Interesting agenda at Council tonight. Jeff Zigay should have no trouble getting a bylaw change for the upper half of his key parcel of land in what will one day/someday be our new waterside downtown. It's encouraging to see how planners Tara Johnson and Katherine Lesyshen have referenced the OCP and Town Centre Plan while recommending a four-storey restriction on construction ... all the better "to preserve a more pedestrian-friendly character and small-town environment while still achieving the desired density and vitality." YES!
Also up for discussion tonight is a request by electric-vehicle advocates for support in a campaign to get rough-ins for EV charging stations enshrined in the building code. I imagine the new team is onside with this one, unlike three years ago when the then-council rejected rough-ins for solar hot water. Sooke was the lone CRD municipality to say no, and we did so because the Land Use Committee of the day figured it was one hassle too many for local builders. Duh! Cue the head slap and my first in a series of Damascus conversions that made me want to get involved in local governance.
I'm also keen to hear from Mayor Tait and councillors Kasper, Logins and Parkinson about the Association of Vancouver Island & Coastal Communities convention this last weekend. I know a series of tanker & pipeline resolutions (Sooke's included) passed with vast majority support (thank you for the in-person coverage, Mary Brooke). Yet what did our elected reps learn at seminars and in break-out sessions? Who'd they network with while sharing the good word about our little town and its aspirations to be a more active player in Island life? What lessons did they come home with that can be applied locally? Full disclosure, maybe even written "What I Did During My Convention" reports, are the only way to silence the vocal minority that is forever whinging on about the cost of these excursions.
That said, on the communications front, kudos to the Mayor for giving us the first of what I imagine will be an ongoing series of quarterly progress reports. I'm loathe to post a link to the Sooke News Mirror given last week's truly lame cartoon and the paper's last two editorial misfires (who writes those things? Surely not Pirjo Raits, who over the years has produced so many great arts & community pieces while also consistently giving essential space to this, that and the next big-hearted local initiative). Anyway, as far as I can tell, it's the one place you can find the Mayor's letter (plus there's a bonus broadside from council candidate Mark Whiteson in the comments), so here you go ...
Also up for discussion tonight is a request by electric-vehicle advocates for support in a campaign to get rough-ins for EV charging stations enshrined in the building code. I imagine the new team is onside with this one, unlike three years ago when the then-council rejected rough-ins for solar hot water. Sooke was the lone CRD municipality to say no, and we did so because the Land Use Committee of the day figured it was one hassle too many for local builders. Duh! Cue the head slap and my first in a series of Damascus conversions that made me want to get involved in local governance.
I'm also keen to hear from Mayor Tait and councillors Kasper, Logins and Parkinson about the Association of Vancouver Island & Coastal Communities convention this last weekend. I know a series of tanker & pipeline resolutions (Sooke's included) passed with vast majority support (thank you for the in-person coverage, Mary Brooke). Yet what did our elected reps learn at seminars and in break-out sessions? Who'd they network with while sharing the good word about our little town and its aspirations to be a more active player in Island life? What lessons did they come home with that can be applied locally? Full disclosure, maybe even written "What I Did During My Convention" reports, are the only way to silence the vocal minority that is forever whinging on about the cost of these excursions.
That said, on the communications front, kudos to the Mayor for giving us the first of what I imagine will be an ongoing series of quarterly progress reports. I'm loathe to post a link to the Sooke News Mirror given last week's truly lame cartoon and the paper's last two editorial misfires (who writes those things? Surely not Pirjo Raits, who over the years has produced so many great arts & community pieces while also consistently giving essential space to this, that and the next big-hearted local initiative). Anyway, as far as I can tell, it's the one place you can find the Mayor's letter (plus there's a bonus broadside from council candidate Mark Whiteson in the comments), so here you go ...
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