{"videoId":"jHleTjc7FzE","source":"serpapi","segments":[{"t":220,"text":"Okay, two minutes, folks. Two minutes."},{"t":221,"text":"We're going to call the meeting to order. So, if you're not sticking around, just ask that you might clear the chambers."},{"t":368,"text":"Okay. Good evening everyone and uh welcome back to the regular council uh sorry special council meeting of uh June"},{"t":376,"text":"uh for um uh sorry I can't remember the date we have here June 15th didn't make it in my notes um as I call"},{"t":384,"text":"the meeting to order just want to acknowledge that we do our business on the traditional territories of the coast and straight salish people specifically the languan people known today as the"},{"t":392,"text":"song and casapsum first nations and how their historic connections to these lands continue to this day uh I'm uh as we do approval of the agenda, I just as"},{"t":401,"text":"noted in the last committee of the whole meeting, I'm going to ask that we just amend it to add a new item number four after mayor's remarks for public comment and question period. Um that was"},{"t":409,"text":"originally scheduled in the committee of the whole. So um with that change, can I ask for a motion to approve the agenda? Moved, seconded. Any other discussion?"},{"t":418,"text":"Seeing none, all those in favor? Any opposed? Unosed. Uh we move to mayor's remarks. Uh I will keep them fairly short. Just want to thank the organizers"},{"t":426,"text":"in the business proven association for the very successful opening night market. Um do want to acknowledge as others have about Lilian councelor"},{"t":434,"text":"Lillian's box memorial number most of council was able to make it out to that and I think it was well appreciated uh"},{"t":441,"text":"by all the family and their council. Uh as we uh go forward we are looking at uh"},{"t":448,"text":"an opening of yet another playground at Crumper Park this week. Uh and Oak Bay High graduation is happening this week which is sort of always shock always"},{"t":455,"text":"comes up in me so quickly. Um the other thing of note the CRD was discussion around art services made into the paper."},{"t":462,"text":"Some of you have seen VR was asking for consideration of stepping down the level of service and the board after a very"},{"t":469,"text":"robust discussion opted not uh to allow that to happen. Um and so uh it's a just a point of very interesting"},{"t":478,"text":"philosophical discussion on all sides of that. if you have a chance to watch it, I think it was quite interesting. Um, what I took out of that was that changes"},{"t":485,"text":"to not not the regional, but the subregional services um really do require more than just an ask for an opto but require some validation and"},{"t":493,"text":"rationale which wasn't seen to be provided by view in their ask."},{"t":498,"text":"That's it for my comments. So, I'm going to seek out if there's any members of the public who wish to address council uh on items not on the agenda tonight um"},{"t":506,"text":"but of interest to the community. this is your opportunity. Uh you heard the the earlier presenter asked to do that speaking to a stop sign on Alan Bian"},{"t":515,"text":"Henderson as a good example, but anything that's of interest to the community, uh we always make room at every meeting for this um opportunity."},{"t":524,"text":"So look online as well if anybody wishes to speak to council and uh and in the room."},{"t":534,"text":"No, not seeing any hands popping up for the public participation uh and input nor online."},{"t":542,"text":"Last chance. Okay. Uh we move on then to council business. Uh so moving on then to item number five which was item"},{"t":549,"text":"number four in the agenda. Uh under special meeting matters. These are subject to public input. Very similar to the last meeting if you were here where"},{"t":556,"text":"we will uh have a a presentation from staff. We'll have an opportunity for questions from council. uh opportunity for public input following committee uh"},{"t":564,"text":"council questions and then back to this table for direction. Mr. Renick or why don't you please go ahead and provide an introduction."},{"t":572,"text":"Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Good evening, mayor, members of council, members of the public. I'm here first"},{"t":579,"text":"tonight to speak on Oak Bay's active transportation strategy."},{"t":584,"text":"uh as council last received an update that was in January of this year. We presented the summary of the engagement"},{"t":593,"text":"that was undertaken over the course of the fall and winter 2025."},{"t":598,"text":"And uh at that time we had proposed some minor modifications to the roots and some minor changes to the phasing based"},{"t":605,"text":"on what had been heard from the public uh during that 2025 engagement. Since that time, council has considered the"},{"t":614,"text":"financial plan which included funding for the projects consistent with what was presented in January. We are now"},{"t":621,"text":"seeking council's direction to proceed to detailed design and in some cases community engagement. There were five"},{"t":630,"text":"routes that were identified to be built in 2027."},{"t":634,"text":"three of those routes because they are either conversions of existing painted bike routes or else they are uh"},{"t":642,"text":"relatively minor in scope, staff is recommending that they advance to design and construction without community engagement. Uh and then the other two"},{"t":651,"text":"routes because they're a little bit longer and will represent a little bit more of a change to what's currently there, staff is recommending that those ones advance to community engagement."},{"t":662,"text":"Also in the report before you tonight is an update on the overall timeline of implementation of active transportation"},{"t":669,"text":"projects, an update on the financing, on the current grant landscape, and some proposals for how you might"},{"t":677,"text":"engage the community on the two routes that are being proposed for community engagement. Uh there's a lot of information in the report and I'm happy"},{"t":686,"text":"to take any questions from council at this time."},{"t":691,"text":"Thank you very much, Mr. Renick for that. Um I turn to council. Are there questions of council for Mr. Renick?"},{"t":700,"text":"Go ahead. Councelor Smart. Thank you. Um through Mayor to Mr."},{"t":704,"text":"Renick, I just wondered if um you could let us know for the routes that are um not recommended for community"},{"t":711,"text":"engagement, will the detailed design for those um be operationalized or will there be a council touch point for those projects?"},{"t":721,"text":"Mr. Renick uh through the mayor that um is really up to council. The vision that staff had"},{"t":729,"text":"is that those would be at the inform level that uh developing the designs would be operationalized and that they"},{"t":736,"text":"would go to construction generally in conformance with what council had seen."},{"t":741,"text":"However, if there is a desire from council to have a check-in on those projects, um that's something that we'd be happy to take direction on."},{"t":752,"text":"Please continue."},{"t":754,"text":"Yeah. Thank you. Um through Mayor to director Renick, just to clarify then um um when you when you say the inform"},{"t":762,"text":"level, will the detailed designs be shown to um"},{"t":769,"text":"council at some some point and and the public at the same time through the mayor. If the design of the"},{"t":778,"text":"projects was to be operationalized, they would be posted to the website where they would be publicly available um but"},{"t":786,"text":"at an inform level engagement. It wouldn't be seeking that feedback. Um that's also why we hadn't really considered a council touch point in"},{"t":794,"text":"there because it would be a purely technical exercise if there was no community engagement to consider."},{"t":802,"text":"Please go ahead."},{"t":804,"text":"Thank you. I'm through mayor to director. I just wondered if you could elaborate again on uh what a a buffered um bike lane um is. Thank you."},{"t":816,"text":"Uh through the mayor, buffered bike lanes mean that instead of having a single line of paint, they typically have a wider um it's what traffic"},{"t":825,"text":"engineers refer to as a gore where essentially you have two parallel lines with short diagonal lines connecting"},{"t":832,"text":"them. In some implementations, they also use plastic ballards. Um, but ultimately, a buffering is just it's"},{"t":840,"text":"still a painted barrier. It's just a wider painted barrier than the single paint line that we currently have in place on um Henderson and Fowl Bay, for example."},{"t":851,"text":"Please go ahead."},{"t":853,"text":"Thank you. Um through Mayor to Director Renick. So, I'm I'm just wondering with regards to um for instance, route number three on on Cedar Hill um crossroad, we"},{"t":862,"text":"did have lots of letters come in and one of them was particularly um desiring more safety for children on"},{"t":869,"text":"that route. Um is it is it the objective of that buffered route designed to make that portion either more safe or"},{"t":878,"text":"perceivably more safe? Um, and I just I I'm curious just because I was in attendance at the community engagement session if um there could be a comment"},{"t":887,"text":"as to, you know, what the sort of overall objective of that improvement is, what was heard with at community"},{"t":895,"text":"consultation versus um what staff is presenting there. Thank you, Mr. Renick. uh through the mayor."},{"t":903,"text":"Ultimately, buffered bike lanes are shown in research to have a higher degree of user comfort, but they don't"},{"t":911,"text":"have the same level of uh user comfort as, for example, a fully separated lane"},{"t":917,"text":"would have. This is proposed as phase one of the project. as it's shown in the report, it only goes between Henderson"},{"t":925,"text":"Road and Gordon Head. And uh with buffered bike lanes, typically you do have the option in the future to convert them to uh more separated bike lanes."},{"t":938,"text":"That's what we've seen Sanich do in areas where they've started out with buffered bike lanes and they've added uh traffic calming curbs to them, for"},{"t":946,"text":"example. So, we felt that this was a it was a measured improvement in an area that that needed one and would allow"},{"t":955,"text":"future councils the option to do even further separation should that be the desire."},{"t":963,"text":"Yeah, thank you. Just one more question um through you mayor to director Renick."},{"t":966,"text":"I just wanted to know um looking at the priority ratings from the community engagement that we received back in in January. Um route number five for Cadro"},{"t":975,"text":"Bay Road was tied for the number one priority that we heard from the public."},{"t":980,"text":"And I wondered it's not in this plan that we see for the next two years. And so I wondered is there an opportunity um"},{"t":989,"text":"uh you know potentially if if staff time allows to start looking at the design for that route in the next few years so"},{"t":996,"text":"that if grants do return that we are ready for for that route that was so prioritized by the community. I just wondered if if staff could comment on the the timing of that important route."},{"t":1008,"text":"Mr. correct uh through the mayor. When we had discussed the initial phasing of these"},{"t":1014,"text":"routes with council in 2024 2025 time frame, we had discussed that there are significant challenges on Cadro Bay Road"},{"t":1023,"text":"associated with the narrowness of the road particularly in the commercial village uh with the importance of maintaining parking and delivery access."},{"t":1033,"text":"And ultimately what we spoke with council at the time was that there's also underground utilities that need to"},{"t":1041,"text":"be taken care of. And so while we did hear a lot of public support at the engagement for upgrading that route on"},{"t":1049,"text":"Cadro Bay Road, it does show in the in the timeline as being further out just because a lot of those realities really"},{"t":1057,"text":"need to be thought through. Um and and so that's why the the phase one is earlier but the phase two has been delayed out to 2029."},{"t":1070,"text":"Good. Uh other questions for staff?"},{"t":1076,"text":"Uh so Mr. Renick, I have a question just on the um uh there's a route that was sort of flagged as a priority as well uh"},{"t":1085,"text":"from on Fowl Bay from running from the intersection of Cadro Bay through Oak Bay Avenue and down to to intersect with"},{"t":1094,"text":"Richmond Richardson. Um I'm just curious about where that might fit onto the uh the bigger picture. I know it's a"},{"t":1100,"text":"challenging stretch um but um but probably more in the sense that it requires some product coordination with Victoria and"},{"t":1108,"text":"some other aspects and um can we just maybe touch on where that is at in our our project planning?"},{"t":1116,"text":"Thank you for the question Mr. Mayor. In January when we spoke about the active transportation strategy at committee of"},{"t":1123,"text":"the whole we discussed extending what we call active transportation strategy route 8. Um I'm just looking at the"},{"t":1132,"text":"correct terminology for that one. Uh Henderson and Falay Road phase 2. We discussed with committee of the whole"},{"t":1139,"text":"extending that route. It had initially stopped at Milton and we discussed taking it further south to Richardson."},{"t":1146,"text":"Uh and so that one is in the plan and on the timeline it shows as detailed design"},{"t":1154,"text":"next year for construction in 2028 going into 2029. That being said, there will be a lot of challenges, as you noted,"},{"t":1162,"text":"developing that route, particularly south of Milton. Uh the road's very narrow. Uh there's not much right of way. The sidewalks are very substandard."},{"t":1174,"text":"Um and then once you get south of Oak Bay Avenue, there's geometry challenges."},{"t":1179,"text":"There's rock. So that's an area that I think is going to probably require almost like a feasibility level design"},{"t":1187,"text":"to to better understand the costs and the trade-offs involved. Um so it is in the plan. It's in the plan for design"},{"t":1194,"text":"starting next year construction 2028 but I think there will be some difficult decisions that will need to be made on that one. Okay."},{"t":1201,"text":"Thank you for that update. Councelor Watson."},{"t":1205,"text":"Yes. Thank you and to Mr. Ranic through the mayor please. Um with respect to the uh proposals for the Henderson Road"},{"t":1214,"text":"enhancements and the Cedar Hill cross portion there just between Gordon Head and and U Vic. Um"},{"t":1222,"text":"given the current traffic volumes, does the proposed buffer design actually meet the AAA standard?"},{"t":1234,"text":"Mr. Reick through the mayor. No, it would not. Uh, in order to meet the all ages and abilities standard under the provincial"},{"t":1242,"text":"guidelines, you either need a travel speed of 30 km per hour and less than 1,000 vehicles per day, which Henderson"},{"t":1249,"text":"is too busy for, or else you would need full separation, which is not being proposed at this time."},{"t":1257,"text":"Else, good. Councelor Braithweight."},{"t":1262,"text":"Thank you, Mayor, and through you um to Mr. Renick. Um, I want to concentrate a little bit on the central Oak Bay corridor. Um,"},{"t":1271,"text":"because it's it's $700,000 and and by far it's like the largest near-term um expense that we have for these projects."},{"t":1279,"text":"So, I'm wondering if you can just talk a little bit about what specifically drives the $700,000 cost and and how much relates to cycling versus"},{"t":1287,"text":"pedestrian improvements if if we know that at this point. Thank you, Mr. Renick. Through the mayor. Um, that's an excellent question. Thank you"},{"t":1296,"text":"very much for asking it. Um, we envision the Central Oak Bay corridor as being a neighborhood bikeway standard, which is"},{"t":1304,"text":"fairly similar to what's being constructed on Henderson and the Halaine East routes right now. Those two"},{"t":1311,"text":"projects were cumulatively about $1.5 million. So that does kind of give a sense of what's driving that $700,000"},{"t":1320,"text":"estimate for Central Oak Bay. So, what specifically drives these costs is that at a lot of the busier intersections,"},{"t":1327,"text":"you're doing conversions where you're adding more concrete to shorten crossing distances. You're adding pedestrian and"},{"t":1335,"text":"cyclist controlled flashers. On Halan and Henderson, we were adding uh tactile warning surface indicators for visually"},{"t":1343,"text":"impaired pedestrians as an example. And you also inevitably when you're doing these kinds of hardscape changes, you'll find one or two utility conflicts"},{"t":1352,"text":"underneath that have to be addressed beforehand as is currently the case uh holding up the installation of the"},{"t":1359,"text":"roundabout at uh the corner of Hala and Easttown because we are dealing with the underground infrastructure before we put"},{"t":1365,"text":"the roundabout on top of it. as to what percentage of that cost would be pedestrian improvements as opposed to cyclist improvements. Unfortunately,"},{"t":1374,"text":"because it's just a conceptual estimate at this time, we're not able to give that breakdown, but my experience with Hala and Henderson is that there is"},{"t":1383,"text":"still a significant amount of pedestrian realm improvement included in these neighborhood bikeway projects."},{"t":1390,"text":"Thank you."},{"t":1392,"text":"Thank you. And if I may continue, mayor, um, so that we that was part of my question as well. I was going to ask about the tra traffic uh calming"},{"t":1399,"text":"measures but that you were going to contemplate but that would be the shorter crossing um etc that that you mentioned. Okay. Um, and then going on"},{"t":1408,"text":"to the the rest of the report, um, they really it really references about, uh, 31 almost $32 million in total future"},{"t":1416,"text":"project costs. And I'm wondering if we know at this point how much of that is expected to be paid through taxation, reserves, debts, or grants."},{"t":1429,"text":"Go ahead, Mr. Renick."},{"t":1431,"text":"Uh, thank you. through the mayor. In the current window of the five-year financial plan, there's a total cost of"},{"t":1439,"text":"14.9 million, and we can comment on the funding sources for that. But the other"},{"t":1447,"text":"16.75 million, which is beyond the 5-year window, really being driven by two major projects, uh, Beach Drive and Oak Bay"},{"t":1456,"text":"Avenue, those are a little bit too far out in the future for us to be able to really comment definitively on what the funding strategy for those would be."},{"t":1466,"text":"And just for clarification, those the monetary approval and the project approvals would be like this subject to council approval at the time."},{"t":1474,"text":"Uh, thank you for the the follow-up question. Yes, every year's budget is subject to approval of the council of the day."},{"t":1482,"text":"Thank you. And and if I can just do another followup to that. And right at at this point in time, the active transportation grants are still not in"},{"t":1490,"text":"existence uh at this moment in time. Is that correct? That is correct."},{"t":1495,"text":"Okay. Thank you. Um Okay. And then I'm wondering if there's a scenario where um"},{"t":1502,"text":"we might um kind of pause after completing the current roots um that we have on the table right now. Uh I think"},{"t":1510,"text":"three the three three main ones right now. Um so we might pause uh after completing those roots and evaluate um"},{"t":1517,"text":"outcomes before proceeding a little bit further. And I know you're going to I'm pretty sure I know that you're going to say to me that would be at the will of council. Um, however, I'm wondering if you have any comments on that, please."},{"t":1527,"text":"And thank you, Mr. Renick at the will of council."},{"t":1539,"text":"Well, I'll jump in here actually. I would really appreciate that."},{"t":1542,"text":"Procedurally here, what we have in front of us is approving those three projects, Cedar Hill, Landstown, Henderson, and then directing staff to undertake the"},{"t":1551,"text":"engagement and design work to report back to council. So really today is the first three and approving the the work"},{"t":1559,"text":"to to do some of the the consultation and design work. So that's really all that's on the table today and everything else we come back to council for approval."},{"t":1568,"text":"Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Uh any other questions? Yeah, go ahead, councelor Patterson."},{"t":1575,"text":"Yes, thank you, mayor. And a question just for you that when we when we come to discuss the options, if we could uh"},{"t":1582,"text":"if we could take the options as separate motions, please. Thank you. And I may have an amendment for for number three."},{"t":1590,"text":"Okay."},{"t":1592,"text":"Um I just have any other hands for other questions. I'll ask a question. I'll go to the public for input. Um just on the"},{"t":1600,"text":"uh the costs attached to some of the like the um the buffered bike lanes with the additional painting. I know we"},{"t":1607,"text":"struggle right now with uh with repainting all of our lines every year."},{"t":1611,"text":"Uh it's because you know you have a short window for actually doing the painting. Is that like $100,000 for painting? Is that expected to be an"},{"t":1619,"text":"annual or bianual type cost? Is that is that what we're looking at here or is this essentially a one-time cost for the whole project and a fairly minor cost"},{"t":1627,"text":"for maintenance over time? Mr. Renick through me to you."},{"t":1631,"text":"Thank you, Mr. Mayor. That $100,000 project cost is the allin. Um I know it's easy to say, well, it's just paint,"},{"t":1639,"text":"but it does still require a professional engineer to determine the dimensions, the layout. um when you're doing that"},{"t":1646,"text":"painting, there will be traffic control associated with it, at least for the first time. Also, what we find sometimes when we try to do these paint projects"},{"t":1655,"text":"is that the ashalt is in such poor condition that you can't actually eradicate the old lines without damaging the surface of the ashvault. So, I would"},{"t":1663,"text":"not take that $100,000 to be an annual recurring cost. There will be a maintenance cost to them, but it would not come close to 100,000 a year."},{"t":1672,"text":"Okay. Thank you. Uh the other question I just going to go one more question I'll go over to you councelor Green. Um I was just as I was contemplating the the"},{"t":1681,"text":"priorities for the um uh Henderson Road portion of that uh as a route that I ride fairly often. It's very lumpy um as a place as the riding at uh along there."},{"t":1693,"text":"I'm just wondering is this uh have we thought through bang for the buck at this like in terms of phasing things doing sort of ashvault repair along the"},{"t":1701,"text":"within the within the existing bike route versus or is that something that would happen concurrently with the uh with the repainting or the sorry expansion into buffered lines?"},{"t":1712,"text":"I think that's something that we would have to evaluate at the time of the detailed design. There's another challenge in the Henderson area, which"},{"t":1720,"text":"is that all of those utilities were installed at the same time and they're all asbestous cement. Um, uh, members of the community who live up there will"},{"t":1729,"text":"recall the major water main break that happened on Henderson Road a couple of years ago. So, that's an area where we"},{"t":1736,"text":"may want to be strategic and simply do the buffered bike lane and uh not turn it into a larger project because"},{"t":1744,"text":"otherwise you're you're dealing with the utilities. And we have a completely separate process underway for scheduling which specific you streets are going to"},{"t":1754,"text":"have their utilities replaced in that area. That update as well, councelor Green."},{"t":1761,"text":"Thank you. and through you. Thank you very much for the report. Mr. Renick, just a question on on the projected costing. Is that based on today's costs"},{"t":1770,"text":"on today's dollars or is that projected uh out over time? Thank you, Mr. Renick."},{"t":1779,"text":"Uh through the mayor, I would say that they're they're highlevel estimates, so they're mostly today's dollars, but they do include a little bit of contingency."},{"t":1788,"text":"Thank you."},{"t":1790,"text":"don't have any other hands up for questions. So, I'm welcome uh members of the public who wish to speak to council uh on the matter before us with the"},{"t":1797,"text":"active transportation uh implementation plan. Yeah, please come forward."},{"t":1807,"text":"You can demonstrate it. Yeah, perfect. Thank you."},{"t":1810,"text":"Uh thank you, Mr. Renick, through you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Mr. Renick, for the report. Um, I was 58 years old when"},{"t":1817,"text":"I started working with Oak Bay on active transportation and I'm 73 now and we are still"},{"t":1825,"text":"uh we are still uh the poor man on the block in greater Victoria. It still remains very fragmented. I really do"},{"t":1834,"text":"appreciate uh the light at Hala and Fel Bay as many of the letters uh indicated and and the changes that are being made."},{"t":1842,"text":"Uh but we remain uh really so far back and and I've watched this council and"},{"t":1850,"text":"previous councils uh stall uh and uh always with an excuse but say they"},{"t":1858,"text":"appreciate active transportation but stall and change and get into the weeds and change the engineers plans and the"},{"t":1865,"text":"result is fragmentation. Um, when I go cycling with my seven-year-old granddaughter and we see the new painted lines allowing bikes on, but we've"},{"t":1874,"text":"allowed parking on each side, we've put 30k zones in and it is nullled to all ages and abilities because cars try and"},{"t":1882,"text":"pass with you there. They try and pass going opposite ways. It doesn't seem to matter whether whether the the signs are"},{"t":1890,"text":"there on the road. So, I am here. I understand the complexity of inserting active transportation in an old"},{"t":1898,"text":"community. I understand all the pressures. I've been involved and watched for 15 years. I am just I'm I'm"},{"t":1907,"text":"happy to see some improvement and I'm happy to see some progress and I would encourage council to not get into the weeds with engineering here. Um to"},{"t":1916,"text":"endorse this report in its entirety and move forward. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Teddy."},{"t":1923,"text":"Please come forward. It's my first time speaking."},{"t":1930,"text":"Oh, well, it's a it's a little intimidating, but we'll try and make it friendly. Just state your name. Municipality of resident."},{"t":1936,"text":"My name is John Balon. I live in North Op next to this council lady. Hi, Esther."},{"t":1943,"text":"Um, I'm going to cut to the chase because that was so good. Um, I respectfully ask you to prioritize the approval of shovel ready plans to expand"},{"t":1951,"text":"our options for safely moving around Oak Bay instead of deferring to another round of expensive consultation."},{"t":1958,"text":"I'm a homeowner. We have one car. We're a family of three. Uh, one car, two ebikes. My son walks to Oak Bay and"},{"t":1966,"text":"sometimes he asks for a ride because he doesn't feel safe walking on the streets. I ride around town. the uh"},{"t":1974,"text":"signs that on Monterey that say, you know, children are riding their bikes, please be cautious, or some version of that feel like a mere suggestion. And I"},{"t":1984,"text":"do see children riding their bikes, uh, and harrowing situations unfold. So proceeding, not peace meal, not amended,"},{"t":1993,"text":"but with the whole thing that's on the table that's ready to go, uh, I think would go a long way towards making the streets safer, not just for me, but for kids and people of all abilities. So, thank you very much."},{"t":2004,"text":"Thank you. Please come forward."},{"t":2014,"text":"Kathleen Matthews Hope Bay and I live at Windsor Park. I am looking at a map I've looked at many times and I have"},{"t":2022,"text":"approached many people at various open houses about it really is the central Oak Bay corridor route 4. I can't"},{"t":2032,"text":"imagine I've said so many times that having bicycles go down Curry Street beside Windsor Park is it's it's insane."},{"t":2042,"text":"There are so many cars parked on either side most me many many times that cars can't even come they have to come one"},{"t":2051,"text":"way and then wait and then go the other way. I I just can't understand why I continue to look at this. A better route would be to go from McNeel to Newport."},{"t":2061,"text":"Go down turn left on Newport and then maybe go down Curry and then you're on Beach Drive. You you just you I I live right at the corner of Curry in St."},{"t":2071,"text":"Louis and you know there are dogs going across the street all the time because it's a dog park. There's little kids coming out of"},{"t":2080,"text":"the the park and going down the sidewalk. It's a really busy street, but most of the time more than one car can't go this way and that way. So, how are"},{"t":2088,"text":"you going to fit a bike lane in and accommodate all the parking that happens there all the time? I can't believe I'm still looking at this section between"},{"t":2096,"text":"Curry World between McNeel along Curry or you know jogs over to Curry uh down to Newport. It It's insane. I'm sorry. I"},{"t":2106,"text":"I'm discouraged when I see that and when I know you're I know it's a future one and you're going to have open houses, but I've spent so much time talking to the people involved in these plans and obviously nobody has been listening."},{"t":2118,"text":"Maybe somebody should come and watch and see what's going on there before they Thank you, Miss Matthews."},{"t":2127,"text":"Anyone else wish to speak? Please come forward. Hi."},{"t":2135,"text":"Hi. Welcome."},{"t":2136,"text":"Um, thank you. I'm Sarah Starkweather. I um wanted to talk to you uh because I recently was one of a bunch of"},{"t":2144,"text":"volunteers who did uh the the national pedal poll in Oak Bay, which is uh an annual sort of snapshot of bike usage in"},{"t":2153,"text":"Canada. Our results are on page 68, I think, of your agenda package. Um I encourage you to look at those numbers just because, you know, it's interesting"},{"t":2162,"text":"and a lot of your constituents worked on it. Um but to summarize, we did counts in Oak Bay Village, Mandre and Windsor,"},{"t":2171,"text":"Cad Cadro Bay, and Fowl Bay, and we saw 12 1,233 people in 10 hours at these locations,"},{"t":2180,"text":"which was great to see. Great to see people out riding with joy, kids, uh teens, families, shoppers, um students,"},{"t":2188,"text":"commuters. Um, but what prompted me to come is that I think it's pretty likely that none of those people have ever written to you or spoken to you about bike lanes, right?"},{"t":2199,"text":"Um, very few of us do take those actions, but they're all they're all there, right? Hundreds of people every day riding around in OPE. And so those"},{"t":2208,"text":"are the people who really benefit from the um changes that have already happened. So I'm grateful for those to"},{"t":2214,"text":"council and to staff. Um and those are the people who I think will benefit most from"},{"t":2221,"text":"um swift movement, right? Uh approval of uh design work so that we can have projects ready to go when active"},{"t":2229,"text":"transportation funding is available again rather than more consultation on routes that we've already consulted"},{"t":2237,"text":"about quite a lot. Um I I would like to see evidence uh based plans put together"},{"t":2243,"text":"by our staff put into put into place. So what I would love to see is option three from the current report. I would like"},{"t":2250,"text":"design work done on all of these designs. Um but you know option one would be as be fine with me as well. All right that's it. Thank you."},{"t":2261,"text":"Thank you very much Mr. Starkweather. I think I saw someone else wanted to come forward."},{"t":2269,"text":"We're good that here."},{"t":2278,"text":"Welcome, sir. Welcome."},{"t":2282,"text":"Good evening, council. Um, again, my name is Bruce Kilpatrick. I'm a resident of Epworth Street in the Chff"},{"t":2289,"text":"neighborhood, and I hadn't actually intended to stay for the the second round tonight. I was here for this the"},{"t":2296,"text":"committee of the whole but here I am. Um I I guess when I looked at the al alternative transportation proposal and"},{"t":2304,"text":"heard that uh we were going to skip over community consultation um I got flashbacks"},{"t":2313,"text":"uh and not in a good way cuz flashbacks usually aren't. But I come from a neighborhood where the Hala and Estavan"},{"t":2320,"text":"and Henderson bikeways looked to be simple and straightforward from looking at a map. And the problem was you needed"},{"t":2329,"text":"to understand the neighborhood dynamics and you needed to talk to the people who were living there day in day out who could tell you how that neighborhood"},{"t":2337,"text":"works and where the pinch points are and where the hazards are. And as a result, but it took two years of very hard work."},{"t":2347,"text":"We took a plan which would have destroyed neighborhood green space that was also natural play space for kids, highly valued. Uh we would have had an"},{"t":2357,"text":"intersection which is hazardous now but would have been made more dangerous. and we would have removed parking from say Hala and driven it onto narrower streets"},{"t":2365,"text":"that are also used by high school students and elementary school students and middle school students and made it more dangerous for all of those people."},{"t":2373,"text":"So, as a result of all this work, I think we've ended up with something that works better and is safer for everyone, whether it's pedestrians or cyclists or"},{"t":2383,"text":"school kids or pets or yes, even drivers. So would really urge council to look at ways of or having staff look at"},{"t":2392,"text":"ways of having some collaborative problem solving around these that that takes that valuable local knowledge into account and still creates a bikeway"},{"t":2400,"text":"system in Oak Bay that is safe and that works for everyone. I think trying to do shortcuts by not talking to the people"},{"t":2408,"text":"who understand the neighborhood dynamics and what goes on on those streets every day isn't going to be a shortcut at all."},{"t":2414,"text":"you'll end up taking the long way round in the end. So, we're still working through some of the issues on those two bikeways that converge in our"},{"t":2423,"text":"neighborhood. But I do want to uh acknowledge uh that Mr. Renick has been terrific in terms of being responsive to"},{"t":2431,"text":"the additional concerns that we've had and finding ways to help address them where and when he could. But please"},{"t":2439,"text":"save some of these other neighborhoods two years of pain and struggle and try and find some collaborative ways of of"},{"t":2446,"text":"of putting these things into place that work for everyone and that create some empathy for the people who are going to live with the results 24/7."},{"t":2456,"text":"Um because we're talking about a structure that'll be in place for many many years and it's got to work well. So"},{"t":2462,"text":"thank you. Please consider keeping neighborhood engagement in place for these because it's going to get you to a"},{"t":2471,"text":"better place in the end. Thank you very much."},{"t":2477,"text":"Other speakers, please come forward."},{"t":2485,"text":"Hi there. My name is Elizabeth Vitanza and I live in Oak Bay. Um I live off Monterey and I regularly walk, bike, and yes, drive around Oak Bay. I'm excited"},{"t":2494,"text":"by the plan for a north south road route that is safe and widely accessible."},{"t":2497,"text":"Seems clear to me that consultation related to this network of safer streets dates back to at least 2009. Um looking back through things I know I filled out the survey last year when I moved here."},{"t":2508,"text":"I felt very engaged by that survey. I was almost too detailed. Um and I would hope that staff's recommendation can be"},{"t":2516,"text":"supported uh tonight. If more consultation is undertaken, it should be focused on how, not if, these routes are"},{"t":2524,"text":"to be are built to meet all ages and abilities in a way that works best for the neighborhood. And to be meaningful, consultation should also clearly engage"},{"t":2532,"text":"the intended vulnerable road users, including specific engagement going to our local schools and families, not only"},{"t":2540,"text":"residents along these routes. And I say that as a resident that is along one of these routes, but reaching out to more people who would actually be using them day-to-day is also critical, especially"},{"t":2548,"text":"the schools. As of today, though, I want to reiterate that you have had enough consultation to proceed with initial muchneeded designs. More delays will"},{"t":2557,"text":"also only increase costs down the road, pun intended. Finally, as the parent of a teen who used to live in a much more car- centric community, I see the"},{"t":2566,"text":"benefits firsthand of raising young people to independently travel on roads designed with their safety in mind. When our teens have safe options to walk,"},{"t":2574,"text":"bus, bike, or roll, it supports their increasing independence and physical and mental health. All without increasing parking pressures and cost through"},{"t":2583,"text":"adding additional family vehicles. Thank you."},{"t":2587,"text":"Thank you for your comments. Any other people wishing to come speak?"},{"t":2596,"text":"Don't see any other people popping up."},{"t":2598,"text":"Any other people wishing to speak on this matter?"},{"t":2601,"text":"Not seeing any hands online or in person. I will bring it back to this table."},{"t":2607,"text":"Uh, all right. Uh, members of council, we have uh pieces uh in front of us here. Recommendations. Any further questions? And if not, I might just seek that we move the someone move the recommendation. We can have a debate."},{"t":2618,"text":"And I think that we can either generally like to move recommendation but we can move whatever you wish. Go ahead councelor Smart."},{"t":2626,"text":"Yeah, I'll I'll move the stack recommendation."},{"t":2628,"text":"Moved. Is there a seconder? Move and seconded. Thank you. Uh so just for the clarification option number one is essentially advancing the uh Cedar Hill"},{"t":2638,"text":"lands down Henderson uh updates and uh then uh undertake engagement advanced design uh on the central Oak Bay"},{"t":2646,"text":"corridor and Boer Avenue um active route two. Uh that's the recommendation in front of Oh yeah that's right recommendation in front of us."},{"t":2656,"text":"Yes. Okay. Um, do you wish to speak to it, councelor Smart?"},{"t":2663,"text":"Yeah, I'll just briefly speak to um I I really do feel like staff have done their best to sort of strike a balance"},{"t":2671,"text":"between our unfortunately lack of grant funding and still moving active transportation forward. I would have much preferred uh to see projects go to"},{"t":2681,"text":"a AAA standard uh more quickly than this. Uh, so I'm I'm not happy with the the pace or the quality of the roots presented here, but I do feel like it's"},{"t":2688,"text":"a compromise that I I hope council can work together to support. I I really believe strongly that we need to provide"},{"t":2696,"text":"choices for transportation for all of our residences and it's not really a choice if it's not safe. Uh we need to"},{"t":2705,"text":"really be thinking for all ages and abilities and supporting everybody in our community. Um uh really hoping that"},{"t":2713,"text":"this moves forward in its entirety today with uh staff's recommendations."},{"t":2719,"text":"You uh council patter indicated you wanted me to separate the was it separating one, two, and three or or parts of two or what was the request?"},{"t":2728,"text":"Yes. Thank you, Mayor. Uh one and two I'm fine with. I do have a proposed amendment to three and so if we separate"},{"t":2736,"text":"them then that will allow me to put it forward. Thank you."},{"t":2739,"text":"Okay. We can certainly do that. Any other discussion? Yeah. Go ahead, Dr. Watson."},{"t":2748,"text":"Yes. I would just add that I I I do think that this is um an appropriate way forward given the the vicissitudes of"},{"t":2757,"text":"provincial funding that we do need to make progress and we have heard that loud and clear. I think we got upwards of 60 letters and none of them said don't do this now and get on with it."},{"t":2767,"text":"So, um, I think we're hearing from the community. Um, and almost all, it was really interesting this time, almost all our letter writers were actually residents of Oak Bay. Before we've heard"},{"t":2776,"text":"from people outside of Oak Bay who just complain about this, the the very well the the glacial pace of us making any"},{"t":2783,"text":"changes. Um, but this time it was people in Oak Bay who are starting to see things and realize that they could really have a good thing going and it's time to get on with it. So I think as"},{"t":2791,"text":"we've heard from people, we have done absolutely sufficient consultation to move forward with these plans right now."},{"t":2797,"text":"And I I I have to say that I like the choice of the s suggestion of the central Oak Bay corridor route 4 as one"},{"t":2804,"text":"of the next things to get attention because unlike Cadra Bay which is a main art artery, it is a muchloved and"},{"t":2812,"text":"important route and would provide that missing bit right now which takes schoolage children out of South Oak Bay and connects them through to their high"},{"t":2820,"text":"school and to the community beyond. So I I'm I was really pleased to see that as the next choice for design in this roster. Thank you."},{"t":2829,"text":"Thank you. Uh all right, I'm happy to call the question then. I'll do it in three tanches. So uh as requested. Uh so"},{"t":2837,"text":"first part is approval of the implementation plan um attached as in the report. So that's already been"},{"t":2845,"text":"moved and seconded. I'm just going to call the questions separately. Any other discussion on that? Seeing none. All those in favor?"},{"t":2853,"text":"Any opposed?"},{"t":2855,"text":"None opposed. That carries. We move to item two, which is the approve the following projects to advance the design of construction in 2027. That's the"},{"t":2862,"text":"Cedar Hill crossroad, Land Sound, and Henderson."},{"t":2866,"text":"Uh, it's already moved and seconded. Any other discussion on that? Council Green."},{"t":2872,"text":"Thank you. I will support the motion, but I want to point out that these these have been started. They're important to finish and they do provide that north"},{"t":2879,"text":"south corridor which is important and provides access to UIC and Kimosen College in particular. But I also want"},{"t":2887,"text":"to say that this is also about taxpayer dollars. This is these are not inexpensive projects over time. So I"},{"t":2894,"text":"just want to be mindful of that and it is not whether you're pro or not um in"},{"t":2902,"text":"terms of cycling. It's also about protecting the taxpayer when necessary and without the grant funding from the province that has had a real impact. So"},{"t":2911,"text":"I think that's an important point to make. Thank you. Thank you councelor Green."},{"t":2916,"text":"Don't see any other discussion. I I'm very I'll say I'll support this. I'm heartened by staff's comments about the uh recognizing the challenges of the underground infrastructure pieces of"},{"t":2925,"text":"this and uh you know certainly in you know support that you know timing it so that if we're doing underground work we're doing that before we're doing the the top work which has always been part"},{"t":2933,"text":"of our key guiding principle so um I'm going to call the question all those in favor any opposed none opposed and then"},{"t":2941,"text":"section three which is to direct staff to undertake community engagement advanced design and report back to council on the projects of central"},{"t":2948,"text":"corridor and Boer Avenue Route Two. Uh, Councelor Patterson, you indicate you wish to make an amendment."},{"t":2954,"text":"Yes. Thank you, Mayor. And the I would propose that u on that decision that the decision of council be deferred until a"},{"t":2963,"text":"later date, preferably until after the 2026 election."},{"t":2969,"text":"So, you want to your motion is to defer the consideration of of this portion until uh after after October 2026. Is"},{"t":2978,"text":"that the uh so is a motion to defer or uh sorry I always make sure I seem to get the wording wrong on these ones."},{"t":2987,"text":"Yes. Thank you, mayor. Um defer works."},{"t":2990,"text":"Um postpone consideration of the item would also work."},{"t":2993,"text":"Okay. To postpone consideration. Is there a seconder for that motion to postpone? Okay. Councelor Patterson, you got some motivating to do."},{"t":3002,"text":"Yes. Thank you, Mayor. And um a as most people know um I I do support active transportation. My form of active"},{"t":3010,"text":"transportation, however, is uh pedestrian and public transit. So um the district's stated goal for active"},{"t":3019,"text":"transportation is to create a safer, healthier, healthier, and more sustainable community for people who walk, cycle, roll, or take transit."},{"t":3029,"text":"Meeting that goal requires decisions that put accessibility, safety, and inclusion at the forefront. The accessibility advisory committee was"},{"t":3038,"text":"established to help ensure that Oak Bay works for everyone, and that mandate should remain central as transportation"},{"t":3044,"text":"priorities are set. A comprehensive review of parking and bus stops in 2029 or 2030 may be useful, but immediate"},{"t":3054,"text":"decision should already reflect a clear commitment to safer and more inclusive mobility today."},{"t":3062,"text":"As our liaison to the M municipal insurance association, I can share that in the latest report it identified for"},{"t":3072,"text":"all communities throughout the province who are insured by MIA and certainly Oak Bay is one of them that roads, sewers"},{"t":3080,"text":"and sidewalks uh are identified as the leading sources of liability claims in public works highlighting the real costs of"},{"t":3088,"text":"underinvesting in safe and reliable infrastructure. ffstruure and those costs are they're like throwaway costs"},{"t":3095,"text":"every year when we pay higher rates for um both municipal insurance and as"},{"t":3102,"text":"private uh citizens for higher experience ratings in the communities."},{"t":3108,"text":"These findings reinforce that risk is concentrated in core municipal systems, making proactive investment in safer"},{"t":3116,"text":"transportation infrastructure both fiscally responsible and necessary."},{"t":3122,"text":"Those findings also align with concerns raised by Oak Bay residents through the district survey showing that public is"},{"t":3130,"text":"already identifying sidewalks as a priority and certainly roads and and the rest of the infrastructure. The 2025"},{"t":3139,"text":"annual report recorded four and the police portion of it recorded four pedestrian vehicle collisions. A stark"},{"t":3147,"text":"reminder that delays in improving active transportation infrastructure for pedestrians have real consequences for community safety."},{"t":3159,"text":"Deferring council's consideration of active transportation would create space for a more complete and balanced approach that genuinely supports both"},{"t":3168,"text":"walking and cycling while remaining inclusive for all residents. It would allow the district to revisit its 5-year"},{"t":3175,"text":"financial plan in light of important provincial changes, including proposed amendments to the Heritage Conservation"},{"t":3182,"text":"Act, the Environmental Management Act, and the pause in active transportation grants. Given the district's existing"},{"t":3190,"text":"budget pressures related to infrastructure replacement and renewal, taking the time to align priorities, funding, and community safety is not a"},{"t":3199,"text":"delay in progress. It is the responsible path toward better decisions and better outcomes."},{"t":3206,"text":"Thank you for that."},{"t":3208,"text":"Other discussion, councelor Smart and Watson."},{"t":3213,"text":"Thank you. Um I won't be um supporting the deferral. Um we did at our recent budget um move forward increasing our"},{"t":3221,"text":"budget for improving sidewalks. Um we also heard from letter writers um so many of them on these exact routes how"},{"t":3229,"text":"much they need these key safe routes to school for their children. Um uh and we've recently done upgrades to our um"},{"t":3237,"text":"transit stops very close to this route which is really um besides advocacy the realm in which this district can be involved in forwarding public"},{"t":3246,"text":"transportation. Um, I believe very strongly that this is a key route to safety um for children in in this"},{"t":3255,"text":"community and I I feel like it's irresponsible to put it off. Councelor Watson and then Appleton."},{"t":3263,"text":"Yes. Thank you. I I would just say that I think deferring uh uh um decisions around uh part three of this package of"},{"t":3273,"text":"recommendations would be abdicating our responsibility to advance a network that we agreed to as a council that was a council priority for this term of"},{"t":3281,"text":"council. So I don't think it's about the next council. This council said this is what we were going to do and we agreed to move it forward. So, um I um I also"},{"t":3289,"text":"think that although uh councelor Patterson's view of active transportation is very much almost exclusively focused on pedestrians,"},{"t":3297,"text":"that's not what the active transportation strategy is about. It's about making our roads and our sidewalks uh passable and safe for the whole"},{"t":3306,"text":"community. And we have under we haven't invested in in the cycling portion at all until this term of council. and we"},{"t":3314,"text":"said that we would do that and we've we've got good plans and we've had more than we've had very adequate consultation as as the community is"},{"t":3322,"text":"telling us. We have cons we've done good consultation now. We've consulted enough to move this forward and we u uh"},{"t":3329,"text":"particularly with respect to uh central Oak Bay corridor Route 4 um um um school children and and their parents who are"},{"t":3338,"text":"still driving them because there really isn't a safe way through South Oak Bay to get uh to their homes and elsewhere in the community. I'm reminded very much"},{"t":3346,"text":"that Oak Bay uh um um Monterey is a middle school, so it's a very large catchment area with really no good way"},{"t":3353,"text":"to cycle to it uh north and south at the moment at all. Um um and and I just I'm also very struck by the fact that"},{"t":3362,"text":"although yes, they need upgrading and there are sections that need to be replaced and not every curb cut and let down is meeting the standard that we"},{"t":3371,"text":"aspire to, we do have sidewalks fronting almost all of our streets, but we do not have bicycle infrastructure that's"},{"t":3379,"text":"actually supporting cyclists in our community. So I think deferral would I I'll say it again would be abdicating our responsibility to advance this"},{"t":3386,"text":"network and I will not be supporting the motion. Thank you councelor Appleton."},{"t":3393,"text":"Thank you worship. Um I in this case I will I I do not support the amendment on"},{"t":3400,"text":"on the floor for a number of different reasons. I will start I guess at the finer level and expand outwards from there. With respect to route four, Mr."},{"t":3411,"text":"Renick has always has already indicated that that route will include significant pedestrian improvements and just as the"},{"t":3419,"text":"implementation of Henderson Hall has included a number of significant pedestrian improvements. This would be no different. So, this is an active"},{"t":3427,"text":"transportation corridor that implements sypes of improvements where they're available and where they're where they"},{"t":3435,"text":"are appropriate. So I would see that this would be a significant improvement to the pedestrian realm as well. Um in terms of the term was used as a complete"},{"t":3444,"text":"and balanced approach to active transportation. Uh council will recall that as recently as a couple of years"},{"t":3450,"text":"ago, the 2011 active transportation strategy that was endorsed by council was comprehensively revised uh to"},{"t":3459,"text":"incorporate a number of different components that were not discussed at length in the 2011 document. Uh I would"},{"t":3467,"text":"argue that the active transportation strategy for the district has been comprehensively updated to include many"},{"t":3474,"text":"components. uh as recently as a couple of years ago. This the compon the uh the aspect of budget with respect to the"},{"t":3482,"text":"pedestrian realm was as was mentioned extensively discussed through the budgeting process. I will note that there was dedicated staffing uh"},{"t":3491,"text":"allocated to pedestrian and sidewalk safety improvements where other staffing was actually uh unfortunately had to be"},{"t":3499,"text":"set aside by council in order to meet certain targets for taxation and to be judicious with the budget. The that said"},{"t":3508,"text":"however that position was specifically included and was specifically funded by this council. So I I think that council"},{"t":3515,"text":"has made it clear that support that support for the pedestrian realm and that there is actively moving in that direction. I will conclude your worship"},{"t":3524,"text":"with what is uh at in terms of the proposal to defer to uh for the"},{"t":3532,"text":"consideration of a subsequent council. I will refer to what is at the top of all of our council agendas and that is council priorities for 2022 to 2026."},{"t":3544,"text":"That is our council's priorities and included in there is to advance low and no carbon accessible and active"},{"t":3552,"text":"transportation, mobility, infrastructure and services. That is what this council has committed to. That is what the sitting council and the council that's"},{"t":3560,"text":"in place uh for the balance of 2026 has committed to uh and I believe we have a commitment as far as a council priority"},{"t":3567,"text":"that we ourselves have outlined to advance exactly as the language indicates act of transportation. I cannot support uh an amendment that"},{"t":3576,"text":"would have us defer this uh any further than frankly we have already deferred many decisions on active transportation."},{"t":3584,"text":"Thank you your worship."},{"t":3586,"text":"Thank you everyone. I'm just gonna be just not that it matters but specifically we have a motion to postpone in front of us at the moment."},{"t":3593,"text":"So it's not an amendment motion although that was the original language used. It is a motion to postpone consideration of this aspect. Councelor Braithweight you wish to speak?"},{"t":3603,"text":"Um thank you so much mayor. Um yeah I mean I've been really happy to support all of the active transportation stuff that we've been doing in the last while"},{"t":3611,"text":"and yes it is one of our priorities. Um you know I'm I'm actually on a bike trip right now. I I get to see what other districts do within uh within their"},{"t":3620,"text":"jurisdiction around um around bike lanes, etc. And it's very interesting and it's always good to gather that information for for what we use within"},{"t":3628,"text":"our own community. Um I I think for me when I look at um the time frame for"},{"t":3636,"text":"this uh which I think we're not asking to not do it. I think what's being asked is just to postpone the the public"},{"t":3644,"text":"consultation because I when I look at it, it says that the public consultation would be in the third quarter. Well, the third quarter is July, August, and"},{"t":3652,"text":"September. And so I wonder how much public consultation we can actually do in the summer as has been noted in in in"},{"t":3660,"text":"past um uh for for past projects that why would we go out in the summer and look for public consultation when most"},{"t":3667,"text":"people are away or not around or whatever might happen to me. So when you're looking at public consultation for July, August, September, I'm not"},{"t":3674,"text":"sure we'll get the proper public consultation that we need for this. I I'm happy to move ahead with this project after the public consultation,"},{"t":3682,"text":"but for me the public consultation is very difficult in uh July, August, and September. And so I'm I'm thinking that"},{"t":3690,"text":"we should push that public consultation and then uh and then make our decision on this um with the new council that that's coming in. So I will support the the amendment. Thank you."},{"t":3702,"text":"Thank you. I'm just going to get clarification from uh Mr. Bennett because my my take of this is more that the the the ask here is essentially that"},{"t":3710,"text":"undertake community engagement advanced design and report back to council. I'm not sure that it's that beholden to that spe those specific months. Mr. Renick,"},{"t":3718,"text":"perhaps you could just uh help with that because obviously it is a little difficult to do detailed consultation in three month in those three months."},{"t":3728,"text":"Uh yes, thank you very much for the question, Mr. Mayor. In the staff report, we discussed uh basically a two-step engagement process. The first"},{"t":3737,"text":"one would be what's often referred to as a pre-engagement. Uh that would be sort of a popup style uh have a tent along"},{"t":3745,"text":"the route and ask people to share feedback on their uh the types of local knowledge that Mr. Kilpatrick was referring to earlier. that was slated to"},{"t":3754,"text":"happen um yeah summer early fall feeding into a detailed design and then there"},{"t":3761,"text":"would be uh another broader kind of questionnaire level engagement. The report states that likely the detailed"},{"t":3770,"text":"design and what we heard would not be coming back to council until early 2027."},{"t":3775,"text":"So if council tonight is to approve the staff recommendation, it will be the next council who gets the next touch"},{"t":3783,"text":"point on these projects. Uh I hope that helps. Thanks for that clarification."},{"t":3790,"text":"So just uh for me speaking uh to the postponement motion, uh I'm not in support of it. Um I do think that it's"},{"t":3798,"text":"uh we've committed to uh an engagement process on these on most of the routes."},{"t":3805,"text":"um that does touch to both the users of those routes as well as the people living along them to get the local knowledge. Uh that is a process uh that"},{"t":3813,"text":"takes time. Um and I think we do want to see what that what the options are coming back. Um so I do think that it's"},{"t":3820,"text":"uh it's worthwhile for us to continue the process that's we started. Um I understand the rationale provided. Um"},{"t":3828,"text":"but I don't think that it's necessary. I think that the work can concurrently happen. What I always take away from these things is that there's always a a"},{"t":3835,"text":"stack of consultation that has to happen with the community and and they always staff are always kind of working to to buffer those or combine them or make sure that they're not overlapping in"},{"t":3843,"text":"ways that that confuse the public. So I think approving it now allows that process to start and that will drive um the more detailed design. Go ahead, councelor Patterson."},{"t":3854,"text":"Yes, Mayor. Um, if I could just comment on that, I will say that the previous consultation was for cycling, didn't"},{"t":3862,"text":"include pedestrians. I mean, we we we had some say as to perhaps crossings,"},{"t":3868,"text":"curb cuts, but replacing sidewalks along an active transportation path that then end"},{"t":3877,"text":"in the middle of nowhere and the pedestrian has to cross the road in the middle of the road to get to the other side. the whole the whole pedestrian"},{"t":3884,"text":"aspect of active transportation has been missing. I would like to also remind my colleagues around the table that"},{"t":3893,"text":"according to our annual report in the last year under 1% of sidewalks were replaced. And while South South Oak Bay"},{"t":3902,"text":"may have many streets with sidewalks on both sides of the street, there are many parts of our community where there are"},{"t":3909,"text":"no sidewalks or sidewalks only on one side. And if we wish to to create the"},{"t":3916,"text":"housing that we aspire to, uh we I I just don't see that we will be able to"},{"t":3922,"text":"just continue along this in isolation without considering pedestrian safety on"},{"t":3929,"text":"the streets. Um, you know, we if we had four pedestrian vehicle collisions this"},{"t":3936,"text":"year that went uncommented on, I'm sure if there were four collisions with vehicles and bicycles, there would have"},{"t":3944,"text":"been fewer in the room tonight and that would have been closely stated. But with pedestrians, the especially the changes"},{"t":3952,"text":"in powered alternatives of transportation, um the the safety for pedestrians is"},{"t":3960,"text":"being diminished, not just here in Oak Bay, it's happening, you know, throughout the region. And so I think"},{"t":3967,"text":"that um unless we can change our public engagement strategy to ensure that pedestrians"},{"t":3974,"text":"or or people with disabilities are not eliminated from the common from the conversation because the questions are"},{"t":3981,"text":"never asked of them then I don't see I I see us just following down the path of what happened in the city of Victoria"},{"t":3989,"text":"where the city of Victoria was actually found violating human rights because they did not consider pedestrian safety."},{"t":3999,"text":"I don't I would rather not see this community exclude member the the members of the community who predominant form of transportation is sidewalks."},{"t":4011,"text":"Thank you, Mr. Renick. I'm just going to ask the question because I I do think there's nothing inherent in the motion to my reading of it that would preclude conversations from happening with"},{"t":4020,"text":"pedestrians along this route and and collecting some of that data at the same time. Um, I'm just wondering is it would it be maybe more helpful than a"},{"t":4027,"text":"postponement motion to give direction to to collect that feedback or is that something that you could do as part of the uh overall design process?"},{"t":4037,"text":"Thank you for the question, Mayor Murdoch. One of those annoying transportation engineer things that people say is that everyone's a pedestrian. You know, people will come"},{"t":4045,"text":"here and they'll say, \"Well, I ride bikes, but sometimes I drive my car.\" Well, everybody walks. Even if you drive"},{"t":4052,"text":"your car, you park it and you walk on the sidewalk from your parking space to your destination. So from my point of"},{"t":4059,"text":"view, I I don't see how any engagement on anything to do with road safety doesn't almost de facto include"},{"t":4067,"text":"pedestrians. When we did the open houses for the act of transportation engagement in 2025, there was a significant portion"},{"t":4075,"text":"of those open houses that was specifically what are your pedestrian experiences? when we talk about these projects and we talk about adding uh"},{"t":4084,"text":"raised crosswalks or pedestrian controls or shortening crossing distances, I just I um I guess I I don't agree with with"},{"t":4093,"text":"it being raised that the consultation is exclusive to pedestrians because to me I see it as being part and parcel."},{"t":4101,"text":"Councelor Green on the postponement motion. Pardon me."},{"t":4105,"text":"On the postponement motion is where we're at. Yeah. Um, on the postponement motion, uh, I I will support the motion and here's why. Because there is a huge"},{"t":4113,"text":"voice here that's missing and that is the disabled community. Those with accessibility issues. They can't come to"},{"t":4120,"text":"meetings like this. They can't necessarily access engagement opportunities. And they are in some ways"},{"t":4128,"text":"the forgotten voice. Um, pe people who cycle, people who walk are all able-bodied. And I'm I'm speaking for"},{"t":4135,"text":"this group because I don't see them represented at all in our deliberations."},{"t":4140,"text":"We talk about it, but we don't I don't think we've done anything really targeted to capture their voices in some"},{"t":4148,"text":"of this this um discussion. Um, and I had the opportunity to experience some"},{"t":4155,"text":"of this myself with a knee replacement and being disabled by that surgery and having to try and find handicap parking"},{"t":4163,"text":"in the village. It was almost impossible and it still is. We don't have very much handicap parking. We have an aging"},{"t":4170,"text":"population. I see more people with canes, with walkers, and in wheelchairs than I have seen in the 15 years that"},{"t":4178,"text":"I've lived here. So, I think this is an important voice that we need to consider. Um, all of the people that come to talk to us or write to us about"},{"t":4186,"text":"cycling are all able-bodied. To my knowledge, none of them has a disability that prevents them from cycling or from"},{"t":4192,"text":"walking or from being an active part of their community. So, active transportation is great for those people who have the ability to be active. So, I"},{"t":4202,"text":"think we really need to think about this. So I will support the postponement because I think we need to target that group in ter in terms of meaningful"},{"t":4209,"text":"engagement. Thank you councelor brainsby on the postponement motion then I'm going to call the question."},{"t":4215,"text":"Yeah thank you mayor. I I I just want to double check what I heard uh Mr. Renick say. um he said that um we are going to"},{"t":4222,"text":"have the consultation um some uh before the third quarter but it's lot a lot in the January uh or sorry July August"},{"t":4230,"text":"September um and then sometime um there'll be some also in the early fall but then we wouldn't it would be actually up to the next council to"},{"t":4239,"text":"receive that information and make the final decisions around what um proceeds"},{"t":4245,"text":"around this um this uh this part of the active transportation network. Is that correct, Mr. Renick?"},{"t":4253,"text":"Uh, through the mayor, yes, that's accurate. And I just think with with timelines of how long it takes to do detailed design and how long it takes to"},{"t":4262,"text":"do consultation, um, it would be very difficult for this council to be directing this work now and receiving a"},{"t":4269,"text":"report prior to the election. Um, I also just wanted to note on some of the the prior comments that I heard from"},{"t":4277,"text":"counselors engagement um consultation can and often does include engagement with Oak Bay's accessibility committee."},{"t":4285,"text":"So, thank you."},{"t":4288,"text":"And thank you. And I I was actually going to touch on that myself in that um I I hear I hear what councelor Patterson and counselor Green are saying. Um, but"},{"t":4296,"text":"I think that in the bigger picture, we will have um the ability um and I'm sure that staff will make it so that we will"},{"t":4304,"text":"hear from all of those groups. So, hearing that um my my understanding of the amendment to the motion was that we"},{"t":4311,"text":"did we wanted the next council to make the final decisions and so hearing what Mr. Renick has had to say, I would"},{"t":4319,"text":"actually now not support the motion. Um because uh I I feel that it it's"},{"t":4326,"text":"basically it the intent was to have the next council make that final decision and that's what Mr. Renick is saying is"},{"t":4334,"text":"going to happen. So I will not support the motion. Thank you."},{"t":4338,"text":"Okay. I'm going to call the question on the motion to postpone uh this the third part of the recommendation. All those in favor of postponement with councelor"},{"t":4347,"text":"Patterson and green uh and those opposed I have Watson Smart and myself in in the"},{"t":4354,"text":"room and and Appleton and Braithweight online. That motion fails. So the motion is still live on the floor. Um this is"},{"t":4362,"text":"the third part of that recommendation um for central Oak Bay Corridor and Bowerer. So, I'm gonna Is there any other discussion on that portion?"},{"t":4374,"text":"Councelor Patterson."},{"t":4375,"text":"Yes. Thank you, Mayor. I will I will not be supporting it and I I have I've heard what Mr. Renick said and and uh I"},{"t":4383,"text":"understand the position, but uh I know how the discussions for pedestrians did go in the both in the um the cycling"},{"t":4392,"text":"tours that were offered and in the workshops. And I do I do also understand that comprehensive parking and bus stop"},{"t":4400,"text":"review is not going to go ahead because of of limited resources until 2029 or"},{"t":4407,"text":"2030. Well, I think it's very difficult to have a worthwhile public engagement process when"},{"t":4415,"text":"major components of it are just aren't going to be present and they're not going to be thought of until the future."},{"t":4422,"text":"Whether a future council would agree with that or not, I don't know. I I certainly um think that it is important"},{"t":4430,"text":"that we have a full and comprehensive active transportation strategy that is inclusive for our"},{"t":4437,"text":"entire community, all ages, all abilities, and that we do have at least"},{"t":4443,"text":"some guidance on the um on the the transit portions of the uh of"},{"t":4453,"text":"the network. if we truly want to have a a wholesome active transportation strategy. Thank you."},{"t":4460,"text":"Thank you. Um, councelor Green."},{"t":4464,"text":"Thank you very much. I won't support the motion either and not because I don't support cycling and cycling infrastructure in this community or"},{"t":4472,"text":"public health and safety, but I do support the fact that the voices we need to hear from the the disabled community"},{"t":4480,"text":"um we are not hearing. I mean, I appreciate that we have an accessibility committee and that's wonderful, but we're not getting to the grassroots"},{"t":4488,"text":"level. I I I really think it's I think we have to target that group in in a special way. I think we have to make um"},{"t":4496,"text":"public engagement accessible to them in a special way. And um I've I've heard from a lot of people that are suffering"},{"t":4504,"text":"from disability or from surgery that impairs their ability to move and walk um that they're very concerned about"},{"t":4511,"text":"access to their own community. So that is my my my biggest concern. Thank you."},{"t":4518,"text":"Thank you. I'm going to call the question. All those in favor?"},{"t":4525,"text":"Any opposed? Uh this is yeah this is on the main motion as as option number one. Uh all those in favor any opposed?"},{"t":4533,"text":"Councelor Patterson and Green opposed that carries. Good luck with the work ahead. Mr. Renick uh and look forward to the consultation"},{"t":4542,"text":"to help guide that. And anybody who wishes to leave again is more than welcome to do so. Just ask that you do so quietly because we're going to try and get through some more business here"},{"t":4550,"text":"tonight. Um we move on to item now uh 5.2. It was 4.2. 2 which participation in the CRD beyond the curb initiative."},{"t":4558,"text":"Mr. Renick, you are still up."},{"t":4561,"text":"Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. Uh just a really brief overview on this one. So,"},{"t":4568,"text":"City of Victoria last year partnered with Recycle BC. They did essentially a popup pilot project for residential recycling."},{"t":4577,"text":"uh anyone who wanted to participate in it could bring a wide variety of recyclable materials to the former fireh"},{"t":4584,"text":"hall on Yates Street on Saturdays and Sundays. Um so City of Victoria operated that program from about May until"},{"t":4593,"text":"December of last year. This year, the CRD is operating the Beyond the Curb program as a regional program, and"},{"t":4602,"text":"they're looking to add uh a number of locations around the region just to essentially increase consumer choice and to make it more convenient for people."},{"t":4612,"text":"So, what they're they're calling it beyond the curb because essentially they're looking for people to have a place to drop off recyclable material"},{"t":4620,"text":"beyond what's included in the curbside blue bin program. So this would include things like soft plastics, small"},{"t":4627,"text":"electronics, um styrofoam, um that's those types of things. Now,"},{"t":4635,"text":"what kind of complicates things in Oak Bay is that we do operate the transfer station at the public works yard and"},{"t":4642,"text":"myself and my predecessors have discussed the challenges with of that operation with council many times. It's not really what we're here to talk"},{"t":4651,"text":"about. We are here to talk about whether council would like to participate in this regional pilot project."},{"t":4659,"text":"If council does wish to participate in the pilot project because we do not have any land that is actually zoned to allow"},{"t":4666,"text":"this use, uh we would need to come back and the staff recommendation would be to"},{"t":4672,"text":"do a temporary use permit to allow this use to happen on a temporary basis on a municipally owned piece of property. The"},{"t":4681,"text":"staff report outlines some of the properties that were discussed and considered, makes a recommendation for a"},{"t":4689,"text":"small parking lot across the street from Oak Bay Secondary, and discusses a little bit what the temporary use permit process would look like. And I'm happy to take any questions."},{"t":4700,"text":"Sure. Thank you. I might just before I go to questions uh because this report came back as a as an information report to the CRD board and one of the things I"},{"t":4709,"text":"think I didn't see captured in our report was just in their recommendations it was like suitable locations for hub spaces um the ideal locations uh address"},{"t":4719,"text":"the need of residents in single family and multif family homes as a as a key component for people who don't have easy access and so I think that's that's just"},{"t":4728,"text":"one thing I think that as we're contemplating locations and so forth. Um that is a key piece of like access for"},{"t":4735,"text":"multif family homes uh and probably centrality and so I think that as we thought I'd just share that because it's I think it's an important component. Uh"},{"t":4742,"text":"I had so a couple of hands over here Patterson and then Smart."},{"t":4746,"text":"Yes. Thank you mayor and through you to director Renick. Um this is a CRD program so I take it that it will be"},{"t":4753,"text":"regional and not restricted to Oak Bay residents."},{"t":4758,"text":"Uh through the mayor that is correct. It would not be restricted to Oak Bay residents."},{"t":4764,"text":"And if next question just again through you, mayor. Um could you just um give us an idea of what the what the directional"},{"t":4774,"text":"travel of of vehicles and people will be around that area. Um because it"},{"t":4782,"text":"Mr. ready uh through the mayor."},{"t":4786,"text":"We did discuss the direction of travel with uh CRD when we did a site assessment a couple of weeks ago. The"},{"t":4794,"text":"nice thing about that parking lot is that it has uh an entrance and an exit on both sides. Uh, it's got double wide"},{"t":4801,"text":"driveways, so you could theoretically have people coming in from either side or if it works better for the space. We"},{"t":4809,"text":"could restrict it and have one way in, one way out. I would say that that matters of how exactly will the access"},{"t":4816,"text":"be handled would be something that we could discuss with the operator should council um proceed to the temporary use permit."},{"t":4826,"text":"Anything else? Please continue."},{"t":4828,"text":"Yes. Thank you, mayor. And again to Miss Mr. Renick, um thank you for that information."},{"t":4834,"text":"I know that this is a very small space, but is there um is there any way to gauge the um through other depots that"},{"t":4842,"text":"are open what the amount of traffic flow is? I I keep in mind that that is where the crosswalk is and the bus stop is"},{"t":4850,"text":"adjacent to the area, too. So, thank you."},{"t":4854,"text":"uh through the mayor. When I spoke with the operators from the bottle depot about what the experience was in City of Victoria, they found that you rarely"},{"t":4863,"text":"have more than four or five vehicles there at a time. Um and you know, plus your contingent of pedestrians or people"},{"t":4870,"text":"who might arrive on bikes. It's hard to draw a conclusion from what the traffic patterns are like at the Elgen Road"},{"t":4878,"text":"transfer station because we do see significant lineups, but a lot of that is associated with garden waste and"},{"t":4885,"text":"garbage, which would not be as much of an issue at this location. So, I'm certainly cognizant of concerns about"},{"t":4893,"text":"vehicles queuing and and where would they be blocking, but um it it it's difficult for us to say, but I would say based on Victoria's use, you're not"},{"t":4901,"text":"going to be seeing those long lineups like we see at Elgen around uh you know, a nice Saturday for doing yard work."},{"t":4911,"text":"Tesser Smart and then Green."},{"t":4914,"text":"Yeah, thank you. Um through May to Director Renick, thank you for bringing this report forward. um how exciting to potentially have access to recycling on"},{"t":4922,"text":"a Sunday. This is something that our residents have asked for for a long time. I wondered um and not to put you on the spot, but do you have a sense of"},{"t":4928,"text":"like what the value of of this is to the district um com like if we were to add a Sunday um service at the um public works"},{"t":4938,"text":"yard like is I I don't know. That might be a hard question to answer, but I thought I'd just um be interesting to"},{"t":4944,"text":"know um kind of almost the savings of of not adding an extra day to to our um facility."},{"t":4953,"text":"Mr. Reic, uh through the mayor, that's not something I would really be able to give a good answer to on the fly in a meeting. Unfortunately,"},{"t":4961,"text":"obviously, it would be significantly expensive to open a Sunday on Sunday."},{"t":4964,"text":"So, we'll leave it there. Go ahead, Councelor Smart."},{"t":4966,"text":"Fair. That was that was a uh not a fair question to ask in the last minute. Um uh I just wondered if staff had looked at the feasibility of potentially"},{"t":4975,"text":"alternating locations. Um, hearing uh the comment from Mayor Murdoch about accessibility in multif family buildings, I wondered if staff had"},{"t":4983,"text":"looked at the would it be possible or more complicated if we alternated um from the Marina parking lot site to the"},{"t":4990,"text":"Oak Bay um uh triangle um Oak Bay High site um just to increase the um foot traffic accessibility."},{"t":4999,"text":"Mr. Renick, is that an option for us?"},{"t":5001,"text":"Uh through the mayor, I don't know if it is or isn't an option. It's something that I would have to take back to my"},{"t":5008,"text":"colleagues at the CRD. I think that one consideration would be that if we were to use two sites that probably Bottle Depot would want to have a shipping"},{"t":5017,"text":"container at each of them to facilitate their setup. Practically, I don't see a reason why you couldn't say every other"},{"t":5025,"text":"weekend it's at this location and when it's not at that location, it's at the other one. But that is something that I would have to speak to my colleagues at the CRD about."},{"t":5036,"text":"else."},{"t":5037,"text":"Thank you. Um just one last question through Merida to Director Renick. I just wondered about if you could elaborate more on um why the marina site"},{"t":5044,"text":"was seen to be less ideal. And I do see the comment about um uh it being a recreational um location. And I guess in"},{"t":5052,"text":"my familiarity of having utilized when the Pacific Mobile Depot would often have their um sites around town, it becomes quite a little community hub"},{"t":5060,"text":"like where you meet up with neighbors and you chat. And I just thought like it is a way of you know activating um the marina site. And so I just wondered if"},{"t":5068,"text":"you could clarify why that location was was really deemed less ideal."},{"t":5072,"text":"Mr. Renick uh through the mayor. I think it was councelor Braithweight who called me out earlier on saying these things are the"},{"t":5079,"text":"will of council. Um, essentially we just wanted to provide council with uh a couple of locations that would be"},{"t":5087,"text":"suitable and what staff saw as the the pros and cons, but ultimately that's that's staff's determination that it's"},{"t":5095,"text":"uh incompatible with the drop off use, but uh I I could take alternative direction from council."},{"t":5104,"text":"Councelor Greenland Braithweight. Thank you. Thank you and through you. Thank you for the report, Mr. Renick."},{"t":5111,"text":"It's it is a great idea, I think. Just wondered, is there any restriction on the amount of material that can be dropped off at any given time or is it"},{"t":5120,"text":"unrestricted? Thank you, Mr. Renick."},{"t":5124,"text":"Uh through the mayor, I don't actually know the answer to that question. I would have to bring that back. I I believe in the CRD report, it seemed"},{"t":5132,"text":"to indicate unrestricted, but I think no commercial could drop offs. It was only residential, but I could be wrong on that one. Um ju just a secondary"},{"t":5140,"text":"question then through you've just raised another question for me um how would we enforce uh restricting for instance commercial"},{"t":5148,"text":"people how would we know that thank you go ahead Mr."},{"t":5154,"text":"uh through the mayor. These are details that I would like to bring back to council. Should there be a willingness of council to enter into the temporary"},{"t":5162,"text":"use permit, these are details that I could bring back for that next time that council considers this project. I appreciate that. Thank you."},{"t":5169,"text":"Thank you, Councelor Braithweight. You had your hand up."},{"t":5173,"text":"Uh thank you so much, Mayor. Um yeah, there we go."},{"t":5181,"text":"Thank you. I'm sorry. Um I'm I'm really impressed with this. It really expands our recycling abilities um and doesn't"},{"t":5189,"text":"really seem to so far um put any financial burden burden on the municipality. So that's wonderful. Um, but at the same time, I I think before I"},{"t":5198,"text":"would agree to supporting a one-year commitment, I' I'd like to better understand um the expected impacts on this on the parking um and um because I"},{"t":5207,"text":"know that we have to take a few parking spots away from there and I know that that parking lot is used overnight by a lot of people within that area. Um and"},{"t":5215,"text":"then also the neighboring properties, I'm wondering, have we consulted with those neighboring properties as well at all? um"},{"t":5224,"text":"so far um to find out if in that particular location um what effect it might have on them. Uh and then I'd also"},{"t":5231,"text":"like to know at the end of the one year I'm assuming that we're going to get back a report that um that would let us"},{"t":5239,"text":"know exactly how this pilot has gone. So perhaps that'll be my first question is around the um uh the one-year"},{"t":5246,"text":"commitments getting a report back and the expected impacts on parking and uh the the neighbors."},{"t":5253,"text":"Mr. Renick, uh thank you through the mayor. We have not undertaken any engagement with residents because at this point uh still"},{"t":5263,"text":"looking for council to designate if there is a site that council would like to proceed on. Should council give that"},{"t":5270,"text":"direction. In order to do a temporary use permit, there's a requirement under provincial law that we have to notify all residents within a specified radius."},{"t":5279,"text":"Nobody from planning is here, so I'm not going to I'm not going to say what that radius is because I'll probably say it wrong, but there would be a requirement"},{"t":5287,"text":"for nearby residents to be notified as well as putting an advertisement in the paper in two consecutive weeks. though"},{"t":5294,"text":"that would give an opportunity for those residents to come to council and air um any concerns that they feel council"},{"t":5302,"text":"would need to hear as to the question of would we be able to receive statistics on usage on traffic tonnage etc. Yes,"},{"t":5310,"text":"that's absolutely something that we could request from the CRD or from Bottle Depot."},{"t":5315,"text":"Okay, councelor Braithway. Anything else?"},{"t":5318,"text":"Yeah, thank you. Um just um a little bit about the operations. Um do we know um"},{"t":5324,"text":"you've talked about uh the metrics etc and I'm wondering if you can just touch on um what city of Victoria if if you"},{"t":5332,"text":"know what city Victoria um uh experienced um and the amount of volume that's that we might even be expecting"},{"t":5340,"text":"coming in and then the the next part would be how do we what will we put in place to prevent after hours dumping so"},{"t":5349,"text":"uh because if there's something in place on those um parking spots. There might be some after hours dumping and and who's responsible if any hazardous"},{"t":5357,"text":"materials get left behind? Is it our responsibility or is the responsibility of the CRD? Thank you, Mr. Rick."},{"t":5365,"text":"Uh thank you. uh through the mayor. I think we would have a hard time extrapolating Victoria's uh tonnages and"},{"t":5373,"text":"statistics uh to Oak Bay just based on proximity of where their project was, how close it was to downtown, how"},{"t":5381,"text":"accessible it was on bus routes. Um from what I've heard, the program was wellreceived, but uh I I wouldn't be"},{"t":5390,"text":"able to provide more information uh than that. As far as after hours dumping, all that would be left on the site after hours is a locked shipping container."},{"t":5400,"text":"What would be set up during operations is um if you envision when you kind of go to like a charity bottle drive and they have those big canvas bags that are"},{"t":5408,"text":"set up on metal stands for people to deposit their materials in, those would be set up during the day, but when the depot's closed, those would be locked up"},{"t":5416,"text":"inside the shipping container. I think that is there a possibility that people would unscrupulously dump something"},{"t":5424,"text":"Saturday night thinking well they'll pick it up Sunday morning. I suppose that's true but I suppose we've faced the same risk of somebody could dump"},{"t":5431,"text":"something on municipal lawn. Um and as far as keeping the site cleaned up at the end of each working day that is the"},{"t":5439,"text":"responsibility of the bottle depot who would be the operator of the site. Perfect. Thank you so very much."},{"t":5448,"text":"Uh thank you. Um I don't see other hands. Just a question I have is uh just really around practicality of that of that location."},{"t":5458,"text":"Um that parking lot is quite busy. So um I know it comes in spurts in sports, but on weekends uh sporting events at the"},{"t":5467,"text":"high school tend to overflow into that parking lot quite heavily. So what would be the perceived like how does that work"},{"t":5475,"text":"from a conflict perspective? Is the entire parking lot closed for Saturday and Sunday for people transiting or is it just all the cars are parked there"},{"t":5483,"text":"and people have to fit between them or what is the how does it actually work practically in your in this state? Mr."},{"t":5490,"text":"Renick, I think that in my mind's eye, we would probably initially say that there's no parking in that parking lot other than"},{"t":5498,"text":"short term for the period of time that the um that the pop-up depot is open. Um keeping in mind that that pop-up depot"},{"t":5507,"text":"is only going to be open from 9 to 3 or or 9 to 4 um and leaving that area open in the evenings. I also think that"},{"t":5516,"text":"that's something that we could evaluate and say, well, um, if there's a major event coming, like if we had another"},{"t":5523,"text":"major rec center event on the order of the Victoria Cougars Centennial, maybe we say we're not doing it this weekend"},{"t":5530,"text":"because we need that for the parking. I think those are things that that we could consider and that we could manage um, should we go forward with it. I also"},{"t":5538,"text":"just wanted to to point out because I don't know if I made it clear enough in my staff report that CRD is in conversation with all of the"},{"t":5546,"text":"municipalities and they're looking to add spaces all over. So, this wouldn't be solely Oak Bay taking on recycling for the entire region."},{"t":5554,"text":"Understood. Thank you for that. Um, okay. So, the the in front of us here is options. Before I go to motions, I'm"},{"t":5562,"text":"going to go to the public. Any members of the public wish to talk to us about this uh beyond the curve initiative?"},{"t":5567,"text":"this recycling option for use in parking lots. I see anybody online."},{"t":5577,"text":"This is item number five was 4.2 now 5.2 is participation in the CRD's what they're calling beyond the curb"},{"t":5584,"text":"initiative. It's a recycling uh option pop-up recycling on weekends uh in Oak Bay."},{"t":5593,"text":"If you wish to speak to us, you have to come up to the mo to the mic. It's amazing what you learn."},{"t":5602,"text":"Um, Miss Fette, can you please just microphone name municipality of residents?"},{"t":5606,"text":"Leona Fernette. Um, Oak Bay, you know, Victoria or actually Oak Bay has so many"},{"t":5613,"text":"jewels and that make it so livable. And I have to say the Elgen Road dump is one of my"},{"t":5622,"text":"favorite places to go. I'd hate to see anything jeopardize that"},{"t":5628,"text":"asset, but I'm all for this. And I think that um I I think that uh we have a lot"},{"t":5636,"text":"of other areas we could consider. Um I'm very much aware of the noise that comes"},{"t":5644,"text":"from there and I wouldn't want to put that on any homeowner, even if it's just a pilot project."},{"t":5651,"text":"Uh on my morning walks, I'm constantly around the Harrow Road. Um I don't know if we call it a municipal"},{"t":5659,"text":"lot, but gravel waste, whatever. And because that those generally aren't used"},{"t":5667,"text":"on Saturday and Sunday, at least they're not staffed by Oak Bay. I think with some very cheap opport uh options for"},{"t":5677,"text":"creating a turnaround and a drop off could be done."},{"t":5683,"text":"That's just my two bits, but don't put it next to somebody's home, please. Thank you."},{"t":5691,"text":"Um thank you. Any other people wish to speak to council on this item?"},{"t":5696,"text":"Not seeing any hands popping up. I do have one pop-up question that I forgot to ask Mr. Renica and that is just do we know what there's different sizes of"},{"t":5704,"text":"SECAN type uh options. Some of them take up four or five parking spots, some of them take up one or two. I'm just do we know what they're talking about in this"},{"t":5712,"text":"situation? Have we uh Yes, thank you. Uh what I spoke with the operator about was a a standard 20"},{"t":5722,"text":"foot by 8 foot. Um so that's essentially two parking stalls. Okay. Thank you."},{"t":5729,"text":"Yes."},{"t":5731,"text":"I would like to move the staff recommendations and that just for the record is to participate and to prepare a temporary use permit."},{"t":5738,"text":"Yes. Thank you for the Cadbury road and Cadbury Bay and Crmore location. Moved and seconded."},{"t":5745,"text":"Uh any discussion on that having we've asked lots of questions. I think we should have partially delved into debate and discussion on the merits. Um but"},{"t":5755,"text":"anybody wish to discuss further before I call the question. And I guess anybody who's opposed is probably worth speaking at this point and raising concerns."},{"t":5764,"text":"Yeah. Go ahead. Counselor Ed Watson's hand first and then Green. Yeah. I just would like to mo motivate."},{"t":5769,"text":"I think that this is a a a great opportunity. It's basically like a free service and it addresses our our our"},{"t":5777,"text":"need and desire to be able to provide access to this service for people who use bikes or walk, pedestrians and cyclists. and uh we we cannot"},{"t":5786,"text":"accommodate them at the dump. And so therefore, I thought that this site as an experiment under a temporary use permit is a really good one because it's"},{"t":5792,"text":"central and if you're looking to um be create the most um uh convenience for"},{"t":5800,"text":"for cyclists and pedestrians, it's it's a good it's a good selection of sites and it is it's double-sided. So, I was really pleased to see this come forward"},{"t":5809,"text":"and uh what's not to like about a new free service in Oak Bay for something that is so treasured. Thank you, Councelor Green."},{"t":5816,"text":"Thank you. I just have one last question through you to Mr. Renick. Mr. Renick, will the adjacent homeowners be"},{"t":5823,"text":"consulted about this site and um informed? Thank you."},{"t":5830,"text":"uh through the mayor. Yes, there is a statutory notice that has to go out to all properties within a specified radius"},{"t":5837,"text":"of the parcel prior to council's consideration of the temporary use permit. I also just really wanted to quickly address a comment made by Miss"},{"t":5846,"text":"Fett with regards to the noise and comparing it to Elgen because I did bring that up with the operators from the bottle depot. Again, we're we're"},{"t":5855,"text":"talking about those popup cloth bags that people are inserting things into."},{"t":5859,"text":"The real challenge we have at Elgen is that we have about a 20 foot long metal chute that people drop the trash down and sometimes they throw the trash down"},{"t":5868,"text":"at. Um, so I I do see that the noise being produced by this use will be significantly lower than the noise being produced at Elgen."},{"t":5877,"text":"Thank you for that, Councelor Patterson."},{"t":5881,"text":"Yes, thank you, Mayor. And just one last question for Mr. Renick. Thank you for that um information, Mr. Renick. But I"},{"t":5889,"text":"do notice that glass bottles and jars are also included in this and they get noisy no matter what you put them in. I think Miss Fernette does raise um a good"},{"t":5898,"text":"point in in um this based on the staff report, this is a one-year commitment."},{"t":5905,"text":"Um, does the if the location became problematic, does it require that it stay in this exact location or is there an alternate should problems arise?"},{"t":5917,"text":"Mr. Renick, do you know the answer?"},{"t":5919,"text":"Uh, through the mayor. I think that's something that we could discuss with the bottle depot and we could bring that information back to council. I think"},{"t":5926,"text":"that really they're looking for a one-year commitment to know that it will be in Oak Bay. And I think that if you move it to another location, you have"},{"t":5934,"text":"the same land use challenge of needing to do a temporary use permit for whatever the alternative location is."},{"t":5940,"text":"Um, but I did mention earlier that there's information that I can bring back to council and I can bring that back as well. Thank you, Councelor Patterson."},{"t":5948,"text":"Yes, thank you, Mayor. And while generally I am supportive of this, my I will put my environmental hat on and say recycling is not the answer to"},{"t":5957,"text":"everything environmental. We we did have the three Rs originally and that is"},{"t":5963,"text":"reduce, reuse and recycle lastly and um so while I I I support this and I think"},{"t":5971,"text":"it will be a convenience certainly the ease of recycling is itself becoming a bit problematic in that I think that it"},{"t":5979,"text":"is also making it very easy for people to create the recycled material. Thank you."},{"t":5987,"text":"Thank you. Uh don't see any other hands."},{"t":5990,"text":"I'm going to call the question. All those in favor. Any opposed? None opposed. That carries. We now move to the last item on the agenda which is uh"},{"t":5999,"text":"just the parks master plan. Uh we'll try and get through this in a pretty simply timely way. We have Mr. Sulier here who's our director of parks, recreation, culture, and our district facilities."},{"t":6009,"text":"Welcome."},{"t":6009,"text":"Good evening, Mayor and Council. I do have a brief presentation um that I can walk you through before opening up the floor for questions."},{"t":6019,"text":"So, as you mentioned that the purpose uh of the report today is to seek endorsement of the essentially the project scope for the parks master plan uh council priority project number 14."},{"t":6030,"text":"And just a bit of background um council will recall that uh this is the first of two complimentary projects focused on long-term planning for parks, recreation"},{"t":6039,"text":"and cultural uh asset services and investments. Um we have uh staff have reviewed the draft scope with both the parks recreation."},{"t":6047,"text":"I'm sorry to interrupt but um we can't see the presentation online."},{"t":6052,"text":"Good point. Thank you. I should have noticed that. Uh there we go. Uh nope, not quite. Give it a second. There it"},{"t":6060,"text":"was just coming on to the screen as you were doing that."},{"t":6072,"text":"Yeah, that's there now. There we go. It's working. Thank you. Please continue."},{"t":6080,"text":"Okay. Uh, so staff have reviewed the the project scope with the parks, recreation, and culture advisor advisory committee as well as the accessibility"},{"t":6088,"text":"advisory committee and the feedback received is reflected in the report."},{"t":6096,"text":"So the purpose of the plan is to identify strategic objectives and actions that will enhance the municipalities parks and open spaces over the next uh two decades. Uh the"},{"t":6105,"text":"recommendations uh will align with the official community plan other recent plans, policies and priorities that have been adopted by council. Um and I would"},{"t":6113,"text":"also like to specifically highlight the uh climate action plan um that was raised in our engagement with the the two groups. Um and it there are some"},{"t":6122,"text":"obvious uh opportunities for collaboration with uh our colleagues in in that project team um given the some of the similar themes um related to uh"},{"t":6131,"text":"climate action uh and climate uh resilience um and parks and natural assets."},{"t":6139,"text":"So in terms of the approach uh fairly uh standard approach for an exercise such as this um the first phase uh well first"},{"t":6146,"text":"of all I should mention that we will be procuring uh consultant support for this. Uh we'll be looking for an experienced team that can uh support uh"},{"t":6154,"text":"district staff with uh the technical analysis uh the public engagement as well as the development of recommendations um in an imp"},{"t":6162,"text":"implementation plan. So the first phase uh really does start with a current state assessment looking at our existing assets uh park spaces uh this includes"},{"t":6171,"text":"uh trails uh amenity spaces um uh supporting infrastructure such as furniture uh and public washrooms. Um"},{"t":6180,"text":"this will also include uh the first phase of public engagement. So, we'll be looking for the community uh to provide us input on opportunities uh risks,"},{"t":6189,"text":"challenges, um things they like. Uh and all of this will be packaged together in in terms of a report that will be"},{"t":6196,"text":"provided to council uh providing a sort of current state assessment which will be the foundation upon which the the future uh visioning work and uh and"},{"t":6205,"text":"strategic recommendations will be developed. Um the second phase will include another round of public engagement. So the"},{"t":6213,"text":"consultants uh and the project team will be working on uh draft recommendations uh and then sharing that with the public for feedback. Um and ultimately all of"},{"t":6222,"text":"that information will be uh pulled together in the in the form format of a uh a draft uh parks master plan that will be brought to council for consideration um and approval."},{"t":6236,"text":"So this slide represents um a high level schedule and I I did want to just clarify that I've kind of for the sake of using the space on the slide and"},{"t":6245,"text":"making this easy to follow. I've really focused on those um key opportunities including the public engagement um pieces. Uh you'll also see the the"},{"t":6253,"text":"council reports that are noted. So, um, the next touch point after this, uh, meeting with council, the next decision point would be, uh, the approval of the"},{"t":6261,"text":"public engagement plan, um, and any feedback that council may have into that. So, to make sure that we, um, we understand how we're going to be working"},{"t":6269,"text":"with, um, the community um, and the forums that we'll be using and the and, uh, the timing of that. Um, we'll then"},{"t":6278,"text":"be reporting back to council, as I mentioned, with the outputs of that first phase. uh and then finally the approval of the of the final plan. Now"},{"t":6285,"text":"the schedule uh we're looking to get procurement uh initiated as soon as possible so that we can have the consultant team onboarded for the fall"},{"t":6293,"text":"um positioning them well to start that technical analysis and the information gathering as well as preparing the public engagement planning work um through the balance of this year."},{"t":6306,"text":"And with that, I will uh I think leave it to answer any questions you may have uh with regards to this project. Thank you."},{"t":6316,"text":"Thank you very much, Mr. Sier. Other questions."},{"t":6321,"text":"Go ahead, councelor Patterson and then councelor Braithweight. Yes. Thank you, mayor, and through you to Mr."},{"t":6329,"text":"Sullier. Thank you so much for the report. Um just a few questions here."},{"t":6335,"text":"Could you explain the type of oversight that will be given to ensure that we actually um garner value from the"},{"t":6342,"text":"consultants? I felt that sometimes consultants didn't identify very well with Oak Bay and um and so perhaps the"},{"t":6351,"text":"information we received was not directly for this community. How do how do we manage this process in a better manner for this project?"},{"t":6361,"text":"Mr. Sulier through the mayor. Um our project management uh governance structure will include uh an oversight committee and a project team. So we've already"},{"t":6369,"text":"identified individuals um who will be uh uh assigned to support this project. Um uh similar to what we've recently been"},{"t":6377,"text":"doing with the Canarvin project. Um they will be providing guidance on all aspects of the project and making sure that we have um appropriate uh forums,"},{"t":6385,"text":"scheduling of activities. Um as I mentioned earlier that collaboration with the the climate action plan uh project team um those will all be uh"},{"t":6393,"text":"sort of supported with staff and we're really looking for the consultants to uh carry out the the actions and also um"},{"t":6400,"text":"bring that uh sort of research and expertise from what's happening in in terms of leading practices in in this space or counc."},{"t":6410,"text":"Yes. Thank you mayor and um uh thanks for that information. Um could you"},{"t":6416,"text":"explain just how you will with with the new housing plan and Oak Bay wanting to"},{"t":6424,"text":"grow, Santa wanting to grow, city of Victoria wanting to grow. Um does this does this consider also the broader"},{"t":6431,"text":"community aspect because the um the park facilities are really regional, more regional and so what happens in those communities may affect this."},{"t":6442,"text":"Mr. here and through the mayor uh to councelor Patterson. Uh yes, the the growth projections and the actual growth that"},{"t":6449,"text":"is being uh um observed in those particularly in the the border communities. Um but also uh more broadly will be factored in uh and will be key"},{"t":6458,"text":"inputs into into the planning. Um we uh we know that uh our parks and recreation facilities are certainly destinations"},{"t":6465,"text":"for individuals that live outside of the district."},{"t":6469,"text":"Thank you. And mayor, one last question I have. Um, thanks for that information."},{"t":6474,"text":"I mean, it uh good that we we do attract people, but there is limited capacity."},{"t":6480,"text":"Um but I do also consider when if I if I look at some of the the parks in particularly the trail system uh right"},{"t":6488,"text":"now a lot of that is I don't want to use the word managed but it it is cared for by often volunteer"},{"t":6497,"text":"members of the community uh for things like management of the trails, removal of invasive species and things like the things like that."},{"t":6507,"text":"How will that be considered when we're undertaking this assessment?"},{"t":6513,"text":"Mr. Sier through the mayor. So, so the sort of the operation and the maintenance um along with supply and provision of park"},{"t":6521,"text":"spaces and the and the access to those are all key areas that um I expect we'll be uh digging into. Um I I will"},{"t":6528,"text":"acknowledge that upon my arrival here that was something that really stood out for me is how much volunteer capacity is uh is being uh put to work uh in the"},{"t":6537,"text":"district to care for uh some of these uh green spaces. Um and this plan will allow uh council to see the full breadth"},{"t":6545,"text":"of of what's involved um as I said in terms of the supply and uh and the overall uh maintenance of these spaces."},{"t":6553,"text":"Great. Thank you. Uh I have councelor Braithweight then smart then Watson."},{"t":6558,"text":"Uh thanks very much mayor and uh thanks so much Mr. Soier for the uh for the report. I really appreciate it. It was really wellreceived at the parks revenue"},{"t":6566,"text":"and culture committee meeting. Um and parks obviously is one of the most important um aspects of Oak Bay and not"},{"t":6573,"text":"only to us as a district but to our residents as well. So, in saying that, I'm wondering if you can just touch on"},{"t":6581,"text":"um what the risks would be associated with continuing without a mass a parks master plan"},{"t":6591,"text":"through the mayor. Um so, without um this type of long range planning, um both the the the process and the the"},{"t":6600,"text":"output um will essentially be where we are now, which is um a very ad hoc approach. um typically reactive um"},{"t":6608,"text":"approach to uh dealing with our managing our assets and and supporting uh community needs. Um that is a master"},{"t":6615,"text":"plan is not a requirement that's legislated that a community has. Um but it is considered a leading practice um and certainly very helpful particularly"},{"t":6622,"text":"in a community like ours where we have so many demands um across many different lines of our operations uh to help prioritize where those investments will"},{"t":6631,"text":"be made and understanding what uh uh goals and objectives are desired when we make those investments. Go ahead, Miss Hunt."},{"t":6639,"text":"Thank you very much. I'd also just like to add on to that uh with this master plan, it will also help us uh help inform the DCC program which includes um"},{"t":6648,"text":"our ability to collect uh from development uh to feed uh growth related part both park infrastructure and u"},{"t":6655,"text":"parkland acquisition and I think it's critical that we we have this plan so that we can uh look at updating those DCC programs."},{"t":6664,"text":"Thank you. Go ahead, councelor Briew."},{"t":6667,"text":"Thank you and thanks for that addition to to Mr. Solia's comments, Miss Hunt."},{"t":6671,"text":"Um, so then my financial question would be around the $140,000 budgeted. It do do you feel that's sufficient to"},{"t":6679,"text":"complete the work as we've envisioned it? And I'm and I'm asking that question because I'm wondering if we know if it's comparable to what other municipalities"},{"t":6686,"text":"who have completed similar plans u might be in in relation to cost. if we know that"},{"t":6696,"text":"through the mayor um we do feel that uh the budget is sufficient to achieve um the desired objectives here and I think"},{"t":6703,"text":"it is important to note um and it's identified in the project uh signoff report as well that this is a it is a more of a strategic level plan. We are"},{"t":6711,"text":"not getting into a site by sight um sort of detailed um uh you know list of recommendations. um this is looking at"},{"t":6720,"text":"those uh key priorities um and and objectives um as well as the the actions that that may be required. So in some"},{"t":6728,"text":"cases there may be a recommendation to develop a more detailed plan for a specific uh park or uh or uh service"},{"t":6735,"text":"provision. Um this plan is intended to focus on those um more strategic level uh priorities."},{"t":6745,"text":"Uh thank you. And if I may, mayor, I have one more question. Um and then then that would be um how often is the plan"},{"t":6753,"text":"expected to be updated because we don't we have never had a plan like this in place before? Um so I'm just wondering"},{"t":6760,"text":"how how often would we be updating it to keep it current?"},{"t":6764,"text":"Mer through the mayor. Uh the the review and updating process um will really uh likely come out of our the work with the"},{"t":6772,"text":"the project team and and um and consider those key actions. Um but typically it would be sort of in the 3 to 5 year"},{"t":6781,"text":"range unless there's some very significant development that happens in the community that would warrant uh an updating uh prior to that. But this is"},{"t":6788,"text":"this is looking as I said out two decades. So, um there would be uh check-in periods throughout um and reporting out on progress. Um but in"},{"t":6797,"text":"terms of actually updating the report, um sort of that 5-year time frame may be what I what I would anticipate at this point. Thank you."},{"t":6805,"text":"Thank you very much."},{"t":6806,"text":"Councelor Smart, then Watson, then Green."},{"t":6810,"text":"Uh thank you um through you, Mayor M. So the um I my first question is just with regards to is a regional evaluation"},{"t":6818,"text":"included in this scope of work and and by that I mean are we looking potentially at where there are gaps in regional park services that we could"},{"t":6826,"text":"fulfill or do fulfill in Oak Bay and are we able to find out which sports or clubs or nonprofits might like to use"},{"t":6834,"text":"our parks but we don't have the proper facilities for them. So, is there um is there a way that we can both look at other regions for what they're doing"},{"t":6842,"text":"well that we could learn from, but also how we sort of fit regionally with our services?"},{"t":6848,"text":"Mr. Sier, through the mayor, I I would certainly anticipate some of that feedback coming in through um both the technical"},{"t":6855,"text":"analysis that is um going to be undertaken by the consultants, but also through the community uh input that we receive. Um you know, you take a some an"},{"t":6864,"text":"emerging sport for example. um that uh may be challenged to get access to to our facilities. Um years ago, ultimate"},{"t":6872,"text":"frisbee was the uh the sport that was having challenges in competing with other other clubs. But I think that the data will inform, you know, what type of"},{"t":6881,"text":"um utilization we have on our facilities and where the opportunities are. And then um obviously we'll be hearing from the community about um you know, any"},{"t":6889,"text":"challenges that they might be facing related to access um or amenity the provision of amenities as well. Um we'll be interested to see what particular"},{"t":6898,"text":"activities um are being met currently and and our our current gaps."},{"t":6905,"text":"Well, thank you um through director Sier. So I guess that leads to my next question which is regards to I really appreciated the first stage of being the"},{"t":6913,"text":"state of um uh current state of assessment and I'm just wondering if in that current state of assessment we"},{"t":6922,"text":"establish that there's certain ages or abilities that are not able to fully utilize our um parks. Will that then be"},{"t":6930,"text":"able to inform how we do the engagement to ensure we reach those groups or will it be too late because we'll already have an"},{"t":6938,"text":"engagement plan before we know where um our issues are with with that inclusion"},{"t":6945,"text":"piece through the mayor. I I I would certainly anticipate that um we'll be engaging consultants that will build in that"},{"t":6953,"text":"flexibility. Um if we have barriers to access, we certainly want to be digging into that in the uh in the engagement that we'll be doing. Um and that may be"},{"t":6961,"text":"require require uh conversations with particular groups, particular age groups. Um but yeah, that would be something that we definitely want to understand."},{"t":6972,"text":"Anything else?"},{"t":6973,"text":"um uh through you may director so and tell me if this is because I realize we're going to have another council touch point on um engagement and so the"},{"t":6981,"text":"answer to this might be ask that at the next meeting um but I just my question was just with regards to resolving conflicting needs uh like I"},{"t":6990,"text":"think we're all aware of how there's conflicting needs in our parks and I'll give the example of dogs off leash versus protecting native plants um will"},{"t":7000,"text":"we will the engagement approach you potentially be to come up with a set of community values that helps us to"},{"t":7007,"text":"prioritize certain needs over other needs or will you know the approach be more to find a compromise that includes the greatest diversity of of needs and I"},{"t":7016,"text":"realize the answer might be that comes from council but I also think it comes from the community so I'm just I'm just wondering with at that high level if you"},{"t":7023,"text":"have any thoughts on on how we will deal with an engagement approach with regards to prioritizing or including community needs."},{"t":7032,"text":"Mr. Sulier, through the mayor. Uh um yes, as you've identified, there's certainly going to be a there's going to be a range of um"},{"t":7040,"text":"opinions and and um sentiments when it comes to certain topics and and the dogs and parks will undoubtedly be one of those topics. uh and this plan won't"},{"t":7049,"text":"entirely address the detailed response to that, but it it certainly will, as you've noted, um identify uh values and principles um that will support a"},{"t":7058,"text":"framework for how those get dealt with uh likely. And back to my earlier pres my uh response around more detailed uh work that would be needed um once we"},{"t":7067,"text":"have that sort of priority list of objectives um from this plan. Um you know, how options for how dog issues are"},{"t":7074,"text":"addressed in the future. Um we will likely get some indications for an approach for that through this plan. Um but as I say it won't be the sort of"},{"t":7082,"text":"detailed uh solution um at this at this time."},{"t":7087,"text":"Thank you. Were you volunteering to offer for the conflict between the dog users and the uh moving to councelor Watson and then Green."},{"t":7096,"text":"Uh thank you mayor and through you to director Sulier. Um as you know your uh Mr. Chris Hillelay came on your behalf"},{"t":7104,"text":"to present um this uh work plan and consultation aspects of it to the accessibility advisory committee and"},{"t":7112,"text":"they dug in. They were really engaged and they came up with some very specific recommendations to really that have to do with the sort of content and the"},{"t":7120,"text":"extent of the scope and and two that have to do with their involvement in being consulted. And so I I think I"},{"t":7127,"text":"heard you say when you presented that those are already built into the their their kind of response to that's built into the proposals, but I'm not I didn't"},{"t":7136,"text":"see that document change since it was presented to them. So I just wanted to check about that because they had they had very they had some very specific"},{"t":7143,"text":"requests that I would support and if they if we didn't think they were in there, I was going to move motions to make sure that they were included."},{"t":7152,"text":"Uh so spec maybe I should be very specific. Uh one was about actually using in doing that the um the tech"},{"t":7160,"text":"phase one technical analysis actually adopting or the uh Oak Bay accessibility lens and framework uh as a way to look at parks when you're going out there."},{"t":7170,"text":"And that that's a that's a document that was included in the implementation strategy for the accessibility plan. Um"},{"t":7178,"text":"and which um I'm sure you it was Yeah, it was in the package. So um and the other one with respect to content was"},{"t":7185,"text":"including wayfinding and the scope of master plan development. So those were the two content pieces and then the consultation pieces were just asking"},{"t":7194,"text":"that they be specifically consulted during both phase one and phase two of the public engagement and also that they"},{"t":7200,"text":"would get to see the draft plan um before it goes back for consideration by council. So two two consultation chunks"},{"t":7208,"text":"and two content chunks. So if you could just clarify for me what's actually in there now through the absolutely uh through the"},{"t":7217,"text":"mayor. So in terms of the uh maybe I'll start with the the second part around uh engaging directly with that committee."},{"t":7223,"text":"Um, we have identified uh that committee in in our uh list of of stakeholder groups and um and just like the the"},{"t":7231,"text":"parks, recreation and culture advisory committee, we're going to be looking for regular uh contact uh with those groups to get uh feedback on both phases of"},{"t":7240,"text":"work. Um I did I did speak with Mr. Hlay about the meeting and and the feedback."},{"t":7246,"text":"We included the uh recommendations uh in the report that um that were received from the accessibility advisory uh"},{"t":7253,"text":"committee. Um and we certainly understand that accessibility is going to be a a a critical piece of uh of this"},{"t":7262,"text":"um the recommendation and the and the sort of strategic focus. Um you know, when you have an older um sort of built"},{"t":7271,"text":"out uh park infrastructure like we have, undoubtedly we're going to have accessibility challenge. We know that we're facing that now and and that this will be an area of focus that we can"},{"t":7279,"text":"anticipate. Um as far as the specifics around um the wayfinding uh again that's something that we can predict is going"},{"t":7286,"text":"to come up. We've we've heard it already um on an ad hoc basis from the community and we do expect that signage and wayfinding uh and making sure that those"},{"t":7294,"text":"are uh accessible um are are part of our uh recommendation. So I don't want to get ahead of myself in, you know, predicting all of these things, but some"},{"t":7302,"text":"of them seem more apparent and we definitely will be leaning into the expertise and um perspectives of the uh accessibility advisory committee as we work through this."},{"t":7311,"text":"Thank you. And just to follow up very specifically about the um the accessibility lens and framework that they had in front of them that that is"},{"t":7320,"text":"certainly more than just physical accessibility. Um and so uh um would it be helpful to have a reference to that"},{"t":7327,"text":"or do you think that the the principles in that sort of accessibility lens would be incorporated into the into the project design?"},{"t":7334,"text":"Mr. Leier through the mayor, we will certainly be using that document as we when we meet with our consultants and build out the public engagement plan."},{"t":7343,"text":"All right. Well, then I think that would satisfy me that I don't need to make any additional motions, but okay. Thank you. I had them here if we needed them."},{"t":7351,"text":"Thank you. Um I have next councelor Green. Thank you very much and through you Mr."},{"t":7357,"text":"Sawyer. Thank you for a a complete presentation and report. Really appreciate it. Particularly interested in the comments you just made around the"},{"t":7365,"text":"accessibility issue. Um I just wanted to ask um if this master plan will also"},{"t":7372,"text":"include succession planning for staffing. And the reason I'm asking the question is that we know um that Mr. Mr."},{"t":7379,"text":"Hidley. Not to expound too much about Mr. Hidley, but he has done so much on the ground work with volunteer groups um"},{"t":7388,"text":"in all of our parks. He he is a hard act to follow. So, I'm concerned about succession planning and staffing in that area because it you will need probably to staff up sooner rather than later."},{"t":7400,"text":"So, I just wanted to ask about that part of the master plan. Thank you."},{"t":7404,"text":"Is succession planning included in this planning process? Uh Mr. here through the mayor. I I wouldn't say specifically succession planning, but certainly understanding the requirements for resourcing um and service delivery."},{"t":7415,"text":"Um these are the information that we um glean through this project is going to be critical as we uh as we plan for the future of the operations team including the leadership."},{"t":7425,"text":"Thank you."},{"t":7427,"text":"Thank you. Um I just have a couple of questions on this one. one is the um uh it kind of goes to the next phase of"},{"t":7436,"text":"signing off on on on the public engagement, but it's not really public engagement. You know, one of the realities is is that our park staff obviously are in the parks day in and"},{"t":7444,"text":"day out and see what's working and what's not and what's failing and what's not and probably have some pretty strong opinions uh about what could be better."},{"t":7452,"text":"Uh so I just want to make sure that we have a included in this is a very robust discussion with the both the auxiliary and the full-time staff that are"},{"t":7460,"text":"actually out there and and can bring that information back."},{"t":7462,"text":"Absolutely. That's a critical source of intelligence for us."},{"t":7465,"text":"Great. Thank you. Uh and the second one was just in the plan there is a uh and council touch points. It's just uh at"},{"t":7473,"text":"the end of phase one it's just results for information and um I'm just from my perspective I think uh is there any"},{"t":7481,"text":"mechanism there by which we could include in that like not just for information but it's a it's an opportunity for us to kind of check and make sure that the direction going"},{"t":7489,"text":"forward is correct I can think of there may be some philosophical things there things that we heard to say yes let's please spend a lot more time on that maybe not so much on that to kind of you"},{"t":7498,"text":"know make sure that we're focusing resources appropriately at a more sort governance philosophical level. Is that is that anticipated here? Because it's"},{"t":7506,"text":"not it's not explicitly written into their into the report."},{"t":7508,"text":"Yes. And my apologies for not making that more explicit, but that would be the assumption that we would be getting uh feedback from council on on those"},{"t":7516,"text":"results from that first phase and the observations and the the themes that we hear from the from the public um as we"},{"t":7523,"text":"uh work with the consultant on preparing uh for that second phase and some of the draft directions."},{"t":7528,"text":"Okay, great. Thank you very much. Um I'll leave my other questions there. I think that's satisfactory. Um my actually maybe I'll just last finish on"},{"t":7536,"text":"this one. My understanding at the end of this process, we will go through the uh the feedback. We'll get uh we'll do an we'll do an engagement. We'll come back"},{"t":7545,"text":"here. It'll develop what is as you described as sort of a 20-year master plan of things that we're working towards. So as we're doing our then other projects will over those next two"},{"t":7554,"text":"decades slot into that master plan. Um and that might change over that time as well. But that's it's that kind of level of plan. Um it's to make sure that we're"},{"t":7563,"text":"we're prioritizing appropriately with limited resources. Is that correct?"},{"t":7567,"text":"That's correct. To get to to really give some some structure to our long-term planning and understand the the resource um needs uh over the over the longer"},{"t":7574,"text":"term. And as you say, those will be built into those uh financial plans and the staff work plans and the uh and even the engagement with that we're planning with the community on on some of the more sight specific uh work."},{"t":7585,"text":"Great. Thank you. So we have a recommendation here. It's pretty simple."},{"t":7588,"text":"It's just the council approves the project sign off. Uh councelor Green, I'm happy to I'm happy to make the staff recommendation as a motion. Okay."},{"t":7595,"text":"The council approved the project sign off."},{"t":7597,"text":"You have to read it off. I think we'll Okay, we can take that as a thing. Is there a second? Thank you. Y thank you. Um any discussion?"},{"t":7607,"text":"I will just make a brief comment then that this is I think we're looking forward to this work being done. uh I think some of the high level uh"},{"t":7615,"text":"conflicts of use and uh natural versus active use all those kind of things that'll come up with this is going to be uh interesting uh probably difficult at"},{"t":7623,"text":"times but I think a necessary part for our planning process so thank you for that um with that I'm going to call the"},{"t":7630,"text":"question all those in favor any opposed none opposed that carries I do believe that brings us to adjournment would"},{"t":7638,"text":"anybody like to make a motion to adjurnn yes One. Is there a seconder? Going once, going twice. Second. Second."},{"t":7646,"text":"Second. Seconded. There we go. All those in favor? Any opposed? None opposed."},{"t":7651,"text":"Thank you very much, everybody. It's been a bit of a long night, but we're through it. Thank you."}],"words":20228,"fetchedAt":"2026-10-03T01:17:39.481Z"}