Transcript: Regular Council - May 19 2026

All right, it's the uh 8:06 and I'm calling the regular council meeting to order and we're once again meeting in the traditional territories and hokamin speaking first nations with whom we are committed to building stronger working relationships. Tonight's meeting is being livereamed and recorded, enhancing transparency, inclusiveness, accountability, and efficiency. [clears throat] Members of the public can watch live or view the recording later through our meeting portal under tonight's agenda page or on the District of Highlands YouTube channel. Information and links to access the meeting were provided on tonight's agenda. Members of the public are welcome to share their comments during petitions and delegations portion either uh in person or electronically if we I don't know if any has uh come in for the an electronic participation tonight and they haven't. Okay. So that'll be in person and uh to speak at the meeting and receive the public has asked to uh request to speak yet. That's right through the meeting portal. Is there anyone who hasn't registered and wishes to speak? Uh please raise your hand.

And seeing none, I will look for approval of the agenda. Moved by councelor Rousing, second, seconded by councelor Anderson. Discussion and seeing none, I'll call the question. All those in favor? Opposed? None opposed. That carries. And u we're on to petitions and delegations. And we're I'm very pleased tonight to have uh members from BC Transit who are going to give us an update on their transit plan. And this is uh Elise and uh Kelly. Please step forward. And it's great to say I I met uh Elise this morning at the BC Transit meeting where they have the tap and go was introduced. So, that's a very uh a $25 million project that is really going to help everyone cuz it's so convenient to use the credit card for public transit. So, thank you.

The floor is yours. Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Williams. Um, so my name is Elise Ren. I'm government relations manager for the Victoria Regional Transit System at BC Transit and I'm joined by Jacob Burnley. He's our transit planner for Victoria. Before we start, I'll let you know that we're doing kind of a road show, a council road show of all 13 municipalities with this presentation. Typically, we'll get about 10 minutes to delegate and that's for this mega project. That's the time we need. So, may I please request from council 10 minutes to delegate. All in favor? None opposed? That carries. Thank you very much. And we will keep it brief and allow for questions afterward. So, let's turn it on, shall we?

There we are. So, I'm going to keep my overview very brief um so that I can give the floor to Jacob to talk about the 25-year plan. Um so, just a reminder for you, uh the Victoria Regional Transit System has fixed route transit. Uh we have about 60 transit routes, about 58 actually, uh with 100,000 boardings per day in the capital region. We have our custom transit, our handydandy dart service, which is door-todoor service. Uh, and there are 22,000 registered users, but that translates to about three and a half thousand active users that we see uh most actively. And then we have our inter regional connections. So we have a couch couch and valley commuter that connects Victoria to couch and seven days a week.

And then uh our funding responsibilities explained. So uh this is a a triparty agreement really. Um so we have the Victoria Regional Transit Commission uh which establishes our routes and priorities. Um and then we have they also set the service levels and approve the budgets for the transit system uh set the fairs and the provide the local tax subsidy. Um BC Transit then is the operating company as well uh and provides uh all the services planning and operating uh that goes into to uh managing the system. And then our local government contribution, our bus stops and shelters, uh collaboration on infrastructure, uh and then local planning initiatives with our OCP, uh and develop, we have a development referral program, which we can tell you about as well. Um and then just at the bottom there for your interest, um how funding sources are explained. So property taxes make up for 34% of funding for BC Transit. There's a 10% fuel tax. There's our transit fund there. Uh provincial share that the province kicks in 31%. And then our

passenger revenue and advertising is 22%. So that's a super quick overview and we can go back to any of the one of those in your question period and over to Jacob. Awesome. Thanks, Elise. Uh so yeah, like I said, like we said, we're here to provide some background and update on the Victoria Regional Transit Plan. Um and really this plan is is meant to create and establish a 25-y year vision for the system. So we're looking at our highest ridership routes, our rapid bus routes connecting Lanford to Victoria, but we're also looking at our rural and outlying community routes as well. So it's a really comprehensive plan. Um, and we are really ensuring that the recommendations we make out of the plan are also consider also of consideration with infrastructure as well. Um, with with additional service levels, additional frequency on many routes, we are going to need additional buses as well. So there is an infrastructure component. Um, and as we write out this plan and provide a final draft, we'll have more information on that front.

Um so it is it has been quite some time since uh the region had a comprehensive transit plan done. It's been over it's been about 15 years now. Um and as this as the region has grown and evolved and travel patterns have changed and uh residential growth has changed as well. Um there there's there's a number of advancements that we are proposing through the plan um to address many of those uh many of those changes. Um obviously one of those is the growth in the west shore. Um and this is some uh regional um uh regional travel data uh from the CRD. And as you can see um there's quite uh quite significant uh growth in the west shore and a lot of growth in the commuter patterns between west shore and the core. Um and so with these land use changes we are looking to modernize the system. Um we were looking at like I said our our highest frequency services the routes that have a lower

frequency but are candidates for higher frequency based on the ridership data that we're seeing. And we collect this ridership on board our buses every day. So we can see on a certain trip how many people are riding uh on a on a route over a given time period. We can see that as well and bus stop level data as well. Just a number of of of advancements with BC transit of late. Um we have the Yumo uh program. So the pay by card, pay by app program. Um we also have advanced rapid bus service as well. Um so the connections between Langford and Victoria are becoming quicker and more reliable with dedicated lanes. Um we also have the uh uh the CLA uh the kids 12 and under ride free program um which is supporting that next generation of transit users as well.

So uh at least mentioned the current system. I won't speak too much to this but I just will mention at a high level that the greater Victoria region when you compare to other transit systems of a similar size around the country does have a a strong ridership per capita um and and service hour performance. So, we put more hours on the road and we put we we put we get more people on our buses. Um, which is which is is a positive note. Um, in terms of current service in the Highlands, so I'm sure you're all aware, um, but obviously this is really a base level community oriented service at this point currently. Um, the service is delivered via local handy dart uh and and connects to the route 47 once in the morning and once in the evening. Um, that route 47 is very much a commuter oriented trip. Um it the bus is accessible um via um calling uh calling the the transit office or by flagging down the bus along the route um as is the case in a number of rural systems across the province. Um we we do see low

ridership on a daily basis. Um but one thing that was noted to us recently was around the marketing and communications of the service. Um we did host a local government workshop with representatives from various communities. Um planning staff from the district was was there and that was something that was noted was the marketing and communications aspect of the service. even if there are people who are interested in in in in adopting and using the service, how are they finding it? And we've done some investigation um with our web development team and our marketing team as well. Um and there are a number of processes in place to get that information more publicly available online in the coming weeks. Um there are a number of opportunities through the Victoria Regional Transit Plan uh plan to look at evaluating and updating the service. And like I mentioned with other um lower ridership routes, we will be looking at these routes individually in the coming years um specifically to look at are there other options for service

delivery um to tailor the service better to the needs of the community. Um so we did an a really robust engagement program as part of uh as part of this plan. Um we hosted online an online survey, we had openhouse events uh around the region. Um and we consulted a number of key employers as well. Um and really universally it was there was a desire for improved frequency but also improved service reliability and on-time performance. um the connectivity between roots was something that was noted um quite quite regularly and then also just the desire for simplified routes and for better um key point to key point connections. So um considering those those connections like a Milstream village into Langford, like Lanford into downtown etc.

Um and so part of what will come out of this plan is some guidelines and some standards around uh for each type of route, what's the level of frequency and the span of service to how early to how late that service should run. what are those expectations and what can local governments expect from us as a service provider. Um, so we want to be providing a bit more clarity around those standards. Um, there are a number of sort of draft big moves in the plan that we're proposing. Um, and I'll just speak to a couple of these. A lot of these are about higher frequency on our busiest corridors, but there are a couple of things that do have some relevance to to Highlands and the surrounding communities. And one of those is the improved connectivity between the West Shore and and downtown. Um, one thing we are looking at doing is building out our frequent transit network. Um, that will have some implications in certain areas.

Uh, so looking at operating buses uh at a at a frequency of 15 minutes during those peak times. Uh, very critical. We are also looking at um, uh, supporting uh, different service types as well. Digital on demand services and opportunity is a tool in our toolkit that we could utilize. I'll speak to that in a moment. Um, and then the handydandyart modernization as well. Um, and this is really interesting because um, we've seen that that the the consistent growth of the handy dart service both in interest and uptake. Um, and as we've built out a new facility in V Royal, um, we we are seeing more capacity for us to be able to deliver to deliver that service effectively. One element of the handy dart service that is is is currently being caught up on is around the tech and really it's about improving the booking program in uh [clears throat] supporting a a program that it's easier for people to access the program to register to review their eligibility. Um but it's also able for

us to be able to trip plan and improve service efficiency. So um there would be an opportunity to um book uh via an online platform. Um, we would have we would still obviously have the phone platform as well, but there'd be data that we could collect in turn to improve and tailor the service to the handydart uh users. Um, we also have obviously the higher order transit. I spoke a bit about this, but this is really um ensuring that the downtown to Langford connection, so the connection that people from for those riders from Highlands will be connecting into is efficient and reliable. Um, the service currently, the route 95 carries about 10 to 11,000 people a day. Um so it's it's a really strong uh ridership uh route um and comparable to and competitive amongst a number of others of a similar uh type across Canada. Um so we are looking at uh at that corridor um regardless of the routing that any future service improvements take. we would be ensuring that both Langford and Callwood, so if there are people

connecting in um at Milstream and and Triner at the uh at the Milstream Village location that they they'd have a multitude of services to use. And then just lastly for the District of Highland specifically um the exploration of on demand service. So as I mentioned we would be looking at every route and every service um individually and there is an opportunity for us to explore on demand as a potential service option. This is essentially a dialeride service similar to what is what is available now. But we would be looking at are there opportunities to um use our use the existing suite of resources we have to modernize that service provide better public information on it and better tracking as well uh for performance. Um I'm happy to answer any questions about on demand. Um but really at this point we are triing it in a number of communities. It's still very early in its infancy. Um, and I I would mention that we would we would be looking at studying the opportunity. Um, and if there's any any proposals or recommendations that we would have for the district about the service, um, that

we would come back for additional engagement both with with staff and with community members. Um, the next steps here, we were presenting the draft plan. Um, once it's finalized in the next month or so, um, we'll be finalizing that plan um, and working with some of our key stakeholders and rights holders for final feedback. We have some feedback sessions planned for the end of this month and early June with some of our key employers, neighborhood associations, etc. And we'll be going to the uh the Victoria Regional Transit Commission in July for endorsement of of site plan. And that is all I have here. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you.

Yeah, Councelor Gourd Barrett. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you very much for that. Um, I do have [snorts] a question and um, first of all, your presentation was good. I I enjoyed going through it and I wish I was at the the workshop. Uh the with regards to your ridership and your ridership increase and recognizing that it really comes down to what the number of riders, what the base is out there for that and that presently we've got a very limited ridership in the highlands, low density. Are there any sort of outside influences that um would enhance uh bringing in roots? And I and I'll play my cards in the table. Um when I look at bill 44 and 47 that came in through the province and recognized that uh transit routes were a something before were something to be desired.

And then for a community like ours, um then there's a little bit of fear about transit routes coming through because then it means it overrides your sort of your zoning because then you can start to build other uh more dense housing on transit routes. So I'm I'm curious about when you talk about the other stakeholders, [clears throat] are there other influences outside of just ridership that are influencing how you expand your roots through the mayor to council? Um, I'll speak to the first part, maybe at least can fill in the gaps. Um, the first part about the the bill 44, the housing bill. Um, I think one thing that is, I think, often not spoken about is the threshold for when that would be triggered. And that would really be when a service meets frequent service levels. Um, currently there are actually not very many routes in Victoria that actually meet the provincial standard because that is it's quite an aggressive standard. It's a 7:00 p.m. to 7 or 7 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. um week weekdays and then there's a weekend service level as

well um 50 minutes sorry yeah 50 minute um during those periods. So there are a handful of routes that we are looking at evolving towards FTN service. So the route 52 which circulates Callwood Royal Bay back into Langford and terminates in and around um Bear Mountain and Milstream Village that would be a service that would be looking to reach um 50inute. Uh so the services that we could feed into would be improved which I think is a benefit for for the Highlands as well. But in terms of the in terms of that um the actual provincial legislation, I don't think there's any relevance in the short term um for Highlands.

[laughter] And then I'll just add um to what Jacob has has just touched on. It is provincial legislation. So we're learning about it as you're learning about it. Um so uh BC Transit does not enforce it. Um, but what we are doing is as we are getting close to those thresholds, we're having those conversations with those individual municipalities at the staff level to let them know that that's if we are expanding service that's in the works. Um, so we can discuss and plan accordingly and if those municipalities need to reach out to the province to ask questions, clarifying questions, then they can. Thank you very much. Excellent.

Councelor Mlan, do I have to hit this? No. Uh, thank you for joining us. So, I have a couple things. Um, I worked downtown for 23 years. Sometimes I drove, sometimes I took the bus. Um, I moved here from a different city that had excellent bus service and still now I cannot believe how far off BC Transit is from. Um so I also as council representative used to sit on the intermunicipal committee for persons with disability issues known as we would frequently invite someone from BC transit or the transit commission BC transit usually and um [snorts] we had a very good uh keener uh lady her surname uh slips my mind at this time [sighs and gasps] um and she brought brought a number of things to our attention that were totally bizarre and um I won't get into details but um the last meeting we had with them and I have been on the committee for a while was the transit guy brought maps to show us on the screen and I'm sorry but the street

names were wrong for Bare Mountain and Milstream and so forth and he said he'd fix that up and come back but he never did. Anyway, uh I did hear through him, I could give you his name later, um that the developers up at Bare Mountain lobbyed to increase the bus service up there, uh which as you mentioned is 52, which goes to Squimo Lagoon. And I am amazed that I see a bus go up there at uh 5:30 in the morning when I'm heading out some mornings. And um and I'm amazed when I receive sorry when I read like uh Oak Bay has like bus service every 10 and 15 minutes, you know, and that's um that's something we have nothing close to. So I live at the northern end of Milstream Road. After I left work, a decision that impacted a a factor that impacted my decision was the impact um my driving to work was having on the environment.

And for a number of reasons, I chose to leave work in 2003 and and I was going in uh leaving in January or early February. And then the next month, they started up a transit service up here, commuter service as you said on the commuter bus. to come up uh North Milstream uh like it was a ridiculous time like uh quarter to 5 in the morning and then coming back quarter to 6:00 in the evening and so when I did used to take the bus and and I also lived on the border of Machosen and Cwood and uh you know and I used to think like people don't have time to drive over I'm sorry Hell's Half Acre to get to an exchange station to then go downtown like why can't we have some direct hits and I used to lobby MLA Rick Casper at the time to try and get improved service out here because so many of the ladies I worked with at the Ministry of Health lived in the West Shore. Okay. Anyway,

um I digress slightly. Uh I lost my car for a period of time. uh try and find a car when you don't have a car and you live in the highlands. And um I didn't get much anywhere using the phone um because we were told years ago and I've read it in print that we could flag down the uh commuter bus and and get get the ride or we could phone and request it. And none of that worked for me and so I never had time to follow up on it. But um and every time we have an election uh uh so we're campaigning basically we have residents that say to us why can't we have better bus service like we have some seniors that would probably just like to have a bus um you know a group could get together okay we're all going to go Wednesdays and go grocery shopping you know or something like that. Um anyway, uh it's uh so I have a financial question which I kind of warned you about ahead of time. So out of our KPMG

report, I noticed that we recently received Highlands Council with the year end December 31st, 2025 that indeed Highlands is paying BC Transit now order over a million dollars 52873 half a million dollars. Sorry, my apologies. And it has gone up and that's for 2025. So, we don't know what 2026 is obviously at this time. So, between the comparison to 2024 and 2025, Highlands is now paying uh I have no idea why, but I'd really like to know. Uh we're we're paying over uh 235,14. That's an increase in one year. And our service is exactly the same. Over the years, they did change it to uh4 to 6:00 in the morning and/4 to 6:00 in the evening because I'm not going to take the bus when I was working and then be half hour early for work or an hour early for work and I can't even get into the building.

So anyway, I'm going to I I I would I know you aren't the financial folks, but I I would really appreciate knowing um like why the increase and I would actually like to know what the wrership um is because like if we're paying over half a million dollars, is it is it really is it really worth it? Thank you for the for the chair. Um, so when we think about BC Transit service, so we are a crown corporation at arms length from the province. So really this is a regional service for the Victoria regional transit system. So it really is all 13 municipalities chipping in for uh the the local share. Um, and that local share makes up 69% and the province funds uh 31%. Um, so when we look at that local share, I' I've heard a lot tonight about equity and I understand and I understand your question. Uh, but we, uh, in terms of BC Transit, it's part of the BC Transit Act. It's section 15, sorry, section 16 of the act. Um,

that legislates that it is a a regional service just like ambulance or police service would be as well. Um so really the idea is to offer regional transit that um will get you into the hubs and where you need to go around the entire region. Um also I know that um you I can hear disparity about the the certain fixed route um at those uh morning and evening parts of the day. I will remind you too that you also have handy dart service. So you are part of the um I'm sorry everything's booked for the next three months. I have two weeks in advance. That's very sorry.

I I I understand you do have to book two weeks in advance. Continue, please. Thank thank you for your comments and I'm happy to give you my contact number and we can talk privately about it's probably better than privately than in this public setting. Um I will say about Handy Dart um Jacob did um acknowledge that our Handy Dart service does lack that's what we're saying it's lacking. It's needing modernization. So, one of the big 10 um points on this 25-year plan, and actually the handed piece is the one that's coming first, is that software package that will help us get away from staying on the phone for hours, not being able to book. It'll help us do better because we know that we need to do better for Handy Dart. So, that being said, and acknowledging that, um you do have handy dart service. You are part of the map, the service area map, uh for Handy Dart. Um, and so that is part of what your your tax dollars are paying.

So the the District of Highlands is it is not part of your budget. It's part of the tax envelope that your residents are paying for. So, and I'll let Jacob talk to um to uh the riders and I'm blanking on the question. Well, I do see here it's got according to operations one to two riders using the service. It can't be daily because it's only weekdays. Yeah. So um yeah through through the mayor um so we did we did consult with operations on the writership data. I do also and I want to go back to the marketing communications piece because I think that's a big that that is that is a that's a potential missed opportunity that that we've seen internally for us that we're we're um working to rectify.

So um having the information more readily available and then your staff can link that information through through the municipal site. Um really the the the the challenge with growing ridership um in in in an area in a community with with a with with a low with a low population density um is that we have our our shared service hour um sort of our budget for the region. Um we're balancing a number of different sort of competing priorities right now. Um the biggest one is around service reliability and on-time performance as well as overcrowding. Um there's a number of core routes. Langford to Victoria is one um where we are needing to invest more hours more more of our budget each year to maintain that service to ensure it's reliable. Like I said that service is carrying about 10 to 11,000 people. Um we have heard in our engagement from residents from um Mosen from other communities as well that a lot of people feed into that route. So it's not just a Langford to Victoria service. Um so on-time performance and service reliability are

are two re real big pieces. um only once we address those um critical fix type needs um can we really be looking at expansion in a responsible way and that's kind of I think probably and I've only been with BC trans for about 2 years um but I think in in my time here that's kind of one of the challenges is why and not just in highlands but in some other communities we haven't really seen service level increases or service frequency improvements or changes to routes at a whole at a at a wholesale level um is because of the service reliability on on-time performance needs in the system. One thing that will come out of the service um the root and network restructuring which is something we're aiming to do through the winter and the spring of next year is like I said looking at roots individually um to see are there small tweaks that we we can make potentially in a cost neutral way potentially um to to to to improve the service but um yeah I I don't that would kind of be my short answer for the

writership growth piece is really with improved frequency comes increased ridership there is a point there's a point to be made for marketing communications and that's a that's a low to no cost fix that we can make and we are in the process of working on right now. Um, but I hope that answers the question. So, I just want to say what I used to lobby for when I was just a resident and working uh downtown was that there's some kind of hub that um or or a park and ride by the TransCanada Highway. Nobody wants to go to Weshore Park and wreck and then go into Victoria. It's a waste of emissions. It's a waste of time. We want a direct route. Um, so I mean, you know, I mean, sorry, like Rick Casper. I mean, I'd have to check with my backup mind, Bob McMinn, and say, you know, how long ago was Rick Casper our MLA? Well, that was before Andrew Ped um or whatever his surname was. Um, like

Nobody's going to take the bus when it's m time. Sorry. I'm gonna give another My apolog Anderson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And thank you to you both for for taking the time to come out tonight. Um I'm actually following up on a couple of what council Mlan actually mentioned. I wasn't sure where she was going to go before she started. Um so I did just want to point out like we are a community that it's you know small obviously you look at our numbers. We wrestle pretty regularly with this question of what does it mean to be a good neighbor in the community. Um we have a budget for our parks and recck facility that is just over $220,000 a year. We spend months generally agonizing over whether this is something we should participate in. Um similarly with respect to libraries, although we don't debate participate in them as much it seems, but everything we do, we you know a $1,000 grant for um an organization that's going to center their operations in Langford, but offer services to everybody. Do we participate

or not? Um we chose not to have anybody attend UBCM in spite of the fact we know how valuable it is so we could knock $5,000 off our budget. So we deal with small numbers. So when we see that our budget for transit is $500,000 a year, like that's an astronomical amount for our taxpayers to contribute for what I would offer is probably the least amount of service of any of your jurisdictions. So I know you know that and I'm not intending to put you on the hook for that. I mean, I think the service changes that um are being offered for strengthening the van uh Victoria to Langford and West connections are are great, but it nobody here can get into that route. Um so the idea of some kind of park and ride, I'm not sure flagging down a handy dart's going to catch on, but if you something you can do there, that's great. I'd love to listen to it. Um interested in hearing about this on demand opportunity. But from my perspective,

you know, an increase of from 300 odd to $500,000 um for in essence no service. We pay 220 for police service and we get that like they do show up [laughter] and they're here. So, you know, it's just it's an awkward one for me to try to say to people when you knock on a door, why can't you get more? Um and to just try to offer a good community neighbor, it's not really working. So anything you can do to move past the idea of you know we could look into when we're looking at exploring I appreciate that you know taking care of sort of the core is what has to happen before you can grow things but meanwhile we we twiddle our thumbs and and get frustrated. So, I appreciate that you're taking the time to come and and chat with us and listen to these ideas and um really hope that there are ways to either improve the park and ride kind of access or u make some other changes that don't make transit feel like just something we contribute to for other people. Thanks.

Yeah, thanks for that. Um the other thing is that there are other jurisdictions across Canada that have a two-tiered system. They have a different tier for rural and less densely populated areas. And so it kind of helps take care of the problem that and and I don't know how receptive the uh the brass at uh BC Transit would be to that, but it would sure be appreciated if that idea was floated at some time. Um through the mayor to you. Um so yeah, so what we're talking about is provincial legislation. So it would be the BC Transit Act, which us as staff can't do anything about, but I would suggest um and and I'm hearing this strongly. I would suggest I know you mentioned UBCM you didn't go you not going um but that's the place to speak to the province. So maybe putting a um a motion forward um for um I forget what it's called when you put a resolution. Thank you. Um to UBCM

um or if you'd like the to be connected to who you need to speak to um I'm happy to do that too. Yeah. Thank you. Any uh questions from any other counselors at the moment? I see councelor Mlan has her light flashing there. If no one else wishes to speak, I'll go back to her. Councelor Mlan. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um, the other thing I uh would hear on IATI when the transit fellow used to come, believe his name is Dan Guthrie, lived in Cwood. um is that actually I think he said um the uh transit commission sort of has like a requirement to engage with communities every couple years or something like that and I don't recall that ever happening in Highlands and I've been involved with the Highlands deeply for like 32 years. Um the other thing I just wanted to mention from my seeing on um IATI as well was that um this the curb cuts for the regular buses you know either and if a bus uh stop doesn't have a curb cut then the person

with mobility or disability issues may be stuck on a bus and going way past the stop that they want and they have disabilities and it's like you're being punished. um and and then [clears throat] they have to backtrack because the bus didn't stop for them or there's no curb cut um and that kind of thing and that includes stopping and being picked up. So I'm sure those things haven't been corrected even since I've left IAT. Have you heard anything Rose? Okay. So I just wanted to mention that while I know I have your ears. Thank you. All right. unless there's any more questions. I'm going to uh allow Elise and Jacob to uh do it. Was so great having you here answering our questions and stuff and we really appreciate the presentation and uh thank you so much.

Yeah. All right. That moves us to adoption of a set of minutes from May the 4th. Move by councelor Ring, seconded by councelor Stanton. discussion question. Councelor Mlan, you're on. Um, I just wanted to say I think they should be adopted as amended because I spoke to staff today because I opposed a couple of motions and they were going to correct that. It's just a minor thing, but it is going to be an amendment. They show in the minutes that I didn't oppose. Here what the situation is. Um we did correct the minutes and um we did re-upload them to the agenda. So on the agenda they are correct.

Does that work for you? Councelor Mlean. All right. All those in favor? None oppose? That carries. And uh reports of committees, commissions. I have one. Anything to update here? Councelor Gourd Baird. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. And I do apologize. I'm going to bring a more fully written report, but I think that uh some very big news has come out of the Wafica water distribution commission and um we are in the process of being in essence the the trial for the asset management planning process for the CRD. And so with that we have uh had a asset management plan created uh about $2 billion worth of assets in Wafuka water and this will set the uh the asset management plan strategy for regional water waste and the rest of the CRD. So I'll be bringing that forward. Um, it will probably be a fairly lengthy uh update, but I would recommend that uh those council take some time to look at it because it's a it's a significant uh

it's probably the most significant item that Wafuka has seen in 10 or 12 years. All right, thank you for that heads up. All right, we'll move on to a correspondent question. Sorry, Councelor Mlan. Go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, um I will do this update uh another time, but I out of our last Victoria Family Court and Youth Justice meeting on April 23rd, I just wanted to mention that um so we had a presentation of with updates from Mia Golden, the youth and uh family counselor with Pacific Center Family Services. Um and so all I'm going to mention tonight, I'll do a report another time. Um, I just wanted to mention that um September 30th, 2026, uh, May Golden's uh, grant, current grant funding is going to end. And so they have another grant application in, but they haven't heard from elsewhere.

And so now this once again becomes a problem for our greater Victoria youth at risk. uh and uh having um the full team of the mobile youth services team available to them. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So 6.1 we have a letter from the green municipal fund project support and uh I don't know if how council feels about this. Council Mlan. Thank you Mr. Mayor. So I have a question. Um, I'm supportive of this, but it um, from my perspective, it doesn't sound totally clear that the ask is simply a letter of support when you have the title green municipal fund project support. So, if they're not seeking any funding from us at this time, I would um move that um council direct staff to uh sorry, I wrote this up somewhere. Where is it? Uh the council directs staff to send a letter of support to Habitat Acquisition Trust for their proposed green municipal fund project as outlined in their letter of May 13, 2020

6 uh to Highlands Council. So I'm moving that, but it's just a letter of support. I hope they're not seeking funding from us. Yeah, I don't think there's any funding involved. Do we have a seconder? Seconded by councelor Anderson. Discussion seeing none. The call question. All those in favor opposed. None opposed. That carries. 6.2. Highlands first quarter report from the 2026 West RCMP. Um councel. Move by councelor Bar seconded by uh councel. All those in favor opposed. None opposed. That carries. All right. And that brings us to Highland Zoning bylaw number 1198 amended number 47. outside. Yeah.

And right. So that's limits to principal dwelling unit size bylaw number 484 2026 council council mola councl first there. Thank you Mr. Mayor. So um even with a few of the letters that we received today and um from the folks we've been hearing from uh in the audience at this council meeting this evening. um the m vast majority of them Highlands residents. I don't know if this necessarily affects their property or not. I know it affects it affects my property. Um, I'd like to ask the corporate officer if there are what options there might be for council to potentially defer uh this item to a close but future council meeting or can we continue the count sorry can we continue the public hearing at an additional date or can we not do that because the mayor closed it. So, do we have some options, please? Thank you to the chair.

The option right now would be um council could go back and get further input [clears throat] from the community, but we would also need to have another public hearing afterwards and then it can go forward for a third and adoption. Um or you can adopt the give third and adoption tonight. Thank you for that. Um, I kind of suspected we would probably have to hold another public hearing and I know there's costs involved with that. I um, if we were to do that based on the calendar and the fact that we have upcoming summer council schedule, would staff be able to do that? Would staff be able to do the required? And so folks know that this is all the procedure is all required under the local government act dictated in notification. Would we be able to do the two weeks required um notification and say like for the the first council meeting like what would potentially be the firiest council meeting? I would say June 15th. Okay.

So, so would [snorts] so would that be deferring deferring the public hearing? So, council would want to decide if they wanted to have more public how they want to engage the public. um we could start there and then from there decide like if it wanted if you wanted to have a committee of the whole or if you wanted to have a town hall or a public open house or um I don't know how yeah I think clearly the uh community wants to I think and the amount of information out there is not not enough for a lot of people. I really think we have to have some more community engagement. The one of the things that that struck me is that the 13 zones and they weren't no notice was given individually to those properties. So we got like 200 households in Hyman's where people virtually had very little or no notice and uh and this isn't what I call the way to engage and I really feel strongly that we do you know that we get together discuss this and and maybe uh

do do the the hearing again but that's my points on what you're saying there as far as engagement. So, can I ask um through the chair to staff [snorts] u if council were going to um to say hold a committee the whole meeting for for further public engagement? I think that would make the most sense. Um, is there a means I know it's not I know it's not a requirement to notify the property owners in [clears throat] all these various zones who might be impacted by this potential uh change in dwelling size, principal dwelling size. But um if council gives staff the directive to notify these people, say that we're going to hold a committee, the whole meeting on such and such a date, and then there's going to be a public hearing on June 15th, D, you know what I'm I'm sure you know what I'm getting at.

Um so, right. Yeah. So, it would sort of be the same as a public hearing. So, I don't know if you want to notify everybody and have another public hearing. um that kind of thing. So, well, we have to if we don't do it tonight, we have to. Yes, we're going to have to notify everybody in the by way of the newspaper according to legislation. And that's how um consistently we've done it over time. Um if there's more than 10 properties, we wouldn't send out there's no requirement to send out mailings to them according to legislation. So, if council would like us to send out um mailing notices to all of those properties, then um that's something that we could do.

Possibly have Well, maybe we're getting ahead of things. Maybe council should have a meeting and discuss a plan of action on what would be best to engage the community on something like this. Well, that's going to take time, isn't it? Yeah. that to meet the to meet all of the requirements, we would want to have it in place as soon as possible. Yeah. Yes. Thank you, Councelor Anderson. Thank you, Mr. Mayor, and thanks to those of you who are still here who came out to express your your point of view. um it is always better to hear from the community and and I certainly picked up the sentiment that you know people don't feel that they had enough time to to kind of get behind this or to understand it and I think that really matters. You know I think um there's potentially some misinformation out there about what this actually means or how it plays out. um some concerns about specific properties and we haven't really had an opportunity

to ensure people understand that this this is not about a specific property and and individual property owners though will have questions about what does it mean for me if I'm thinking of this or that and it's really I think that kind of opportunity for exchange that we might need and I'm not sure a committee of a whole does that well like I'm wondering if possibly we might want to consider something more like an open house or an opportunity for people to ask questions and to you know look at particular pieces of the of the storyline and and bring forward whatever it is they want to to talk about because it you know I I think for the most part a lot of the folks who have concerns um will potentially always have concerns because of the dislike of government sort of influencing what they can choose to do on their property. Um there are others who may say, you know, oh, now that I know that I can always come forward for a variance because if you know, I can make a choice to still be doing something different if if I get

council support or just to have an opportunity to raise those kinds of um questions and find out what the avenues forward are. um it might make a difference just in terms of what then comes forward if we if we follow this route of having more engagement at um at a second hearing uh to see whether there are still some outstanding concerns or whether people feel a little bit more on side. Um so that would be my sense as well is that I'm a bit uncomfortable saying I mean I I don't think the process is at all unusual. Somebody earlier asked the question is this how your last 10 bylaws have been passed and the answer is yes. um we typically [laughter] don't get a lot of enthusiasm. We offer committees of the whole and public hearings quite regularly on different things and um you know it's great to see people come because that's not not common. So I know that's because this issue is is touching people perhaps differently than a lot of what we often do at a committee the whole meeting. So, I appreciate that you

you are, you know, raising that concern in that question. And I would offer that I would like to see us find a time and maybe it's something like in advance of a council meeting or something where I'm not sure what makes it most effective for staff, but to just set aside a bit of time where there's an opportunity for community to come and ask questions and just, you know, find out more about what's in the bylaw and, [clears throat] you know, the sort of larger portion of the Highlands that already has something like this in place. Yeah. um and just to sort of get a better perspective of of what it is this is trying to accomplish. So that I'm not positive what the right format for that kind of session might be and whether it would fit in advance of some other council meeting or something so that it's easier for us to organize or if that's worse from staff's perspective because they already have a whole bunch of things to do for council meetings.

Um, but I would offer that that would be my sort of direction to lean towards something where we can talk to people or they can ask of staff and experts what's what the content means and um instead of a committee the whole Yeah, I like uh I like where you're going with this. I like the idea of an open house. Of course, it takes time and communication to get that and I I think that's what necessary here. Whenever we've done big community decisions like our OCPS or SLAB, we've had big meetings between groups of people and and we talked them out, right? And uh I think that's what has to happen here. And so I'm going to ask staff what they their opinion, how quickly really something like that can be organized. And I I don't I don't think we should I think we should defer it until we have those discussions. I don't stuff.

Well, I think we'll have to get back to the office to figure out where um when we can schedule something like that and how fast we could get communication out to people regarding that. Um and then also think about how it's going to align with all of the um legislative requirements for notification such as in the newspaper to meet the June 15th date for a public hearing. Yeah, I think it that's something that's just worthwhile because I don't want to see division in our community. I want to see us all get together and talk things out and I think I think there's enough goodwill I saw enough goodwill in the audience that that's all people are asking and I I think that's not a difficult thing to deliver and I think it's something that should be done. Councelor Gord uh councelor Mlan your neck. No, councelor Gord first time speaker.

Yeah, thank you Mr. Mayor and I guess um I I appreciate the the the comments and my question I guess would be to to staff. I guess following up on on your question because I'm left with not sure what staff would need from us tonight, whether they need a motion to defer uh until staff comes back with more information as to the appropriate timing and and uh process or if they would like uh some other direction tonight. So I I am curious as to and I I re also recognize this as putting staff on the spot because um normally when staff looks at something they have discussed it and thought about it and we heard tonight from someone that sometimes it takes months for things to work its way before it enters here. We're putting you on the spot. So is there a quick and easy answer? What can we do to support this process and support the community?

Um possibly we could get a motion just um indicating that um we will hold we we will plan an open house between now and the public hearing of on June 15th. Wonderful. Then I will make that motion. Discussion want to motivate. Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um I I I know how I have felt about this uh this this size limit for over a decade because I think I remember telling I remember hearing someone beside me telling uh an applicant that size matters and size matters has been a comment at several discussions over 11 or 11 and a half years and I do know that I I look at the ecological side of it and the protection of the the Doug fur ecosystem as a as a predominant early driver of where I I stood. And I see that something that had an impact on me uh occurred maybe it was three years ago when uh we had the ombbudz person present in Machosen.

And during that presentation, what we saw was all the small communities, the chosen, uh, EUK, the Wafuga electoral areas, all struggling with a pattern of people buying properties that were large and rural to move uh, commercial and industrial uh, activities too. And so what it was doing is it was using the back door to in essence bypass, you know, uh the best intents of a municipality zoning. And I still feel that the bylaw that is in front of us closes that back door but leaves the front door open. And that front door, as councelor Anderson has noted, is resoning, spot reszoning or variances. And so no matter what, I think that despite my comfort with this bylaw, uh, really stemming back going many, many many, many, many years, uh, still means that I think that the community needs to have that. Uh, and the community's discussion tonight was very respectful. For the most part, I thought I was I was I was quite pleased.

And um and I think that discussion does need to move forward. Uh and certainly, you know, if there's an open house and if people are asking council members what they think, that's what the community should be doing. Um I respect several of the people in the audience that I have known for years. Um, and I may hold a different opinion because I I think that there are uh bigger bigger topics that are being addressed rather than just trying to remove someone's right from the usage of property. But I totally get what what I've heard about that. I would like to hear more about that. I'd like to know whether [sighs] my views on this truly do impact uh others. Um I'm open to that. Um and I'm open and hopefully they're open to also listening to what has uh what has guided me over the past 11 and a half years. And I think that an open house gives that opportunity. Thank you, Councelor Mlan.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh if we have an open house, I actually don't want residents asking me what I think about this. I want to hear what they think about this. Um so I have a question through the chair to staff if I may in respect to Okay. Okay. So we got potentially an open house, potentially a second followup public hearing on June 15th, 2026, which is a regular council meeting. And so my question to staff is then um how can we notify better than just the required legislation which is what we did for this public hearing tonight? [snorts] Well, council can decide if they want to um have further communication. So if you wanted us to do a mail out that that would be council's decision.

Okay. I I do think we we do need to do a mail out on both an open house and the public hearing. Otherwise, what's the point in doing all this? I mean, we did the proper process, which is actually all that's required is the two notifications going into the local newspaper. It doesn't even have to be the local newspaper and the Times colonist. And uh folks didn't like that and I can appreciate that. not everybody reads the newspaper. Um, so I I think to to correct that in this case and although it might I I appreciate and acknowledge it will make more work for staff.

Um, I think we do need to mail out notification about this to the residents, the property owners that are living in these zones that might impact them. Not so much the addition of the word uh what was it? Primary principal. Principal but the the uh size uh discussion. What are you laughing about? No. Yeah. I'm still worried about the time frame. June just sounds like too soon to me to get all this accomplished and the back and forth. We would do one mail out. So the mail out would include both the public or the open house and the public hearing. Um and the mail out would go to the actual property owners affected. Yeah.

Good. [clears throat] But we would like a motion from council. Is that a motion? Are you putting that forward as a motion? The the mail out. Yes. Yes. Well, I don't think what was put forwarded was was seconded. Was it? Yes. Okay. I missed that. My apologies. So, uh I say moved by councelor Mlan and seconded by me. Discussion. Seeing none. I call question. All those in favor for the amendment. None opposed. That carries. Back to the main motion. Councelor and Barrett. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um really interesting discussion tonight hearing from the public both uh for the bylaw and against the bylaw being adopted tonight. Um clearly uh the public feels that there should be more communication uh at least some of the public feels like there should be more communication.

Uh, I did a quick back of the envelope tally and we had approximately 22 letters ahead of time that were for council to uh approve adopt this bylaw and 18 total including tonight and uh on our agenda. So roughly split. You know, it's it's something that is very divisive in our community as far as how many people are for and against this bylaw. But I do think we got a very wide selection of input from people. And the diversity in this community is somewhat representative of the biological diversity in this community. There's a lot of it. [laughter] And and uh in in a perfect world, we would be able to take more time and hash it all out with everyone in the room and come to decisions that that everybody feels that they're okay with.

And this is a tricky one with that because we don't live in a perfect world. In fact, we this this particular item has been something that has been in the back of my mind for the 11 and 1/2 years I've been on council is limits limits to growth. And the reason for that is I have a science background that I'm very focused on uh ecology and systems and how they work and limits to growth. And in fact, seven of nine planetary bound boundaries have been breached. And this isn't opinion. This is just limits. It's physics. It's chemistry. It's biology. And we know that we can't keep growing.

The reason Highlands, yes, it's my rationale for why I support this. I'm not going to support the motion and I'm explaining why. So, thanks for taking the wind out of my sales s there. Okay, council. Let councelor bear continue. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So, Highlands is still an oasis despite the planetary boundaries being breached. And the reason it's an oasis is because it hasn't been developed extensively. We still have intact ecosystems. We still have mostly clean water, but that's not a given anymore. We have a lot of trees, but yeah, a lot of them are starting to die. We have wildflower, soil, insects. Insects are plummeting. The wetlands are no longer uh always wet when they should be. The air is mostly clean. There's still a lot of birds. There's amphibians and even large predators. But all of this is changing because the the bigger we build, the more people that live here, the more water that comes out of the ground. Um it's not a given and we need to protect it because it is changing rapidly. And

this is a small thing we can do is to have limits and and it's not just that this decision is going to have an impact and save all of Highlands from overdevelopment. It's the ripple effects from this, the ripple effects with how we are able to regulate what is done on the land with the business bylaw and that is just so we can regulate what is already there and allowed. We don't have the tools right now and in order to give us the tools to protect the highlands, we need to have limits. [gasps] So I won't be supporting this motion. I I that's on the table. I feel we could we have enough information to move forward tonight.

All right. Any further uh discussion? Council see none. I shall call the question. All those in favor opposed. Councelor and Barrett opposes. That carries staff. Um, and then we need a motion to defer the zoning bylaw number 100, amendment number 47, limits to principal dwelling unit sizes to the June 15th um, council meeting discussion. Seeing none, call question. All those in favor opposed I'm in favor. So I think uh, did we have any opposed? Okay, that carries. All right. And uh so now we're looking at our next item which is 8.1. And this is the uh you can call in Farl and then I believe uh councilors be have to leave.

We're on item number 8.1 which is the new business and this is the disclosure of contracts. Does uh staff want to uh set this up for us? So um the this contract comes up every two years I believe and um according to the community charter because a council member um is the are the pe the council members are the ones that are undertaking this contract. We need to um bring it out into the open to let um council and the public know. Thank you Mr. Mayor. O have a question through the chair to staff if I may and um understanding that they might not be able to answer it but um do you I don't know I was thinking that they were going to be here and I could ask them this question that was rather foolish of me.

Uh so do you have an idea why uh they are proposing increasing the uh weekly fee by $10? So it would then be $180 a week for cleaning the Cobb uh washroom at Eagle's Lake. Anybody? Anybody? No. Hey, um they just asked for extra $10 a week. Um that seems reasonable with the cost increase to things nowadays. $10 a week is not um a large amount. So that would be what approximately $200 more then for from June 1st through to the end of September. $170. $170. Okay. Thank you. Right. Okay. No more questions. All right, that'll take care of that then. Yeah, we're moving adjournment. All those in favor? Moved by councelor Singh, seconded by councelor Stanson.

All in favor? Opposed? Not opposed.