As with our car washes and Tim Hortons outlets, dog parks are another example that services and amenities demanded by certain segments of our population may take years to manifest but, when they do arrive, they tend to do so in pairs. 

A few weeks after we approved the Development Permit for the Wadams Farm subdivision that will include a small public dog park (see pg. 14) upon its completion in (guesstimate) 2024, council will tonight determine whether we're going ahead immediately with a staff recommendation for another fenced dog mecca -- this one double the size (90 x 25 sq. meters, which is approx. one-and-a-half hockey rinks long, one rink wide) in the Ponds Park corridor a short leash-tugging stroll west of Church Road (where a dozen angled parking spaces will be added). 

Talk of a fenced dog park or run locally dates back at least to the John Phillips Memorial Park study of 2006 (see pg. 7 to 23; the recommendation was for a meadow dog run on the slope leading to Wadams Way, which might conceivably remain possible even given the Sooke Lions Centre proposal.)

Since then, committees have called for formal public consultation, councils have discussed options and, in 2013, a dog-owner lobby group gathered 457 signatures in favour of a fenced area in Ponds Park or JPMP itself (the latter ruled out by council of the day because of seasonal groundwater problems well known to golfers and off-trail walkers). (Details on the back-story below.) 

The current council included item 2.3.5 in our 2018-2022 Strategic Plan ~ “Identify location(s) and establishment of dog park(s).”  The how, why and where of it was to be investigated in the larger context of the updated Parks & Trails Master Plan, adopted in October, 2020. (All its dog management references are neatly captured in this press release.) 

Parks Master Plan action item 6.19 (pg. 55) states: "Establish dog off-leash areas within a 15-minute walk of all residents: i) Establish two larger dog off-leash areas, one north of the highway and one south, eg. in the Ponds Park corridor and at a future beach access; ii) incorporate smaller dog off-leash areas within existing and proposed community and neighbourhood parks per the spacing above; and iii) Designate trails where dogs are allowed off-leash." 

Previous discussions had always recommended further public consultation. With our long-awaited Communications Coordinator in place, it happened during a COVID year when in-person hearings were impossible.  The consultation was predicated on certain assumptions: Ponds Park had been identified as the best possible location for the north-of-Sooke-Road dog park; and alternate options in JPMP were challenging and costly due to drainage issues. We as a community were being asked to identify amenities (and recognize their pricetags) with the end goal of ensuring a best-possible experience for owners, their furry companions and the neighbouring community. 

Read the results yourself on the District's Let's Talk Sooke website, in particular this summary document presented at the July 19 Committee of the Whole. The 48 (of 100) survey respondents who took the time to write comments shared pro/con sentiments about the location:  "40% (19/48) express strong support for a fenced dog park at Pond’s Park Corridor; 15% (7/48) express opposition for a fenced dog park at Pond’s Park Corridor; 13% (6/48) ask for enforcement of hours of operation and dog behaviour."  

Not unexpectedly, opposition has come from many near neighbours (if by no means all; I chatted with two in-favour couples on Saturday who live within 100 meters) who fear the worst -- barking dogs, traffic issues in Acreman Place, negative impacts to home values and the loss of relative peace and quiet. (An early June petition netted 68 signatures against from 46 area households. One irony: the manufactured home park due south of Ponds Park does not allow dogs.  You'll find several letters against in tonight's council agenda -- pp. 205-207 -- as well as this recent Sooke PocketNews letter.)  

At last week's COW meeting, six of us voted in favour of "authorizing construction of a fenced dog park at 2276 Church Road." I voted against on the grounds that this kind of impactful, rather controversial decision would best be decided when council chambers are again fully open to the public -- likely starting with our meeting of Sept. 20.  I imagine one of those exciting (to me, at least) full-house occasions when the tides of passion run strong and everyone has the right and opportunity to bark as loudly as they like (2 minutes maximum) in favour or against.  E-feedback is fantastically useful, of course, but not everyone is wired for the 21st century and there is that truth about body language and vocal tone representing 85% of communication.

I'll likely say exactly this tonight and ask that we postpone the decision until we can invite the public back into chambers. It would give opponents the right to share their concerns in person. And it would allow proponents from elsewhere in Sooke to rally and express their support.  (One missing link in the discussion so far has been the widely recognized best-practice dog-park partnership of local governments with a community group-- a 'Friends of the Dog Park' pet-owning collective of some kind that would take its share of responsibility for managing, cleaning, operating and raising funds for future phased development of park amenities such as a separate fenced area for small dogs.)  

A pause (still my favourite word in a world that is spinning way too fast by my increasingly antiquated standards) would give us all time to further chew over this already mangled but clearly still flavourful bone. There are remarkably few fenced dog parks in the CRD, but how are other municipalities managing those they do operate? The City of Victoria's Paws In Parks program shows the way. As for the tricky business of siting future dog parks, we could learn from Saanich, which this summer is experimenting with "pop-up dog parks" in five locations to allow residents a chance to experience them in real time before any final decisions are made.

What do existing best-practice documents have to offer such as this one from the US Trust for Public Land or this guide to designing and managing dog parks via the National Recreation and Park Association?  Dog owners also have their share of reasons to enjoy and equally be wary of dog parks (as documented here and in this New York Times article shared by one of our recent thumbs-down correspondents.) 

Personally speaking, we Batemans are cat people and have not been around dogs regularly since our childhoods (long-haired dachshunds Rufus, Remus & Nicki + a Yorkshire terrier named Kimbo for me; shelties Raider and Dawn for Carolyn). But we appreciate them as wonderful sentient beings and engage in as much interspecies communication on the Spit and elsewhere as their owners allow.

We also embarked on a delightful visit two weekends ago to the Vic West Dog Park. We lingered at the edge of this small, gravel-based park and watched the romparound antics by the assembled pack -- perhaps a dozen dogs of all sizes, including a Burmese mountain dog and her puppy, several lean hounds at full sprint (running in looped circles around and across a big exposed rock) and one nervous but game rescue dog who'd been relocated from a Texas kill shelter and become the beloved companion of a man living in nearby Dockside Green. When dogs pooped, watchful and responsible owners promptly scooped. Apart from a couple of yelps and a few barks of hello, it was an idyllic and happy scene -- dogs and owners alike enjoying the socialization time.

Whatever unfolds, here's the no-matter-what guarantee: Every dog will have its day. 

Bonus extras ... 

i) Except from the Wadams Farm development permit 
"Public Dog Park: A 1086 m2 public park is proposed at the corner of Wadams Way and Church Road. As detailed in sections L1.05, L3.05 and L5.01 on the landscape plans, the features of the dog park include salvaged cedar or rot-resistant logs for dog play and slope retention, center located concrete stairs with center located handrails to facilitate access to sloped areas and enable pet clean-up, pedestrian bollard solar lighting along the public pathway , bicycle racks, one standard parking space designated for park maintenance vehicle with signage, park signage and "petiquette" signs, water service with water fountain (dog/human/bottle filler), two benches along the public pathway and three benches within the dog park, bear-resistant waste bins and dog bag dispensers. A black chain link fence will surround the dog park with a double gate for dog park safety and a second access gate is provided for service maintenance. Cedar split rail fencing will surround all rain garden areas and wetland habitat." 

ii) View Pointe Estates
A tiny chunk of land (2,100 sq. feet) for a suggested dog park was donated to the District by View Pointe Estates in 2017. It is a miniscule portion (perhaps better suited as a viewpoint) of the 32% of this sprawling 137-home development dedicated for parkland, a trail system and easy legal access for us all to the gob-smackingly spectacular panoramas. 

iii) Excerpt from Guidelines for Successful Off-Leash Dog Areas by the University of California's Centre for Animals In Society

"If asked about the three things that influence how well an off-leash dog park works, one could answer maintenance, maintenance, and maintenance. This is a factor that proved to significantly correlate with ranking of park success, regardless of park size or whether dog-exclusive or multiple-use. The bottom line is that before establishing on an off-leash park, the community must plan ahead and commit resources for maintenance. The monetary costs and time for maintenance should be budgeted and taken into consideration prior to approval of the park. The factors that are part of maintenance include, but are not limited to, are: frequency of emptying refuse cans; re-supplying disposable plastic pick up bags; replacing or fixing broken, bent, or weathered signs displaying rules; filling holes dug by dogs; irrigation and maintenance of vegetation and turf; repairing fencing. Maintenance also includes cleaning restrooms and other park user amenities, such as benches. One perspective is that, as in reducing the occurrence of graffiti in urban areas by promptly removing graffiti, promptly removing fecal droppings encourages people to follow the rules about cleanliness.  The following are our recommendations:

1. Plan and budget for appropriate maintenance and a cleaning schedule, which includes adequate sanitation procedures, filling of holes that are dug by dogs, proper maintenance of the substrate, and proper maintenance of fencing and amenities.

2. It is suggested that an active dog park club help advise the municipality as to the needed resources to maintain the park, and to help monitor their condition. However, do not rely on the club to handle the required maintenance. 

iv)  My Facebook post from July 12, 2020
"Sharing this amusing Portlandia sketch while preparing for tomorrow night’s latest in a nearly 15-year series of discussions of an off-leash dog park in John Phillips Memorial Park.

I’ve done a little homework: In Sept. 2012, the District’s Land Use and Environment Committee of the day recommended a public consultation take place for a JPMP dog park (as originally identified in the park’s 2006 masterplan). The committee also noted its concerns about drainage issues on the old golf course and potential conflicts with other park users.

After It’s Over Rover’s Jacklyn Orza rounded up 457 signatures in favour of a dog park in early 2013, council asked staff to look at the feasibility of the nearby Ponds Park corridor. A basic fenced area along the corridor near Church (I believe) would have cost $14k; seemingly essential amenities like lighting, a water supply for thirsty dogs and benches for their owners added another $11k. For reasons I’m not clear about, this scheme died on the books.

In Oct., 2016, the then-extant Parks & Trails Advisory Committee recommended that council “develop a public consultation plan for an off-leash dog park.” At its meeting a month later, the committee heard from one speaker that JPMP and an area near Sunriver Nature Trail Park were the best candidates for a dog park or two. Another resident quoted in the minutes wanted to see a park in the heart of the town centre (mentioning the Horne/Goodmere Rd. area, and perhaps meaning the underutilized Lions Park on Murray Rd.).

Conflicting views were also expressed about Whiffin Spit, which to this day is designated dogs off-leash/under effective control. One speaker noted that off-leash here was essential given the lack of a dog park in town. Another conversely noted the Spit should be on-leash exclusively to curb conflicts with dog-shy walkers and to protect the eel grass habitat (aka migratory bird stopover refuges).

As in 2012, however, I don’t believe a public consultation plan was ever initiated.

Fast forward to 2019, and the new Council’s Strategic Plan included item 2.3.5 ~ “Identify location(s) and establishment of dog park(s).”

The draft 2020 Parks & Trails Masterplan released last month identified (pg. 52) that dogs are as increasingly popular with boomers and millennials in Sooke as they are across North America. The tail count in town now tops 2500 loyal, adorable, beloved canines of all shapes and sizes. Their needs for romp-around socialization opportunities in an enclosed space must sooner rather than later be addressed here as in so many other communities.

The PTMP states that Sooke requires the following:

1. “An on-leash bylaw to prevent dog issues throughout the District.”
2. “Designated dog off-leash areas.”
3. “Dog management is needed on Whiffin Spit in particular.”
4. “More bylaw control of dogs and consideration of dog
waste management within sold waste management planning.”
5. “Designated off-leash and on-leash trails.”

Now a group from the Sooke Community Association has approached the District with an offer to build and maintain a fenced dog park in JPMP. On the map in our agenda package, the proposed location appears to be due east of the duck pond where two trails converge. As I recall from winter rambles, this portion of the old golf course gets pretty swampy, so it may not be the best location.

As Mayor Milne was quoted as saying in 2013, the park needs to be fairly central and in a “high and dry location” – hence the preference for the Ponds Park corridor back then. The 2006 JPMP masterplan (created by a citizen's committee after the golf course covenant was controversially shredded and the land split into two while creating our town's beautiful central park and a still undeveloped parcel for housing) suggests a "meadow dog run" be located on the hillside leading up to Waddams Way.

Anyway, it’s good the issue has arisen again. As a preview, a gorgeous Newfoundlander named Eve, owned by a military family newly relocated to Sooke, romped over at the end of yoga in the park this morning and greeted us all one by one. Most of us were delighted by this sweet, gentle giant of a dog. One of our number might well have been wary due to possible past experience with less friendly dogs, however, and this theoretical person also has rights to the quiet, safe enjoyment of the park as much as the rest of us.

So it’s a complicated matter (what isn’t?), and I look forward to seeing how the council pack addresses it tomorrow night -- likely by agreeing to the staff recommendation that a public engagement plan and funding options be developed for further consideration." 

Pictured: My late mum and dad's beloved and final daschund, Tessa D'Iberville. 

March 2022
Steady, patient progress continues along with some encouraging new developments. Last October, the Sooke Region Communities Health Network and the District of Sooke renewed a letter of understanding stating that the District agrees, in principle, with the overall project and that, should things develop as intended, the northeast portion of Lot A kitty-corner to the new library will be leased long-term for the Sooke Region Elder's Complex.

Since then, SRCHN learned that its Investing in Canada Infrastructure grant bid had come up empty in the face of a record number of applications to the federal program. Yet that news was met with understanding and acceptance as a learning-opportunity prelude to the latest in an unfolding series of long-game strategic moves 

For one thing, project leaders led by SRCHN's Mary Dunn have cultivated an ally in the person of BC Seniors' Advocate Isobel MacKenzie. The latter recognizes that Sooke now has the population base that warrants significant investment in a modern multi-generational drop-in centre that will serve the community for the next century. MacKenzie visited Sooke earlier this year, met with Mayor Tait and SRCHN's Dunn and Christine Bossi, and can be counted on to add her voice to local advocacy. 

Meanwhile, a VanCity Good Money grant is funding a full-scale business plan for the complex that, among much else, will identify revenue streams that will keep it operating as intended. 

And SRCHN has secured Sooke's first-ever grant from the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' Green Municipal Fund. The grant through the Sustainable Affordable Housing stream provides 50% funding for a $200k investment in "detailed architectural, mechanical, electrical and civil engineering drawings" along with net-zero energy modelling calculations for the proposed new-build (which would make the Elder's Complex an exemplary frontrunner for our town's GHG-busting ambitions.)  

To fund its share of the FCM grant, SRCHN is asking council to release $100k from the District's Seniors/Youth Facility Reserve Fund, built up (to a maximum of $250k) starting in 2015 through property taxes and currently holding $185k. As Dunn notes in her submission: "With the work done to achieve a net-zero energy efficiency, SRCHN would become eligible to apply for a Green Municipal Fund Capital Grant." If successful, that would fund "20% of the total project costs in a combination of grant and low-interest loan."  This will be discussed at council's March 28 meeting (see agenda pp. 215-233.) 

​The other key piece of the project, of course, would be a successful BC Housing application when the next application window opens, likely in the later half of 2023. The launch of a community fundraising campaign led by Carol Pinalski and friends is also to be expected. Add it all up, and this ever-more sophisticated preparatory groundwork increases the odds for success with the provincial housing authority. 

Onwards, then, in the sure confidence that with these skilled #Sooke community builders have the vision, energy and strategic smarts to take this much-needed project across the finish line in due course. 



June 2021
Disappointing to learn at last week's council meeting that BC Housing had recently (and apparently reluctantly given the quality of the proposal ) denied a funding request for 79 affordable seniors' rental units in the future Sooke Region Elder's Complex slated for the northeast corner of our town centre Lot A. (Disclosure: I, like you very likely, was among the 83% of Sooke residents who backed the 2014 referendum. And since 2019, I've sat in on many discussions about the project as council's appointee to Sooke's Age-Friendly Committee and also championed it as chair of the District's Lot A Task Force.) 

The long-sought dream of a purpose-built seniors/youth gathering place in Sooke (details below) remains very much alive, however, as word is patiently awaited on other grant applications -- notably a $2+ million Investing In Canada Infrastructure proposal that, if secured, would kickstart work on the ground-floor Sooke Seniors Drop-In Centre with its promise of multi-generational programming and the involvement of multiple agencies, including the Sooke Volunteer Centre. That decision from Ottawa is due in the fall. A successful bid would trigger other fundraising initiatives and would allow the centre to proceed with the housing component to follow in time. 

BC Housing recently told the Sooke Region Communities Health Network's Age-Friendly Committee team led by Mary Dunn, Rick Robinson, Carol Pinalski, Andrew Moore and Don Brown that they had produced a first-rate proposal in association with consultant Kaeley Wiseman, Victoria-based CitySpaces and the CRD's Capital Region Housing Corporation. 

Yet meeting affordable housing needs across BC requires geographically rationed, Solomon-like decisions that invariably can't please everyone. And when the chips landed last month, Sooke wasn't on the list for any of the 2400 new units to win funding in the second round of the province's Community Housing program. (The June 4 announcement cites 47 indigenous and non-indigenous projects across the province; Van Isle recipients are in Comox, Courtenay, Qualicum Beach, Port Alberni, Tofino and Duncan.) 

The third-round application window will likely open in 2023 for applications to the $1.9 billion, 10-year lifeline that developed from Premier Horgan's 2018 Homes For BC plan (which followed decades of inaction on the social-housing front from the provincial and federal governments).

And you can be sure SRCHN will get an updated but otherwise largely copy-and-pasted application in the door immediately. (Working group reps are meeting with BC Housing soon to learn how best to refine the pitch and improve the odds next time.) 

Along with the downbeat news, it's fair to assume BC Housing advised patience while noting that Sooke has received its share of public funding and favourable housing decisions in recent years: 

* Drennan and Sooke Road's 169 units of affordable housing due to open in fall 2023 (June 11, 2021 update here). Total project budget is $46m, with funds from Ottawa augmented by $10.2 million from BC Housing.  <clip> "A five-storey apartment building with a mix of studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom homes. The project will provide housing for indigenous peoples, people with low to moderate income, and people with disabilities."  (Full details, site plan and drawings in the Nov. 23, 2020 Council agenda, pp. 9-54). 

* Charters and Throup Rd's 75-unit, $21 million affordable rental complex expected to be ready for occupancy in fall 2022. BC Housing purchased the land, and the CRD's Regional Housing Trust is contributing $4.5 million of the bill. See Council agenda of Nov. 9, 2020, pp. 7-47).   

* BC Housing's $8.5 million purchase of the Hope Centre this last February for transitional housing to be operated by the Sooke Shelter Society.  An annual $820k in operating funds is also included. This atop a $1.5 million investment by the province last summer to carve eight new rental units from what was previously commercial space (my beloved quasi-second home, Sooke Yoga & Wellness included) on the building's second floor.  

* Funding for the 42-unit Knox Centre on Church Road. It opened in 2019 after nearly a decade of patient, strategic advocacy and hard work by the team led by Knox Presbyterian's former Reverend Gordon Kouwenberg. 

* Ongoing BC Housing operational funding support for the Diamond Jubilee Housing Society's apartment building next door to the Legion on Eustace.

For more about housing in Sooke, affordable and otherwise, take a depth dive into Sooke's 2019 Housing Needs Assessment. 

The 75-Year (and Counting) Drive for a Seniors' Centre in Sooke 

Looking back through this blog, I'm surprised to learn I'd not addressed the long-haul, wonderfully relentless (thanks to stalwarts led by Ms. Pinalski) campaign for a purpose-built senior centre in Sooke. Here's an updated timeline I first prepared when chairing the District's Northeast Quadrant Lot A Task Force in summer 2019 and which is based on Google research + details I found in some of the reports cited here: 

1945: Establishment of the Sooke Over '60s Club, percursor to Old Age Pensioners Branch #88 (which was responsible in part for setting up the Sooke Elderly Citizens Society, the Contact Community Assistance Society loan cupboard and Contact drivers service). 

1980s: Formation of the New Horizons Activity Society, which evolved into the Sooke Seniors Activity Society (SSAS by name and nature however you want to spell it).

2003: Sooke Senior Drop-In Centre established, first in the Community Hall, then at what was to become Chris Bryant's dental clinic on Sooke Road

August, 2008: Release of An Accessibility and Inclusiveness Study for the District of Sooke, prepared by the Social Planning and Research Council of BC (SPARC)

October, 2008: Sooke Economic Development Commission and Sooke Harbour Chamber of Commerce's An Age-Friendly Sooke: What Can We Do? summary of a day-long dialogue at the Community Hall involving 88 Sooke residents, business owners and service providers chaired by Councillor Rick Kasper.  
 
2010: Seniors' Drop-In Centre relocates to the Sooke Volunteer Firefighters Lounge at the Municipal Hall

March 21, 2013: Seniors' Drop-In Centre Society's Visioning for the Future report prepared by the Society's Pinalski, Gerry Quiring, Martin Quiring and David Bennett in association with Vicki Bennett, Susan Winter & Irene Healey and with support from Nicky Logins (Mayor’s Advisory Panel on Community Health & Social Initiatives) and Marlene Barry (Sooke Region Volunteer Centre). 
 
Fall, 2013: Seniors' Drop-In Centre relocates to downstairs at the Sooke Community Hall (2 days per week) 

September, 2014: SRCHN's Getting It Built: Community Centre Report (see pp. 78-11) helmed by Marlene Barry and Ebony Logins. 

November, 2014: Municipal plebiscite question: "Would you support the District of Sooke working with the community to develop multi-use community centre facilities?" YES responded 82.9 percent of a 41.5 percent voter turnout. (3072 votes in favour vs. 631 against) 

January 2015: Managing At Home: A Study of Sooke Seniors Planning to Remain At Home, prepared by SRCHN's Linda Nehra and Anna Moore in association with West Coast Medical Clinic's Dr. Ellen Anderson and Island Health's  Mary Dunn and Emma Isaac. (25% of the respondents noted that social isolation was a critical issue for them, triggering sadness and depression. A central social and activity gathering place was identified as one needed solution.) 

​Spring 2015: District of Sooke Age-Friendly Action Plan released by SRCHN's official Age-Friendly Committee and endorsed by council. (Powerpoint presentation to Council here). 

April 27, 2015: Council motion to create the Sooke Community Centre Advisory Committee chaired by Lee Boyko and featuring reps from the Sooke Community Association, Sooke Fall Fair, SRCHN, Sooke Rotary Club, SEAPARC and Transition Sooke (i.e., yours truly), Ten meetings over 18 months through October 2016.  

May 2016: Community Centre Advisory Committee recommendations presented at the May 16 Committee of the Whole meeting. The following reference the recently purchased "new lands" (aka Lot A) in the town centre ... 
 
~ Recommendation #7 (a) "That, along with supporting a new library, Council plan for multi-use community spaces for the residents of Sooke at the newly acquired Wadams Way location. Spaces may include insides areas for a variety of users and an outside 'community square' gathering space." 
 
~ Recommendation #7 (c) "That council direct staff to support Phase 2 of this committee Terms of References that would 'begin a preliminary concept design for use in developing a business case for the multi-use community centre." 
 
~ Recommendation #7 (d) "That council direct staff to explore the feasbility of mixed housing development in conjunction with the community centre use as a means to fund development of a centre; and that council direct District staff to engage with locally successful funded housing project leaders like M'akola Housing to see funding and project planning support." 

Nov. 27, 2017: Council delegation by Carol Pinalski representing coalition of Sooke Seniors Drop in Center, Age Friendly Committee and Sooke Region Communities Health Network. Seeking Approval in Principal for 4000 to 5000 sq. ft. activity centre on Lot A. 
 
January 15, 2018: Meeting Pinalski's request, Council began process to authorize the use of a portion of Lot A for a Senior's Drop in Centre, in principle (finalized on May 28). Council discussed (as per minutes): 

• A variety of mixed-use including housing on the upper floors and activity space on the bottom, is preferred for the proposed building. 
• There is no future commitment if funds are not raised, the District's support provides the opportunity to apply for grants with a potential locale for the facility. 
• There was a concern with authorizing facilities or buildings on the property with the absence of a concept plan. 
• Council requested a staff report containing an overall vision for Lot A, permitted uses, housing and development plan. 

May 18, 2018: Aging With Grace summit meeting at the Prestige 

July 23, 2018: Council passed Bylaw No. 717 ~  “The Senior/Youth Centre Reserve Fund will be credited with the 2017 closing balance of $202,578 from the Seniors/Youth Centre Reserve and any monies already approved for 2018 transfer into the Seniors/Youth Centre Reserve.” (i.e., $254k in total)

December 2018: Lot A Charrette at the Municipal Hall involving multiple Sooke stakeholder groups, several of us councillors included. Among the uses identified for the portion of the 5-acre property apart from the library: 

"* A home for uses either missing in Sooke or in need of a new home such as affordable seniors housing, senior/youth drop-in centre, health services, office and small retail among others.

* Landscaping and incorporation of existing mature trees and natural drainage channels

* Public plaza for gathering and market space; more permanent home for the Sooke Farmers Market

* How office, commercial, and public space would complement each other to aid current and future residents in Sooke." 


May 27, 2019: Final version of Lot A Charrette Concept Plan presented by Keycorp.  Endorsed by council unanimously with direction to staff to begin Lot A preparatory work: 

i) review Barlett Arborist Report and determine tree retention
ii) Riparian and biological assessment of property
iii) Civil engineer review of property
iv) Rainwater Management Plan for property 
v) Rezoning of site (Recommended: P2 on western half; CD Zone for eastern half) 
 
June 24, 2019: Creation of the Northeast Quadrant Lot A Task Force to explore options to develop this section of the property.  

Oct. 21, 2019: Committee of the Whole presentation of the business case proposals from the Lot A Task Force. (See minutes, pp. 3-5) 

September, 2020: Council approves Elder's Complex proposal. 

Today's Capital Daily feature about a Sooke couple in crisis is a reality check for those of us who rarely  think twice about the fact that our basic needs are routinely met (and far beyond in many of our fortunate cases.)

It's also a context setter for Thursday's working group meeting of the Sooke Homelessness Coalition (SHC), which is now collaborating with the Greater Victoria Coalition to End Homelessness in the development of a strategic plan to address Sooke region homelessness -- visible and especially invisible with the growing number of couch surfers and those camping of necessity in vehicles (i.e., hardcore "van life," the kind that is causing municipalities like Squamish and Vancouver to rethink their bylaws.)  The SHC's goal is to gather "local housing, health and social service providers, businesses, people with lived or living experiences of homelessness and concerned citizens" in a collaborative mission "to develop and drive solutions to end homelessness."

Given all her other responsibilities, Mayor Tait has stepped back from her founding role with the SHC and asked me to co-chair it alongside Sooke Shelter Society president Melanie Cunningham. Along with many others, I've attended a number of past meetings of it and the preliminary groups leading to its formation, including the Mayor's inaugural Homelessness Forum in early September, 2018 at which the Sooke Region Communities Health Network was asked to address this multi-faceted issue.

A few months earlier, the District's Affordable Housing Committee (click to explore the wealth of related links Britt Santowski compiled) had convened for the first time with a mandate to update the District's 2007 Affordable and Social Housing Policy. One of its outcomes was the 2019 Housing Needs Report, which looked at four key areas:  "Limited availability of housing that is affordable to residents of the community; concerns related to housing adequacy, suitability and accessibility; limited supply of low-income housing in the community; and limited housing diversity across the housing continuum." 

I'm also a co-founder of the Sooke Multi-Belief Initiative, a Transition Sooke working group that emerged from the Mayor's May, 2016 Sooke Health Summit.  Along with reps from a dozen local groups, I was among the 50 locals who brainstormed and developed ideas for the SMBI's Compassionate Action Plan. One of its five priorities is homelessness.  [From the report: "Estimates of the number of homeless people in Sooke range from about 35 to more than 100. They are a nearly invisible part of our community. They spend much of each day trying to satisfy basic needs for food, safe shelter and hygiene. Social contact with the larger community is often avoided by these individuals, just as more fortunate residents tend to avoid contact with them. Many homeless people contend with mental illnesses aggravated by addictions to alcohol and street drugs. These challenges become more difficult during our winter months, especially during periods of extreme weather. Some working poor are also homeless due to the lack of affordable housing in Sooke. They may inhabit vehicles and moored boats."]

All this said, I was raised middle class and have blessedly no experience with the lower rungs of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. But I am aware of the reasons we as a society need to be empathetic and proactive.  Compassion = Empathy In Action, definitely a Sooke trademark given the dedicated work of our non-profit organizations, churches, volunteers and the unofficial, in the moment, generosity typified by the caring folks on the Sooke Embrace Facebook page. In 2019, Sooke became the 103rd community worldwide to be officially recognized as a Compassionate City by Charter of Compassion International. 

The Sooke Homelessness Coalition's strength lies in the involvement of individuals and organizations who, unlike me, have direct frontline experience. They include Melanie and her Sooke Shelter Society colleague Sherry Thompson, Sooke Region Communities Health Network (SRCHN) director Mary Dunn, Hope Centre coordinator Carla Simich and the Greater Victoria Coalition's Kelly Roth and Janine Theobald.  Coalition meetings also typically include representatives from the District of Sooke, the T'Sou-ke Nation, the Sooke RCMP, BC Housing, Our Place Society, the BC Ministry of Social Services & Poverty Reduction, and AVI Harm Reduction Services. 

Plans are now underway for a community strategic planning sessions in the fall. A starting point are the recommendations beginning on pg. 66 of this spring's Beyond the Paradise: Homelessness in the Sooke Region report, a must-read prepared for SRCHN by Gemma Martin. All resonate with the "five key community-based outcome areas" in the Greater Victoria Homeless Coalition's Community Plan to End Homelessness in the Capital Region (2019). 

1. "Housing First With Wrap-Around Support" - roof over head for the chronically homeless + on-site mental health and addiction services as championed elsewhere, including the City of Victoria's Breaking The Cycle of Mental Illness, Addictions and Homelessness report, related housing-first case studies in the region and the Medicine Hat, Alta. Plan to End Homelessness (2009; year nine progress report here). 

2. Transitional Housing - now available locally following many years of lobbying with BC Housing's purchase of the Hope Centre this February with its 33 shelter-rate rental rooms and community kitchen. This followed a surge in attention to and care for the homeless during COVID (i.e., the temporary shelters at SEAPARC, Ed Mcgregor Park and the former Mulligans/Speed Source building at John Phillips Memorial Park.) 

3. Hub Service Model: One-stop access for vulnerable populations to information about available services,  including healthcare, housing support, washing facilities, food, employment, training opportunities. The ground floor of the Hope Centre (former St. Vincent de Paul store) is slated to become this hub with full-time staff, six shelter beds for temporary visitors, programming space and a commercial kitchen/dining space where upstairs residents will have communal meals. 

4. "Meaningful Alliances with First Nations in the Sooke Region" 

5. Education & Communication: Outreach to the community to explain the problem and how its being addressed, "using in part the voices of people with lived experience." (Misunderstanding abounds, of course. A Winnipeg Free Press article, for instance, quotes Carolann Barr, executive director at Toronto-based non-profit Raising the Roof, as saying that "people who are homeless are more often victims than criminals. The general public might think that people who face homelessness are actually perpetrators of crime, but most research and most statistics available indicate that people who are homeless are at greater risk of violence and attack, obviously because they don’t have a safe place to go home to.'") 

6. Access to Affordable Housing - Martin quotes one of her lived-experience survey subjects as saying "it's getting to the point (in Sooke) that it's feeling like a lottery to get a viewing even at an apartment, let alone being selected."  Rent Smart service ... BC Non-Profit Housing Association

7. "Investment in Localized Specialized Services" - 

The Hope Centre can position itself as transitional housing given the incoming BC Housing complexes slated for the east side of the town centre (Drennan/Sooke Rd. and Charters/Throup). Under the Building BC program, affordable housing projects offer a mix of options that address various low income thresholds. In Sooke's case, 244 units of affordable housing will be available — 194 units at near-market or affordable rental rates and 49 at the provincial shelter (aka income assistance) rate of $385 per month per person.

In recent years, the Greater Victoria Point In Time count has identified approximately 50 unhoused individuals in Sooke (while not capturing statistics on the tide of couch surfers.) 

Food Security & Poverty Reduction

Related is the final version of the Sooke Region Food Security Report, presented to council last night by its author, SRCHN's Christine Bossi, who worked in association with farmer and Otter Point food security expert Martin Bissig, a board member with Sooke Region Food CHI. 

The pair have documented the issue of food security and poverty reduction in considerable detail. Like Martin, they've identified the realities and gaps in an earnest but overwhelmed system that strives, increasingly so in recent years, as best it can to leave nobody behind.  

The report also documents the range of valiant non-profits doing such essential work locally. And, in its concluding pages, it revives, renews and advances substantial recommendations to guide compassionate community planning ~ namely the need for a Sooke Food Policy Council to spark action; and a local Food Hub with commercial kitchen where "independent entrepreneurs, agricultural, artisanal and others" can prepare all manner of locally sourced food for retail sale.

On these two points, there's already some promising developments: 

i) The District recently agreed to host a grant application that would fund a regional Food Policy Council under the auspices of the Capital Region Food and Agricultural Initiatives Roundtable.

ii) The BC Ministry of Agriculture is committed to creating food hubs across the province where producers can book commercial kitchens to prepare value-added delights and also learn about how to market and sell them profitably. Victoria, the Cowichan Valley, Port Alberni and Bowser south of Courtenay are already in service, and there's no question one belongs on the west shore, suggests Ms. Bossi. (It helps that she is also the chair of the Sooke Community Economic Development Committee, which is dedicated to aligning social, economic and environmental factors in the recommendations it brings to council. (We, too, will make our decisions by weighing the co-benefits identified by Simon Fraser University's ACT team and its Low Carbon Resilience framework.) 

A few not-so-fun facts from the report that capture the scale of the challenge:

* "Around 15% of the households in Sooke and the Sooke Region in general are of low-income, many of which consist of children and seniors. The necessary household income to manage with the cost of living in a BC community of a population under 30,000 is $42,408.00."

* "The lack of availability to food, including fresh produce, was not seen as an issue, but firstly the lack of disposable income and secondly transportation. Once the main bills were paid, of which housing was the main expense, food was the variable in a low-income household"

* "The groups who are most vulnerable to food insecurity are: female-headed single families, indigenous peoples, marginally housed and homeless, and new immigrants.

* "12.4 % of British Columbians were food insecure in 2018 (marginal 3.7%, moderate 5.5% and severe 3.2%)."

* "44% of Canadians say it would be difficult to meet their obligations if their pay was delayed by one week."

____________________________________________________________________________________

Footnotes:

* The federal government's Reaching Home: Canada's Homelessness Strategy provides the national perspective

* From the archive (and as an example of what public education about the issue can look like) ... Excerpts from a FAQ prepared by the District of Sooke in July 2020 to inform residents about local homelessness during COVID: 

Q: Where is this money coming from for this shelter? Is there a cost of this to the District of Sooke? When will we see a breakdown of the costs that will be incurred to ensure this is a responsible financial decision?

- BC Housing will assume all renovation and operations costs.
- The District’s role, through the EOC, was to find a suitable location. This has been done.

Q: How will you keep the surrounding neighbourhood and residents safe?

- As was the case at SEAPARC, and the camp at the park, the RCMP will be assisting with maintaining ongoing safety at the new temporary shelter and the surrounding community.

Q: Will the members of the community have a say in the operation of the shelter?

- The Sooke Region Communities Health Network will provide on-site operations. As well, multiple resource agencies - including the Sooke Shelter Society, AVI Health and Community Services, as well as Island Health will provide wrap-around services to residents.

- The RCMP is also a key member of the community that will be keeping residents at the shelter, as well as the surrounding community, safe.

- It is in everyone’s best interests to ensure Sooke remains a caring, inclusive and safe place to call home.

Q: What other services are you providing to the community to ensure our safety and that crime rates stay low?

- The District knows safety was maintained at both SEAPARC and Ed MacGregor Park and we fully expect the same will hold true at the new site. For more details, please reach out to the RCMP.

Q: If the shelter becomes a problem (I.e. an increased rate in crime, the community feels unsafe, or other negative consequences), what actions will the district take to ensure that the problems are handled efficiently and the occupants will be evicted and moved to a more suitable location?

- It’s unfortunate that some choose to draw a direct link between homelessness and lawlessness.

- The District, along with its partners, will manage any, and all, situations at the new shelter in the same way it did at SEAPARC and Ed MacGregor Park. Both situations served the basic needs of our homeless population without major incident.

- The District sees the provision of the basic necessities of life as a hallmark of a compassionate community and we are happy to do our part. Housing our community’s most vulnerable will benefit everyone in our community.

- This is an interim and temporary fix to the problem of homelessness in Sooke that existed long before the pandemic. And it’s why Sooke has been working closely with BC Housing and the Province to build affordable housing including shelter rate accommodation.

- A number of projects are on the go including development of two adjacent properties located at Drennan Street and Sooke Road as well as an additional property located at Charters . The projects offer stable (shelter rate) housing for those experiencing homelessness, and able to live independently. Some of the Charters housing units are expected to be ready in 2021.

Q: Does the district have a plan? Or is it something that the district will attempt to navigate as you go?

- The District does have a plan and sees this interim shelter as a bridge to our long-term homelessness and supportive housing efforts. For example, announced in December 2018, the District of Sooke and the CRD Board, in partnership with the BC government, recommended land acquisition and development of two adjacent properties located at Drennan Street and Sooke Road as well as an additional property located at Charters. The projects offer stable (shelter-rate housing for those experiencing homelessness, and able to live independently)."


​

If you're interested in a partial glimpse into the hearts and minds of Sooke youth these days, check out tonight's Committee of the Whole agenda. Beginning on page 5 is the Sooke Region Communities Health Network's 2020 Youth Program Feasibility and Sustainability Study.  It was conducted last fall via local youth focus groups + an online survey that reached 224 young people aged 10 to 18 + interviews with a range of Sooke youth service providers ~ SEAPARC, the Sooke Family Resource Society, the T'Sou-ke Nation Youth Centre, the Rotary Club of Sooke, Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program, Westshore Centre for Learning and Training, the Sooke Transition House Society, Sooke School District #62, Journey Middle School and Edward Milne Community School included.

The report pairs well with the revealing statistics found in this 2019 infographic produced by Sooke School District's Healthy Schools, Healthy People program. 

The new study is intended to determine what youth services might be considered for the still entirely conditional, grant-dependent Elders' Complex/seniors rental co-housing combo planned for the newly rezoned northeast quadrant of our town centre Lot A. [This project has its roots, it need be repeated, in the long-term dream/drive of the Sooke Seniors Drop-In Centre Society to find a permanent home. SRCHN's 2014 Getting It Built report captured community needs and wishes. The objective was ratified in the 2014 plebiscite that found 3,072 Sooke voters favourably inclined (vs. 631 against) to the question: “Would you support the District of Sooke working with the community to develop multi-use community centre facilities?” The Sooke Community Centre Advisory Committee (2016/17) moved things along nicely, and a prime spot on public land next to the new library was formalized in the Lot A Report (2019).] 

In brief, as the Executive Summary in the new report states:

"● Youth and youth service providers are inspired by, and willing to engage with, youth programming in the new facility.
● Healthy, artistic, and entertaining youth programming is needed in Sooke.
● Youth have an abundance of ideas for creating an inclusive space, art, life skills, health, recreation, and intergenerational programming.
● Youth have an understanding of the barriers which would prevent youth from coming to a program and how to manage solutions.
● Youth Service Providers are interested in helping with staffing and organizational support.
● Youth Service Providers do not support a dedicated youth space.
● There is a need for more mental health services for youth in Sooke."

Statistics Canada reports in the 2016 census that there are 3,085 residents under the age of 19 in Sooke ~ 775 of them aged 10-14 and 760 aged 15-19.  Boys outnumber girls marginally (as is the case nationally and internationally for sound evolutionary reasons.)  

In a perfect world, a young, full-time "Youth Navigator" would be hired to work with his/her/their near-peers. That would include establishing the ideal hang-out space the surveyed teenagers desire: a comfortable, safe clubhouse which they've helped conceptualize and would have a significant hand in managing ... a space with free Wi-Fi, snacks, couches, board games, recreation, art supplies, movie nights, health/sexual/LGBTQ education, and workshops on cooking, coding, graphic design, car maintenance, and the basics of "adulting" ( i.e., job skills, finances, first aid). Also to include a surely beloved and pampered resident animal/therapy dog/pet or three. 

Yet this is a rather imperfect world, needless to say. The respondents' "most common answer, when asked about issues in Sooke, is that it is boring, or there is nothing to do." They report that "they feel disconnected and unrepresented." (I felt the same way eons ago as a teenager in fringe-suburban Ottawa, an hour's bus ride from downtown. I don't recall anyone asking my opinion and that's one huge change for the better between then and now.)

More worryingly, the service providers note the growing, only partially COVID-related tide of anxiety and isolation; that youth are not connecting with "heathy role model mentors"; and they lack help in accessing mental health and addictions support. "Suicide is not openly discussed as an issue."

Until funding does eventually one likely distant day become available for a dedicated youth navigator of the sort you'll find in larger communities, the encouraging news is that reps from the aforementioned service providers are prepared to volunteer their own necessarily limited time to work further with Sooke youth, including providing part-time staffing during youth hours and programming at the Elder's Complex.

Better still, there is keen interest in intergenerational mentoring that would find elders (or "olders"; see this The Atlantic article "What's The Best Term for Referring to Old People")  spending quality time one-on-one with young people, each side of the age divide gifting the other with their skills and wisdom in mutually beneficial, evolving relationships. Some of the focus group youth were already doing this pre-COVID at Ayre Manor, and they were energized by the experience -- hearing life stories, sharing their own and trading lessons on computer/cel phone skills and arts/crafts. (No prizes for guessing which demo taught what to who, says the relic who still struggles with text messaging.)  

SRCHN's Age-Friendly Committee, to which I'm council's appointee, is mandated to explore the needs of all generations in Sooke. It was founded in 2014 after Sooke attained Age-Friendly Community status with the Province, and follows up on local efforts that date at least back to the Sooke Over-60s Club formed just after WWII. 

At a recent meeting, SEAPARC recreation coordinator Megan McKeigan shared insights into the facility's own youth centre, which opened in 1994 and ran until approx. 2002. She attended it as a youth and, post-graduation, became its youth leader. It was open on a limited evening basis within SEAPARC itself before relocating to a portable. A $2 movie was screened regularly, and pool, foozball and air hockey tables were popular.  Friday nights would attract 20 youth on average, she said, about a third of the number that attended the skate in the rink. When the pool opened in the early 2000s, it became SEAPARC's biggest drawing card. The program was transitioned to a multi-purpose space that lacked fixtures and personality (or, as termed in the latest survey, "vibes," about which respondents are "obsessed -- lighting is (a) huge" issue to them.)  

I'm not a parent, so I've no first-hand knowledge of today's (or yesterday's) teens.  I have been involved with the EMCS Society since 2013, however, and have learned about the caring, inclusive, empowering nature of modern schools from board regulars like Principals Pat Swinburnson and Laura Fulton, the Society's Anne Bell and its former co-coordinator Ebony Logins, trustees Bob Phillips, Margot Swinburnson, Neil Poirier and Allison Watson, and various board members with direct educational experience. This, plus a "no kid left behind" policy in keeping the disadvantaged engaged and fed (via the "Munch Card" program, for instance, that provides free breakfasts and lunches in the cafe to the approx. 10% of students who leave home hungry). And the fact that every student is given every opportunity to identify and blaze their own academic paths forward.  

(I'm particularly taken with the BC Ministry of Education's Core Competencies K-12 curriculum that ensures children and youth acquire essential social, interpersonal, mental and communication skills. Staggering to think of how many hard lessons could have been avoided had this been available to my generation. Training in mindfulness, as is now increasingly practised in the school system, would have helped too.) 

All well and good for my own adult education, but the only clue I really have about being a teenager was that I qualified as such once upon a rather long time ago. This was an epoch when TV was the lone screen option and my collection of books and LPs were a prime pastime once I'd arrived home from tag football in the park and tennis matches with my pals. (All a secondary focus to homework, naturally -- i still see the kind but firm look in my late father's eyes as i rose from the dinner table each night and headed back to my cave, there to either rock out or crack the textbooks, a feat that could be managed simultaneously, I'd argue.) 

I will testify that navigating those years wasn't easy for me for a bunch of reasons. A drop-in community youth centre would have been welcome, I'm sure, if I'd found the courage to overcome my shyness and participate. There may have been one in downtown Ottawa, but certainly not in my end of Nepean. I'd have also appreciated a mentor outside my immediate family. Or, for that matter, a guidance councillor as savvy, connected and purposeful as those at EMCS. 

Anyway, I'll close, once again, with a whispered prayer to the grant god(esse)s at BC Housing and the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. We'll hear the application results, I'm told, by summer for the housing component and later this year for the provincial/federal grant to partially fund the Elders' Complex. 

Related Links 
​
- Youth Centres Canada + list of 75+ Canadian youth centres with website links (some broken)   
​(Insta-analysis: SEAPARC, its bike skills park and the skate park fill many of the recreational and programming functions of other centres) 

​- EMCS Society Programs - Youth For Sooke website page + Facebook 

- The Youth Engagement Project: A Youth Perspective on Developing a Youth-Friendly Sooke (2013, file attached below) 

- Human Early Learning Partnership EDI Wave 7 Sooke School District #62 Report - "an overview of patterns and trends in early child development for Wave 7 (2016-2019) and explores change over time from Wave 2 (2004-2007)" + PDF

​- Sooke School District #62
- Edward Milne Community School
- Journey Middle School
- Sooke Elementary School
- John Muir Elementary School
- Ecole Poirier Elementary
​- Saseenos Elementary 

- SD #62: Strategic Plan: 2018-21 
- SD #62: Long-Range Facilities Plan (2018)
- SD #62: New Schools (current focus on Langford due to rapid population growth; within Sooke itself, the promised Sunriver Elementary is on the books for 2027 or hopefully earlier; seismic upgrades (or ideally a new build) are pending for Sooke Elementary, the oldest school in the province; and there are question marks over the future of Saseenos Elementary, home of the extremely popular Nature Kindergarden program, one of the first of its kind in Canada when introduced in 2012) 
 
 
- SD #62 Healthy Schools, Healthy People program + sample newsletter 
- SD #62 Mental Health resources 
- Sooke Schools International Students Program 

​- Safe Paths to Schools: Sooke Report (2016) 

- Sooke Soccer Youth Programs + other local sports leagues 

​- Sooke PocketNews Youth Archive 

- BC Ministry of Children and Family Services ~ Child and Family Services Offices for Sooke
​
~ Sooke Region Volunteer Centre Children & Youth website page 

- Sooke Families: A Site For Parents In Sooke by Parents in Sooke (not updated since 2013, but useful) 

​- University of Victoria Centre for Youth & Society's Community Resource Hub: Sooke page 

- EMCS Society 2015 Community Grant Application (see pp. 41 onwards; includes 2012/2013 Sooke Youth Council Annual Report, the 2013 Youth Friendly Business Project and the 2014 Sooke Youth Engagement Report)

- Sooke Youth Council Seeking Members (Sooke News Mirror, 2012) 

Age-Friendly Sooke & Elsewhere 
- District of Sooke Age-Friendly Action Plan (2015)
​- District of Sooke Community Health website page 
- Sooke Region Communities Health Network Strategic Plan, 2019-2022
- Sooke Community Health Care Services Planning Report (2018) 
- Open House Community Feedback + Poster boards  (June 16, 2018) 
- Sooke Community Health Summit 2016 Report  

- Managing At Home: A Study of Sooke Seniors Planning To Remain In Their Own Homes (2015) 
- Sooke Age-Friendly Dialogue Report (2008)
- Sooke: An Age-Friendly Community: What Can We Do? (Sooke EDC & Sooke Harbour Chamber of Commerce, 2008) 
​- An Accessibility & Inclusiveness Study For the District of Sooke (2008)  
- Sooke Region Community Health Report (2006) ​

- University of Victoria Institute on Aging and Lifelong Health
​- Province of BC: Age-Friendly Communities 
- BC Healthy Communities: Age-Friendly Capacity Building
- World Health Organization: Global Age-Friendly Cities - A Guide + Age-Friendly Cities Checklist 
​
Youth Engagement 
- UBCM Best Practices + Youth Engagement Toolkit Guide (2012) 
- FCM Municipal Youth Engagement Handbook
- UVic/Province of BC Toolkit 
- Ontario Centre of Excellence for Child and Youth Mental Heath - Youth Engagement 
- Pan-Canadian Joint Symposium for School Health - Youth Engagement Toolkit 
- 100 To Zero: Age-Friendly Planning (Plassurban, Victoria) 
- Maple Ridge Youth Development Wheel 
- BC Chamber of Commerce: A Focus On Youth Entrepreneurship (2020) 
- A Seat At The Table: A Review of Youth Engagement in Vancouver (McCreay Centre Society, 2009) ​
​- National League of Cities (US): Promoting Youth Participation 

​- Local Government Awareness Week (last half of May annually) 
- City of Calgary Mayor's Youth Council 
- City of Victoria Youth Council
- City of Duncan Junior Council + Terms of Reference + Article + sample minutes 
- Squamish Youth Strategy 

Miscellaneous
- Screen Time and Activity Among Canadian Youth (Stats Can, 2017) 
​- Exercise and Screen Time During the COVID-19 Pandemic (Stats Can, 2020) 
- Family Influence: The ParticipACTION Report Card For Children and Youth (2020) 
- Better With Age: The ParticipACTION Report Card for Adults (2019) 

- Canada's Youth Policy (2020) + Young Canadians resource page
- UN International Youth Day (annually on Aug. 12 since 2000) 
- UN Youth 2030: Youth Strategy 

- A Pathway To Hope: A Roadmap For Mental Health and Addictions Care (Province of BC) 
- Mental Health Commission of Canada: Mental Health Strategy for Youth (2016) 
- BC Children's Hospital Kelty Mental Health Centre: Youth and Young Adults 
​- CMHA BC: Youth Helping Youth (Peer Support) 

As a companion to the previous Context for #Sooke Climate Action post, I've assembled this reference library of links from local and regional levels primarily, but also with highlights from provincial, federal, United Nations and non-governmental sources. All are related, directly or indirectly, to climate action. (i.e., a bit of a stretch, but I've mentioned local green spaces, sports leagues and playing fields since each contributes to personal and community health ~ an unappreciated, intangible but essential contribution as argued effectively here; "When it comes to achieving a healthy planet for healthy people, we believe human health must become a leading indicator for environmental progress," writes the two UN-affiliated authors, who certainly are adept at  "big-tenting" a critical issue that affects us all.)

There are many valid and substantial reasons to talk proud about past and current community action,  which I've documented to a degree below (yes, I've missed much, including everything prior to 2008 or so, and will happily receive tips for additions).

Also highlighted is the solid, ongoing, and accelerating work from the District of Sooke and the Capital Regional District; the missing link, especially in municipal operations, is some kind of GHG measurement tool with baseline starting points by which to weigh decisions and chart progress. (Saanich, with its dedicated staff and enviable $2-million-plus annual climate action budget, and Maple Ridge reports out annually on a full spectrum of local government measurables, community carbon included.) 

I'll add that it's reassuring to be reminded that our emergency professionals have our back in the event of calamity, whether that be climate-change's or Cascadia's fault.  Now it's all of our turns to step up, acknowledge and meet the crisis head-on by dramatically reducing our personal carbon footprints in this turnaround decade and beyond (as per former Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives BC Director Seth Klein's urgent yet practical call to engage in A Good War.) 


"The District of Sooke is a BC Climate Action Community, consistent with the objectives of the Strategic Plan and District Council’s commitment to demonstrate leadership in climate action. As a signatory to the Climate Action Charter since 2008, Sooke has demonstrated its commitment to work with the Province and the Union of BC Municipalities (UBCM) to act on climate change and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in municipal operations and the community. This commitment was reaffirmed in April 2019 when the District passed a climate emergency declaration." (from the preface of the Parks & Trails Master Plan, 2020) 

~ Sooke Official Community Plan (2010, pp. 27-42 re: land use policy, energy/climate, food security & quality of life)
~ CRD Regional Growth Strategy + PDF
~ Sooke Sustainable Development Strategy (2008)
~ Sooke Town Centre Plan (2009) 
~ DOS library of Plans and Reports
~ Sooke 2016 Census Profile 

~ Otter Point OCP (2014)
~ Shirley & Jordan River OCP (2018)
~ East Sooke OCP (2018)

~ District of Sooke Climate Action website page 

~ Sooke Climate Action Committee: "The purpose of the Climate Action Committee is to provide advice to Council and recommend policies that will assist the District to achieve a reduction in all carbon emissions by 40-50%, both corporately and in the community, by 2030."
~ Sooke Community Economic Development Committee: "The purpose of the Select Committee on Community Economic Development is to provide recommendations to Council regarding community economic development initiatives that focus on building fairer and stronger local economies, tackling poverty and homelessness, and investing in sustainable communities (Canadian Community Economic Development Network definition)."
~ Sooke Land Use and Development Committee:  "The purpose of the Select Committee on Land Use and Development is to provide recommendations to Council regarding land use policies and development procedures, with focus given to the implementation of statutory plans/local area plans/master plans, housing policy, sustainable development practices, environmental policy, harbour improvement, farmland protection, and maintaining compatibility of building bylaw regulations and the zoning bylaw.

~ Sooke Community Energy and Emissions Plan (CEEP, 2014)

~ Sooke Climate Emergency Declaration (passed unanimously by council on April 8, 2019; Sooke was the 162nd local government in the world to pass an emergency declaration; the first was the Melbourne, Australia suburb of Darebin on Dec. 5, 2016; as of Feb. 19 this year, 1,890 jurisdictions representing 826 million people have declared emergencies.) 

~ OCP Interim Engagement Summary (Feb. 2021, one of eight themes heard from the public in the Official Community Plan review so far is "the need to develop the OCP through the lenses of compassion and climate action.")
​
​~ CRD Climate Change website page
​~ CRD Climate Emergency Declaration (Feb. 2019)
~ Climate Change Annual Report (2019)   
~ Climate Change Strategies (2017, planned for review in 2021) + PDF 
​~ CRD Climate Projections for the Capital Region (2017 PDF report ... in brief: drier summers marked by extended droughts combined with wetter winters featuring heavy storm events) 

~ Sooke is a member of the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities (AVICC)
- Territorial Analysis and Survey of Local Government Priorities for Climate Action (PDF, Sept. 2020) 
- Climate Action Goals (PDF draft report, Dec. 2020; for discussion and potential adoption at AVICC conference in May, 2021) 

~ AVICC, in turn, is a member of the Union of BC Municipalities 
- UBCM Climate Action Recommendations for a Low-Carbon Future (2020) + PDF 
~ Gas Tax Agreement (important Community Works Fund source for local government infrastructure) 
~ Local government funding programs 
~ UBCM 2020 Resolutions Book (see transportation, land use and environmental items throughout, including pp. 72-29, pg. 103 and pp. 129-140 ... Province of BC response T/C) 
~ Provincial Responses to UBCM Climate Change Resolutions - 2019 (see pp. 147-166)  
~ Nelson Councillor Brittny Anderson's report on climate and forest resolutions at UBCM's 2020 convention 
~ Vancouver Sun: "Climate At Top of the Agenda at UBCM 2019 Conference" 

~ UBCM, in turn, is a member of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities 
- FCM Climate and Sustainability overview 
- Green Municipal Fund 

~ Near-definitive list: Funding opportunities for local government climate action programs
(via Society for Ecological Restoration, Western Canada Branch)  

~ Government of British Columbia: ~ CleanBC (2018) + PDF 
Regarding local governments, CleanBC states "they will play a critical role in areas such as developing new clean energy sources, supporting active and cleaner transportation options and helping B.C. transition to zero waste. Their ongoing efforts to make communities more compact, complete and energy-efficient are essential to this strategy’s success. B.C. local governments are leaders on climate action, managing their corporate and community wide GHG emissions and creating clean, compact, more energy efficient communities." 

~ Government of Canada 
- Canada's Climate Plan (Dec. 2020) + PDF 
- Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms + Charter Guide 
- Environment and Climate Change Canada + Funding programs + Current funding opportunities 
- Bill C-12: An act respecting transparency and accountability in Canada’s efforts to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050 (third reading: June 22, 2021) + Feedback from Ecojustice, The Financial Post, The Toronto Star and The David Suzuki Foundation. 
 
~ International 
- The Paris Agreement (2015) 
- "The Paris Agreement Five Years On" ~ The Guardian (Dec. 2020) 
- UN Sustainable Development Goals: Climate Action 
- UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2019) 
- UN Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity (2020) 
- UN Making Peace With Nature (2021)
- UN Declaration of Human Rights (1948) 
- UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007) 
​
- Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature + resource library 

District of Sooke 
​DOS achieves carbon-neutral municipal operations in 2015, earning Level 3 (highest) recognition from UBCM

Proposed Sooke framework for "green lens" on municipal processes and decision-making (March, 2021)  
(i.e., The Low Carbon Resilience model for local governments developed by the Integrated Climate Action for BC Communities Initiative (ICABI) based out of Simon Fraser University’s Faculty of Environment.) 
​
Mitigation, Prevention, Preparedness, Response, Recovery 
~ CRD Regional Emergency Management (tsunami, earthquakes, wildfires, severe weather, flooding and storm surges, landslides, infectious disease, HAZMAT incidents) 
~ A Guide to Emergency Preparedness in the Capital Region
~ Emergency Management Strategy for Canada: Toward a Resilient 2030 
~ Modernizing BC's Emergency Management Legislation (PDF, 2020) 

~ Sub-Regional: "The Sooke Emergency Program is considered the responsible emergency management organization by the municipality. It is responsible for the planning, mitigation, response and recovery from any emergency or disaster that happens within its jurisdiction. The volunteer Emergency Support Services (ESS) group (28 members), hosts Open Houses throughout the year to educate the public on emergency preparedness and participates in the Great BC Shakeout (third Thursday each October) at all Sooke elementary schools. The Sooke Emergency Radio Group (SERG) members provide amateur emergency radio communications during an emergency." - District of Sooke 2019 Annual Report

~ Sooke Fire Rescue Department
~ Sooke Fire and Emergency Program Facebook page + Twitter 
~ Sooke Emergency Plan
~ Sooke Emergency Response and Business Continuity Plan (2014)
~ Sooke Emergency Operations Centre (District staff and community volunteers are trained to assist emergency professionals in the EOC command structure) 
~ EOC staff working with T'Sou-ke First Nation on shared guidance and support 
~ EOC at Level One readiness throughout COVID pandemic 

~ Public Alert Notification System (PANS) - sign up for direct notification of tsunami, wildfire or evacuation notice

~ Sooke Emergency Support Services (250 642-5422) 
- "Community Engagement team offers free emergency preparedness sessions to community groups, families, businesses, stratas, etc. to build a resilient community"   
- Neighbourhood Emergency Preparedness Program (NEPP) presentations available to a minimum group of six neighbours interested in forming a POD (group) to plan, prepare for and share resources during emergencies. 

~ Sooke has tapped the UBCM's Community Emergency Preparedness Fund repeatedly in recent years for evacuation route planning, new equipment and modernization of the Emergency Operations Centre. ​
~ UBCM funding stream updates 

Wildfires
~ FireSmart program prioritized as BC prepares to deal with potential local impacts of the "fifth season." 
~ FireSmart Canada
~ FireSmart Begins At Home (PDF guides to home prep, landscaping and home development) 
~ Last Minute Wildfire Check List (infographic) 
~ "Sooke Fire Rescue Gears Up For Wildfire Season" - Sooke News Mirror, May 2020 
~ Sooke Wildfire Protection Plan (from the archive, 2011) 
~ Annual Training Exercise: Wildland Fire at Erinan Estates (2018; full-scale exercise involving multiple fire departments, the RCMP and the evacuation of 117 residents to a reception centre at EMCS)  
~ Tree Canada: Wildfire and the Urban/Rural Interface

Sea-level rise/tsunami
~ CRD Seawater rise and inundation mapping 
~ Sooke Floodplain Regulation Bylaw (adopted 2020) 
~ Tsunami Awareness  
~ Staff training via Royal Roads University MA In Disaster and Emergency Management program
~ Tsunami Community Awareness Report: Kaltasin/Sooke (RRU study) 
~ "Tsunami Warning: How Well Did We Respond?" (Times Colonist, Jan. 23, 2018) 

Oil Spills
~ Sooke liaison with Western Canada Marine Response Corp. and the Canadian Coast Guard

Air Quality
~ Burning Bylaw 292 now under review 
~ BC Venting Index 
~ Burning Issue (from this blog)  

~ Sooke Fire "doing our part" (greener vehicles, air-quality monitoring, four full-time employees with e-bikes, six members driving hybrid/EV vehicles; request for an on-site rapid charger at Fire Hall #1) 

Mutual Aid
~ CRD Fire Services: Juan De Fuca 
~ Otter Point Fire Department 

~ Rotary Club of Sooke donates Disaster Aid Canada kits to the Sooke Emergency Program 
~ Black Press "Be Ready" Emergency Guide ​
​~ CRD Emergency Preparedness for Pets guide 
~ CRD Seasonal Readiness Planning sessions each spring 


Planning Department
~ Official Community Plan development in association with the OCP Advisory Committee,  DIALOG consultants and its sub-contractors: Sustainability Solutions Group, Colliers International, WATT Consulting Group and Licker Geospatial Consulting.  + DIALOG's Community Wellbeing Framework 

~ "Sustainability Solutions Group will review the CRD’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory Study that includes Sooke’s emissions profile, community input from the OCP engagement process, and industry best practices, to provide recommendations for climate mitigation and adaptation. SSG can do a high level GHG calculation (not modelling) that will help inform target setting and low-carbon actions determination, which will be based on Sooke’s GHG emissions inventory and experience working in comparable municipalities. This will be used as a guide for target setting and policy development."  (The CRD intends to release 2020 GHG figures for Greater Victoria by year's end, and will then consider reporting back every two years thereafter so that communities can measure their own progress.)  

~ OCPs are to be implemented through the following: land use designation; development permits; plans/studies; zoning bylaws; committee recommendations; stand-alone policies; and input from external groups. 

~ OCP engagement to explore three growth scenarios: i) sprawling; ii) town centre density; iii) town centre density + select other neighbourhoods with commercial nodes (as per 2010 OCP) 

~ New Zoning Bylaw is a legislated requirement following adoption of a new OCP + best-practice advice 

~ Revamp pending for District's Subdivision and Development Standards bylaw

~ Sooke will join other municipalities (Esquimalt example) in launching a website Development Tracker as a one-stop guide to the locations and density of new residential and commercial permit approvals. 

Planning: Building Department 
~ Sooke's newly adopted (Feb. 8, 2021) Building Bylaw No. 780 initiates the BC Energy Step Code in Sooke at Step 3 immediately through 2027 for "simple" buildings (homes, offices and shops three storeys or less and no bigger than 600 sq. m); and Step 2 for "complex" buildings (larger commercial and residential structures).  Simple buildings must qualify at Step 4 in 2027 and Step 5 in 2032; complex buildings follow suit with Step 3 (2027) and Step 4 (2032).  This is a relatively bold leap compared to other BC communities, 90+ of which have yet to adopt the code at all; early adopters came in at lower steps. Our schedule is now aligned with Province of BC recommendations. The Ministry of Municipal Affairs prepared this report on how GHG emissions will be impacted by the Step Code. 

~ Sooke's new "Land Use and Development Committee would be an ideal opportunity for considering how additional climate action goals could be included in the land use process. Further consideration will need to be given to the appropriateness of including such matters in a Building Bylaw versus a Zoning Bylaw, or other applicable bylaws." (Jan. 25, 2021 staff report)

~ Town Centre Revitalization Bylaw: Development Cost Charge reductions (50% and more) for "Green Projects" with  LEED® - Silver, Gold or Platinum certification or Built Green® Canada - Silver, Gold, or Platinum certification."   

~ "Sooke's Innovative Town Centre Takes Shape" (BC Climate Action Toolklt, 2010)

Operations 
~ The 2020 Transportation Master Plan, like the companion Parks & Trails Master Plan, is a de facto climate action document whose hierarchy of user needs begins with pedestrians, mobility vehicle users, cyclists and public transit riders before turning its attention to a future "complete streets" network for local motorists.  The two master plans are a major aspect of the District's "green lens." 

~ From this blog courtesy Director of Operations Jeff Carter: What's Next for Sooke's Evolving Road, Sidewalk and Roundabout Network 

~ "Green Lens" initiatives include: Active transportation; electric vehicle charging infrastructure; bike lanes, sidewalks, multi-use paths; bio-swales and rainwater gardens; storm detention ponds; warm LED street lighting to ahere to Dark Sky principles; collaboration with BC Transit on new rider hubs and stops; urban forest development (parkland, trails and trees); use whenever possible of local resources and recycled materials. 

~ 2021 Capital Projects to be executed with Engineering and Parks & Environmental Services: Little River Pedestrian Crossing Design; multi-court sports box in Sunriver; Bluff Staircase rebuild and Sooke Potholes parking lot improvements (both grant pending); dog park in the Ponds Corridor; boardwalk repairs; John Phillips Memorial and Town Centre parks plans; park asset repairs; and essential gear/tools for parks employees. 

~ DOS waste management planning (2021) will include investigation of a yard-waste depot, seasonal residential yard waste pick-up options and local drop-off opportunities for hazardous materials (paints, toxins) that can't be recycled locally and would otherwise require a trip to the Hartland Landfill. ​

~ Sooke's municipal-works service provider Victoria Contracting is called in periodically to clean up (at an extra cost to the District) large-item, building material and other waste items (sometimes potentially hazardous) dumped by who knows who in remote corners of the District. 

~ Future road network includes bike lanes and sidewalks, e.g. the following menu for the grant-pending makeover of Otter Point Rd. north to Wadams Way ... 
- 430m of 2.0m wide concrete sidewalk. 
- 720m of 1.8m wide bike lane with green grit bike lane markings
- 3 new crosswalks at key locations include wheelchair-friendly sidewalk letdowns
- 115m of grass boulevard separating the sidewalk from the roadway
- Relocation of street signs and utility pole guy wires
- 60 linear meters of retaining wall complete with handrail where necessary
- Drainage works including 10x catch basins and 8x 1050mm manholes
- Ornamental street lighting including 20 lights, and underground conduit
- One 17m^3 concrete bus shelter pad
- Regrading and paving of entire corridor

~ Environmental assessment & tree management reports as prelude to future development of Sooke's Lot A public lands 

~ Sooke's evolving EV Charger Station program + CRD EV and E-Bike Infrastructure Backgrounder

Operations: Wastewater Treatment
~ Sooke Sewer System: "Secondary sewage treatment removes 97% of suspended solids and high levels of other contaminants, providing significant environmental benefits to Sooke" (as proven by the video of the outflow into the Strait of Juan de Fuca) + improved efficiency with new centrifuge + solids shipped to Hartland Landfill 

~ Sooke was the first community in BC to complete an integrated Sanitary and Rainwater Liquid Waste Management Plan (2012).

- $6m grant request (pp. 153-159) now pending for 50% expansion of the West Coast Rd. treatment plant.  

~ LWMP due for review in 2021; feasibility studies planned for expansion priorities identified in the current plan, namely east across the Sooke River to Kaltasin and into Whiffin Spit so as to improve/protect environment health of the Sooke Harbour and basin. (A municipal sewer for T’Sou-ke First Nation IR2 in conjunction with Whiffin Spit North was identified as a priority by the 2014-18 council.) 

~ New trail corridors can be economically created when paired with mainline sewer installation  

Operations: Parks & Environmental Services
Maintain parks and trails, ornamental areas, boardwalk and piers, playgrounds, transit shelters, washrooms, hazardous vegetation, street trees, benches, boat launch and irrigation. 

~ The 2020 Parks & Trails Master Plan emphasizes, among much else, trail connectivity to schools and the town centre, and improved oceanfront access. 

~ The Stickleback Urban Trail is the first of three designated routes around town planned by Parks in association with the JDF Community Trails Society. The Sun Run Trail (connecting Poirier and Journey Middle schools to Sunriver via a bridge across DeMamiel Creek, aka Little River) and the Sea Walk Trail (linking the Town Centre with the Rotary Pier and Ed Mcgregor Park) will follow.

~ John Phillips Memorial Park master plan public engagement now underway. Planning for dog park in the Ponds Park corridor. 

​~ Caution Nature page. Ongoing funding support and staff collaboration with Wild Wise Sooke Society on multiple initiatives, including bear awareness education, cougar and wolf initiatives, rodenticide alternatives and the Purple Martin nesting box program. 

~ Draft Tree Management Bylaw and public engagement report (pp. 11-274) presented in Dec. 2020; council (minutes pg. 10/11) has directed staff to "develop a purpose-based engagement strategy for tree management." (Sooke PocketNews coverage of first phase discussion of tree protection bylaw discussion, spring 2019) 

~ Urban tree inventory included with the District's GIS mapping system (photographs, caliper size, species name) 

~ Sooke has employed an irrigation specialist and public spaces are designed with native plants (i.e., the town centre boulevard); xeriscaping principles reduce water use while maintaining plant health. 

~ Invasive species removal in collaboration with the Greater Victoria Green Team and the Juan de Fuca Trails Society 

~ Removal of derelict vessels from Sooke Harbour and basin in collaboration with the CRD and the Dead Boats Society.  

~ Projects completed in collaboration with the Engineering department in recent years include the oceanfront access staircases at Cains Park and at the foot of Murray Road accessing the Rotary Pier; installation of washrooms and three-tier (adult, child, dog) water fountains at Whiffin Spit and John Phillip Memorial Park; improvements to kayak launch spot on Kaltasin; and more.

~ Movies in the parks: Sooke Starlight Cinema (2011-2013)

~ Sooke International Triathlon (2007-12)  + RIP + let's start this up again once Hwy #14 improvements are complete 

Operations: Natural Asset Planning and Watershed Management 
~ Rainwater Management Plans have been developed for four watersheds (Ella Stream, Nott Brook, Throup Stream and Wright Road Creek) with the goals of "preserving environmental quality, conservation of natural resources and integration of land uses and development in accordance with community plans."  

~ Natural Asset Management Planning: Several years ago, the DOS was one of the local governments that met with staff from the Town of Gibsons to learn how the environment -- soil, air, water, flora, fauna -- generously provides us with free essential services, i.e. drinking water, erosion control, air purification. Caring for, mapping and managing our trees, rivers, ponds, intertidal zones and green spaces should therefore be a wholly logical priority for local governments. Gibsons is a recognized leader in this developing field, and several DOS staff are training in this new speciality.  "Natural Capital" is the term for the estimated monetary value of natural assets (see the District of West Vancouver analysis: "(West Van's) grasslands, forests, foreshore and waterways should be valued at between $1.14 and $3.2 billion, according to a preliminary inventory presented to council by Susan Todd of Solstice Sustainability Works.") 
 
Council
~ Demonstrate environmental leadership: see Sooke Climate Action Context from this blog

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

 ~ District of Sooke council is among the Vancouver Island councils that have accepted the District of Highlands' 2019 Municipal Survivor Climate Change Challenge.

~ Checkout Bag Regulation Bylaw No. 734, adopted in June, 2019 but in limbo pending provincial legislation
~ Climate Action Committee report on Retail Plastic Polluting in the Community (Christina Schlattner & Catherine Keogan; received for information, Nov. 14, 2020) 
​~ Clean BC: Plastic Action Plan submissions 


T'Sou-ke/Sooke Community Action
​~ Sooke Salmon Enhancement Society + new Jack Brooks Hatchery (Gov. of BC press release) 
​~ Charters River Salmon Interpretive Centre 

~ Sooke's Finn and Chloe Unger on the Declaration of the Right to a Healthy Environment (the BlueDot initiative passed by DOS council in February, 2015 as a relatively early adopter to a document now signed by more than 300 municipalities across Canada). 

T'Sou-ke First Nation
"The word T'Sou-ke (tsa-awk) is the name of the stickleback fish (found in the estuary of the Sooke basin) in the SENĆOŦEN language of the T'Sou-ke Nation. The anglicized name of T'Sou-ke is Sooke." (from signage for the Stickleback Urban Trail). 

~ T'Sou-ke Solar City
~ Towards Total Transition: The Tyee, 2018
~ Trailblazer: T'Sou-ke First Nation Solar and Greenhouse Initiatives (KAIROS Canada) 
~ T'Sou-ke Indigenous Housing Solutions Lab: IISAAK OLAM Foundation (2021) 
​~ T'Sou-ke Health and Community Centre (construction begins in 2022)  
~ T’Sou-ke Centre for Sustainability Housing Innovation (skills training in the creation of energy efficient housing for BC indigenous communities)
~ Transport Canada's Maritime Awareness Situational Analysis Initiative is a monitoring and data-collection partnership with coastal First Nations, T'Sou-ke and Pacheedaht included. The T'Sou-ke station will monitor maritime traffic, identify sensitive habitats, track orca and salmon populations, document weather, tides and currents, and chart marine hazards and navigational aides. 
~ Oceans Networks Canada and the T'Sou-ke are collaborating on water-quality monitoring in the basin, which is currently home to 4 million oysters following nearly a decade of aquaculture development. The T'Sou-ke wish to again harvest clams, oysters and crab.
~ T'Sou-ke vision of a 100-year managed forest agreement with TimberWest in the Sooke Hills. Chief Planes notes that elders have always spoken of the need to "enhance the forest environment every year"
~ Memorandum of Understanding with the District of Sooke first drawn up in 2007 (updated since; the current council has met with its T'Sou-ke counterparts four times since 2019 with alternating visits hosted by each local government)
~ Sooke Truth for Reconciliation Group (founded 2018 by Edith and Victor Newman, Margaret Critchlow, and the late Linda Bristol; monthly meetings on T'Sou-ke territory with guest speakers) 

Strait of Juan de Fuca
~ Sooke is the first/only BC municipality to vote, via electoral plebicite, for a ban on increased oil-tanker traffic (2014)
~ Traditional Marine Knowledge, Use & Study Report: The Proposed Kinder Morgan Pipeline Project (2015) ​
~ National Energy Board Hearings (Jan. 2016; includes final arguments from the T'Sou-ke Nation) 

Sooke School District #62
~ EMCS ECO Academy set to launch in fall 2021 
~ Nature Kindergarten: Learning Outside the Box 
~ Food gardens at John Muir Elementary and Edward Milne Community School (the latter was the 2019 winner of Farm to School BC's Pollinator Award)
~ TASK program creating a Gen Next #Sooke work force 
~ Beach clean-ups by the EMCS Society's Youth For Sooke team
~ Makerspace at EMCS 
~ Youth for Sooke 
~ Youth for Change students fundraise for EV station at Edward Milne Community School, 2016/17
~ Youth for Change group revitalized by EMCS leadership students in spring 2019
~ SD #62 Carbon Neutral Report 

Community Economic Development
~ Sooke Chamber of Commerce
~ Sooke Lions Club Sookerama trade show 
~ Urbanics Consulting: Sooke Economic Analysis (Dec., 2019, see pp. 13-69)
~ Economic Development Strategy Session (2002, see minutes pp. 11-15) 
~ Five Principles of Community Economic Development (SFU) 
~ Business Case: Zero Waste and the Circular Economy (Province of BC) 

Transition Sooke
~ Transition Sooke (founded 2009, first meeting on summer solstice at T'Sou-ke band hall)
​~ TS Events Archive 2009-2021 (reskilling workshops, film nights, all-candidates debates, community open-space forums; speaker presentations include Anna Maria Perado, Rachel Lamb, Guy Dauncey, Dahr Jamail, Sarah Cox, Trevor Hancock, Starhawk, Mary Wynne Ashford, Eric Doherty, Steve Unger, Kai Nagata, David Anderson, Thierry Vrain and Nitya Harris) 
~ Transition Sooke Climate Emergency Action Teams (2019 to present) 
~ Report from the 2019 TS Community Action Workshop
~ TS Pesticide Education Group (founded 2016)
~ TS Ecohome Tours (2016/17/18)
~ Sooke Slow Food Cycle (2011/12) 

Zero Waste Sooke 
~ Zero Waste Sooke (founded 2015, a working group of Transition Sooke)
~ Five (to date) Sooke Repair Cafes 
~ Sooke Region Community Clean-Ups 2018/19 
~ Sooke Region Earth Day Celebration (April 22, 2018; presented in association with the Sooke Fall Fair, Creatively United for the Planet and Transition Sooke)  
~ Bring Your Own Bag (BYOB) campaign; signage at Village Foods, Western Foods, Home Hardware and Pharmasave
~ Report from the Talk Trash community summit (Earth Day initiative; April, 2016)
~ Delegations to Sooke council (2017, 2018) have sought creation of a checkout bag bylaw (passed in May 2019) and installation of water fountains at Whiffin Spit and John Phillips Memorial Park (2020). A third ask remains outstanding apart from District exploration of a yard-waste depot: "RESOURCE RECOVERY CENTRE: "DOS is encouraged to take a lead role in exploring a public/private partnership that will ensure Sooke residents have access to a full-service resource recovery centre that might also include a compost facility, yard-waste depot and related, job-creating micro-businesses.”

~ The iconic, heroic Sifu Koshin Moonfist (aka Broomfist) 
~ Tradition of litter-busting with the Sooke Rotary Club, EMCS students, Zero Waste Sooke & other community groups
~ Regional beach clean-ups by Surfrider Foundation Vancouver Island and Youth For Sooke

Alternative Energy
~ Solar installation: Viridian Energy Co-Operative + Endless Energy & Solar Solutions + independent contractors 
~ T’Sou-ke First Nation, Timberwest and EDP Renewables Canada announce intention (2013) for $750-million in large-scale wind power projects on Vancouver Island's southwest coast.
~ Tidal power: Accumulated Ocean Energy (in collaboration with T’Sou-ke Nation and academic institutions)  

Food Security
~ Sooke Region Food CHI + So You Want to Farm In Sooke? (PDF) 
~ Sooke Farmland Trust Society + links page
~ Sooke Fall Fair Society (founded 1913; "celebrating the "Rural Fair" philosophy. The philosophy embodies: i) Pride in local natural resources; ii) Pride and focus on individual and family endeavors; iii) The integration of young and elderly, able and disabled, participator and spectator; iv) The spirit of volunteerism in which our community has long prided itself; v) The Sooke Fall Fair, in this traditional annual event is a reflection of Sooke’s strong community spirit."
~ Sooke Country Market (relocated with DOS assistance to John Phillips Park in 2020) 
~ Community Gardens at Sunriver and Grace Garden at the Sooke Baptist Church
~ Sooke participation in My FED Farm Garden backyard program, 2020 
~ CR-FAIR Capital Region Food and Agriculture Initiatives Roundtable + Equity in the Food System  
~ CRD Foodlands Access Program
~ Capital Region Beekeepers' Association
 
Green Building
~ Geothermal heat pumps in select homes at Woodland Creek
~ Built Green Canada Gold standard met by Harbourside Cohousing
~ Green residential builders in the region include Keary Conwright, Frank McKendry, Tony Johnson and David Dare

Outdoors & Active Sooke
~ Saseenos Elementary Nature Kindergarden + it's popular! 
~ SEAPARC + 2015 Strategic Plan + swimming pool opens (2000) + new $3.4 million fitness room (2020) 
~ $1.2 million multi-court spots box planned for Sunriver
~ Sooke Soccer Club + new community/District/CRD-funded $1.5m all-season turf field at Fred Milne Park
(goodbye this)
~ Sooke Minor Fastball Association (new field at Art Morris Park partially funded by DOS and CRD) 
​~ Sooke Minor Hockey 
~ Sooke Bike Club + local trail networks 
​~ Sooke Bike Skills Park at SEAPARC (opened March 2015)
​~ Harbourview + history
~ Galloping Goose Regional Trail (2002 PDF pamphlet)   
~ EMCS Academies - Soccer + Hockey 
~ DeMamiel Creek Golf Course 
~ Sooke Rotary Skate Park
~ STARR (Sooke Trail and Road Runners)  
​~ Sooke Pickleball Group 
~ Guided hikes led the JDF Community Trails Society's Sid and Rosemary Jorna 
​~ Kludahk Outdoors Club 
~ Sooke News Mirror archive of sports stories 

Public Engagement 
~ Awareness Film Night (co-founded in 1994 and operated since by Jo Phillips; socially conscious, climate, food security and activist-oriented documentaries screened at EMCS; Manufacturing Consent first of 200+ films to date.)
​~ Sooke Talks at EMCS 
~ Sooke Region Lifelong Learning

Water
~ Sooke Water Supply Area + map 
​~ CRD Drinking Water page 
~ The Sooke Flowline
~ The Drought of 2001 (CRD report) 

Tourism 
~ Sooke Region Tourism Association 
~ Destination BC: Essential Guide to Sustainable Tourism 

From the Archive: Environmental highlights cited in the 2008 Sooke Sustainability Development Plan
~ Sooke is signatory to BC's Climate Change Action Charter
~ "Interest in linking economic development with public realm considerations i.e., minimization of large-format retail"
~ Galloping Goose Trail 
~ Transit enhancements
~ OCP environmental protection policies
~ Creation of Accessibility Committee + 2008 report 
~ Ongoing multi-jurisdictional discussions
~ Growing knowledge of green building/energy efficiency practices in District's building department
~ Plentiful green space 
~ Wealth of wetlands, marine environments, forests and other areas comprising native vegetation
~ Riparian Area Regulations adopted in 2007
~ District's sewer system and wastewater treatment plant
~ Development of the Liquid Waste Management Plans 
~ Promise of green infrastructure at the then-proposed Nott's Creek development
~ Bio-permeable parking lot at the Sooke Harbour House 
~ Holding ponds and bioswales in new developments 
~ Sooke's independent business spirit (circular economy) 
~ Sooke Farmers Market  
~ Sooke Garden Club 
~ Sooke Region Food CHI's Food Strategy
~ Sooke Fall Fair, Sooke Salmon Enhancement Society, Sooke Community Health Initiative
~ Use of locally sourced food at Sooke restaurants 
~ Local arts and crafts culture capitalizes on Sooke's strengths and character 


Capital Regional District
~ CRD Board of Directors meeting at which Climate Emergency was formally declared (Feb. 2019)
~ CRD Parks & Environment Committee meeting at which a Climate Emergency declaration was first discussed following a motion by Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps, Saanich councillor Ned Taylor and Sooke's own Mayor Maja Tait (Jan. 23, 2019) 
~ CRD Regional Parks Strategic Plan: 2011-2021 + parks document library 
~ Ready, Step, Roll Active Transportation Planning for Greater Victoria Schools 
~ GoByBike BC's Greater Victoria Bike to Work and Bike to School campaigns 

BC Transit 
~ BC Transit's Sooke Local Area Service Plan review (2019) 
~ Victoria Regional Transit Commission (Mayor Tait represents Sooke with one of two west shore seats on the commission) 
~ BC Transit Sustainability Impacts (infographic + report on its low-carbon fleet) 
~ "BC Transit Switching Entire Fleet to Electric Buses: Plan includes replacing more than 1,200 existing buses and adding another 350 over the next 10 years." (2019, CBC News) 
~ BC Transit Strategic Plan: 2020-2025 (PDF) 
~ How can we boost ridership on local Sooke routes? A question worth pursuing 

Miscellaneous
~ CBC meteorologist Joanna Wagstaffe's BC In 2050: Degrees of Change podcast series 
~ One Cowichan checklist for municipal climate action 

Home Energy Retrofits 
​~ PACE BC (Property Assessed Clean Energy) 
~ Attorney General David Eby in his June 9, 2021 reply to the District of Sooke call for PACE financing: "The Province is committed to making all buildings, new and existing, more energy efficient and cleaner as part of CleanBC. This includes energy efficiency amendments to the BC Building Code and empowering local governments to regulate carbon emissions from new buildings, home energy labelling at the time of listing, and more financing options such as PACE financing."

​~ Pembina Institute on PACE 
~ Municipal/UBCM campaign led by Courtenay councillor Will Cole-Hamilton + draft resolutions (2021) 
​~ City of Vancouver resolution 2020

Electric Vehicle Mode Shift 
~ Government of BC ZEV (Zero Emission Vehicle) 2020 Report 
~ BC Remains Leader in EV Sales (CTV News, April, 2021) 
~ Capital Regional District EV Infrastructure Roadmap (July, 2021) 
~ CRD EV & E-Bike Infrastructure Backgrounder (2018) 
~ Transition Salt Spring EV Group Report (June, 2021) 
~ Statistics Canada Automotive Statistics (2020 update)  

• In the third quarter of 2020, 6.2% of total new vehicles registered in Canada were zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs); 89.6% were ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) vehicles. (In 2017, ZEV's accounted for 0.4% of new registrations.) 
• Infographic: In BC, 8.4% (15,211) of all new vehicle registrations in 2020 were ZEVs, up from 7.8% a year earlier. Victoria had the highest proportion of new ZEVs (12.9% or 1,222 vehicles) registrations followed by Vancouver (10.9% or 10,594 vehicles.) 

~ "Future EVs - Every Electric Vehicle Coming in the Next Five Years" (Car and Driver, April, 2021) + Current options


Canadian Local Governments 
- Climate Caucus ~ "a non-partisan network of 300+ local elected Canadian climate leaders driving system change to transform our communities in ten years."  + Resource library + Councillor's Handbook 
- Help Cities Lead (Climate Caucus initiative calling for local government authority to set carbon performance standards for new buildings) 
- FCM: National Measures Report (2019 summary of GHG-reduction projects from 400+ Cdn. municipalities)
- FCM: Talking It Though Guide for local government staff
- FCM: Climate Adaptation Maturity Scale  
- ICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability Canada) webinar series 
- International Monetary Fund report (May, 2019) ~ "The Canadian government spends $58 billion per year in fossil fuel subsidies to the oil and gas industry. That’s $1,600 per person." 

- ​Carbon Disclosure Project A-List Cities (88 cities worldwide in 2020, Victoria and Saanich included) 

Non-Governmental Organizations
​~ Council of Canadians: Energy and Climate Justice
~ BC Sustainable Energy Association + Tools for Municipal Governments to Achieve Net Zero By 2050 
~ Dogwood Initiative + Climate Campaign 
~ Sierra Club BC + Climate Solutions + Fossil Fuels 
~ Wilderness Committee
~ Climate Justice Victoria 
~ South Island Climate Network (alliance of local climate action teams) 
~ Creatively United for the Planet + video library 
~ ​Greater Victoria 2030 District (major property developers committed to 50% GHG drawdown as established by Santa Fe-based Architecture 2030 in its 2030 Challenge for Planning).
~ Habitat Acquisition Trust + 2020 Annual Report + Protecting Natural Areas in the CRD (PDF)
~ West Coast Environmental Law + The Clean Air Bylaws Guide (PDF) + publications library 
~ TLC (The Land Conservancy of BC) 



~ David Suzuki Foundation 
~ Living Oceans Society + Reports and publications
​~ Pembina Institute + Issue Areas (climate policy, clean energy, green buildings, clean transportation, oil and gas)
~ LeadNow + Current Campaigns 
~ Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
~ Greenpeace Canada
~ Earth Day Canada 
 
~ Climate Action Network (1500+ organizations in 139 countries) 
​- Climate Action Network Canada 

~ The Road to Zero Carbon BC Communities
~ 50 Ways to Bring Urgency to BC Climate Action (Guy Dauncey) 
~ How The Circular Economy Tackles Climate Change (Ellen McArthur Foundation) 
~ A New Climate for Conservation: Nature, Carbon and Climate Change in British Columbia (David Suzuki Foundation) 
~ Climate Leaders Playbook (BC Community Energy Association) 
~ Green Strings: Principles and Conditions for a Green Recovery from COVID-19 in Canada (2020, International Institute for Sustainable Development) 

Carbon Calculators
~ World Wildlife Federation "How Big Is Your Global Footprint" 
~ Global Footprint Network
~ Tree Canada Carbon Calculator  
​~ Natural Resources Canada GHG Equivalencies Calculator 
~ Saanich Carbon Calculator
~ Environmental Protection Agency Household Calculator

GHG Emissions (aka Pollution) Counts
~ Canada (2019)
~ British Columbia (latest numbers) 
~ Capital Regional District (2007-2018 report) 
~ CRD Municipal Breakdowns (see pp. 
~ Our World In Data: C02 Emissions
~ Counting "externalized" emissions and reaching true carbon neutrality (via Highlands councillor Ann Baird) 
~ Highlands: Framing Our Carbon Budget 

BC Local Government Green Checklists for Developers 
~ Regional District of Nanaimo Sustainable Development Checklist 
~ City of Langford Green Development Checklist 
~ Saanich Sustainability Guideline Statements
~ Whistler + Courtenay + Vernon +  Surrey + Port Coquitlam  
~ BC Climate Action Tookit: Sustainability Lists 
~ Built Green Canada Checklist 
~ The Green Infrastructure Guide (West Coast Environmental Law Association) 
~ Green Globes Building Certification 

Generation Now & Next  
~ Greta Thunberg's TED Talk with transcript + address to COP24  + Climate Emergency EU
~ Climate Strike Canada 
​~ BC Climate Strike (March, 2019) 
~ Profiles of Canadian Climate Strikers 

Lower-case 's' Spiritual dimensions  
~ James Lovelock's Gaia Theory
~ Animism (the indigenous belief that spirit resides everywhere) + "Animism Is Pretty Reasonable" (The Atlantic) 
~ Transition Town Network: The Inner Transition/Psychology of Change  
~ World Pantheist Movement
~ David Abram: The Alliance For Wild Ethics + The Spell of the Sensuous + Becoming Animal + documentary 
~ Returning the Gift by Robin Wall Kimmerer via The Centre for Humans and Nature

~ Cascadia: The Elusive Utopia by Douglas Todd (Ronsdale Press, 2008)  "Many people in Cascadia, also known as the Pacific Northwest, find sacredness in the wild, wet and imposing landscape, which dwarfs humans and their accomplishments and can evoke a sense of humility, awe and gratitude. The people here are among the least likely on the continent to be involved in an active religion. They are secular but spiritual, recognizing that a walk in nature can be a transcendent experience. Spiritual practices in Cascadia are often unstructured, private and experiential. Even organized religion is strongly influenced by the natural world. For instance, the architecture of a Benedictine monastery in Mission, BC echoes a forest canopy of trees and leaves. Christians and others here have been at the forefront of efforts to protect the region's forests, rivers and wildlife, which they consider God's creation."  + archive of Douglas Todd's Vancouver Sun columns 

What can we do? 
~ Can Consumer Change Ward Off the Worst Effects of Climate Change? (Vox) 
~ Environment Canada: Take Climate Action + Home Energy 
~ David Suzuki Foundation: Act At Home
~ Clean Bin Project  + Just Eat It  (films by Vancouver's Jen Rustemeyer and Grant Baldwin) 
~ Climate Psychology Alliance + Handbook on Climate Psychology 
~ Why We Procrastinate About Climate Change (The Independent) ~ "Being the right degree of scared is a tricky balance. Tackling climate apathy is a non-negotiable requirement but, if we allow ourselves to constantly feel the high-adrenaline type of fear we’d experience, for example, while witnessing a crime, we may end up being little use in the fight against climate change."

Trees and Forestry 
~ Naturally:Wood BC + links 
~ Ecoforestry Institute Society (in tradition of the late Merv Wilkinson's Wildwood Tree Farm near Ladysmith) 
~ Wilderness Committee: BC Forestry 
~ Sierra Club BC: Forests + Intact Forests, Safe Communities (PDF 2021; "at least nine of 15 climate risks assessed by the province in 2019 — such as increased wildfires, drought and landslides — are influenced by industrial logging."  
~ Sierra Club BC: Clearcut Carbon: A Report On The Future of BC Forests (PDF 2019) 
~ Canadian Value-Added Forest Industries Directory
~ CBC BC: "2021 Could Mark A Turning Point for the Logging of Old-Growth" 
~ Province of BC: A New Future For Old Growth (April, 2020) 
~ UBC Foresty Professor Suzanne Simard's TED Talk on "how trees talk to each other."
~ Canadian Tree Bylaw Survey  
~ Planting Our Future: A BC Tree Toolkit For Communities 

Language Matters: Framing Climate Action 
~ Communicating Climate Change (Eco Canada) 
~ Messaging This Moment: A Handbook for Progressive Communicators (Centre for Community Change, US) 
​~ Yale Program on Climate Change Communication 
​~ The Secret to Talking About Climate Change (4 minute video) 

~ Shandell Houlden's open source reading list for her component of RRU's MA in Climate Action Leadership program 
- Communicating Climate Change: A Practitioner's Guide (Insights from Africa, Asia and Latin America)
- You're Not Going to Believe What I'm About to Tell You - The Oatmeal graphic 
- Global Warming's Six Americas (Yale Program on Climate Change Communication)
- To Fix The Climate, Tell Better Stories  

Green New Deals
​~ Canada's New Green Deal (May, 2019) 
~ Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's New Green Deal 
~ Al Gore's Climate Reality Project + "The Green Revolution is Unstoppable"
~ Naomi Klein: This Changes Everything interview (video) 

More on Food Security
~ BC Ministry of Agriculture + Buy BC + Feed BC and the BC Food Hub Network  
~ Minister Popham's 2020 Mandate Letter 
~ BC Agricultural Land Commission + 2019/20 Annual Report (PDF) 
~ Community Food Systems Assessment (2009; BC Provincial Health Services Authority; includes many links)
~ Young Agrarians U-Map 
~ The Future of BC's Food Security Systems (BC Food Security Task Force, 2020) 
​~ BC Provincial Health Services Authority recommendations on obesity reduction
~ Regeneration International: "Why Regenerative Agriculture?"
 
Equity, Health & Wellness
~ BC Healthy Communities' PLAN H Action Guide & Tookits for Local Governments 

Active Parks
​~ Plan H BC: How Do Local Governments Improve Health and Community Well-Being? 
~ BC Recreation and Parks Association: Programming Ideas for Parks Professionals
~ BC Age-Friendly Communities Action Guide 
~ BC Recreation and Parks Association COVID-19 Guide for Restarting Operations
~ Parks People "activating the power of parks" + Canadian City Parks Report 2020 

British Columbia
~ BC Climate Action Toolkit + 
~ Funding for Local Government Climate Action Initiatives 
~ Community Energy Association of BC summarizes CleanBC  
​~ Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives analysis of CleanBC  
~ BC Energy Step Code + its new website
~ BC Ministry of Health: Climate Change Health Impacts
 
Canada
~ Pan-Canadian Framework on Clean Growth and Climate Change
~ Canada's Climate Plan
~ "Canada's new climate plan is a big deal. Here's why" (Canadian institute for Climate Choices, Dec. 2020) 
~ "O'Toole pledges detailed Tory climate plan" (CTV, Feb. 11, 2021) 
~ Green Party Canada: Addressing the Climate Emergency 
~ NDP Canada: Protecting Our Air, Land and Water, Securing Our Future
~ Canada Climate Action Tracker 

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

Zero Waste
​~ Environment Canada: Toward Zero Waste 

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

Climate Change Skepticism/Denialism 
~ The new wave of "denialists" and "inactivists" ~ Guardian interview witih Michael Mann (Feb. 2021) 
~ Heartland Institute on Climate Change (American think tank for the conservative movement) 
~ Climate Change Denial: Articles from The Guardian  
​~ Skeptical Science: "Getting Skeptical about Climate Change Skepticism"
~ DeSmogBlog: "Clearing the PR Pollution the Clouds Climate Science" 
~ "How to Talk to A Climate Change Denier" 


Extras for further research: 
- Earth Action Climate Scorecard Report (2015)  
- Bigfoot North America
- Community Wood Banks in Northeast US (New York Times)   

(Disclaimer: I've not read all these links. They are gathered here for one-stop, as-need reference in future.) 
​

In brief: Even as the US sunbelt freezes (snowballs aplenty for Senator Inofe), 2020 rates as the second warmest year yet recorded.  Focused on solutions after its latest devastating climate and biodiversity reports, the United Nations has just this week released  Making Peace With Nature: A Scientific Blueprint to Tackle the Climate, Biodiversity and Pollution Emergencies.  

The essential steps for local action were mapped more than a decade ago in the Sooke Sustainability Development Strategy and the current Official Community Plan. This council made climate action a pillar of its four-year Strategic Plan. District staff, committees and consultants are working with the "green lens" that is becoming normalized through long-established informal yet now increasingly formal practice and policy. 

The 2019/20 Climate Action Committee (CAC) produced an impactful, realistic Work Plan adopted by council last fall and now embedded to varying degrees into staff priorities and the five-year budget. Climate action and local multi-level resiliency is also an integral aspect of the District's recommitment to community economic development. Now a new CAC is tasked with delivering recommendations (perhaps focused on citizen action) for what will eventually -- sometime after the new OCP is complete and its directions properly digested -- be Sooke's first bona-fide Climate Adaptation & Mitigation Strategy (aka Climate Action Plan; see Saanich example).

The Official Community Plan review team certainly gets it and so evidently does #Sooke. In directly reflecting public input, "emerging goal #1" for the new OCP is "Green and Net Zero." Adding urgency to themes repeated in previous Sooke planning documents, the aspirational actions read: 

* "Mobilize to address the climate emergency head-on ~ achieve net zero emissions by 2050; 
* "Protect the countryside for habitat and agriculture, while focusing urban growth in the town centre; 
* "Reduce car dependency and offer more transportation choices, with priority given to walking, cycling and transit use; 
* "Create green infrastructure that is both high-performing and delightful; 
* "Support existing and new local businesses, and foster green economic development that respects ecological limits." 

Given the lack of substantial progress to date + the huge GHG cuts required over the next decade, all is prelude to the bold actions and lifestyle shifts required from each of us to ride the tiger and do our best for this and future generations.

The consensus big-three personal revolutions? Revamp our diets. Drive our gas-guzzlers less (or switch to EVs). And install heat pumps in homes and everywhere indoors that people gather. 

Okay, that's the precis, onwards with the long version if you wish ... 

                              
New year, new committee assignments: I've been named council's appointee to the Climate Action Committee (CAC21) in following Cllr. St-Pierre, who is taking his experience as a planner, builder and permaculture farmer to the newly revived Land Use and Development Committee. Cllr. LaJeunesse, meanwhile, is bringing his Sooke-savvy (lifelong variety; read: connected, caring, common sense) vision and expertise to the just-launched Community Economic Development Committee (CED).  

Like the Official Community Plan Advisory and Sooke Program of the Arts memberships, these three select committees are stocked with what we on council rate as top-drawer sets of volunteers keen to share their expertise and contribute meaningfully. I'll be focusing here on the Climate Action Committee in preparation for our Feb. 23 meeting, though it's important to note that council, District staff, the OCP team and these three groups are each mandated, in their respective ways, to maintain a climate perspective. Entirely apt given that "addressing the climate emergency head-on" has emerged as a priority in the OCP review. 

In building on the significant progress of the 2019/20 CAC (details below), the members of CAC21 have been asked to do groundwork as the District begins to prepare its first climate adaptation and mitigation strategy (hereafter referred to, if only by me, as the A&M Strategy) and join the growing number of BC communities with dedicated climate action plans.

The committee is also directed to cross-pollinate ideas and expertise with the CED Committee. From 2022 onward, the latter will be largely responsible for climate action initiatives at the committee level. (The CED Committee's Terms of Reference require it to "identify opportunities and make recommendations on innovative projects to help achieve carbon neutrality" and "provide a local perspective on climate change mitigation and adaptation while considering the balance between economic, environmental and social aspects.")  At the end of this year the CAC will be mothballed once again (as it was in 2016-19) for potential revival at some future date. 

CAC21's raison d'etre is stated in the opening paragraph of its Terms of Reference: "The purpose of the Climate Action Committee is to provide advice to Council and recommend policies that will assist the District to achieve a reduction in all carbon emissions by 40-50%, both corporately and in the community, by 2030." 

The District itself has been carbon neutral in municipal operations for likely five years now. Yet making big cuts at the community level is a hugely ambitious, so far seemingly impossible, goal that nonetheless aligns with targets set by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The IPCC, as you know, is urgently asking us all to make the 2020s a true turnaround decade in cutting "global net anthropogenic CO2 emissions" and bending the skyrocketing, hockey stick warming curve. 

Here's the wake-up call: In BC, the commonly referenced GHG measurement baseline year is 2007. Between then and 2018, total carbon emissions in the Capital Regional District have dropped a meagre 1.1 percent vs. the stated goal of 33 percent by 2020. 

The more hopeful news is that the CRD carbon load has declined 14% per capita; Greater Victoria's population has grown 15% over the last 12 years, and as the study notes, there's reason to be encouraged by "the efforts by the CRD and local governments to reduce energy consumption and GHG emissions."  (Exact municipal breakdowns can be found in this supplemental report. Sooke clocks in at a 0.1% decline in tonnage, a pipsqueak number yet not shamefully so given our population has increased more than 40% ~ 9,699 population in the 2006 census vs. 14,001 in 2017.  Our tC02e  -- tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent -- emissions per capita was 3.3 in 2018, down from 4.5 tonnes 11 years earlier. Which can be translated in layperson's terms as not nearly enough yet it's a start.) 

The CRD is planning to complete another regional and municipal GHG inventory in late fall 2021 that will cover the 2020 year and follow the same GPC Basic + Framework. Thereafter the still provisional intention is to measure every two years ~ exactly what's needed for communities to chart our own respective progress. 

A few key links to set the stage:   
~ Sooke Climate Action website page (frequently updated/refreshed these days)  
~ Capital Regional District Climate Action 
~ GHG definitions: Kid-friendly + Middlebrow + United Nations glossary of climate terms  
~ Sources: Global (infographic) + Canada + BC + Sooke (infographic & chart by emissions type, see pg. 36/37)
~ Ann Baird on the challenge of counting "externalized" emissions and reaching true carbon neutrality
~ The "Carbon Budget" explained  + latest annual global measurements
~ Project Drawdown Table of Solutions
~ Canadian Climate Caucus resource library (definitive one-stop) 
~ Carbon Calculator
~ David Suzuki Foundation on practical actions we each can take 
~ Sooke Sustainable Development Strategy (2008) 

The previous CAC generated a comprehensive Work Plan last year that focused on food security, transportation, land use and education & engagement. Its 53 action items were analyzed and costed out by staff, who in turn have generated a timeline table that covers the next four years and extends out into the future for big-ticket items. Many actions involve dedicated staff time this year and next, in part through work on short-term priorities in the parks and transportation master plans. There is also a range of advocacy work pointed at other levels of government and service providers. Much of the responsibility lies with council (this and future ones) as we strive to keep eyes on the prize while also weighing staff service hours and tax implications against actions recommended in this document, the master plans and, soon enough, the new OCP. 

Bottom line: The Climate Work Plan is a fantastic achievement that hasn't been acknowledged nor fully understood (by me included, I confess) nearly enough.  I also rate the CED Committee's multi-tier resiliency mandate as great news. Proof that the District is pursuing the holistic goal of textbook community economic development: "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." (per Simon Fraser University's Five Principles of Community Economic Development.)  

Sooke's formal climate adaptation and mitigation strategy will, I trust, be prioritized once the Official Community Plan is complete in 2022. Given that job one of a local government is to keep its citizens safe and secure, the strategy will focus heavily on how the District will manage the likeliest of local climate-change impacts: Wildfires, drought, storm surges, ocean acidification and heavy rains. (Sooke has an Emergency Plan and Chief Mount, in tandem with the Emergency Operations Centre's Matt Barney, the Emergency Support Services team and CRD Emergency Management, is continually improving local preparation for the worst; I'll be creating a link-rich compendium of District climate-ready initiatives and undertakings for posting later this month.) 

This A&M Strategy will ideally also capture the broader community perspective of the Climate Action Plans that have been materializing around BC in recent years. These recognize that we're all impacted and that every last one of us has a role to play in reducing community GHG levels. Examples of finalized Climate Action Plans include Saanich, Ucluelet, North Cowichan, Squamish, Salt Spring Island, Kelowna, Nelson, the Comox Valley, Prince George + the big-league versions in Victoria, Burnaby and the globally recognized superstar in climate action planning, the City of Vancouver.  

Climate planning is also underway in Coquitlam, Campbell River, Kamloops and other communities with solid but now outdated sustainability documents that need to be revisited/rethought for these increasingly perilous times. (For our part, we have the excellent and undervalued 2008 Sooke Sustainability Development Strategy; it's one of my favourite of all Sooke planning documents and literally says it all. To actually heed its recommendations and not regurgitate them in expensive shiny new reports, as good as they are, is a trick we've not yet mastered.) 

The Union of BC Municipalities recognizes that every last BC community needs a modern Climate Action Plan and intends to lobby the province for the necessary funding. This said, the District is now independently getting into the game by assembling a set of contemporary BC climate-action documents as an A&M Strategy starting point for council, staff and all committees. And council is asking CAC21's set of expert volunteers to develop and submit their brightest, most impactful GHG-shrinking recommendations (perhaps, if it be the will the committee, in the form of a rough and ready first draft Climate Action Plan that borrows freely from the Sustainability Strategy and other documents in the District's library).

So bon voyage, best wishes and sincere thanks to (in alpha order) CAC21: 

* Beatrice Gentili-Hittos, a recent University of Victoria graduate (Forest Biology and Environmental Studies) and core organizer with Climate Justice Victoria; 
* Shandell Houlden, Royal Roads University PhD candidate and a skills educator with Thriving Roots Wilderness School;
* Bernie Klassen (Chair), Transition Sooke board member of long standing, Zero Waste Sooke core team member, organizer of the Sooke Repair Cafes and the Green New Deal town hall;  
* Elizabeth Lange, author, academic and specialist in the field of Transformative Learning (and how it might be applied to climate-action behavioural change); 
* Jessica Prieto, UVic grad (Business Commerce and Economics), experience in project management and logistical planning with Nestle Mexico, and now part of the team at ALM Organic Farm and Full Circle Seeds;  
* Anna Russell, a consultant and specialist in public policy development with an interest in GHG drawdown;   
* Cassandra Schostek, a Sooke-based GHG reduction and energy efficiency consultant with the Alberta Energy Regulator;  
* Michael Tacon, co-founder and president of Transition Sooke;  
* Steve Unger (Vice Chair), solar power specialist and practicing regenerative agriculture at InishOge Farm and Field School.

(And full credit where it's due to Cllr. St-Pierre and his estimable 2019/20 colleagues: Roland Alcock, Diane Bernard, Susan Clarke,  Catherine Keogan, Andrew Moore, Eric Nolan, Christina Schlattner, Kyle Topelko and Adrienne Wass) 

This new group will be proceeding with the assistance of yours truly (a voting member yet primarily tasked as the go-between with council), Parks and Environmental Services Supervisor Jessica Boquist and, upon her/his/their arrival in the spring, the District's new Community Economic Development Officer. Unlike me to a degree, both have limited hours to offer. It'll be up to the committee itself to do whatever heavy lifting it can on its own and perhaps (logically) secure working group assistance from any community collaborators they invite. 

The CED Officer's job description cites responsibility for "advancing economic, environmental, and social goals" and the hiring committee is seeking "demonstrated experience in sustainability planning." 

In due course, and as recommended by the previous CAC, I'm confident the District will consider bringing in a climate action specialist of the kind now working in Central Saanich, Saanich, Squamish and many communities that are treating their declared climate emergencies seriously.  Which we clearly are doing, as you'll now learn if indeed you've not nodded off by now ... (I usually find that two kinetic minutes with this snaps me back to attention.) 

Council's Commitment to Environmental Leadership 

in Council's 2019-22 Strategic Plan, Environmental Leadership is one of six "core values and guiding principles"  along with Effective Governance, Community Well-Being and Safety,  Community Vibrancy, Long-Term Thinking and Effective and Consistent Communication. (These values, backed by an action plan, are decidedly not more words on e-paper, incidentally. I could assemble extensive footnoted blog posts demonstrating that Sooke's elected reps, committee members, community groups and local citizens have been addressing all six since incorporation and long before. Everyone has had the best intentions and a wealth of great ideas, yet civic and political priorities in tandem with small-town budgets have resulted in variable progress.)

The Environmental Leadership sub-headings in Council's Strat Plan read:
i) Respond to climate change boldly;
ii) Redefine and implement Sooke Smart Growth;
iii) Become a leader in ecologically sustainable corporate practices.

Goal #2 of the appendix (aka practical actions) is headlined "Demonstrate Leadership in Climate Action" and features 18 bullet points that we on council have since distilled into "now," "next" and "later" categories with the  understanding that we can only do so much given budgets and available staff time over our four years. 

As said above, Council and the District's priority for climate action in 2021 is the A&M Strategy. The Climate Action Committee has been asked to focus on "tangible actions that can be executed in Sooke and which will make positive progress in addressing the climate emergency."  We'll be formally meeting twice this year with the CED Committee. And there's a stated request that CAC21 explore and understand the District's ongoing climate-first efforts. All recommendations are to be rendered unto Caesar by year's end. This still relatively open invitation allows committee members to focus on their passions while remaining in step with the District.  

Sooke CAO Norm McInnis presented the foundational bones for the A&M Strategy to council last month (Jan. 11 agenda, pp. 87 onward). It is based on these four documents: 

1. Preliminary Strategic Climate Risk Assessment for British Columbia (a 2019 CleanBC study that identifies wildfires, summer droughts, heavy rains from "atmospheric rivers," storm surges, coastal flooding, wind storms and ocean acidification as the leading emergency threats now through 2050 -- click on each of those links for relatively recent BC evidence.  Personally in my time in Sooke, I think back to this + this + this. Needs saying again that none but the most hardcore denialists remain willfully ignorant; 88 percent of Canadians, in fact, now view man-made climate change as either a major (62%) or minor (26%) crisis -- an "existential" one that deepens unpredictably as the anthropocene and the "sixth extinction" kick in hard.  Cue grief in five-stages as the essential prelude to personal and collective action. I'm now reading Kim Stanley Robinson's recent novel The Ministry for the Future for a harrowing yet hopeful science-based take on what realistically might lie ahead.)  

2. Territorial Analysis of Local Government Priorities for Climate Action (a 2020 report from the Association of Vancouver Island and Coastal Communities that documents the many and various climate A&M initiatives being undertaken by the AVICC membership -- 11 regional districts, 89 First Nation governments, and 41 municipalities, Sooke included. More on the report here. Following its release, three Van Isle mayors -- Tofino's Josie Osborne (now BC's Minister of Municipal Affairs), Victoria's Lisa Helps and Duncan's Michelle Staples -- convened an AVICC summit late last year that was attended by 150+ elected officials and local government staff. The just-released result is a draft regional Climate Action Goals plan "that will catalyze climate mitigation and adaptation projects and activities throughout the coastal region." With its ten priorities rooted in social equity and climate justice, It's a frankly amazing #2021 document that logically must be added to the A&M Strategy reference pile as another navigational north star for council, staff and all committees.) 

3. Modernizing BC's Emergency Management Legislation (sparked by the record BC wildlife and flooding seasons in 2017/18, it aligns the province's Emergency Program Act with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. The latter was a United Nations initiative in the wake of the 2011 tsunami which so devastated Sendai itself as well as Sooke's friendship city, Natori. Canada and 186 other countries promptly adopted the framework. In 2018, BC was the first Canadian province to follow suit in making what Solicitor General Mike Farnworth termed a "shift from focusing on emergency preparedness and response to recognizing that risk identification and mitigation are key to managing hazards and reducing the impact of events.") 

4. UBCM Special Committee on Climate Action Proposed Recommendations Draft Report (prepared last year under Mayor Tait's watch and featuring six "signature initiatives" that the Union of BC Municipalities intend to push at provincial and federal levels. These focus on buildings (increased emphasis on retrofits of older buildings, workforce training, mass timber); transportation (dramatically expanded EV charging infrastructure at residential, workplace and community levels); waste management (producer stewardship, landfill gas capture, organics diversion); resilience (funding to allow all BC local governments to create A&M plans by 2030); governance (renew the 2008 Climate Action Charter, revitalize the BC Climate Action Toolkit); and social mobilization (spurring household behavioural change through a trial program involving 10 select BC communities staging friendly neighbourhood climate-action competitions -- a more sophisticated version of this Victoria-area example, i imagine. Question to ponder: Might #Sooke be one of these ten?).  

Along with the District's Climate Energy and Emissions Plan, these four docs are effectively the seeds and mulch from which a Sooke climate plan will grow. (Heavens, I know all this is complicated and likely too much for all but the nerdiest, yet this puzzle has many pieces and new, improved ones are being added continually. These reports capture BC's latest, sharpest, most informed governmental thinking, planning and actions.) 

Climate Action Committee 2019/20 Legacy

The previous committee's lasting achievement is its Work Plan, received and endorsed by council 24 hours after the summer solstice last year (June 22 agenda, pp. 69-76). It leads off with two "global goals" that reiterate and seek to formalize current District practices and council's Strat Plan intentions. Here they are as amended later last fall:  

1. "Ensure a 'climate first' approach in all municipal decision-making and planning processes, including the Official Community Plan, and the inclusion of climate expertise on consulting teams" (The first part of this ask seeks to formalize established practices by already "woke" -- hey, first time I've ever used that phrase! --  District staff and the progressive consultants hired for our latest suite of planning documents. As for climate consultancy know-how, that ask was already reflected in a new DOS approach that ensures a diverse spectrum of community interests and expertise is represented on committees. CAO McInnis is now figuring out how to formalize this climate-first approach at the District.) 

2. "Develop a comprehensive Sooke Climate Action Plan which will include mitigation and adaptation strategies" (A restatement and expansion on climate-action objective #1 from council's Strat Plan, now the "next" priority in our latest six-month plan update.) 
 
The CAC20 Work Plan also made a series of recommendations re: food security, transportation, education & engagement, and sustainable development & land use.  Council asked staff to report back with a "how, who, when and how much" analysis. The reply came on Oct. 13 (pp. 105-122; council's discussion is recorded in the minutes here on pp. 66-68). A revised Work Plan was presented two weeks later (Oct. 26; pp. 33 onwards; minutes from that discussion here.) 

October 26 proved to be a significant evening for Sooke's commitment to climate action: Council endorsed the amended global goals; directed the addition of climate action elements to the CED Committee's mandate; and approved "staff’s recommendations provided in the CAC Workplan for inclusion in the 2021-2025 Five-year Financial Plan process." (We also endorsed the final Parks and Transportation Master Plans, two documents packed with climate-first, Sooke Smart Growth initiatives that "can help reduce GHG emissions by replacing vehicular trips with other transportation modes.") 

Here's a point-form summary of CAC20's four Work Plan priority areas to be addressed this year and beyond:  

Food Security
- Collaborate with the T'Sou-ke First Nation (ongoing) 
- Review, adopt and initiate the 2012 Agricultural Plan (Corporate Services & Planning, 2021) 
- Work with the ALC to support development of farm villages (Planning, advocacy, 2021) 
- Identify regulatory barriers to small farm viability (Planning, 2021) 
- Support establishment of a local South Island abattoir (South Island Prosperity Project, 2021) 
- Support formation of a Food Policy Council and the adoption of a Food Charter (Council, 2021) 
- Post-OCP update, create a Food Systems Plan ($50k, for budget consideration in 2023; CEDC and SRCHN)
- Initiate a feasibility study for a Food Hub ($50k, for budget consideration in 2024; CEDC and SRCHN)
- Participate in a regional food strategy (Capital Regional District; ongoing) 

Transportation 
- Pursue grants and advocate for greener local transportation routes and trails (Council, staff; ongoing)
- EV and e-bike incentives promotion + current baseline #Sooke numbers for each mode (Staff, ongoing)
- Charging infrastructure in new buildings, in the commercial core and at Park'n Rides (potential addition to new Zoning Bylaw, 2022; Esquimalt provides a recent example)  
- Fast chargers at municipal facilities (Engineering; $100k, for budget consideration in 2023) 
- Advocacy with BC Transit for implementation of the Sooke Local Area Transit Plan (Council and staff, ongoing) 
- DOS spending on transit infrastructure as per Transportation Master Plan ($200k ongoing)
- Encourage ridesharing programs (Planning, Parks, Communications, 2022) 
- Budgeting for an interconnected network of sidewalks, bike and pedestrian trails leading to the town centre, schools and parks (as identified in both masterplans + a "10-minute walkable" focus of the OCP review; $11.3m, 2021-31) 
- Improved bike ways to Park'n Ride locations ($20m, for budget consideration in period 2025-30, advocacy with MOTI) 
- Secure bike lanes along Hwy #14 on both sides of town (Council & staff advocacy to MOTI, ongoing)
- Effective oversight of transportation priorities within OCP review process (Planning, 2021/22) 
- 10-year update/review of masterplans (Operations, 2031)  

Engagement & Education
- Community out-reach aligned with recommendations in the Community Energy and Emissions Plan + promotion of climate action incentives  (CAO, Parks & Communications, ongoing + $20k budget item in 2022?) 
- "Support, celebrate, highlight and encourage climate action by community groups, citizens and the District." (CAO, Parks, Communications & Sooke Program of the Arts Committee + $10k budget item in 2022?) 
- Support climate leadership and resilience among Sooke youth & include them in consultations (policy, ongoing) 

Development & Land Use
- Encourage switch from oil & gas heating to air-source heat pumps (Building Dept., ongoing) 
- Promote building energy efficient rebate programs (Communications, ongoing) 
- Add the BC Energy Step Code to Sooke's new Building Bylaw (Step 3 starting point for residential and retail buildings less than three storeys, bylaw adopted on Feb. 9)
- Ensure densification only occurs in the Town Centre and areas with necessary infrastructure (OCP, 2021)
- Develop tree management bylaw that recognizes trees as a carbon sink (Parks & Planning, 2021)
- Urban Forest Management Plan (Campbell River example; $50k consultant; for budget consideration in 2022)  
- Valuation tool for ecosystem integrity (aka natural assets management; Gibsons example) (Parks & Planning, 2022) 
- Introduction of permits for land clearing activities (Parks & Planning, 2022) 

The story continues at the Nov. 9 council meeting. Terms of Reference for the new Community Economic Development and Land Use & Development committees were introduced and seats were ensured on each for a member of the "Environmental/Climate Change Community."

As the staff report stated that night: "The CEDC terms of reference now include climate change mitigation and adaptation elements within a triple bottom line (environment, economy and social determinants) approach to community development ... During this review, staff noted that the Climate Action Committee (CAC) member appointments expire on December 1, 2020. Staff request that Council consider the role of the CAC as the committee has been successful in fulfilling its mandate now that the CAC work plan has been adopted by Council and directed for implementation into staff work plans. As Council has directed climate action elements to be incorporated into the terms of reference for the Community Economic Development Committee, this seems timely.

The committee's work has developed a cohesive work plan which will be utilized in upcoming years to address climate-related issues. The CEDC will use the Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) Special Committee on Climate Action Proposed Recommendations as the framework for mitigation efforts, and the Province of British Columbia Preliminary Strategic Climate Risk Assessment as the framework for our adaptation efforts." 

Council decided on Nov. 9 to renew the life of the CAC for one more year, not least so that its members can assist the CEDC in finding its climate-action feet.  It also amended the CEDC's mandate to include the following: 

* Identify opportunities and make recommendations on innovative projects to help achieve carbon neutrality.

* Provide a local perspective on climate change mitigation and adaptation while considering the balance between economic, environmental and social aspects.

* Communicate and develop relationships with organizations beyond the District of Sooke to exchange ideas, experiences, plans and successes.

(Climate action, to repeat, is a necessary part of any CED group worthy of the name. The City of Surrey's Community Climate Action Strategy, for instance, states that climate-first initiatives "will lead to a range of community benefits beyond reduced emissions and energy use, including economic development, community health and wellness, affordability and liveability.")


CAC21: What's Next 

The new committee had its first Zoom meeting last month. Everyone introduced themselves, heard a likely befuddling variation (on my part, at least) of what I've shared above, revealed their respective interests, and began thinking about what they will want to tackle in the short year ahead. Under the guidance of Chair Bernie Klassen, we'll fine-tune the process and our respective roles on Feb. 23. 

One potential direction that particularly excites me is the "education and engagement" component of the CAC Work Plan.  Inspiring Sooke residents to take (further in many cases) personal responsibility for carbon reduction was the "meta focus" of the previous committee. We have educational expertise on this new one that positions CAC21 to deliver some smart, actionable recommendations on how the District can (perhaps in league with community groups) promote accelerated behavioural change. 

Sooke's Community Energy and Emissions Plan features a list of “potential community engagement opportunities” led by steady, ongoing promotion of any current rebate and incentive programs offered by BC Hydro, FortisBC, CleanBC's Better Homes Program, Plug in BC and others. This was the top priority dictated by council when the CEEP was endorsed in 2014. Now the District's newly established Communications department has started to share the latest rebate info again and will continue doing so along with all else it delivers. 

Other CEEP recommended actions (some already ticked off in the CAC Work Plan) include: 
* education for builders (a "green check-list" for new developments) 
* promotion of BC's Wood Stove Exchange and the PowerSmart for Schools programs
* zero waste initiatives (swaps, share sheds, free-store for unwanted goods, backyard composting promotion, yard-waste and building materials depot)
* community energy cooperatives
* secure bike lock-ups and sheltered parking spots
* transit mode-shift promotion (focused on “major employers")
* ride-sharing programs
* EV infrastructure and incentives
* and, in the broadest sense, “long-term deep community engagement (culture change)” 

On that last subject, Item 8.5, pg. 43, reads: "Engage residents in developing and implementing climate solutions through collective, ‘bottom-up,’ informal, organizational and institutional initiatives ... People need information, a realistic assessment of the threat or diagnosis, a sense of personal control over their circumstances, a clear goal, an understanding of the strategies to reach that goal, a sense of support, and frequent feedback that allows them to see that they are moving in the right direction.” (Annual GHG progress reports rather than once per decade would seem essential.) 

There are no end of examples on how to talk climate with the public. I think fondly of Rick's Mercer's One-Tonne Challenge, launched by Paul Martin's government and scrapped unceremoniously upon Stephen Harper's election in 2006. 

Close to hand and fresh right now, our near-neighbour the District of Saanich is lauded for its climate action, especially since partnering with the BC Sustainable Energy Association on the 100% Renewable By 2050 campaign five years ago. In 2020, Saanich released its celebrated Climate Action Plan and has been rolling out citizen engagement tools such as the following: 

- Saanich Residents’ Climate Action Handbook (household guide intended for all ages) "A very very simple tool for the public to be able to use at home, chatting with kids, coffee conversations within your bubble. Online tool takes you to our carbon calculator. Helps identify some actions you can take with support from your municipality while reducing your carbon footprint.” ~ Saanich Sustainability Manager Rebecca Newlove speaking at the recent Local Government Leadership Academy virtual conference   

- Saanich Climate Champions Program (climate declaration signable by residents + photo & video spotlights on citizens doing good things) 

Might we do something similar or entirely our own #Sooke variation on a theme?  "Climate action/emergency preparedness neighbourhood pods" of citizens inspiring each other onwards is one of the fine ideas I heard at our first CAC21 meeting. (thank you Elizabeth Lange, who's part of just such a pod in the Whiffin Spit area.)  Initiatives exactly like that could be part of Sooke's pitch in becoming one of the UBCM's aforementioned social-mobilization trial communities (if and when that proposed program takes fight.)  

Whatever directions CAC21 takes, I hope/trust all work will be assembled into a single document that can go forward to council at year's end -- a substantial, understandably unpolished, yet also bold, creative, best-contemporary-practice draft of the A&M Strategy/Climate Action Plan this community needs.

(Revisiting, updating and repurposing the Sooke Sustainable Development Strategy, which with growing familiarity I now view as one of Sooke's very best planning documents, and borrowing passages freely from others in the District's substantial library of same, might be the most direct and effective way to do this.) 
 
Related Links 
~ District of Sooke Climate Action website page (updated Feb. 2021) 
~ Sooke Community Energy and Emissions Plan (CEEP, 2014)
~ BC Climate Action Charter (2008), to which Sooke and all BC municipalities are signatories
~ Sooke Climate Emergency Declaration (passed unanimously by council on April 8, 2019) 
~ Parks and Trails Master Plan
~ Transportation Master Plan
~ OCP Interim Engagement Summary (Feb. 2021, one of eight themes heard from the public in the Official Community Plan review so far is "the need to develop the OCP through the lenses of compassion and climate action.")
~ "Sooke's Innovative Town Centre Takes Shape" (BC Climate Action Toolklt, 2010)

~ CleanBC (2018)
~ BC Climate Action Toolkit + 
~ Canada's Climate Plan (2020)

~ The Paris Agreement
~ UN Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 C (final report)
~ UN Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity (1m species threatened with extinction)

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

Image below from the Sooke Official Community Plan preliminary Background Research Report, pg. 36. Its next page features a detailed breakdown of all local carbon emissions. 

"As part of the (Sooke) OCP review and update process, our team is seeking opportunities to adopt a ‘climate lens’ throughout both engagement and policy development. Sustainability Solutions Group will review the CRD’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory Study that includes Sooke’s emissions profile, community input from the OCP engagement process, and industry best practices, to provide recommendations for climate mitigation and adaptation. SSG can do a high level GHG calculation (not modelling) that will help inform target setting and low-carbon actions determination, which will be based on Sooke’s GHG emissions inventory and experience working in comparable municipalities. This will be used as a guide for target setting and policy development." 

Also from this blog: Climate Changes (May, 2019) 

Updated: Jan. 24, 2021
A second call for applications to the revived Land Use and Development Committee was issued earlier this month. Council received some excellent submissions on the first request pre-Christmas, but there were too few and so a new pitch is circulating in more creative, engaging style so as to lure more. The deadline is two Tuesdays from now (Feb. 2) and you'll find all the details here, including a list of subjects the committee will focus on: secondary suites (legal and illegal); town centre and shoreline development; local land-use planning; Official Community Plan contributions; work on Sooke's next Subdivision and Development Standards Bylaw (recommended for an overhaul in the Parks and Transportation Master Plans.)  More on this committee's background as you scroll down this page. 

The hugely promising Community Economic Development Committee launched Friday morning, Jan. 22, with this opening agenda.   Its membership (in alphabetical order): Christine Bossi, Sooke Region Communities Health Network (chair); Ryan Chamberlain, Sooke Region Tourism Association (also Vancouver Island Lodge and Marine Liaison Officer for the T'Sou-ke First Nation); Peter Doukakis, WorkLink Employment Society (WestShore and Sooke); Doni Eve, Sooke Region Historical Society; Jeff Frank, Economic Development Officer for the T'Sou-ke First Nation; Dana Lajeunesse, Sooke council appointee (and formerly a Chamber board member, 2010 OCP Steering Committee member and appointee to Mayor Milne's Advisory Panel on ED) ; Karen Mason, newly re-elected President of the Sooke Chamber of Commerce; Sam Purdy, public appointee (Immediate Past-President of the Rotary Club of Sooke, formerly an ED mover/shaker in Cambridge/Kitchener/Waterloo, and involved with that area's Habitat for Humanity division); and Doug Wittich, public appointee (Wittich Environmental Services and the Sooke Economic Development Group). CAO Norm McInnis is a key player with the committee after having led an informal warm-up ED group these last nine months; he again shared this stirring video about how CED differs from traditional ED as defined by the Canadian CED Network. The group will also be supported by Sooke's first Community Economic Development Officer, who if all goes as planned will be at work by the start of April. 

Meanwhile, I'm excited about first steps of a new iteration of the Climate Action Committee, which also launched last week (agenda link). It follows the previous committee's 18 months of solid, patient process work leading to a series of its recommendations entering the 5-Year Budget and/or being added to District staff work plans.  For me, the excitement stems in part because I'm taking the reins as council appointee from Cllr. St-Pierre (who's moving on to another key TBA position within council's orbit, details to come) ... but largely because, like the CED committee, it has attracted a set of substantial, talented and skilled folks, to wit in alphabetical order: Beatrice Gentili-Hittos, a recent University of Victoria graduate (Forest Biology and Environmental Studies) and core organizer with Climate Justice Victoria; Shandell Houlden, Royal Roads University PhD candidate and a skills educator with Thriving Roots Wilderness School; Chair Bernie Klassen, Transition Sooke board member of long standing, Zero Waste Sooke core team member, organizer of the Sooke Repair Cafes and the Green New Deal town hall;  Elizabeth Lange, author, academic and specialist in the field of Transformative Learning (and how it might be applied to climate-action behavioural change); Jessica Prieto, UVic grad (Business Commerce and Economics), experience in project management and logistical planning with Nestle Mexico, and now part of the team at ALM Organic Farm and Full Circle Seeds;  Anna Russell, a consultant and specialist in public policy development;  Cassandra Schostek, a Sooke-based GHG reduction and energy efficiency specialist with the Alberta Energy Regulator;  Michael Tacon, co-founder and president of Transition Sooke;  and Vice-Chair Steve Unger, solar power specialist with Viridian Energy Cooperative and practicing regenerative agriculture at InishOge Farm and Field School. The exceptional Jessica Boquist is the District's liaison from the Parks and Environmental Services Department. (More from me on local climate action + a list of #Sooke initiatives and accomplishments).  

Catch up on the Official Community Plan Steering Committee and the Sooke Program of the Arts Committee on the District's committee website page, home base for all agendas and minutes. 

Sincere thanks once more to everyone who has volunteered their time for these and previous committees, and a hat tip to those applicants for whom we couldn't find a seat given each committee's Terms of Reference and the limited number of spaces around the table. 


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, through 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."  

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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

Update Aug. 12: Despite a few earnest swings and misses, our batting average in the grants sweepstakes this year is pretty phenomenal -- all the more so with the Rusty Staub*-calibre grand slam announcement that Sooke will receive $1.8 million in federal/provincial funding to transform the Sooke Road to Wadams Way section of Otter Point Rd. into a safe, modern, active-transportation corridor fit for cars, bikes and pedestrians.

That's an above-our weight share (approx. 15%) of the total funding allocated to 21 Vancouver Island communities through this latest round of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure program.
​
Work on this and the Church Road corridor improvements is slated to begin this fall. You'll need to routinely visit the District's traffic advisory page to plan around the inevitable short-term hold-ups. Both projects are part of the remarkably fast-tracked implementation of Sooke's 2020 Transportation Master Plan stewarded by Director of Operations Jeff Carter.

And both dramatically improved intersections align with a renewed, OCP-certified vision for a Town Centre radiating out from Canada's southwestern-most traffic light (at Otter Point Rd.). Efficient, walkable, rideable, attractive and multi-user-friendly ... not such an easy task with a highway running through, but oh what a difference this last decade has made and is making.

Now onwards with the challenging task of putting some guardrail limits on our growth and the resultant traffic.

*Le Grand Orange was one of my boyhood Montreal Expos heroes ... feel free to substitute Reggie Jackson, Ken Griffey Jr. or Snr., Hank Aaron, or Joe Carter, a forever-after Blue Jays legend for his 1993 World Series clincher that triggered celebrations long into the night even where we were living in west-side Vancouver. I stopped following MLB not long after, so can't name a single 21st century slugger apart from Carlos Delgado.)

​                                                           *************************************************

Jan. 20 original: 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.'" 

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. 

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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.