Rockland
Neighbourhood Association
Meeting
of the
Board of Directors
1401A
Rockland
Avenue
November
18, 2015,
Present:
Janet
Simpson (JS), Bob June (BJ), Dave Clark (DC), Norman Clark (NC),
John Edwards
(JE), Vanessa Dingley
(VD), Ian Mayhill
(IM), Stephen Roughley (SR), Pamela Madoff (PM)
Absent: Sue Simpson (SS), Marc Hunter (MH),
Dave McWalter
(DM),
Invited Guests: Thomas
Soullierre, Brooke Stark, Leigh Campbell; all of whom are City of
Victoria Parks
staff
Meeting called to order at 19:02
·
Agenda
o
Amended to hear
councillor’s report after
discussion with Parks staff
o
Motion to approve as
amended (VD/IM)
§ Carried
·
Minutes of October 14, 2015
o
Motion to approve (DC/VD)
§ Carried
·
Parks Department
presentation and discussion
o
Thomas Soulliere (TS) has
been Director since
May 2015
o
Brooke Stark (BS) heads
Operations, including
Arboriculture, Urban Forest implementation, noxious weeds
o
Leigh Campbell (LC) heads
Parks Planning and
Development, including tree protection, greenways
o
JS: concerned the Tree
Protection Bylaw is
ineffective
§ BS:
Habitat
Acquisition Trust (HAT) recently did a canopy coverage study to
support
Oak Bay’s Urban Forest Strategy (in development). Over the entire
CRD, there is
18% canopy coverage. Saanich is currently losing the most. (Canopy
Coverage is
the measurement vertical projection of the tree’s canopy on to the
ground). BS
circulated information drawn from their database that listed the
trees that had
been permitted for removal on public and private land over the
past 4 years, by
species, for both Rockland and City-wide. In addition, there were
listings of
tree planting on public land within Rockland.
·
DC: The stated number of
trees planted seems low
compared to what I’ve observed.
§ DC:
are
there any repeated measurements of canopy closure that will give
an
indication of trend?
§ JS
raised
the issue of the Atlas Cedar that was permitted for removal from a
parking lot on Belmont Avenue. When neighbours’ concerns were
conveyed to the
Property Manager the decision was made not to remove the tree.
§ NC
underscored
that the value of the Urban Forest to the city at large is greater
than the sum of the individual trees.
o
TS: The current focus of
the Department is on
the Parks Master Plan, and the Urban Gardening Guidelines.
o
Recruitment of new park
area within Rockland.
TS: Parks is determining current inventory of park lands,
determining needs by
neighbourhood, and developing an investment proposal for council.
§ VD:
Could
mini-parks serve a useful function, e.g., donations of private
land? PM:
It is difficult because there is no vacant land, and would require
purchase and
demolition of existing housing stock, and that is not generally
supported. TS:
Cost of ongoing maintenance is also an issue.
§ SR:
does
Rockland get lower priority for park acquisition because of the
large
public spaces at Government House and Craigdarroch Castle? PM:
Don’t think so,
it’s just that there are a lack of opportunities for parks and
easements.
o
DC: what is the status of
the Urban Gardening
and food production initiative? Ans: Initial public consultation
resulted in
90% support for the initiative. Report to council will be followed
by a second
round of public consultation and eventually amendments to policies
and
guidelines including urban agriculture, community gardens, fruit
and nut trees
on boulevards, boulevard development and maintenance. Elia Johnson
leads urban
agriculture policy development.
§ JS:
What
will be the impact on canopy cover? There are some mutually
exclusive
principles at play.
§ IM:
Local
food and self-sufficiency are laudable, but deer and other urban
wildlife
will impact food production efforts.
§ DC:
Urban
agriculture (cultivation of a portion of a parcel for production
of
fruits and vegetables) is now a permitted home occupation in the
zoning bylaws.
o
Noxious weeds – Parks staff
(Thomas Munson) work
with adjacent property owners to synchronize control efforts for
the worst
noxious weeds, including Japanese Knotweed and Lesser Celandine.
Also
coordinate with the Capital Region Invasive Plant Partnership.
o
Tree Protection – JS: the
current bylaw does not
protect trees that fall within the building envelope. What
monitoring and
enforcement is undertaken for new plantings for mitigation?
§ TS:
Every
development proposal is considered by both the Planning and the
Parks
Departments with respect to the conservation of existing trees.
Efforts are
made to site buildings to minimize impacts. There is a Capital
Tree Fund for
new plantings. There is no monitoring system to track the survival
of
mitigation plantings, and no clear responsibility should the
subject property
change owners.
§ JS:
Any
mechanism for covenants or voluntary designation process to
protect
trees? PM: Heritage
Policy can be
applied to trees.
o
Off-leash areas – DC:
concerns have been raised
about the popular off-leash area of Dallas Road, between Clover
Point and
Douglas Street. There is no alternate sidewalk on the north side
of Dallas, and
pedestrians sometimes feel threatened by rambunctious,
uncontrolled dogs.
§ TS:
Parks
Master Plan considers this. Public engagement has identified this
as an issue.
PM: One proposed solution is to establish an intermittent
split-rail fence just
north of the pathway to reduce unwelcome interactions.
o
The grant system was
modified for 2015. What is
proposed for 2016? Ans: Staff will provide a schedule for proposal
intake.
Develop projects and complete applications that align with the
City’s strategic
directions. Assistance in developing applications is available.
·
Councillor’s Report
o
100th
anniversary of the Bay Street
Armory.
o
Budget process is underway.
Council is receiving
staff presentations, and public consultation will follow.
o
Jubilee Hospital Master
Plan (2015-2035) is
completed.
o
Expedited Local Area
Planning Process is based
on current development pressure. Rockland is now scheduled to
commence March
2017, with completion in 2018.
o
Consultation on the
proposed development in Cook
Street Village is testing the differences between current zoning
and new
direction from the OCP.
o
The City’s quarterly
reports are a good source
of current information on City initiatives.
o
The Province has asked the
City if it is
receptive to a proposed downtown Casino.
o
City Fire Department has
shopped for a
second-hand aerial ladder vehicle to address a vulnerability posed
by taller
buildings.
·
Business arising
o
None
·
New Business
o
AGM Planning
§ Date
–
propose February 10, 2016
§ Venue
–
Grace Lutheran (to be confirmed, MH)
§ Featured
Speaker
– invite Frank Elsner, Chief of Police
·
Poll the directors and
membership for concerns
and pass that information to the Chief so that they may be
addressed in the
talk. E.g., Ambassador Program, Seniors’ vulnerabilities, mental
health and
homelessness.
§ Attract
other
audiences, e.g., renters. Give them a compelling reason to attend.
§ Who
plans
to stand for 2016 board membership? (JS, BJ, NC, DC, SR, IM, JE,
MH, VD)
§ DC
will
send out AGM checklist from last year.
§ Expand
the
poster display – do you have other interests that could be
featured?
§ SR
will
provide Coffee and Cookies
§ Eileen
Nurmi
and Lloyd Ollila will be on the nominating committee.
o
Pemberton Meadows
Development
§ Adjacent
neighbour
sent a detailed letter to City, and copied the RNA Board. The
letter
was subsequently posted to the RNA website via the Autumn 2015
newsletter. The
proponent asked that the letter be removed from the website, but
that request
was denied.
§ The
LUC
identified a need to organize the immediate neighbours to discuss
and reach
a consensus position. Because of the potentially large number of
interested
parties, none of the immediate neighbours felt that they could
host such a
meeting. NC offered to host this meeting.
§ Should
the
RNA provide a venue for such a meeting before the CALUC process
begins?
·
IM: the cost of a room is
not a major concern,
but the associated costs of organization and coordination are a
concern.
·
PM: There is an option for
a CA/NA to have a
pre-meeting, but the proponent would have to be included. To
organize a meeting
without the proponent is prejudicial and could be seen to be
undermining the
collectively agreed-to CALUC process.
·
RNA could develop a generic
checklist for
immediate neighbours to educate them about the CALUC process and
the options
available to them.
·
Committee Reports
o
Social – Hallmark Heritage
Society is hosting a
meeting at 7 pm on December 7th at their new location
at Craigflower
Schoolhouse, 2755 Admirals Road. Admission – bring a tree
ornament.
o
Membership process is being
finalized. New look
membership form will be circulated for comment.
§ NC:
membership
renewal notices should go out soon, not in January 2016.
§ NC
handed
out a summary of comments regarding the no-fee membership option.
·
Meeting was adjourned at
21:35 (JE/IM))
·
Next meeting - December 9,
2015 @ 1401A Rockland