year Financial Plan released on Nov. 9. (Which followed the District's annual service review and the budget survey results two weeks earlier.) 
 
The new figure, which is entirely subject to further tinkering in the weeks ahead as we move forward guided by Director of Finance Raechel Gray, is aligned with this council's desire to keep tax hikes reasonable even with the relative freezes of earlier years and the rapid community growth that has put increased demands on District resources. (This year we wrestled the proposed increase down to 4.01% before eliminating it entirely once the pandemic hit. We were rightly worried about how the Declaration of Emergency would impact taxpayers; as it happily turns out, 93.56% of the 6,000 or so District residential tax portfolios had been stamped "paid" for 2020 as of early October, a percentage point ahead of last year.) 
 
Sooke's Safe Restart reserve will remain flush for future years, yet next year it can be tapped for the following: 

* Local community economic development (via the salary and an operating budget for the District's first Community Economic Development Officer to work alongside the new Community Economic Development Committee).

* Service agreement funding for the Sooke Region Chamber of Commerce to get it back on par ($28k) with public support for other essential community movers/shakers (i.e., the Visitor Information Centre, the Sooke Community Association, Sooke Region Communities Health Network and Sooke Region Tourism Association)  (A review of all these agreements is set for next year.) 
 
* Part-time, as-needed seasonal staffing support for the Parks & Greenspaces department to assist the current team with its multifaceted duties around town.  
 
* Updates to computer hardware and software + a reboot of the District's constantly evolving website (at the hands of the District's IT and Communications departments).
 
* And the purchase of a bylaw vehicle so our two officers don't have to wrestle over the keys to the one truck now available to them (also potentially eligible under the Restart funding is an E-bike, which I proposed last year after seeing how the CRD was giving them to its water-board employees and that other local governments were using them successfully during ziparound park and urban patrols.) 
 
The proposed 3.31% tax uptick (equivalent to a $50 increase for the average assessed residential portfolio in Sooke) will also allow the Sooke RCMP to integrate the Crime Stoppers program into its own budget; enables Sooke Fire Rescue to undertake an operational masterplan and bolster its team of relief workers (therefore cutting down on overtime); and pays for a pair of veteran contractors (with massive amounts of direct Sooke experience) to work with and provide institutional memory to the District's planning and operations departments. 
 
Nestled within the Five-Year Plan is the 2021 Capital Plan, much of which is funded through the gas tax, gaming revenues, Development Cost Charges and District reserves.  Whereas the last two years have seen monies spent on key planning documents, next year is notable for the number of new design blueprints to be created in ensuring we're shovel-ready for incoming infrastructure (roads, sidewalks, trails) funding opportunities. 

The design priorities all follow recommended actions and guidelines in the new Transportation and Parks & Trails Masterplans: 

* Phase one of the Throup Connector (Charters to Phillips)
* The Wadams/Otter Point/Grant Rd. roundabout and roadway linkages
* Sooke Road improvements in the Charters/Drennan area (MOTI is planning a stoplight at Charters to facilitate traffic from the new BC Housing projects, however an intriguing proposal was floated by a resident who wrote council last week and involves a roundabout at Drennan and Sooke Road.)
* Murray Road drainage improvements (on the steep slope leading to the boardwalk)
* Road/sidewalk designs for the length of Charters and the Phillips/Sooke Rd. junction.  

 Also on the proposed 2021 expense sheet: 

* Hiring of a Land Development Technician to better manage sub-division applications & long-term growth
* Ground-breaking on Sunriver's Multi-Sport Court Box
* Repairs to the Rotary Pier and boardwalk 
* A masterplan for parks in the Town Centre
* Municipal hall repairs
* Funding for a dog park
* Creation of a Solid Waste Strategy Business Plan (exploring municipal pick-up service and a yard-waste depot)
* Installation of streetlights and transit stops

Plus these grant-dependent (fingers crossed) projects ...

- improvements to the lower-level Sooke Potholes parking lot
- Final phases of the DeMamiel bridge crossing as part of the new Stickleback Urban Trail 
- Rebuild of the Bluffs Staircase at the end of Austin's Place in Whiffin Spit (now closed for safety reasons; this project will include the creation of public parking areas and signage pointing the way to Sooke's best-kept-secret pocket park.)

Busy year ahead, then, for a well-marshalled and effective District team, one that is increasingly meeting council's Strat Plan objectives of "building a reputable organization" and "managing long-term growth while enhancing community identity, vitality and safety."  Thank you to them, you dear taxpayer (and I'm referring to me too) and all Sooke residents along for this ever-evolving, never-dull ride into the unwritten (but well planned) future. (This said, I still worry about the growing volumes of traffic on Hwy #14  and the fact that 1500-plus new housing units are on the books without factoring in any additional rezoning applications or pprovals, but I'll save that for another day's update.)  

_______________________________________________________________________________________________


Related from this blog ...  
​
* The CRD Share of Your #Sooke Tax Bill (Nov. 2019) 
* $$$ (July 2019) 

Recent financial items from my Facebook page ... 

Oct. 21, 2020:  "Always something to learn and/or recall about how our local government works via the District's Property Tax Calculator. Today's nugget "The District has $154,540,449 in assets to maintain (historical cost as at Dec. 31, 2019). Of this, $55,928,835 is in roads and sidewalks." Posted as a prelude to this afternoon's round one of budget planning for the 2021-25 five-year plan. The agenda includes the results of last month's public survey (an anonymous, romping/stomping blend of the good, critical, complimentary, useful, occasionally ugly and POed) ... along with 2021 department budget requests (uncosted at this point) and a depth-dive review of how staff spend their productive time. Worth a read if, like me, you need a break from the high anxiety of duelling elections and the pandemic." 

May 5, 2020: "Good news, in case you've not heard, from last week's virtual council meeting: Sooke's proposed 2020 property tax hike is being cut to zero to provide homeowners and businesses with a dash of COVID-era relief.
Early last month council asked staff to revisit the approved budget, and a slate of cuts and deferrals were identified across every department. Result: A $320k reduction in the District's $23.8 million operating budget. That's enough to erase the 4.01% increase finalized after many hours of council meetings, an open house, a public survey and several editorial cartoons that, in time-honoured tradition, suggested taxpayers were being fleeced by a spendthrift bureaucracy. (Absolutely not so in our case, I can testify.)

Full report begins on pg. 15 of the April 27 agenda here ~ https://sooke.ca/municipal-hall/agenda-minutes.

The savings aren't huge, working out to approx. $80 on the $500k average assessed Sooke home. But it does represent a little extra cash for those in need. And, if you're doing fine through all this, then please consider reinvesting the modest windfall in the Sooke Food Bank, a local food delivery service and/or a #BetterBuySooke gift card.
​
Cutting revenue now means the District will likely need to look at topping up the 2.89% tax increase written into the Five-Year Financial Plan for 2021. The next round of number crunching begins this summer with a service-level review led by CAO Norm McInnis. The timing, a best-practice early start on the annual budget planning cycle, improves on an already dramatically sped-up (by Sooke standards) process initiated by Financial Director Raechel Gray last fall.

For context, incidentally, we're hardly alone in throwing taxpayers a bone in this year unlike any other in most of our lifetimes. A quick G-search tells me that many of Canada's 3,600-plus local governments are doing likewise. Certainly it's happening here on the South Island as per this Grumpy Taxpayer summary from last week that can now be updated to include our action." 

April 4, 2020: "Council officially met via Zoom last Tuesday to adopt the Five-Year Budget, which we did unanimously. It is entirely subject to amendment, however, and this will likely happen in the weeks ahead as per these quotes from Mayor Tait in today's Vancouver Sun.

<clip> "'A lot of our members are concerned and worried,' said Sooke Mayor Maya Tait, president of the Union of B.C. Municipalities. (which represents more than 95 percent of the province's 163 municipalities and regional districts).

The UBCM hasn’t formally requested financial aid from the province, but municipalities are meeting regularly with the province to work on a solution to ease their financial pressures, she said. For instance, they’re asking the province to consider allowing deferral of property taxes by residents who may need it when taxes come due in July.

Sooke is working at amending its tax rate proposal, due to the province on May 15, because it includes a four per cent hike, calculated before the pandemic hit. 'It’s only $60 or so per household but it feels out of touch, given the circumstances,' Tait said.  A lot of municipalities are rethinking tax hikes right now. But she said municipalities still have to pay for essential services, such as road maintenance and waste water. 'It’s difficult to plan for the future, you have to keep the core services operational.'" 

Oct. 19, 2020
Work begins on the library site in the northwest corner of Lot A today with surveys and brush removal. A final hurdle was overcome through negotiations between the District and VIRL leading to unanimous approval by the library's board of trustees on Sept. 21 and the awarding of the contract early the following week.

Among the pre-approved applicants, the job has gone to Nanaimo's long-established Island West Coast Developments Ltd. It specializes in commercial properties (the new Belmont Market on the site of the old Belmont Secondary School in Langford is the latest), affordable housing, community and senior centres, and other public-sector projects (i.e, Tofino's RCMP headquarters).  Here's the VIRL announcement, Sooke's own press release and media coverage here, here and here. (Plus this reminder of the way it was a year ago).

HDR Architects have prepared this artist's rendering-preview of the final product. Anticipated opening day will be some glorious spring Saturday in 2022 all things proceeding as hoped and planned. Watch this page for VIRL updates. 

Rather wonderfully, Sooke Elementary School librarian Liz Stannard and her charges have salvaged plants from the library site  -- sword ferns, ocean spray, Oregon grape -- to create a new native-plants garden at the school. Meanwhile, the current branch carries on with distanced service, smiles and the riches of the outdoor (fair weather) cart of free books. Gratitude for that and those who serve the card-carrying amongst us. 


April 25, 2020 
Typing these words fresh from a Vancouver Island Regional Library board meeting this morning. With reps from municipalities and regional districts throughout Van Isle and region in attendance along with the library's executive team, the Zoom screen was packed with most of the same 42 or so shining faces who typically make it to Nanaimo for bimonthly board meetings (including long-haulers from the Haida Gwaii who are understandably happy with the new virtual arrangement).   

Key point of local interest raised today is that our new-build library project remains on course as per these bullet points included in the VIRL facilities report ... <clip> 

• "The building permit has been approved, and construction will be tendered, evaluated and awarded after the pre-qualification for general contractors closes on April 23. The pre-qualification was initially scheduled to close March 23, but VIRL received multiple requests to extend the timeline. (note: 10 bids were received by Thursday's closing date, hooray and all the better for a competitive process). 
• VIRL anticipates construction starting in the second or third quarter of 2020, with the branch opening 1 to 1 1⁄2 years after construction commences.
• VIRL has extended the lease at the current location, so there will be no disruption of library services for Sooke." 

All more-or-less as planned, pandemic and all. Now over to VIRL's cool and experienced staff to choose the best candidate, negotiate a contract and firm the start date. As i typed into the Zoom chat box when it was our turn on the alphabetical project list after North Saanich, Port Alberni and Tofino (whose planned new libraries are in far earlier stages of development than we): "Cue wild applause and gratitude from #Sooke." 

Today's agenda also included a review of the steps and strategies taken by VIRL since it closed its 39 branches on March 16 just a few hours after the Prime Minister and Dr. Bonnie Henry issued their respective calls for us all to stay home.  While nine in ten of VIRL's 456 employees are currently laid off (with pay through the end of June), staffing will ramp up a little in the weeks ahead as new virtual programming is introduced. 

Notably among these services are expanded email, telephone and video conferencing assistance for those of us tentatively exploring VIRL's various digital platforms. Logically enough, the eLibrary has taken off over the last month with a 50% increase in eBook borrowing (nearly 500 a day now) and 30% more AudioBook loans. (Personally, I've discovered RBdigital and its trove of new-release magazine titles; I've just scored the latest Harper's, Mojo and New Yorker for reading over the next week). VIRL has increased its investments in digital titles and publishers have been easing restrictions on accessibility to bestsellers. 

Also in the works are live online story time readings for kids and, via social media and LinkedIn, online book clubs. VIRL has also received appreciative feedback on its decision to offer 24/7 WiFi outside its branches with the proviso that everyone follow physical distancing protocols. A strategy for re-opening branches is being explored for that hopefully not-too-distant day when Dr. Henry issues the all-clear. 


Nov. 21, 2019 
The Story To Date 
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 the campaign to dethaw (frozen since 2010) and increase BC funding for public libraries.) + BC Library Trustees Association' $20 million in 2020 campaign. 

~ 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" ... "Libraries are about a lot more than books. They are community builders, shelters, outreach centres — in short, vital components of any social grouping sharing common goals and interests. And librarians are the guardians of that shared mission. Long may they flourish."


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

Updated: Oct. 18, 2020 

Tomorrow afternoon's Committee of the Whole meeting will introduce draft Terms of Reference (TOR) for two new committees: The revived Land Use and Development Committee and a newly envisioned Community Economic Development Committee.  
 
A good time, then, to update this entry from earlier this year as a head's up to anyone who may wish to apply when the call is released before year's end.  On other fronts pitched earlier, the Official Community Plan Steering Committee and the Sooke Program of the Arts Committee have had their inaugural meetings in recent weeks, and the Climate Action Committee is into its second year (with its next Zoom meeting set for this Tuesday at 5:30 pm.).  Council has had some very tough decisions to make so far, and hopefully that will be the case again when selecting participants for these additional committees. Sincere thanks from us all to everyone who applies. (And if you want to make a difference here and now, by all means dedicate some quality time to the current OCP survey before Nov. 6.)   

These two new one-year committees will complete the picture for now.  As with all District committees you're welcome to silently observe or actively participate (during public comment opportunities) in any of them via prior request to corp@sooke.ca or by phoning 250.642.1634.  
 
As you're see in the draft TORs for the new committees published in Monday's agenda, the District has revised past committee practices in two significant ways: 1. Specific areas of expertise and interest are listed (as opposed to the generalized call-outs for public members) ... and 2. The Mayor's appointee from council is not automatically named chairperson and it's up to the committee itself to choose their facilitator at the first meeting (which, to me, is a suitable empowering sign of respect to those selected to serve.) 
 
Community Economic Development Committee
 
The latest iteration of a long-standing focus in Sooke and every community seeking to create local jobs and a healthy business sector. From what I can ascertain, the municipality's first "Economic Development Strategy Session" was held in September, 2002; it's fascinating to look back to the minutes (pp. 11-15) and see how many wish-list items have been ticked and how much of what is at issue today was recognized back then (apart from today's top challenge ~ managing the kind of population growth likely unimagined by folks back then.) (Actually, I'm wrong: the 2001 OCP predicts 15,500 by 2026, and that's only likely to be a few thousand short of the mark) . 

The Economic Development Commission was launched by Mayor Evans in 2006 in collaboration with what was then known as the Sooke Harbour Chamber of Commerce. Its positive thinking in the '00s is captured in the District's 2008 annual report (pg. 18 and 36), the EDC's "Age-Friendly Dialogue" report, the "Advantage Sooke" website, the Sooke Sustainable Development Strategy (pp. 27-30, "Strategy #7 -- Promote jobs and businesses that contribute to a locally-oriented, green economy") and the 2010 Official Community Plan (section 4.4, pp. 32-37; developing Sooke's "Wild By Nature" tourism economy is cited as a primary OCP goal on an extensive action list topped by ongoing support for the EDC, the hiring of an economic development officer and the creation of a "District of Sooke Economic Development Corporation" in the mould of successful models elsewhere.)  

The EDC's six-year run ended when Mayor Milne replaced it with the Advisory Panel on Economic Development for 2013-14. The Sooke Region Chamber of Commerce continued to do its vital work and is again working hard and strategically to navigate the business sector through this unfortunate year and beyond.  Now council, though our latest Strategic Plan review, has asked that a new committee be launched to address "community economic development" -- distinct from textbook "economic development" and defined by the Canadian CED Network as strategic actions that "strengthen communities by creating economic opportunities to enhance social and environmental conditions." 

Simon Fraser University's Five Principles of Community Economic Development sum it up neatly. The holistic goal is to "create inclusive local economies, develop nourishing livelihood opportunities, build on local resources and capacities, increase community control and ownership, enhance the health of the environment, and encourage community resilience."  Pretty much consistent with Sooke's earlier thinking documented above and all very much in the spirit of the sustainable triple bottom line. (YouTube summary + this explanation by economist John Elkington on his thinking in coining that term).  

Everyone agrees, I'm sure, that we must get through the pandemic without losing the heart/soul of our business community, then renew all these earlier efforts to create jobs locally, stem the commuter tide, support existing businesses and spur development of our relatively small sectors of commercial (C2) and general industrial (M2) zoned land. All while keeping Sooke's character intact and not undergoing Langford-ization (or Colwood-ization, for that matter).

The possibilities and best-practice actions going forward were documented in the Sooke Economic Analysis released last December (see pp. 13-69). 
 
Much credit for this new phase of ED activity goes to the revitalized Sooke Region Chamber of Commerce under new president Karen Mason and executive director Britt Santowski. The Chamber came to council last year reapplying for community service agreement funds that it surrendered in 2016 when it became clear it was being asked by the District to effectively take on the work of a Economic Develoment Officer for a slim $28k per year. This May we okayed $16k as a one-year starter with the promise to consider stable funding in the 2021 budget. 

A council and senior staff workshop in January with Cheryl McLay of the Province of BC's Regional Economic Operations Branch was an intro to a wealth of economic development tools and support available to small communities like our own via the province, the BC Economic Development Association and other avenues. Not long after this Sooke joined the South Island Prosperity Project in support of its efforts to keep the South Island competitive in attracting  businesses and investment dollars to the region.  

CAO McInnis followed up the council workshop by creating an informal working group that has met twice-monthly since the spring. It features McLay, Mayor Tait and representatives from six key local organizations: the Chamber's Mason, Sooke Region Museum and Visitors Centre's Lee Boyko, Sooke Region Communities Health Network's Don Brown, Sooke Region Tourism Association's Ryan Chamberland, WorkLink Employment Society's Peter Doukakis,  and the Economic Development Group's Doug Wittich. 
 
The Terms of Reference ensure all of the above organizations will have seats at the table along with a councillor and two public members. Their first critical ask is that the District find the dollars in the 2021 budget, live up to earlier intentions dating back at least 15 years and hire a Community Development Officer next year. (For its part, the Climate Action Committee understandably would like to see dollars dedicated to a part-time environment/climate specialist to help process a hefty workload passed down to it by council. Needs/wants/wishes, what is a community to do without blowing residential taxes -- currently 85% of the total annual haul -- through the roof? Cultivate more business tax portfolios, that's what.) 

From the new committee's draft terms ... Mandate: The objectives of the Committee are to promote community economic development initiatives, engage and communicate with community groups, business owners and members of the public, and facilitate economic development and the planning and use of community spaces and resources. Topics for consideration by the committee: 

· Hire a Community Economic Development Officer
· Review key commercial parcels, including those held privately, and explore opportunities
for development
· Liaise with South Island Prosperity Partnership
· Address workforce challenges for local employers
· Attract and promote investment including the completion of the Community Investment Brochure and updates to Sooke profile on britishcolumbia.ca
· Support Buy Local initiatives, business retention and expansion
· Complete Municipal and Regional Destination Tax (MRDT) application
· Develop a Tourism Strategy for Sooke
· Support social and economic development initiatives of Social Services organizations
 
Here are links to community economic development overviews for Revelstoke, Vancouver, Bowen Island, Clearwater, the Thompson Okanagan region and Williams Lake, to cite a handful of provincial examples. Still more to learn on the subject from Cowichan Valley Regional District, Community Futures Cowichan, the City of Langford and a place to which we're often compared given our shared proximity to a major city, Squamish.  

The province's Investment Readiness Assessment Checklist for communities is also likely to be given a workout by the new committee. Requirement one: "A designated point person for economic development," hence the call for a full-time CED Officer. An individual who could liaise with local businesses, woo new investors, execute committee and council recommendations, write grant proposals and cheerlead for #Sooke as we build out our town centre would surely be public money well spent. (Always with the proviso that we must stay fiscally conservative during an unpredictable pandemic.) 
 
Land Use and Development Committee 
 
This will be third time a Land Use Committee has been struck over the last decade. First was the Land Use & Environment Committee during Mayor Milne's term (2011-2014). Designed like the Finance & Administration Committee of the time to be a strong adjunct of council, it featured at least three council representatives (builder Herb Haldane included) and such expert appointees from the development community as Adrian Cownden and Geoff Steele. (I'm unable to find, at a first attempt, its Terms of Reference within the District's reliably tricky -- for me, at any rate -- electronic archives, aka the Civic Portal. Easy access to the committee's minutes from 2012, 2013 and 2014, however.) 
 
The District organized a Development & Engagement Workshop in September, 2017 and it identified issues (many related to the notorious need to alleviate developer wait times for permits) that spurred the creation of a new Development & Land Use Committee in early 2018. It was chaired by Cllr. Berger and featured local building stalwarts Randy Clarkson and Herb Haldane along with former Sooke Region Food CHI treasurer Lynn Saur. 
 
At the first of a half-dozen meetings during its one-year term, the discussion covered much ground starting with the need for a new Transportation Masterplan. Four areas of focus were determined for future meetings: A new Sooke Building Code based on the Municipal Insurance Association of BC's model bylaw and aligned with the then-newly updated BC Building Act; the delegation of Development Permit approvals to staff (as opposed to council) to speed the process; the District's need to cover the costs of staff time by charging applicants for consultation meetings; and the integration of the BC Energy Step Code into a new building bylaw. 
 
Council received a draft Building Regulation Bylaw in mid-February (see agenda, pp. 27-91). The COVID-delayed public engagement process outlined back then is moving ahead now with this month's survey and Thursday evening's feedback session intended for local builders and developers.  This is on top of earlier informal consultation, as noted in the staff report early this year: "This new edition of the bylaw has been under development for over one year, starting at the Development & Land Use Committee, followed by a heavy internal review, fulsome discussions with all affected staff and the building community, as well as several legal reviews throughout the process."  

(That said, there is definite pushback in the survey responses to the proposal that the new bylaw launch Sooke at Step Code level three. Echoing sharply critical feedback heard when the code was introduced in 2017, the Victoria Residential Builders' Association summarized its objections recently, noting "our builder’s estimate of the added cost for a BC Step Code Tier 3 home is $28,000 not including overhead. The home was modeled by a Certified Energy Advisor and this was the lowest cost option. The BC government has previously claimed the added cost is $3,945 for Tier 3." Housing affordability and margins are the issue. The VRBA is calling for BC to adhere to guidelines in the next update of the National Building Code of Canada expected in December.) 

With the OCP underway and a new zoning bylaw to emerge from it, the timing is definitely right for a new Land Use committee. It shapes up to be more balanced and inclusive than those in the past with one member each ideally coming from the following sectors: 

* Land Development Communitiy
* Home Builders Community
* Business Community
* Agricultural Community
* Environmental Climate Change Community
* Ocean and Fisheries
* Plus two members at large, one councillor and, in her ex-offico capacity, Mayor Tait. 

As the draft TOR states ... 

"Mandate: The objectives of the Committee are to encourage adherence to District of Sooke land use policies, and when presented with alternative solutions to achieving the strategic goals of the organization, provide policy recommendations or best practices to achieve the desired priorities. Topics for consideration:

• Secondary Suites
• Town Centre Development
• Shoreline-Waterway Interface
• Development Incentives
• Subdivision and Development Standards
• Sub-Regional Land Use Planning
• Agricultural Land Reserve Parcels
• Official Community Plan Analytics
• Zoning Bylaw Updates" 

 Watch for the call for applications to both committees on the District's website, in a press release, and on a markedly more timely, creative and busy Twitter feed courtesy Sooke's new Communications Coordinator Christina Moog.   

   ***********************************************************************************************************************************
Original entry - June 7, 2020 

In brief (and what i meant to simply say before the words piled up): There are and will be openings for public participation on District of Sooke committees ~ currently one spot each on the Climate Action Committee and the Board of Variance ... and, in the near-ish future, the Sooke Program of the Arts Committee and, ta-dah, the Official Community Plan Steering Committee. Other opportunities for TBD committees will follow, I'm confident. My point is that it's again the season for locals keen to contribute their time, expertise and vision to Sooke's near and mid-term future to step up and submit applications. Watch the District's website for the call and I'll share opportunities as they arise on my Facebook page.  
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

In my COVID cocoon, I've been revisiting my campaign website to review the big ideas, hopes and what-ifs I shared before the election. In the rear-view of 18 months of local government experience, I now acknowledge a number of them are -- what is the right word? -- "naive" will suffice for now.  I did try back then to frame my thoughts as ones that might be realized with planning and patience over time, rather than a set of campaign promises. That, I felt, was realistic. I've followed municipal government just long enough to recognize that the norm involves starts, staff reports, stops, rethinks, revisions and relatively glacial progress towards consensus ambitions that are, hooray, eventually realized. I hope a fair share of the possibilities I floated in 2018 -- many of them grounded in existing District plans and reports -- will be captured and/or reconfirmed in our next Official Community Plan (OCP) over this year and next. 

One hope that will be realized (as it has been in the past locally and in all functional municipalities) in the near-ish future is the following: "Tap citizen expertise with an expanded range of committees, commissions and task forces. Sooke's people are our strongest resource. How can we harness these people and given them a chance to put their skills to work in shaping our community's destiny?" 

On this note, bright, talented, eager-to-contribute locals will be interested to know that, at Monday night's special council meeting (agenda here), we will be looking at terms of reference for a new OCP Steering Committee and a revitalized Sooke Program of the Arts Committee.

The SPA Committee is returning a year after the sad passing of its former chairperson, the irreplaceable Cllr. Brenda Parkinson. In keeping with tradition, it will feature a mix of public members (hopefully a number of fine returnees among them) and one representative each from the Sooke Arts Council and the Sooke Region Historical Society.  Other organizations will be considered. The new committee will, I imagine, be asked to initiate action on the previous group's top recommendations -- the painting of the town centre's three crosswalks (featuring, in turn, a rainbow, musical notes and the combo of whale's tail and leaping salmon) and a makeover of the tourism kiosk at Evergreen Mall. The new committee will also have license to conjure fresh ideas that will (to quote the existing terms of reference) "foster public awareness, recognition, education, support and celebration of the community arts in Sooke." (The Whiffin Spit memorial wall is also a legacy of Brenda's SPA committee; the staff recommendation for a display space for memorial plaques in Quimper Park near the Spit parking lot is being brought back by Mayor Tait for reconsideration Monday night; this is to ensure staff will work with the new committee and in consultation with the T'Sou-ke on a dignified, effective, respectful and yet also unique and artistic memorial facing the harbour.) 

As for the OCP Steering Committee, the staff proposal (see below for excerpts from the report and a nod of appeciation to those who previously served on this most impactful of all committees) identifies the need for seven public members to represent and speak for the following key sectors of #Sooke: environmental stewardship (to cite #PlanSooke priority #1 at the outset); economic development; healthcare; culture, recreation and the arts; building and trades; First Nations; and youth.

A councillor would be appointed to join this group, a chair would be chosen among the participants, and staff support would be provided. Then, as ever with OCPs, a series of public meetings and consultations would follow under the guidance of a planning consultant. This will be the municipality's third OCP following the 2001 original and the current 2010 model. (The first advisory group involved six public members, two councillors and the Mayor; the second featured 12 public members and three councillors. The heaviest lifting was done by paid consultants and staff.) 

The right consultancy firm is essential. The District received nine responses to the Request for Proposals issued in March. District staff is recommending the $200k contract go to DIALOG, a leading light among North American community design and planning groups with offices across Canada and the U.S., including a Van Isle outpost. It would work in consultation with planning experts from four other firms: the Sustainability Solutions Group, Colliers International, WATT Consulting Group and, for the critical mapping sections of the OCP, Licker Geospatial Consulting (which claims "geography is badass," no arguments here.) 

Winner of multiple planning awards, DIALOG is particularly renowned for the Community Wellbeing Framework developed in association with the Conference Board of Canada. It's an early 21th century, infographic-driven version of the common sense #SmartGrowth approach to creating community via tight-knit town sites, trail/sidewalk connectivity, green spaces, recreation, shopping, active transportation routes and ideally jobs too all within easy walking/commuting distance.  Studies (to reinforce said common sense) show that people are far happier in these kind of planned built environments than the far-flung sprawl communities that developed post-WWII.  The framework was showcased at last year's Federation of Canadian Municipalities convention in front of a full house in Quebec City that included Mayor Tait and five of we councillors. (Here's the executive summary.) 

More to the point, DIALOG reps have stickhandled first-rate OCPs over the last decade for Powell River, White Rock, Regina and, most recently, the City of Colwood (where prospective team lead Jennifer Fix - such a good name for the job! - and others associated with the current bid collaborated with our returnee planner Katherine Letyshin). It also masterminded the Abbotsford OCP (aka 'Abbotsforward'), which is frequently cited as an model of its kind in terms of public engagement and final product.  (I spoke with Abbotsford councillor Brenda Falk at the UBCM convention last fall, and she had nothing but positives to say about DIALOG and the creative, systematic, legislatively precise approach it brought to the two-year process.)  

The company has also developed blueprints for Ladysmith's waterfront, a makeover of main street Tofino, a North Cowichan climate mitigation strategy, and a refresh of the University of Victoria campus masterplan. All in all, the firm has a great track record and looks wonderful on paper (not, I should note, that we on council had an opportunity to vet the other submissions.) 

HERE & NOW COMMITTEE NEEDS
Okay, all the above is ahead of us and subject to our council discussion on Monday night. In the meantime, a few engaged locals here in Vancouver Island's volunteer capital are required immediately for two committee vacancies at the District of Sooke ...  

i) The Board of Variance 
https://sooke.ca/call-for-board-of-variance-committee-volunteer-2/

i) The Climate Action Committee
https://sooke.ca/climate-action-committee-is-seeking-to-fill-vacancies.

The three-person Board of Variance is "an independent body which considers requests for minor variances to the Sooke Zoning Bylaw, where compliance would cause undue hardship." The board is a requirement of the Local Government Act. The term is for three years and meetings are infrequent (the last was in 2015), though likely will be more frequent when a full compliment of board members is in place. (The current council has handled several tricky variances in its absence.)    

Personally, if unelected, I'd jump for a chance to join the Climate Action Committee under the lead of Councillor St-Pierre. Two of the current group have had to step down for various good reasons The first of these slots was filled recently by Jeffrey Robinson, an energy audit specialist with Sunriver-based Enertech Solutions. One more willing soul is still required. Tony and his A-list team (Roland Alcock, Diane Bernard, Susan Clarke, Catherine Keogan, Andrew Moore, Christina Schlatter, Kyle Topelko) have spent the last year establishing sub-committees on four consensus priority areas -- Food Security; Transportation; Engagement and Education on Climate Change; and Sustainable Development and Land Use. Working groups focused on each have now developed short, medium and longer-term objectives utilizing the SMART (Specific, Measureable, Achievable, Relevant, Time Specific) yardstick.

The draft of the committee's work plan was released in its May 26 Zoom agenda  and I heartily recommend the read: it's an exciting, comprehensive, achievable vision over time. It will be brought to council for discussion in the near future. Paired with Transition Sooke's Community Action Town Hall report from last fall and the set of now-operational volunteer climate action teams that emerged from it, we are very much beginning to act like a community that was among the first in Canada to declare a climate emergency. 

The CAC's food-security recommendations have already been approved for discussion and hopeful inclusion in council's four-year Strategic Plan; we'll be determining their relative now/next/later priority status during the plan's six-month at the end of June. (Revisiting the 2012 Agricultural Plan and establishing a Food Policy Council, as the CAC has recommended, seems vital at a time when localized food sources - from farms and backyards alike -- are so important as climate change threatens our supplies of imported fruit and produce (as alarmingly documented last year by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change; New York Times coverage of the report here). 

Bottom line: If you are contemplating applying to this lively, forward-thinking Committee, please peruse its archive of committee agendas and minutes, take a look at this post of mine from last year, and then submit the application you'll find here. 

MORE ON THE OCP STEERING COMMITTEE, 2020/21
Okay, for those still reading, back to the preparatory steps for the OCP Steering Committee as stated in this excerpt from Monday's agenda (see pp. 89/90). The proposed Terms of Reference follow on pp. 101-104. Further background on the process ahead in my pre-COVID blog post here.   

"Staff has prepared a draft Terms of Reference (Attachment 1) for Council consideration. The Official Community Plan Advisory Committee (OCP-AC) will be a Select Committee of Council, comprised of one council liaison member, and seven (7) appointed members of the public who will represent a balance of community interests on a broad number of local topics. Ideally, members would have an extensive knowledge or current involvement in one of the following:

1. Building & Economic Development Community
2. Health & Social Services
3. Environmental Stewardship
4. Business & Tourism Community
5. Arts,Culture & Recreation
6. Youth or Young Adult (Under29)
7. First Nations Culture & Heritage Resources

The purpose of the committee is to provide Council with meaningful, technical input on a range of community issues related to the creation of an updated Official Community Plan. The OCP-AC will provide technical guidance at key project milestones including identification of key community issues, input on draft materials, input on policy options,
and input on implementation strategies. Existing District committees may wish to encourage their members to apply to serve on this committee as well.

Staff and the project consultant will be available at each committee meeting to provide clerical and technical support. The engagement strategy prepared by the selected consultant, which will be forthcoming in the project start-up, will also refine meeting frequency and function. It is expected that approximately 6 meetings will be required in the duration of the project. The committee is intended to be advisory in nature, and will always include facilitated discussions. Committee members will act as ambassadors of the project and the expectation is that members will take part in helping to promote the project, and when possible, attend public consultation events that are planned.

The Terms of Reference also cover the eventuality that virtual committee meetings may be held in order to adapt to the realities of COVID-19 over the coming year.

Once Council has approved the Terms of Reference, staff will advertise for committee membership in accordance with Policy No. 1.4, Committee Structure and Function Policy, 2006 and report back during an in-camera meeting of Council for membership selection. Once committee membership has been announced, the committee will begin meeting following project kick off, which is anticipated at the end of August."  

********************************************************************************************************************************************

Before closing, I'll take the opportunity on this infinitely unfolding page to acknowledge members of the District's first two OCP steering committees. No small thing to step up and contribute in such a public manner where one can anticipate praise, blame or, given the fact that most residents are far too busy with the rest of their lives to notice, echoing silence. As I've repeatedly said before, we need to value the time, brainpower, hard work and, in the case of the consultants, significant public funding dedicated to previous reports and studies. We need to re-read them carefully, weigh their gifts and flaws, and only then set out on this latest attempt to repurpose (rather than reinvent) a wheel that's already rolled a long way -- 20 years as a municipality, 53 years within the Capital Regional District, more than 170 years as a settler community and at least 12,000 years with the T'Sou-ke. (Given our cultural ADHD and short-term amnesia, it's such a temptation with bright, shiny new toys/approaches to discount worthy earlier achievements.) 

If you want to get the jump on other potential applicants and/or play a meaningful role during the public consultations, please download existing plans from the District's website and especially spend time in the depths of the current OCP. The menu of options will soon be expanded with the addition of Sooke's new Transportation Masterplan (which we'll receive at a Committee of the Whole meeting on June 22) and a refreshed Parks & Trails Masterplan later this summer. 

Now a round of applause for those who have served ... 

OCP 2001 Steering Committee (term: Feb. to Dec., 2001)
- Councillor Lorna Barry (Chair)
- Councillor Jeff Stewart
- Mayor Ed Macgregor (Ex officio)
- Community representatives Tom Burgess, Marion Desrochers, Dwight Johnston, Bruce MacMillan, Richard Stafford and Laurie Szadkowski 
- Consultants: Urban Aspects Consulting Group, idealink architecture, Cloghesy + Doak Ltd., GMK 2000 
- Staff: Tom Day, Chief Administrator; Frank Limshue, Municipal Planner 

OCP 2010 Review Committee (term: 2007-2010) 
- Councillor David Bennett (Chair, 2007/08)
- Ellen Lewers (Chair, 2009)
- Councillors Sheila Beech and Ron Dumont
- Public members: Randy Clarkston, Patrick Fallon, Rick Gates, Dana Lajeunesse, David Mallett, Andrew Moore, John Nicholson, Mark Poppe, Susan Todman, Tara Tompkins and Laurie Wallace. 
- Consultant: Mazzoni & Associates Planning - Felice Mazzoni, Principle 
​- Staff: Gerald Christie, Director of Planning; Ian Scott, Planner

A District press release will emerge soon, I'm sure, but I'll take this opportunity to share the names of the OCP Steering Committee members that Mayor Tait announced at the close of the July 27 council meeting. After due deliberation and some regrettable omissions from the stack of worthy applicants, council has settled on the following willing and extremely able residents (in alphabetical order): 
 
* Norman Amirault: Career firefighter with the Department of National Defence; former elected councillor with the town of Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, where he also chaired the Public Works Dept. and served on the planning commission; former owner/operator of Belvista Retreat B&B in Sooke. 

* Terry Cristall: Former CEO of Number Ten Architectural Group with offices in Winnipeg & Victoria; extensive CV includes dozens of commercial, residential and institutional projects topped by the Winnipeg Convention Centre expansion; current board member with Harmony Project Sooke and trailblazing collaborator with the District and the JDF Community Trails Society for three new signed public pathways now in the works.   

* Steve Grundy: Newly retired as VP Academic and Provost at Royal Roads University while remaining a professor in its School of Environment & Sustainability; served with Sooke's Economic Development Commission; ex-board member with the Sooke Chamber of Commerce; ex-chair of the Juan de Fuca Land Use Committee; Saseenos resident and mountain biking enthusiast. 

* Ellen Lewers: Local force of nature and super-engaged citizen who served on Sooke's two previous OCP Steering Committees, chairing the 2008-10 edition; member of Sooke's Board of Variance since its foundation in the early '00s; former president of the Sooke Fall Fair; founding board member with Sooke Region Food CHI; owner/operator/grower-in-chief at Mrs. Lewers' Farmhouse, among much else. 

* Linda MacMillan: Another much-respected #Sooke mover/shaker dating back to when she supervised the Sooke Cooperative Preschool in the 1980s; former board member with EMCS Society, Sooke Family Resource Society, Sooke Fine Arts Society, Sooke Philharmonic Orchestra, the Classical Boating Society and the Chamber of Commerce; and first known to me and many as the Remax realtor (1992-2018) who shared an untold number of listings around town with her husband Bruce (who himself was on the 2001 OCP committee). 

* Siomonn Pulla: Academic and specialist in Indigenous rights, governance and language revitalization;  Program Head of the Doctor of Social Sciences program at Royal Roads; former senior research associate with the Conference Board of Canada; family man with three young children living in the town centre. 

* Helen Ritts: Marketing and communications professional who telecommutes from Sooke while focusing on sustainable buildings and infrastructure for such clients as Metro Vancouver, the CRD, the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University; former Marketing Director with Bing Thom Architects in Vancouver; smart growth champion for the town centre.   
 
We selected Councillor Al Beddows to be council's non-voting appointee. Mayor Maja Tait will participate as is her ex-offico right with all District committees and commissions. Sooke's Senior Planner Katherine Lesyshen and the DIALOG consultancy team led by Jennifer Fix will work closely with all of the above. Also part of the team are specialists with Sustainability Solutions Group, Colliers International, WATT Consulting Group and, for the critical mapping sections of the OCP, Licker Geospatial Consulting. 
 
All in all, I reckon, the process is in excellent hands. I know five of the public appointees to varying degrees, and can vouchsafe for them as smart, engaged, caring, passionate and, above all, knowledgeable and experienced in their respective fields. 

As I noted in an earlier post on this page, "DIALOG reps have stickhandled first-rate OCPs over the last decade for Powell River, White Rock, Regina and, most recently, the City of Colwood (where prospective team lead Jennifer Fix - such a good name for the job! - and others associated with the current bid collaborated with our returnee planner Katherine Letyshin). It also masterminded the Abbotsford OCP (aka 'Abbotsforward'), which is frequently cited as an model of its kind in terms of public engagement and final product.  (I spoke with Abbotsford councillor Brenda Falk at the UBCM convention last fall, and she had nothing but positives to say about DIALOG and the creative, systematic, legislatively precise approach it brought to the two-year process.)"  

DIALOG has also played key roles in creating blueprints for Ladysmith's waterfront, a makeover of main street Tofino, a North Cowichan climate mitigation strategy, and a refresh of the University of Victoria campus masterplan.
 
Opportunities for COVID-proof public and stakeholder group input -- interactive surveys (via Metroquest), livestreamed presentations, Facebook and Zoom Q&As, a branded OCP website, etc. -- will be rolled out over the next year or so. (Which is great, of course, but far less satisfying and effective than the traditional OCP process involving rooms packed with citizens and interest groups, engaging in facilitated dialogue and etching out the future with maps and magic markers in real time. So it goes in this year or likely two of frustrating, patience-testing, disconnected living differently. One example: Council's desire to welcome a limited number of citizens back into council chambers for meetings and the challenges in so doing.)

In making its selections, council did its best to ensure the appointees covered the spectrum of expertise outlined in the request for applications: Building & Economic Development Community; Health and Social Services; Environmental Stewardship & Climate Change; Business & Tourism; Arts, Culture & Recreation; and First Nations Culture & Heritage Resources. The missing link is a young adult under 29, a demographic from whom we regrettably received no applications. (A second call for such a bright light might be issued at the committee's discretion. The consultants do plan to gather OCP input from students at the elementary, middle-school and community school levels as best they COVID can in collaboration with principals and teachers.) 

The afternoon after the night we made these selections last week, council heard from DIALOG's team leaders at a Committee of the Whole session.  They introduced the process ahead and laid out a four-stage timeline as per the likely unreadable screenshot below taken from its original proposal (you'll find the chart on pg. 82 of council's June 8 agenda; full proposal, the front cover of which is below, is on pp. 44-87). Ms. Fix noted that, in her experience in developing other OCPs, the essential community vision and desired outcomes expressed from one plan to the next rarely changes dramatically. The art lies in identifying SMART actions and streamlining the final document so that it can be enacted effectively over the plan's finite lifespan. 
 
Last week's COW was also the opportunity for council to sing our individual refrains and chorused harmonies regarding what we hope/desire from the OCP. A few simple questions were circulated to us beforehand to spark discussion. Not surprisingly, I resonated with everything I heard from my colleagues. We're all fans of the infographic from the #PlanSookeNow engagement in 2015/16. We agree the current OCP is packed with gold yet a little unwieldy and contradictory; the new version needs to be more tightly crafted. And we all confirmed that we want Sooke to grow steadily into a complete, compact, sustainable, climate-smart 21st Century community that we're even more proud to call home. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 
 
Footnote: One of DIALOG's questions was "If we dream big and act boldly, what can this OCP accomplish for Sooke?"  
In the notes I prepared beforehand, I wrote: It can be a sturdy, useful, much-referenced planning document that further defines us as a progressive small town-turning-city that truly gets it that our quality of life is measured not by development activity, affluence and the number of different chain retailers that can be squeezed into a new shopping mall, but rather by the following: 
 
* Smart Growth civic planning
* Local economic development
​* Community safety & emergency preparedness 
* 20-minute neighbourhoods
* Public/private/non-profit collaboration
* Enhanced transit service encouraging transportation mode shift  
* Waste reduction, recycling and reuse - circular economy   
* Green energy
* Housing initiatives: Affordable, alternative and/or Net Zero 
* Reskilling education 
* Regional food security
* Recreation, sports, active community living  
* Voluntary simplicity 
* Raising our Index of Happiness 

The good news is that so much of the above has become 'new normal' 2020 (pre-COVID anyway) thinking in Canada. Sooke's suite of new planning documents -- Transportation and Parks & Trails included -- capture aspects of these aspirations well in practical, action-list fashion.  

Other thoughts from my pre-COW notes that I shared to a degree with the consultants ...  
 
- General consensus of all I've talked to over the years is that we must retain Sooke's small town character, charm and singular environmental beauty as we carefully, strategically manage the current and future waves of growth (now all the more so given our declaration of a climate emergency).  #LetSookeBeSooke 
 
- We need to develop a focused, practical yet still visionary Official Community Plan that will serve as the master planning document for the next ten years while also locking in land-use patterns and development growth areas beyond that timeframe. 
 
- The OCP should reflect current community thinking while retaining the essence of earlier OCPs and CRD area plans. These, to me, have one common theme: Growth is focused in our town centre while the rest of the District retains its rural character. 
 
-  Woo and recruit developers, gap independent businesses and new residents to the town centre to begin realizing the long-standing community vision of an age-friendly seaside village with ample waterfront access.
 
- Steps need be taken to reverse to some degree our status as a bedroom community while becoming more of a complete community through ...
 
* #Sooke Smart Growth densification in the town centre; 
 
* Local Economic Development with enhanced town centre business space and development of existing light industrial and commercial zones outside the core east of the Sooke River; 
 
* Continued expansion of local health care and ongoing advocacy for a primary health care centre; 
 
* Relief from the growing traffic congestion choking Hwy #14 through the development of local jobs, ongoing transportation mode shift, and home-based telecommuting.  
 
* Creation of community gathering spaces as identified by the Sooke Lions Club and the Sooke Elderly Citizens Society.

* Food security initiatives that revitalize currently fallow ALR properties.  
 
 - We are a small seaside community whose growth potential is necessarily limited by geography and access via a two-lane highway increasingly choked with commuter traffic. 
 
- We in Sooke have zero desire to be another Langford. Yet what can we learn from how our neighbour developed so systematically with a consistent strategy established in its 1990 OCP and maintained to this day. 

All this said, the devil is in the details and the real business of a municipality involves one relatively micro decision after the next -- a zoning change here, a parking exemption (or not) to allow a much-demanded child care centre there.

While council remains largely focused on the small stuff along with action items in our 2018-22 Strategic Plan, it's reassuring (exciting! says the enthusiast) to know that staff, consultants and our estimable new OCP committee are shaping a big, beautiful frame Sooke can grow into over time. 

Update: July, 2020

Revisiting the post below from 16 months ago to update it with links to the draft Parks & Trails Masterplan (PTMP) and its companion Transportation Masterplan (TMP).  You'll find both here. An informative Zoom Open House on the plans with a small but engaged turnout was hosted by the District last week. Further public input is welcome until July 31 via email to parks@sooke.ca if dealing with the PTMP and/or engineering@sooke.ca for the TMP.  (Please feel free to cc us on council if you like at council@sooke.ca). 

Once finalized in the fall, the plans will join the recent Housing and Childcare needs assessments, the Sooke Economic Analysis, the Lot A report and various other keystone documents -- the current Official Community Plan, the Agriculture Plan, the Town Centre Plan, the Sooke Region Cultural Plan, the Liquid Waste Management Plan and the Community and Energy Emissions Plan included -- in providing the backbone and points of reference for the creation of Sooke's next Official Community Plan.  Jennifer Fix and her DIALOG consulting team, the District's planning staff and the OCP Steering Committee intend to get cracking on it in the fall. (Reminder that the application deadline for the Steering Committee is this Friday, July 17.)  

As I said on my Facebook page prior to the June 22 COW meeting at which council received the draft plans, I rate both as excellent contemporary best-practice documents grounded in fiscal realities along with much strategic promise and potential. Both feature a full menu of short and medium-term actions along with some visionary, "aspirational" long-range thinking.  District staff working with this and future councils will tackle these objectives through their inclusion in annual capital spending plans, through grant applications, in negotiation with developers, and/or by advocating with other levels of government.  

Both plans are critical, in other words, as we patiently inch toward #Sooke's OCP-certified desire to be a compact and complete community. (Let's not forget: All bets are hedged over the next 18 months as BC activates the Restart Plan. The municipality will be banking just a fraction of the $260k we received from BC casino funds last year, for instance, and that will hurt. Casino income this year is earmarked for Murray Rd. drainage improvements, Kaltasin water access, the DeMamiel Bridge crossing and the PTMP itself.) 

Cherrypicking among the 56 action items listed in the Transportation Masterplan
(pp. 62-66): 

* Update Subdivision and Development Standards Bylaw #404 to reflect the plan's focus on "complete streets" (i.e., multi-purpose roadways catering to all user types -- pedestrians, bikes and mobility scooters included.) 

* Greenlight, with new purpose and intent, action on the Grant/Waddams/Throup/Phillips Road bypass connector (as per start/stop plans dating back as far as 2004); 

* Improve pedestrian connectivity at Rhodenite/Arranwood, Charters, Phillips and Beaton/Pyrite (these priorities based on their current status as established routes to schools, streets with public transit and existing sidewalks, and connectivity to parks, trails and recreation facilities). 

* Short-term focus on street improvements in three locations: Otter Pt. Rd. between Sooke Rd. and Wadams Way (the design blueprint for which is about to be awarded); Throup Road between Church and Charters; and the roundabout-ready intersection of Church and Throup; 

* Work with the Ministry of Transportation to improve the Hwy #14 intersections at Phillips, Charters, Church, Otter Point Rd. and Grant Rd. West while also adding crosswalks at key junctures elsewhere along Sooke Rd/West Coast Rd. (such as the one just announced from Gatewood across West Coast Rd. to Ed Macgregor Park as part of sidewalk improvements from Otter Point Rd. to the park); 

* Plan for a grid street network in the town centre and better through-street connectivity elsewhere (likely result: goodbye to the bollards on Brailsford and the opening up of French Rd. at Beaton); 

* Develop a neighbourhood traffic management policy for speed enforcement + get a grip on effective off-street parking requirements via the new zoning bylaws that will emerge from the OCP; 

* Encourage EV uptake, ridesharing, charging facilities and carshare opportunities through incentivization of various kinds; 

* Establish reserve funds for future sidewalk construction, bus shelters and active transportation initiatives; 


Short-term (within five years, ideally) highlights of the Parks and Trails Masterplan (pp. 67-74) include: 
 
* Park masterplans with full public input for John Phillips Memorial Park, Whiffin Spit and a TBD new town centre park; 
 
* New trails,  or extensions of existing ones,  over the next five years at Nott Brook, Water Street, the DeMamiel Creek Crossing, and the Sunriver Nature Trail;  

​*  Trail and trailhead improvements throughout the District as opportunities arise in the wake of the first phase of trail wayfinding initiatives now being implemented) 
 
*  More play areas, including a spray park at SEAPARC and playgrounds at JPMP, Ed Macgregor, Erinan Estates and in  Saseenos; 
 
* Establishment of off-leash dog areas as part of a new dog management poiicy;   
 
* A million-dollar multi-sports court in Sunriver (funding for which was recently confirmed through the federal and provincial Investing in Canada Infrastructure program; the first planning meeting on how to construct this facility adjacent to the future (within three years, dear SD #62?) Sunriver Elementary School on Phillips Rd. is set for next week); 
 
* Improved waterfront access for starters at the foot of Kaltasin and Murray roads, at Cooper's Cove and  Whiffin Spit's Bluff Park; 
 
* Preparation of an urban forest strategy arising from the District's forthcoming tree bylaw.  
​
 
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 
 
One among other advantages of a single consultancy team (Urban Systems) executing both plans: The TMP's "complete streets" approach ensures that our roadways will serve drivers as well as all those using Sooke's evolving active transportation network as they funnel in from current, future and aspirational connecting trails identified in the PTMP. 


Okay, all this said, the plans aren't finished quite yet and tweaks will be done over the next few months based on feedback.  I attended last week's Zoom Open House and heard the views/opinions of some of the 25 or so residents (many of whom were content to listen and learn) who turned out for what we can all agree is a far from perfect yet only safe and manageable COVID-era means of fielding real-time public input.  

Some of the observations I jotted down: 

- The plans are "too parochial and lack courage" in not taking strong measures to address the climate emergency and inspire transportation mode shift  that reduce GHG emissions.  (I disagree, and that's fine :-) ) 

- Appendices need be added to capture the public input from the opening stages of plan development; 

- It would be useful to add a chart of the real-world costs per unit measurement for key types of infrastructure: roads, raised sidewalks, pedestrian-controlled crosswalks, bus shelters, etc. This to help with future budget planning and to prove conclusively that we simply can't have it all given fiscal realities and an 85% residential tax base. 

- One participant, wishing I suppose upon a passing comet, asked that complete-street improvements of Sooke Road, Grant and Otter Point -- raised sidewalks, bike lanes -- be prioritized within two to three years. (Oh, if it could be so ...)  

​ I also trust that the revised plans will reflect points I raised at the Community of the Whole meeting last month and in a subsequent email to staff: 

1. Need for discussion of a second traffic bridge crossing of the Sooke River. 

2. Further details on why a four-lane highway straight through to Sooke has been judged by MOTI to be hugely, perhaps impossibly challenging due to ocost ($20 to $50 million per km.), topography, the need for multiple new bridges and impacts on the Sooke Hills ecosystem. (More here along with ample footnotes for further reference). 

3. Reference to MOTI's Malahat study from December, 2019 that ruled out potential alternate routes on forestry roads. 

4. More exact costing of action items in the PTMP (as has been done with the main recommendations in the TMP.) 

What else might be said? LOTS, I'm positive, and we all want to hear from you. Please read the documents, recognize their place within the bigger picture of other critical planning documents, jot down your impressions and send to the District by month's end.  Much appreciated! 


Original Post: Jan. 30, 2019 

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? If money were no object, and of course it is, all of the above, natch. 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 

Random
~ Whiffin Spit history (Elida Peers) 

Council meets in-person for the first time since early March this afternoon for what I imagine will be a relatively brief Committee of the Whole meeting. We'll follow some rigorous distancing guidelines, keep our mitts off any coffee mugs and clean surfaces within the Hall, stay home if we're feeling the least bit ill ... while also appreciating each other's company and commentary, which we (or so it seems to me) always do even when we agree to mildly, respectfully disagree. Team Tait is a functional and fun entity indeed, and I'm happy to be gathering in person again after our series of Zoom meetings (which have gone well in our case but which can be problematic for all kinds of practical and psychological reasons.) 
 
The one agenda item today is a report from Fire Chief Kenn Mount on revisions to the outdoor burning regulations found within Sooke’s Fire Protection Services Bylaw (2007), which is filed on the District's website along with best-practice requirements for your own backyard burns.  

Said report is comprehensive -- detailed history of what has been a hot subject locally, a suggested timeline for public feedback this summer on a slate of recommended revisions, an overview of updated provincial regulations and those of other Van Isle municipalities ... plus some of the new science about the health impacts of wood smoke (especially airborne particulate matter, a mostly invisible super-irritant for those with breathing and heart problems. It's the reason a ban on all fires, campfire excepted, until June 15 is part of BC's COVID State of Emergency. For more on health impacts, check these links from the BC Lung Association, Island Health, Health Canada and the World Health Organization). 

All in all, the Chief has delivered a solid, well-reasoned document that sets the stage nicely for anyone in town to weigh in on the subject -- via survey and email; public hearings remaining impossible for now, of course -- prior to council debating a formal bylaw revision in the fall.  I'm sure one of our discussions today will relate to how we might some day follow the lead of larger communities by eliminating the need for backyard burns altogether via the establishment of a municipal depot where residents could take waste for "chipping, composting and/or grinding" (to quote the report, as I'm doing freely here). 
 
In relative brief, the report notes that the District's approach to backyard burns, campfires and Class A (land clearing) fires has been variously more and less restrictive over the years -- more so in the '00s when residential burns were only allowed one weekend per month (October to April) and had to be kept small (3' x 3'). Revisions made in 2008 banned burn barrels while doubling the width of fire pits. All District residents were allowed to burn dry garden waste (no grass or clippings) on Oct-April days when the Ministry of Environment's BC Ventilation Index was "Good" (as opposed to "Fair" or "Poor"). 
 
Things loosened up under Mayor Milne in 2012 when a Burning Regulation Review Committee led by Councillor Haldane opted to give a measure of power back to the people by cutting some shackles: the burn season was extended to include May and backyard fires could happen anytime (sunrise to sunset) during the allowable months; burns were permitted when the Ventilation Index was "Fair"; and folks living outside the sewer-specified area were granted permission to burn even on "Poor" atmospheric days (meaning smoke will linger awaiting the next uptick in wind velocity, the prime measure in the index's rating system). Bottom line: Libertarian burners held sway and won the day. 
 
This is how the regulation stands now. Burning is permitted eight months/230 days a year outside the sewer specified area, and a lesser, Vent Index-conditional number of days within it.

​Yet freedom for some is a hassle for others, ever thus, and the revisions are seeking a fair and just-right balance.  

Bylaw services and the Fire Department responded to 118 backyard-burning related complaints last year, and many more were phoned in without requiring action. The complaints vary, but many were health related. A new generation of studies have shown that wood smoke is a health hazard, and the science triggered revisions last fall to BC's Open Burning Smoke Control Regulation (which applies to the larger Class A burns). In the process, more densely populated urban/suburban areas (Sooke included as per our freight-train growth) are now rated as a "High Smoke Sensitivity Zone" ~ a category that has nothing to do with cannabis, it should be added for you jesters out there. 
 
During our time together this afternoon, council will discuss the report and delve into the Fire Department's recommendations as a prelude to receiving your own feedback (via survey) in the months ahead. These include: 
 
i) Re-establishing an Oct-April burn season (eliminating May); 
 ii) The Venting Index must rate as "Good" for burns to happen, and that applies to every household in the District; 
 iii) Expanded setbacks for burn pits (to 40' from 20') from property lines; 
iv) Add a clause that states that the question of whether smoke from a particular burn is an irritant or not (a major cause of feuds between neighbours) is to be determined by responsible District staff; 
 v) Rather than warnings, more tickets should be written for scofflaws and anyone burning prohibited materials. 

Incidentally, we won't be discussing the health issues caused by wood-burning stoves, pellet stoves and fireplaces ~ a good thing for me and many of us in town, at least, since we here chez Bateman do so dearly love and rely on our vintage, airtight Pacific Energy Superseries wood stove to get us through the winters. (In a study conducted a decade ago by the Cowichan Valley Regional District -- where smoke truly does linger without the benefit of our Juan de Fuca winds -- home heating with wood accounted for 23% of fine particulate pollution compared with 53% from open burning. One day this too will likely need to be explored, the Chief's report states. 

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.) 

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.