Transcript: Council Meeting - 2026-09-21

Good evening, everyone. Welcome to your Council Chamber. I'm going to call this evening's meeting to order. We are gathered this evening, Monday, September 21st, for the purpose of a Council meeting. And we're going to begin, as we always do, in a good way, with a territorial acknowledgement and inclusivity statement. And to deliver that this evening, I'm going to turn it over to Councillor Harper.

Mr. Mayor, it is appropriate that we begin by acknowledging that the district of Saanich lies within the territories of the Lekwungen peoples represented by the Songhees and Esquimalt nations, and the Weissonich peoples represented by the Sartlip, Poquchan, Saot, Sachem and Malahat nations. We are committed to the rich diversity of people in our community. We are guided by the principle that embracing diversity enriches the lives of all people. We all share the responsibility for creating an equitable and inclusive community and for addressing discrimination in all forms.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you, Councillor Harper. Public input has always been an important item on our Council meeting agendas and welcomed here in person. Saanich encourages public input via email or written submission in person or by video on Ms.

Teams.

For those wishing to address counsel via Ms. Teams, the link is available at Saanich CA Agendas. The Deputy Corporate Officer will provide further details on providing public input prior to the public input portion of the agenda. This meeting is being live webcast and by participating in the webcast you're consenting to being recorded. Personal information, including your image and personal opinions may be collected and disclosed as part of Council's proceedings on the video. The recording will be available on the district's website for future access. When presenting to Council, we ask that you please not include any third party information, including talking about others, as you may be disclosing other people's personal information without their consent. The Council Chamber is a place for respectful dialogue.

If behaviour or language is disruptive or harmful, we reserve the right to stop that input or remove that individual from the meeting. We also ask that you consider others when listening and reacting to any comments this evening. Whether you support or oppose a particular item. Item, it's our job to ensure that everybody feels comfortable and welcome to participate and share their views. Of course, I know it's not going to come to that. We're all going to treat each other with kindness and respect and we're all going to get through this together. The last bit I will add is that when you address Council, everyone who wishes to address Council on the items for public input Will have up to three minutes to do so.

And we just ask that you please let us know the topic which you intend to address so that we can follow that specific item. And then I can make any reference to questions you may have raised that for that agenda item when that item comes up for debate and discussion. If it's not clear which item you're speaking to, I will ask for clarity on that point as tonight's input is on the items for public input on the scheduled items for consideration. Okay, that's an awful lot of speaking points to cover. We're all going to remember every word of that. There won't be a test, but there may be prizes.

I'm going to turn it over now to our deputy corporate officer, Mr. Schrift to introduce the first item for for us.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The first item on the agenda is public input on business items D and E. Just a quick note. For those wishing to address council weims teams, the meeting link is located at www. sanish. ca agendas. This information is also displayed on the screen for convenience. For those participating through the Ms. Teams link, please leave your video display off and microphone muted except when addressing console. If you wish to speak, you must use the raise hand function to join the speaking queue. Speakers will have up to three minutes each to address council during public input. When speaking, please begin with providing your name.

While it is not mandatory, if you feel comfortable, you may also include your address, neighborhood or simply indicate that you are a resident of Saanich. Mr. Mayor, we will start with registered speakers followed by those participating in person or via Ms. Teams. First speaker we have Erica Sangster.

Oh, thank you. My name is Rachel Sansom. Thank you so much. Mayor and council, I wish to speak to agenda item 3. 1 this evening.

Okay, please go ahead.

Thank you. My mic turned on so I was assuming that was my turn.

You're speaking now, so you might as well have the floor.

Okay. Yes, I did register to speak, so.

Excellent.

All right, so item three E point one, this evening's agenda. I've been privileged to work with Habitat for Humanity for the last few years on the 1864 Felton Project. I've seen firsthand the hard work and dedication by Habitat staff that goes into providing homes for families in the greater Victoria area. Their housing model is a wonderful way for families and individuals that just need a leg up to secure good quality home ownership. This project is a good fit for the neighborhood as it is family oriented and close to all amenities. The architecture is high quality and robust. Landscape design will create an attractive, livable, desirable place to call home.

The building will be professionally managed to ensure long term maintenance. These homes will be affordable in perpetuity with both the District and Habitat for Humanity ensuring each new homeowner qualifies to purchase in this townhouse community. Note that several of these units are ground floor entry and fully accessible. To this end, I encourage Council to support this well thought out project and will serve Saanich families very well for years to come. Thank you for hearing me tonight.

Thank you and your input is always most welcome. I think staff have confirmed that your name is very similar to the first name that was called, but of course no, but you are certainly on the list and always welcome to provide input. So thank you so much. We'll go now to the other person whose name sounds similar who is the first person on our registry speakers list.

Thank you so much. Good evening Mayor and Council. My name is Erica Sangster, principal at DAU Studio and architect for the development proposal at 1864 Feltham Road. Our team has been working with Habitat for Humanity on this proposal since 2023, refining our approach over these years to fine tune how these new homes will integrate into the Gordon Head neighborhood. Our challenge has been to deliver an affordable home ownership project at a neighborhood friendly scale. Our team has worked closely with District staff over these years to improve the project's livability and fit to context by over those years reducing the overall area of the buildings and building height, retaining more existing trees and shrubs that form a buffer around the project and increasing the amount and quality of landscaped open space.

The design has evolved so that it now offers a range of home sizes from one bedroom apartments to three bedroom stacked townhouses and includes two fully accessible homes. This proposal is replacing a single family house and it's important to keep in mind that this current property is a generous width for a single home being about 50% wider than typical lots nearby. The project before you tonight optimizes how the site is used, sizing and positioning the new homes and site uses in such a way that it provides comfortable homes for new residents. Positive interfaces with the street and adjacent homes. Parking provisions have been balanced with the unit mix to ensure residents of each family sized home have first access to a dedicated parking space and there's another shared space for visitors.

Our clients have advocated for keeping this much needed parking on the site as it is critically important to both livability and affordability for future residents. The result of all this collaborative work is a fine grained human scaled project that will contribute to the range of housing options in Gordon Head and we hope will foster a community within the broader community. I urge council to move forward with today's consideration to help this project move ahead. It's a carefully considered quality project that will be much needed needed yet a gentle addition to the neighborhood. Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we have Joan Borset.

Good evening.

Good evening. Good evening Mayor and Council. My name is John Bourcet and I'm here on behalf of Woodsmere Holdings Corp. Regarding our project at Alder street in Cloverdale Avenue, which is item E2 on the agenda this evening, we are pleased to bring forward our proposal for 249 purpose built rental rental homes in two six story buildings in an area Sage has specifically identified for mid rise 68 story growth in both the official community plan and Uptown Douglas Plan.

Importantly, we have agreed to secure these homes as rental housing for 50 years or the life of the building and commit to making the building solar ready. But we have also tried to make this a project that contributes to the neighborhood beyond simply providing housing along Cloverdale Avenue. The project introduces commercial space at street level as well as space intended for a daycare adjacent to Rutledge Park. It also creates new pedestrian connection through the site, improving access between Alder street and the park. These are all uses and connections that are specifically supported by the Uptown Douglas Plan. We've also taken a similar approach to transportation.

In addition to substantial bicycle parking, Woodsmere will provide four fully electric car share vehicles for the exclusive use of the residents, giving tenants another practical alternative to owning a vehicle. Further, the project will also include civil infrastructure improvements such as new crosswalks across Alder and Cloverdale, as well as improved bike lanes along Cloverdale itself allowing for safer connectivity. We have also tried to be conscientious of the development how development relates to surrounding properties, particularly our multi unit residential neighbor to the south. The main building mass is set back approximately 15 meters from the specific property line and that setback includes retained mature trees. This means that there will be meaningful separation, screening and privacy from the day the project starts, rather than relying entirely on new landscaping that will take years to mature.

There will of course be impacts to trees with the development of this scale, but the project retains trees where possible and also includes substantial replacement planting with 42 new trees proposed for the site. This project has taken considerable time to reach this point. It has been in process for almost five years and the proposal has evolved considerably through that process. We've continued to listen to staff in the advisory design panel to make meaningful changes to the design. Most recently, the panel recognized the significant improvement in the project and ultimately recommended that it be approved as presented. We believe the results of this process is well considered. A project 249 long term rental homes, commercial and daycare space, better connections to Rutledge park at Alder, transportation choices for residents and careful consideration of the neighboring properties.

We appreciate the work that has been done by staff to bring this project to this point and we respectfully ask council to support the staff recommendation and allow us to move forward. Thank you for your time this evening.

Thank you.

Next we have Krista Beckhamma.

Good evening.

Good evening. Good evening, Mayor and council. It's nice to be here again. I'm Krista Beckema and I have the privilege of working for Habitat for Humanity. Victoria. Before I begin, I would like to acknowledge our board members, staff, families, supporters who are all here tonight. Guys want to give a wave? You can see there's a lot of excitement for our upcoming project. I'm here to speak to agenda item E1, the rezoning and development permit application for Habitat's upcoming project at 1864 Feltham Road. This is a significant milestone not only for Habitat, but for our future families and for the Saanich community as a whole. At the May 25 council meeting, we had another exciting milestone on this development and I want to thank you again for your strong endorsement.

On that night, you not only unanimously amended the Saanage Affordable Reserve Fund bylaw to include affordable home ownership, but you also approved a grant from this fund for this development. Tonight we are again seeking your support under Habitat's home ownership model. The 13 homes on Feltham Road will become a lasting community asset, providing permanently affordable sub market home ownership for local families and individuals who are ready to own a home, but simply can't make the numbers work in the open market. And importantly, this affordability doesn't disappear when the first family moves in. Affordable housing agreements are registered on title, ensuring the homes are made affordable for future homeowners by limiting both the resale price and appreciation for the life of the building.

This isn't just creating affordable homes today, it's creating permanently affordable home ownership opportunities for this community, generation after generation. We know these homes and these homes address a real and unmet need in the housing continuum. By providing the rezoning and development permit, you are helping make homeownership possible for the people who keep this community running. Healthcare workers, educators, first responders, skilled tradespeople and others. It gives local people the opportunity to put down roots and own a home in the community they work in rather than leaving to have to find one they can afford. And the impact on our partner families is profound. I want to read a quote from one of our families. The safety and stability of this home didn't just give my children a future. It allowed me to thrive as a single mother as well.

It gave me the independence, confidence and peace of mind needed to invest in my own healing journey and career. Recently, I was able to earn my PMP certification, received an Emerging Leader award, and earned a promotion. None of this would have been possible without the foundation Habitat for Humanity provided me and my family. With all of that in mind, I'm asking mayor and council to take the next step and approve agenda item E1, the rezoning and development permit for 1864 Feltham Road and help turn this opportunity into real, affordable home ownership opportunities for local families. Thank you for your time and your continued commitment to creating a community where people can not only afford to live, but can truly call home.

Thanks.

Thank you.

Next speaker, we have Tiffany Gates.

Good evening, Good evening, Good evening, Mayor and council. My name is Tiffany Gates and I'm here tonight both as a Senate homeowner and a member of the Habitat for Humanity team and speaking with 1864 Felpham Project. I've had the pleasure of working for Habitat for Humanity as the Director of Family Services for almost eight years. And during that time, I had the privilege of working directly with families who've been given an opportunity that many feel completely out of reach to own a home. I'm also a homeowner here in Saanich, specifically Gordon Head, where my husband and I have raised our two children over the last 20 years. And I can verify there's no doubt that living in Saanich is special.

It's a community where people want to raise their families. But we also have to acknowledge something that's becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. Living in Saanich is not affordable for many of the families who already call this community home or wish to move here. And that's why I'm here tonight to support Habitat free Manny Victoria's proposed affordable housing project on Feltham Road. The response we've received from families across greater Victoria has been overwhelming. To date, 283 families have submitted an expression of interest to become part of this build. These aren't families looking for a handout. These are families who are working, they're raising children, they're contributing to their communities.

They're paying rent, they're trying to save they're doing everything they can to build a stable future for their families in a community that they love. But the gap between what families earn and what it costs to purchase a home has become too large. Habitat closes that gap. Our model is designed around a simple principle. Homeownership should be affordable for Habitat. Family housing costs are structured around families applying 30% of their gross household income towards mortgage strata, fees and property taxes. A down payment is not required. Think about what that means. It means a parent can pay their mortgage and still have money for groceries. It means a child can have a new pair of sock cleats and participate in sport. It means a family can put something into their savings.

It means parents can participate in their children's lives without every dollar being consumed by the cost of housing. And perhaps most importantly, it means families can put down roots. That's what I believe this project is really about. It's not simply about building homes. It's about investing in families. During my years with Habitat, I've had the privilege of being part of the homeownership journey for families as they receive keys to their new homes. I've watched what happens when a family no longer has to wonder whether they can afford to stay in their community. I've seen the pride that comes with homeownership. I've seen how the stability affects an entire family.

The proposed Feltham project gives Sennich an opportunity to be part of that. An opportunity to help working families remain in the community they love. An opportunity to create more attainable homeownership without asking families to leave Greater Victoria in order to find it. An opportunity to say that families who work, contribute, raise their children should have a pathway to continue calling Saanich home. I'm proud to live in Saanich. I'm proud to work for Habitat for Humanity, and I'm proud to support this project. I hope council will see what I've seen over the past eight years, that when we invest in families, we aren't just building houses. We're building stronger, more stable communities.

I encourage council to support Habitat for Humanities Victoria's proposed affordable project on Feltham Road. Thank you.

Thank you.

Next we have Melissa Mace.

Good evening.

Good evening, Mayor and council. My name is Melissa Mass. I am the donor engagement specialist with Habitat for Humanity. Tonight, I'm speaking on behalf of the many donors and supporters in our community who believe that creating more affordable homeownership opportunities for local families. In my role, I have the privilege of hearing from people across Greater Victoria who support Habitat because they believe that stable, affordable housing strengthens our entire community. They are neighbors, retirees, local businesses, owners, families and community members who want to be a part of the solution. As I prepared for tonight, I looked at the support that this project has already inspired. Even at this early stage, before a building permit is in place, we have already begun and before we have begun a full fundraising campaign, we've had already 115 individual donors contribute over $33,000 towards the Felton Project.

That early support is significant. It demonstrates that people in our community believe in what this project could make possible. These gifts represent more than dollars. They represent confidence and a willingness to invest in affordable home ownership for local families. Many of our donors know firsthand how difficult it has become for working families to achieve home ownership. They worry about their children, their grandchildren, and whether their future generations will be able to remain and thrive here in Saanich. We know this property was once a family home and Habitat's hope is to see this land once again become a place where families can put down roots and build their future.

In Gordon Head, this project has the potential to give local families something increasingly difficult to find. A pathway to home ownership and the stability that comes with it. While I am only one voice sitting before you tonight, the generosity we have already seen tells a much larger story. It tells us that our community is ready to see projects like Feltham move forward. So, inspired by the support of these 115 donors and the many others who believe in attainable home ownership, I respectfully ask the council to support the rezoning Apple's and help move the project forward. Thank you for your time and consideration.

Thank you.

Next we have Sylvie Sampson.

Good evening.

Hello. Thank you and good evening. My name is Sylvie and I'm here to speak on how partnering with Habitat for Humanity Victoria has impacted my family and to put a face on who affordable housing impacts. My partner and I were both born and raised here and I have deep ancestral roots on southern Vancouver Island. This area is our home. I wanted to stay home for my bonus daughters. My partner worked so hard to provide a stable life for me and his daughters. But no matter how hard he works, it would never be enough to buy on our own. And as someone with a disability, I can only help so much. Without the help Habitat has given us, we couldn't afford a home. For me, working with Habitat has also eased my own housing anxieties.

As a youth, I faced severe housing instability and was homeless before the age of 18. That type of anxiety still affects me and will be with me forever. But our future home is literally a dream come true. And I can't express how much it means to give my bonus daughters a home, one that will always be there with enough room for them. Knowing that they will have the stability that heals. Knowing that they have that stability heals that child in me. The one who wasn't that much older than them when I lost my home. Sadly, our stories aren't that rare or unique. I want more people to have that opportunity that my family's had. We need to work together to do it. When reviewing housing approvals and policies, I ask you to keep families like mine in mind.

Supporting accessible housing isn't just about building houses. It's about creating homes for families growing and supporting each other. With anxiety and nowhere to bloom, we shrink and shrivel. My family is starting to blossom and I want others to have that chance as well. Thank you. Thank you for your time.

Thank you,

Mr. Mayor. Now is the time for anybody else in the room or people who have joined us through Ms. Teams link, they can speak to council.

Okay, thank you. So if anyone wishes to address council on the items for public input this evening, if you're in the room, we ask that you please come forward. And if you're on teams, we ask that you please raise your virtual hand and we'll call on you to speak when the time presents itself. Good evening.

Good evening. Mayor and council, thank you for this opportunity. My name is Carol Hamill, 180 Homer Road. I'm speaking on behalf of the Mount View Clockwick Community Association. This is item E2, the Alder street project as stated in the comments. In our comments dated February 1, 2024. We have no objection to this project and it has already been noted that it is fitting with the neighborhood. The number of units has been reduced since the original proposal, which I think is a good idea. But it is disappointing that there are very few three bedroom units in the project. With a project of this size, there will be impacts to the neighborhood, particularly to the availability of the street parking. There'll be access to Rutledge park and there'll be parking necessary for visitors.

I believe it's time that SANID should begin planning for the use of parking meters in selected urban areas. This is something that we going to have to face in the coming years and I'd like to see the planning to begin. Another impact will be traffic and a neighbor has expressed concerns over the eventual need for a traffic light at the corner of Alder. I suppose for cars and for pedestrians purposes. The following comments are related to signage, policy and priorities. Rooftop space should be utilized and I'm very glad to hear that this project will be solar ready. And also there are other ways in which rooftops could be more extensively used in Saanich.

And the main one, which I've been brought up to this council before at a number of occasions, is that rental projects planned in Saanich are currently exempt from contributions to CACs. That means no money is being put into place for those much needed services. There's no money in any other account. So as a result, where multiple rental projects are concentrated, there is population growth without any mechanism to pay for their amenities. Please find other ways to incentivize rental housing. We have to have that money coming in to pay for what is needed in the community. Thank you so much for the opportunity to speak.

Thank you. If there's anyone else who wishes to address council on the items for public input, please come forward. If you're online and wish to speak, please raise your virtual hand. Good evening.

Hello.

Hello mayor and councillors. My name is Doug Pelton and I've lived in Senh 45 years. I'm speaking today on Item E2, the rezoning and permit application for two six story rental buildings at Alder street and Coverdale near Rutledge Park. There are supposed to be 249 residential units, a daycare and some other commercial units. Sounds pretty good. I went by the area and it seems pretty well suited to the building. It's a bit tall for my taste, but I'm a four story guy. But it looks like a good plan. But the staff report kind of a few things jumped out at me and I feel like we have a ton of variances on every development. So I just wanted to point a few out.

There are basically less setbacks by a meter on pretty much every side. And that lets you make a bigger building, which kind of makes sense. But why do we always have to have these? Just a meter on each side Sounds good, but it's a bit of an irritant. The other thing I felt I noticed that one number that really popped out on to me was the, was the visitor parking spots. In the report it said 75 were required and they reduced it to five visitor parking spots. So that seemed pretty, pretty drastic. But apparently they don't have to have residential parking spots so they're putting in 140 or something residential parking spots. So I can imagine why they want to do that.

It's so they can sell the units better, but taking away all the Visitor parking spots seems a little bit too heavy handed. They're also looking to reduce the commercial parking spots from 14 to 5. Now, when you look at the type of commercial that's likely to be in there, I'd like to see another coffee shop in the area. And with the daycare, that's 68 to 88 spots and who knows what else but five parking spots for that much commercial activity? Sounds like it won't work. My daughter and my family spend a lot of time in the Pink Elephant Park, Rutledge park, which is right behind there. So I think it's well suited for that area to have this much density.

The only thing I'm bothered by is the too many variances. So consider that. Thanks.

Thank you. If there's anyone else who wishes to address council, please come forward or raise your virtual hand if you're online. Come on down. Good evening.

Good evening. My name is Margie Shenduck. I am a resident of Saanich, have been for 10 years. But I'm actually here under my position as the director of operations for Casmon Development company. And so I'm here basically to hopefully put a bow on a project that started for us many, many years ago. So the auto project in D1991Mackenzie, the original development permit was granted on December of 2014.

Sure.

Sorry to interrupt. If I could just get you to pull the mic a little bit closer or have you move a little closer to the mic, that'd be perfect.

Thank you.

Kasman purchased the property from the original landowners March of 2016. The DP was December 2014. I myself have been involved with the project since the very beginning. Building permit 2017 we started construction right away. Built through one of the most difficult times to build a building in the district of Saanich during a giant construction boom. Finished it off in August 2019. Provided 59 units of housing. It's one of the projects that gets used as the sample project for what everyone wants on the Mackenzie corridor. Beautiful place with six townhomes on the front and a mix of small and large units in the back. And I was told on one of the last days that we couldn't get. We were short one stall in the parkade. It was just a little bit too tight.

We found room for it on the, on the surface and we have been requesting the variants for it ever since. So seven years later, there's 92 stalls for 59 units, which is unheard of nowadays. We maintain the stall. Just need very, very, very minor variances to put this one to bed after a really long going on about it. So that's what we're here for tonight. It's a beautiful project and hopefully everybody can see that we did what we did a good thing there, provided a nice building there. Thank you.

Thank you. I think I see another speaker coming forward, so I will give you the opportunity to address council. Good evening.

Thank you, Mayor and council. I'm Ian Graham, Dean Avenue resident and co chair of the Friends of Boca Creek Society speaking on agenda item D4, the Boca Creek Blueprint. The Society supports the updated blueprint encourages council to formally endorse it. We submitted a letter of support and I'd just like to highlight really quickly highlight just three points. Firstly, the blueprint demonstrates the value of having a long term watershed wide vision. Since the original blueprint was endorsed by council in 2011, we've seen Creek revitalization at Oak Bay High School, acquisition of the Kings Road nature space demonstration, rain gardens, habitat restoration along open sections, numerous policy improvements, technical studies and thousands of hours of community volunteer stewardship.

The updated blueprint builds on that progress, aligns really well with Saanich's Shelburne Valley Plan, the biodiversity conservation strategy and your award winning climate action plan. So together these provide a really strong policy foundation for improving watershed and stream health, biodiversity, green infrastructure and climate resilience. And the watershed wide approach is one of the real strengths of the initiative. Flooding, water quality, greenway connections, they don't stop at municipal borders, they involve other municipalities. Secondly, we think flooding deserves particular attention. So recent and recurring flooding along Boca Creek reminds us that urban watershed restoration isn't solely about habitat and ecology, it's also about infrastructure and community resilience.

So the blueprint calls for updated hydrologic modeling, opportunities for detention and stormwater storage, wetlands and the like. Thirdly, we encourage council to view endorsement of the blueprint as the beginning of the next phase, you know, not just the end of another planning exercise. And that implementation doesn't rest simply with local government alone. One of the strengths of the BCI is its ability to bring municipalities, institutions, senior governments, community organizations and citizens together. Our society, we recently secured federal charitable status. So that opens up some additional grant and funding opportunities. And we would welcome opportunities to partner with Saanich, the other BCI partners, to leverage of scarce resources, volunteer effort and external funding to advance some of the priority actions in the blueprint.

So in closing, we asked council to endorse the blueprint and we look forward to working together on its implementation. Thank you.

Thank you. Wild times. Thank you. If there's anyone else who'd like to address council on the items for public input, please come forward. If you are on teams, please raise your virtual hand. Not seeing anyone. So I'll just call one more time. There we go. Come on down. Good evening.

Hello there. My name's Jeff Metcalf. I live at 2456 Trent Street. In recent years, we've been having problems with flooding from the Boca Creek development, the watershed there. And we're hoping that maybe some of the invasive species of yellow willows can be dug out of there and cleaned up. Because what's happening is all the water is coming down there, getting blocked up in that creek bed and then overflowing into our home. And it's been a continuous problem for many years now. And what I'm hoping to see is maybe some kind of community sandbag program where you get some sandbags in the area and maybe kind of bolster up the drainage to help us against this.

So in closing, I'm hoping that we can eliminate some of the water problems we're having in that Trent street area. Thank you very much.

Thank you. If there's anyone else who'd like to address council on the items for public input, please come forward or raise your virtual hand. Now, I'll call for a final time. If there's anyone in the chamber or online who wishes to address council on the items for public input, you would be most welcome to come forward at this time. Those are listed under sections sorry, D, E, F and G is adjournment, if you wanted to speak to that, too. I've not seen anybody interested in coming forward to address us, so I think we can consider public input closed. And I will now turn. Turn things back over to Mr. Sharif to introduce the next item for us, please.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Next we have adoption of the minutes for special council meeting, public hearing of August 11, 2026, and council meeting of August 17, 2026.

Okay, I'll turn to Councillor Harper, who's our acting mayor for September. If you wish to make the motion to adopt the minutes the council adopt

the minutes of the special council meeting, public hearing of August 11, 2026, and the council meeting of August 17, 2026,

and seconded by Chambers. I'll call the question on adoption. Those in favor and oppose seen unopposed. That's carried. Thank you. Back to you, Mr. Sharif.

Next we have bylaws for final reading. C18987 Oaks Road housing agreement authorization bylaw. This is to give final reading to housing agreement authorization by 8986 Seven Oaks 2026, number 10297.

Thank you, Councillor Harper. I'll turn back to you to make the motion for final reading.

That bylaw number 10297 be given final reading.

Seconded by chambers. I'll call the question on final reading. Those in favor and opposed? None are opposed. That's carried. Thank you, Mr. Sharif.

Next we have item C2, 4692 and 4718 Mountain Road rezoning application for a land exchange. This is to give final reading to official community plan bylaw 2023amendment bylaw 2026, number 10304. And to give final reading to zoning bylaw 2003amendment. Bylaw 2026, number 10305.

Okay, so for the first one, councillor Harper.

That bylaw number 10304 be given final reading.

Seconded by Phelps Bondoroff. I'll call the question on final reading. Those in favor and opposed? None are opposed. That's carried. Go ahead, councillor Harper.

That bylaw number 10305 be given final

reading and seconded by Phelps Bondaroff. Those in favor and opposed. None are opposed. That's carried. Thank you, Mr. Sharif. Back to you.

Next we have item C3, 1899 Cochrane Street. This is to give final reading to Zoning Bylaw 2003Amendment Bylaw 2026, number 10281. To rezone 1899 Cochrane street from the RS6 Single Family Dwelling Zone to the RM7 Neighborhood Residential Mix Zone to construct eight three story attached housing units in two buildings and Approved Development Permit DPR 01069.

Okay, Councillor Harper.

That file number 10281 be given final reading.

Seconded by Phelps Bondroff on final reading. Those in favor and opposed. Brown off and chambers are opposed. The motion carries. Councillor Harper.

That council approve and issue development permit DPR 01069.

Seconded by Phelps Bondaroff on the DPR. Those in favor and opposed. Brown off and chambers are opposed. The motion carries. Thank you. Just one. One second. Go ahead, Mr. Sharif.

Next we have item C4, 4029 Xenia Road. This is to give final reading to Zoning Bylaw 2003Amendment Bylaw 2026, number 10282. To rezone a portion of 4209 Zenior Road from the RS6 Single Family Dwelling Zone to the RS4 Single Family Dwelling zone in association with the subdivision application to create one additional lot, two lots, total and approved development variance permit DVP00524.

Thank you, Mr. Schriff. And I'll just turn to councillor Westhaver, who I think intends to recuse herself from the vote. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

I am recusing myself from this vote due to the proximity of my own home.

Thank you. And I'll turn now to councillor Harper for final readings.

Okay.

That bylaw number 10282 be given final reading.

Seconded by Phelps Bondroff on final. Those in favor and opposed? Bryce, Brownhoff and chambers are opposed. The motion carries. And on the dvp, Councillor Harper, that

council approve and issue Development Variance Permit DVP00524.

Seconded by Phelps Bondroff. Those in favor and opposed. Bryce Brown off and chambers are opposed. The motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Sharif. I'll turn back to you for the next item.

Next we have item C5, Zoning Bylaw 2003Amendment Bylaw 2026, number 10301. This is to give final reading to Zoning Bylaw 2003Amendment bylaw 2026, number 10301.

Okay, Councillor Harper, over to you.

That bylaw number 10301 be given final reading.

And I will turn to councillor Plant for a point of order.

Should we not be inviting our member back?

Oh, we can certainly do that. Yes. Good point. Somebody see if Councillor Harp, Councilor Westhaver is in the hallway.

Good point.

While we're paused, I'll just confirm that the mover was Councillor Harper and it was seconded by Councilor Phelps. Bonderoff. Let no one say that you weren't missed. Certainly appreciate your return, Councilor West Avery.

Now that everyone has found their seats again, I will call the question on approval of final reading. Those in favor and opposed? None are opposed. That's carried. Thank you, Mr. Sharif. I'll turn back to you, please.

Next we have item C6, 3561, 3579 and 3589 Quarry Street. This is to give final reading to Zoning Bylaw 2003Amendment Bylaw 2026 number 103315 to rezone 356-13-5793589 Quarter street from the RS6 single family dwelling zone to the C16 neighborhood mixed use zone to construct a six story residential and commercial building and approved development permit DPR 01060.

Okay, Councillor Harper, that bylaw number 10315 be given final reading.

Seconded by Phelps Pondroff on final reading. Those in favor and opposed? None are Opposed? That's carried. Thank you, Councillor Harper.

That council approve and issue development permit

DPR 01060 and seconded by Phelps Bondoroff on the DPR. Those in favor and opposed? None are opposed. That's carried. Thank you, Mr. Sharif.

Next we have item C7 under ratification of permit approval temporary use permit and agricultural land Reserve Applications file TUP00030, ALR000291018 Beckwith Avenue. This is to ratify and issue temporary use permit TUP 000-304-1018 Backbeth Avenue. To permit the continued use of a portion of the property to operate a landscape contracting business to allow the business time to relocate to an appropriately zoned parcel. The permit will expire on August 25, 2028.

Okay, thank you. I am going. This is just a motion to ratify previous direction provided by actually a previous term of council. So I will look to Councillor Harper for the appropriate motion on ratification that

council issue Temporary Use Permit TUP00030 for Lot 2, Sections 65 and 66, Victoria District Plan EPP56209, 1018 Beckwith Ave. For a period not to exceed two years from August 25, 2026 and both parts.

And that the Temporary Use Permit TUP00030 shall expire on August 25, 2028.

And is there a seconder for the motion to ratify? Thank you, Councillor Phelps. Bondraugh, I'm going to call the question. Those in favor and opposed? Councillor Chambers is opposed. The motion carries. I will go now to Mr. Shariff. If you could introduce the next items which I believe are the consent items. Items for us.

Absolutely, Mr. Mayor. Next we have items under consent agenda D from D1 to D4, item D, 1, 991 Mackenzie Ave. Development permit amendment application D2, amendment to council resolution supporting for grant application for the Brett sewer lift station and force main upgrade project. D3, 2027, schedule of council meetings and D4, Parker Creek Blueprint 2026 update 100 year action plan to restore the Bowker Creek watershed.

If I will look to any member of council who wishes to move the items for consent. Councillor Phelps. Bondoroff.

Thank you very much. I'd like to pull D4.

Okay.

We can take D4 off the list of consent items if there are any other items that council wishes to remove. I'm not seeing any. So maybe I'll get Councillor Harper to make the motion on the other three

items that consent agenda items D1 to D3 be approved.

Okay.

And is there a seconder? Thank you, Councillor Phelps Bondoraff. I'll call the question on the remaining consent items. Those in favor and opposed? Seeing none opposed. That's carried. Thank you, Mr. Schriff. Should we assume that the Boca Creek blueprint update will occur now, Mr. Mayor,

council may discuss this item right now.

Okay.

If I could get you to introduce the item for us, please. And then we'll get a mover so we can discuss it.

Item D4, Bowker Creek Blueprint 2026 Update 100 Year Action Plan to restore the Bowker Creek watershed. This is to present the Bowker Creek Blueprint 2026 update 100 year action plan to start the Bowker Creek watershed.

Thank you. Perhaps I will get councillor Phelps Bondoroff to make the motion, which I think is directing receipt. And then we can look to any questions you may have that you wish to put to staff. Councillor Phelps Bondoroff.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. I move that council endorse the Bowker Creek Blueprint 2026 update, a 100 year action plan to restore the Bowker Creek watershed.

Okay, seconded by councillor Brown.

Off.

And you are welcome to speak to it or ask any questions you like, Councillor.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. I thought this was too important of an item to not have to have on the consent agenda. I want to take a few minutes, I think we all do, to thank all the community members who worked on this. Reading through the report and the staff report. The list of organizations, community groups, associations, governments that worked on this project was voluminous. And staff as well. Of course, you all deserve huge thanks as well as the people who work in our community to work in the Bowker Creek. I regularly cycle past folks who are pulling invasives and working really hard to restore the ecosystem.

So thank you all so much. And I think I'm sure some of my colleagues want to echo that. Thanks as well. I did have a couple of questions I wanted to ask through you, Mr. Mayor. And the first question was around the hydrographic review. So one of the comments and questions we had from correspondence was watershed, hydrological and stormwater modeling update. And I was running through you to staff. If we have an indication as to when that might start, what the process might be around that.

Mr. Reams, if you can help. Oh, Mr. McKelsey appears to be online. I will turn to him for a response. Director McKelsey.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Just confirming Council can hear me.

We can hear you. Yeah. Please, go right ahead.

That's great. Thank you through the mayor to Councillor, I don't have the particulars on the start time for that, but this does relate to the integrated stormwater management work that we have been doing. Council is aware that we recently completed the dual drainage model for the district and now we can look at different catchments to do very more specific hydrological modeling for those areas. So that work is coming in time. But we, you know, we're still probably a couple of years away from initiating that and getting the results for actions that would feed into this 100 year blueprint.

Thank you very much. And I guess a follow up question is through you, Mr. Mayor, of course, how is funding working for that? I noticed that there's different. This project, this plan blueprint overlaps with a lot of other plans, our biodiversity conservation strategy, urban forest strategy, climate plan, etc. And I'm just wondering, specifically to the watershed hydrological and stormwater modeling, which bucket of or pool of money would that be coming from? Pun intended?

Of course.

Yeah, thank you through the mayor to Councillor Sponderoff. You did summarize it. Well, there are a lot of initiatives in this area, so there's a lot of competing demands for the funding. Some of that funding, it might be more opportunistic or grant related, but we do use our operating in terms of staff that are on hand, but also our drainage capital where work makes sense and where development may occur that we can further the blueprint. So not a direct funding source, but maybe through different means. And I'd also let the Manager of Parks speak if there's an aspect to that that's applicable to their area.

Thank you Also through the Mayor to Councillor Phelps Bondaroff. Similarly, as Director McKelsey has mentioned, there are a number of funding pots. We are always on the lookout for GR opportunities, but we do have ongoing operational work that would help achieve some of these goals, such as our pulling together program, which is our big invasive species removal program, along with our restoration program, especially along the creek.

And so some of these things do fit together to make a combination of operational ongoing work and then sort of the longer term capital work where we do seek separate funding.

Excellent.

Thank you so much. I have a few final remarks, then pass on to my colleagues. I very much appreciate responses. I'm sure this is something that's going to be moving forward. Obviously it's a hundred year plan and so there's lots of steps. One of the things I was really buoyed to see in reading through the reports was just all the co benefits to Good watershed health, you know, not just. And those will have to come back another time, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, Councillor Phelps Bondarov. The seconder is Councillor Braunhoff and you have the opportunity to speak to it.

Thanks very much, Mr. Mayor. Through you to staff. So when we get these type of plans, I can see where there's a lot of areas that we are already working on in Saanich. But what so often doesn't happen is some sort of reporting out annually. Like we've gotten into a habit now of a lot of our plans coming back in five years. I'm wondering if there's any opportunity, if we look at stormwater biodiversity, even the Pulling Together program restoration work, is there any sort of report that could actually come forward annually or, you know, every two years so that the community that the volunteers that have been working on this project.

Project for so long can see that there are opportunities that we are looking at and doing. Mr. McKelsey, I've lost the mayor, so

go ahead through the mayor to Councillor Brownhoff. Maybe I'll start if the senior manager Parks wants to add to it as well. You know, there's a bit of work that, I mean, we do support this by a number of ways, but a lot of this work in terms of kind of that remarkable reporting out and where the resources that kind of drive these actions often lie actually with the crd. So the Bowker Creek initiative coordinator plays a strong role in not just Saanich, but the multiple jurisdictions Bowker Creek travels through. So they.

They.

You know, and we champion them being a lead group in this area. And I think they do provide an annual summary of some of the work that they do. And so that's what I would suggest and still encourage is work through the CRD.

And if I could, Mr. McKelsey, another question is when there was some idea of relocating the Cancer Society to Lansdowne park, there was lots of discussion around restoration of that wetland. So do we work with the school districts as well?

Certainly, if there's opportunity that relates to school district property, there's work that we would engage with them on. That was one example that was nearby. But again, I'll probably leave to Eva Rickius, the senior manager of Parks, if she wants to contribute to any information we talked about.

Thanks.

Thanks. Through the mayor to Councillor Brown Off. So a couple of things. Yes, we would take that opportunity when the schools are interested in partnering with us. To date, you know, we've done it a few times around the district, whether a most recent and the one that won an award is the telecom project. So when there's an opportunity that arises, we take that. And then your other question on reporting out, I mean the other thing we're looking at doing over time will be a report out on the biodiversity conservation strategy and how we're moving that forward. Again, there's no set time frame around that, but probably a three to five year time frame makes sense.

And just one last question then. So in actual fact it would be beneficial if the CRD pulled the three munis together and do an annual report or it was every two year report. Is that the big suggestion from staff?

Certainly if the focus is just on Bowker Creek, yes. Yeah, but we would also capture any biodiversity Bowker Creek initiatives in a biodiversity report out. That would also happen. So kind of did happen in two ways.

Okay, thank you very much. Thanks, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, Councillor Brownhoff. And next to speak is councillor Chambers.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. I think this is a wonderful agenda for our last council council meeting and I'm very, very, very excited about this work. It is a watershed moment. This hundred year Bowker plan is a watershed moment and I hope that it gets the streams flowing all over the Shelburne Action Valley and all over Saanich. This is a true testament of the power and the stewardship of our residents. It's wholly exciting. This is why I became a chemistry counselor. And just this particular stream, the Bowker, I started in the Restoration of natural systems program. And at one point I actually believe that we could daylight all of Shelburne.

And so this is a little bit of a modified plan, but it has the support. I'm really happy to hear about your charitable status and about what that means for our continued work on the watershed. Flooding is a problem. With our unprecedented climate, we will have more flooding. So this watershed work is very exciting and it's very exciting because last term we protected King Street Community Park. So it's like a, it's like a two term, two term testament to our commitment to watersheds. I'm very, very much. This project has really inspired me. I'm now looking at very seriously regional watershed plans and all about the stormwater. And just to everyone here, you might want to have a peek at the stormwater plan. It's a little sobering.

We have a lot of work to do and there's no doubt in my mind that the people in Saanich care and we will do it.

Thank you. If there are no other speakers, I just want to convey my appreciation to the many groups and Staff who've been involved in the process to update the blueprint. Of course, it's a work that has been in the course for many, many years and that it will continue to guide the the great work ahead as we all look forward to the rich benefits that restoration of our natural systems will bring to residents along the creek and throughout the district. So my thanks again for the tremendous amount of effort that's been involved and those who continue to steward those efforts. I'm going to call the question those in favor and opposed. None are opposed. The motion carries.

Thank you so much, Mr. Sharif. I'll return to you for the next item.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Next item is E1 under bylaws for three readings. 1864 Feltham Road rezoning and development permit application. This is to give two readings to zoning bylaw 2003amendment bylaw 2026, number 10322 to rezone 1864 Feltham Road from the RS10 single family dwelling zone to the RM7 neighborhood residential mixed zone to construct 13 affordable home home ownership units in two three story buildings and approve development permit DPR 01066.

Okay, why don't we get the motion for first reading on the floor. We can move first reading and then get into second which will allow us for debate and discussion. I saw, I think, a light first from Councillor Plant. If you intend to move first reading, you're welcome to do so.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move that bylaw 10,300, 322 be

given first reading and seconded by Harper. I'll call the question on first reading. Those in favor and opposed? None are opposed. The motion carries. Councillor Plant, if you could do the honors on second and then you'll have the first opportunity to speak to it.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Move the bylaw 10322be given second reading.

Same mover and seconder. And I will go to Councillor Plant.

Yeah, I want to thank staff for the report and of course Habitat for Humanity for bringing forward the opportunity. I do want to acknowledge that while Tonight we heard 100% positive feedback from the people who spoke to us tonight, our correspondence did include people who were not in support of it. And so I do want to acknowledge that even though I will be lending my support to it with two thumbs up, I want to acknowledge that this is not requiring an official community plan amendment. A recent application application that did not move forward did have that. And so this is an important distinction for me.

This application does comply with our official community plan and Therefore is what we will want to support when these come forward. In my estimation, affordable housing, truly affordable housing as identified through what is being put forward through this application through BC Housing, is something I think this council will support. And I do think that while perhaps adjacent neighbors may have some concerns, I think this is what residents expect their councils to approve. And so I'm happy to lend my support and thank the member of the public who came and spoke to us, as well as the organization itself for being a partner in building affordable housing in our region.

Thank you, Councillor Plant. Councillor Harper is the seconder. You'll have the opportunity to speak to it.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Yes, I too will be lending my enthusiastic support to this proposal. And we often hear first and yes, we certainly had unwavering support from those who spoke to us this evening. But we often hear also from other members of the public when we look at other proposals about where is the affordable housing here. And this fills that, but in a truly special way because we do need to have all typologies of housing, including ownership. And this is what this does, this and it provides a true opportunity for people to attach to our community in a way that is truly meaningful to them.

And hopefully in the longer term we will have more of this type of thing going on. The reality is, as we look around this community, it's becoming increasingly unaffordable to many people. So the more that we can create a variety of opportunities for people and this took a real village working together, I would say, to create this, I am really excited to see this. And at the end of the day, this will mean that we have a whole new generation of people who are coming into the community who hopefully are able to stay in Saanich throughout their lifetime. And perhaps depending on how the housing portfolio goes, when they reach the other end, closer to where I am, they'll also have some other opportunities to move out of such housing and into other types of housing that's appropriate.

But this is very much needed. There's no doubt about that. Was 283 people have already applied to try to get here. That tells us a little bit about how much need there is for this. But I agree that when people are able to purchase homes, they develop a true attachment to a community and that is for the benefit of all of us. So I wholeheartedly support this.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Harper. Next to speak is Councillor Bryce.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. More than a dozen years ago, several projects for Habitat for Humanity came before this council and they were a little more controversial the concept in those days. And it sparked some considerable discussion around this room. Ultimately, council approved those projects. And over the years, as I've gone by those two projects, it gives me a really good feeling. It just sends the signal of community working together to support each other. And it has been a bit of a disappointment that there has been such a long period of time before we've had another proposal. Seeing this proposal, hearing about it, easy one for me to approve. As you sit around this table, sometimes there are tough decisions.

Even though some have raised some concerns, on balance, this is a very easy decision for me and I wholeheartedly give it my support.

Thank you. Next to speak is Councillor Phelps Bonderoff.

Thank you very much, Justin. Mayor, a couple questions for you to staff before some comments. One quick question just to confirm the driveway. Are those permeable pavers?

Director Chase, I'm going to turn to you to see if that's something you're able to help us with.

Through you, Mr. Mayor, to Councillor Phelps Bondroff. I'm sorry I don't have that information immediately to hand.

I looked like they were in the picture, but I wanted to confirm because we're talking stormwater today. And then the other question I had through you, Mr. Mayor to staff was there's two accessible units, which I absolutely love to see, and only one accessible parking spot. And I was wondering if there were. If some of the other spots were also potentially adaptable to be accessible, not for vans, but for vehicles.

Director Chase.

Thank you, Mayor Murdoch. Through you to Councillor Phelps Bonderoff. There were many conversations with respect to parking on this site, and the balance point that we reached was one accessible parking stall. There is a variety of competing interests, including landscaping, site coverage, et cetera. And in this particular circle, only one accessible parking spot was possible.

Excellent.

No, thank you very much. And I think that's fair. I just wanted to make sure. I was checking all the boxes there for accessibility. I love this project. I'll be voting in favor of it. My notes say enthusiastically support, as a couple of my colleagues have mentioned. Not to repeat their comments, but I like the street presentation as well. We've got stacked townhouses on the street, which is a welcoming way of connecting with the neighborhood. We like our accessible units. So thank you for that as well and very much. Also love the habitat model. The sub market ownership is great to give people ownership. And I've had a chance to talk to folks and actually walk through one of your habitat homes over by Perks. And it was really lovely.

And I wanted to thank the folks who gave me a tour as well. There's an effort to protect the trees which is excellent. The communal outdoor spaces are lovely. The roof line variation on Feltham I thought was also very thoughtful as well to the neighbourhood. And you've got three stories which is consistent with the neighborhood designation under the ocp. Once again, our wonderful home ownership model which we've heard amazing presentations from. And I want to thank folks who spoke out here tonight as well. Minimal variances, retaining our high value trees. And then it just says enthusiastically support a couple times in my notes. So I'll be giving this one two thumbs up as well. And thanks to the presentations and the folks.

And also I appreciate the presentation on wrangling donations before the project's been approved. I know how hard that work is and so I'm really pleased to see that the neighbors, neighborhoods and members of the community are also getting behind this project and I hope council will as well.

Thank you. Next to speak is Councillor westhaver. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

I'd like to begin by thanking everyone that came to speak tonight. My vision of council is exactly this, working with community to make things happen, to better the lives for people. And you've demonstrated that. Thank you. I wish the individual that spoke that was directly affected was still here. But that speaks volumes. You're changing lives for the better. I'm absolutely honored to have the opportunity to support this. So thank you to everyone for your efforts.

Thank you, Councillor Westhaver. Next to speak is Councillor Brownhoff.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I too want to thank the community that came out to speak to us on this project we've done. We've had a few habitat projects in Saanich and they've gone very well. I like the idea of ownership. I think that actually creates a better future feel in the community. They become part of the community because they own their property and they're out there looking after it. I do like how the design fits on the site, how the front of the buildings actually face the street. It creates an opportunity. I think so often not all, all doors are to the street and I can walk a neighborhood and I won't tell you the neighborhood, but all the doors are on the side of the house and it doesn't create a welcoming presence.

So I want to congratulate you. I think you've hit it right on with the green space and the tree retention and the opportunity for more families to live in Saanich at a reasonable price. So thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Brown off. Next to speak is Councillor Chambers.

Okay, thank you, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. I am very supportive of this as well and I'm very happy and I am grateful that folks came in to speak about. It's always nice when the community is in the chambers. I just wanted to speak from my own personal experience of how having two different homes for humanity on the road, that I own a house and it has just made for a very diverse and inclusive and fulsome and wholesome community of all types of people and culture.

And so I'm very supportive of that type of lifestyle. So thank you for, for your work and I hope to see more of it in the future. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Chambers. If there are no other members of council who wish to speak to the application, I too am going to be lending it my enthusiastic support. Excellent choice of phrase, Councillor Phelps Bondoroff. It is an exceptional opportunity for us to be able to support an application like this. There are not many, if any, other organization organizations that are doing affordable home ownership in Greater Victoria. And so it is truly a special application in that it is going to provide something very unique to residents in our community who otherwise are unable to afford to get their foot in the door. This is going to give them the opportunity to own their own home at a price that is much more affordable than those that are currently priced for market sale. My only regret is that there's only 13 of them.

It would be so delightful if this was something we were able to replicate at a much higher volume. And I know that's probably a wish that the folks at Habitat also shared, which I don't mean to freak you out in terms of the capacity required in order to deliver on that many units. But it really speaks to the need in the community when there are thousands, tens of thousands of individuals and families who would so benefit from an opportunity like this one. And it's little wonder that there are so many folks who have already expressed an interest to move into these units when they're constructed.

I really appreciate the incredible work that the members of the volunteers and staff at this organization in order to deliver on these types of really beneficial homes for folks in our community. It's also something where this council has had to update our policy in order to respond to the need, as this was the only time where we've been asked to contribute funds from the Saanich Housing Affordability Fund towards a purchase homes for purchase rather than homes for rental, which required an update to our policies. So I'm so delighted to see this One taking shape. It's in such a fantastic area for, for families to be able to put down roots proximal to great schools, walking distance to parks, shopping, and all of the great amenities, including public transit that will serve them for many years to come.

So I just want to express my gratitude to the folks at Habitat for Humanity for their work, all of the many individuals and entities that have been involved in moving this one forward. And we look forward to great success as you construct and open the doors on these units and look forward to celebrating many more to come. I am going to turn it now to Councillor devries to provide some comments before we call the question.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Through you, I just want to join the chorus here and offer my enthusiastic support for the project. And my only regret also is that it's only 13 units, obviously 13 units that will make a meaningful difference for 13 households in our community. I also consider the benefit of the number of three bedroom units in here of much needed family suitable housing. I'm reminded that our rental vacancy rate for three bedroom units is 0%. And I know a lot of people who are renting or struggling to find rental accommodation would be very open and interested in the financial stability that comes with homeownership.

And it's affordable homeownerships like this that are very important for people in our community as well as market opportunities as well. And it was great to hear from people's lived experience here today in the chamber. That's often a rare occurrence where I think we could go back to any building that's been built in Sanich and hear similar stories about how housing was the foundation for their happy and healthy life here in a brilliant community like Saanich, where there's so much to offer families of all kinds and sizes. So I look forward to supporting this project and others like it and would like to see much more of this and the much needed housing that we have in our community. Thank you.

Thank you. Councilor devries, if there are no other speakers, I will call the question on second reading. Those in favor and opposed? None are opposed. That's carried. Councillor Klant, can I go to you for third reading?

Mr. Mayor, move that bylaw 10322 be given second reading.

Third reading.

Have we done third apology? Third reading. I was misreading. My apologies.

Third reading, seconded by Harper. I'll call the question on third reading. Those in favor and opposed? None are opposed. That's carried. Councillor Plant, I'll go back to you for the next ones.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, I move the Zoning Bylaw 2003Amendment Bylaw 202026 Number 10322 to rezone 1864 Feltham Road from RS10 Single Family Dwelling Zone to the RM7 Neighborhood Residential Mixed zone be approved.

Seconded by Harper. I'll call the question. Those in favor and opposed? None are opposed. That's carried. Go ahead, Councillor.

Plan. Mr. Mayor, I move that development permit DPR 01066 for 1864 Feltham Road be approved.

Seconded by Harper on the DPR. Those two in favor and opposed? None are opposed. That's carried. And for the final one, Councilor Plant.

Mr. Mayor, I'm going to read this relatively quickly but for the public's benefit it is published online. I move that final reading of the zoning bylaw amendment and ratification of the Development permit for 1864 Feltham Romy withheld pending registration of a covenant to secure the following A Registration of a housing agreement to secure 100% of the units in the development is affordable for the life of the buildings to four low to moderate income limit households as defined by BC Housing.

B Registration of the statutory right of way abutting Feltham Road in favor of the District of Saanich for the use as a portion of the sidewalk. C. Protection and mitigation measures throughout all phases of site preparation and development as outlined in the Bartlett Tree Experts Tree Management Plan report dated 05-15-2026 any updated version thereof and any detailed designs plans which may be required by the Saanich Parks Department required to mitigate the impacts of driveway construction on the bylaw. Protected on site trees number 996 and number 997 and the building construction and the protected root zones of off site trees identified for retention. D subsection 1 will follow Transportation Demand Management TDM measures inclusive of the following provision of membership to a two way car share service for every dwelling unit for the lifetime of the building and 2.

Provision of one car sharing exclusive use parking space on the Feltham Road frontage with a level 2 EV charger designed to the satisfaction of the car share provider and the district of Saanich.

Seconded by Harper. I will call the question on that one. Those in favor and opposed? None are opposed. The motion carries. Thank you so much, Mr. Sharif. I will turn to you for the next item, please.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Next item on the agenda is E2 3271, 3275-3279-3283-3287 and 3293 Alder street and 901907 and 911 Cloverdale Avenue. Rezoning and development permit application. This is to give three readings to Zoning Bylaw 2003Amendment Bylaw 2026, number 10225 to rezone 3271-3275-3279-3283, 3287 and 3293 Aldridge Street, 9079, 911 Cloverdale Avenue, from the RS6 single family dwelling zone and 901 Cloverdale Avenue from the RD1 2 family dwelling zone to the C16 neighborhood mixed use zone to construct a mixed use commercial and multi family rental apartment development in two six story buildings and approve development permit DPR 00923.

Thank you, Mr. Sharif. I am going to look to a member of council who can move first reading to get the discussion started. Go ahead. Councillor Phelps Ponderoff.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. I move that bylaw number 10225 be given first reading.

Seconded by Harper. I'll call the question on first reading. Those in favor and opposed? None are opposed. The motion carries. If we could get the motion for second on the floor, then we can open it up for questions and debate.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. I move that bylaw number 10225 be given second reading.

Same mover and seconder. I'll just get you to pause for a second, Councillor Phelps. Bondroff. I just wish to put a couple of questions to staff in respect to parking, which was a matter that came up a couple of times throughout public input. The first was one that really caught my attention is the question around whether or not Saanich ought to consider parking meters or timed parking enforcement around areas like this one. Director Chase, I don't know if that's one you want to field, or perhaps that's a question we could put to director McKelsey, but I'll turn it over to you for a response if you wish.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I think that I would love to send that to Director McKelsey.

I bet you would. All right, Director McKelsey, the car's all warmed up. Hop in. We'd love to hear your answer.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor, for that question. You know, I think this is an at a topic that probably has a broader conversation in terms of a large area and the costs that would require for the district to initiate the paid parking system. There's certainly some overhead and some analysis on whether that type of initiative could. Could work and could generate some revenue. I think as this area in general grows, this is probably one the more ideal locations for that consideration. But for this particular development, it wasn't thought of. It wouldn't be large enough to generate that. It would have to be a larger kind of macro review of the uptown area. Probably an initiative for another time.

Okay.

I appreciate your response to that, Director McKelsey. The other one is also in respect of parking. This one is about the variance that's being sought as part of the application. Considerable variance from the required number of visitor parking stalls and commercial parking space stalls. And wondered, Director Chase, if that's something you could speak to.

Thank you, Mayor Murdoch. As council is aware, or you may recall, we are actually in the midst of a comprehensive parking study right now in order to update our. Our standards, which are very, very generous in terms of their requirements for parking. And I think that this application is a good example of why we are doing that work at this point. At this point in time. It is, I think, one of those things where different, different family structures, different residents have very different needs with respect to parking. And what we do see on this site is also a very strong support of cycling and cycling infrastructure. We also see the applicant moving forward with four private car share vehicles on this particular site in order to provide.

Provide a wide range of choice for future residents of this particular site, which all contribute to justifying why staff are supportive of the variances associated with this particular application. Okay.

Appreciate your thoughtful response on that, Director Chase. Councillor Phelps Bondoroff. I put you on hold for a moment and I'll turn back to you now if you wish to ask any questions or speak to the application.

Thank you very much. Mr. Mayor, a couple of questions through you before my comments. The first question actually relates to commercial spaces. So on page four, there's a mention in the staff report that if no daycare provider can be found the space, there was sort of a vagarie as to what would happen if there was no daycare provider that could be found. Now, I assume that we can find daycare providers. We're in a desperate need for daycare space in the city. But would that space remain commercial? Would that be the correct assumption

through the chair?

Yes. One, you can assume that that space would remain commercial if it were to transition over to residential. Different building code applies, different needs, different interior format and different parking ratios as well.

Institutional and commercial netcates are interchangeable, but not residential. That makes sense. And the next question in the staff report mentions Actually, our presentations was a crosswalk on Cloverdale at Alder. And the question I had was, will that be a lighted and raised crosswalk? Through you, Mr. Mayor to probably Mr. McKelsey,

Director McKelsen.

Thank you. The Mayor to Councillor Florida. Yes. So it wouldn't be a raised crosswalk, but it would be a lit in terms of rectangular flashing beacons.

Excellent. Thank you very much. Then some comments, Mr. Mayor. So this project is quite literally in my backyard. Every morning I wake up and go to bed, I will be able to see it from my patio window and I will be happy to know that there's 249 new neighbors in our neighborhood. I think this is a great project. I'm really waiting for it to happen. Every time I go pick up my dinner at Bin 4, I trundle along the superfluous alleyway that's poorly kept and sometimes pilfers some blackberries. And I think this project's a good one. It's a great location. If you look up its walk score, it's 91. If you look up its transit score at 76, but its bike score is 96.

This allows people to pretty much do everything you need in the neighborhood. You are quite literally across the street from excellent food, three different workout facilities and gyms and a whole other opportunities. And this is exactly where we should be putting density in our community. This is the Uptown Douglas plan. It's an excellent spot for density. My only regret is that we would always prefer a few more two and three bedroom units. But at the same time, in exchange, we're getting two commercial spaces and a daycare space, which I think we all know we desperately need. And on top of that, the commercial spaces are perfect for this location.

You've got existing commercial locations that are flourishing, a growing population in the neighborhood and it will be great to see you folks have already heard my speech about streetcar neighbourhood design, so we can, we can take that as red. But I think this is a great spot for much needed commercial space as well. Other elements I very much like was the massing is excellent. You've got the breakup with the pathway through the middle, which I think is quite good. The variances I think are largely minor and I know they're addressing some of the challenges around the creek and some other challenges working through the space. And so they're supportable for those reasons.

And I thought the TDM measures are quite creative. I kind of. I'm interested to see how the private car share works. And I think, as we already heard from the Responses from staff with respect to your questions, Mr. Mayor, that there's a lot of different transportation options and folks in these kinds of homes will easily be able to access a wide range of transportation options. So this one gets two thumbs up from me and I'm hoping that my colleagues will see this as well around the table and we can get some new housing in the neighbourhood in Saanich Core, the best spot for density and housing in the district.

Thank you Councillor Phelps Bondraugh. Councillor Harper was the seconder. I'll give you the opportunity to speak to it Next.

Thank you Mr. Mayor. And I'll keep my remarks relatively brief. As was pointed out both in the materials that we received and from the speakers, this is OCP compliant and it's absolutely consistent with our Uptown Douglas plan and it has many positive features to it. But I think one of the ones that I want to highlight and is often mentioned to us when people talk about apartment buildings and where they're located because of Sanich's foresight in creating Rutledge park and the way in which they did and having basically multi family housing around Martledge park, this is an example where we are adding in rental apartment buildings and they are on a park area.

So this is sort of the best of all possible worlds for people who are living in denter housing but they're still immediately adjacent to parkland which is one of the things that many people call for and I totally understand why. So this is great, but it's also absolutely consistent with not only the plans that exist but with the vision I think that was created long ago when Rutledge was created in fact itself. So I think this is absolutely the right location for this type of density. And I also was noting that the variance issues I think are relatively minor. And one of the challenges I think that perhaps many people may or may not appreciate is that when you're doing what is essentially infill in a community, because we are all developed in these areas right now, then you're looking at a variety of pieces of property that are brought together and it's almost impossible not to have some level of variance if you, if you're going to have a reasonable usage of property.

But this is very supportable on all sorts of levels and I look forward to the fact that we are going to be able to have 249 more homes which will probably be more than 249 people. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor Harper. Next to speak is Councillor Chambers.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. This is a very Exciting opportunity. And yes, there is parking concerns here. But I happen to know for a fact that anywhere in this city this is the best place for active transportation. The trail is there. And I know this for a fact because I have a house on Bethune and I've lived in this. I lived in this area for many years and it is great there. You can go from Sook to Papay to downtown, everywhere you can go anywhere. And so I'm really excited to see this area grow. As I said, I grew up in this area. Not grew up, but I raised my son in this area. And my first signs of political life happened in this area on Bethune.

Helping the residents get residents only parking and helping all the residents advocate for the Rutledge park removal of all those. Remember those houses? I've been there that long anyway, so I am very happy to see this. This is an improvement. And maybe just a question about the tennis courts. Is there any sort of monitoring of usage that Saanich ever does between whether a tennis court ever becomes a pickleball court?

Mr. Reams, I'll turn to you. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

I don't know the answer to that

off the top of my head.

There could be still Ms. Riccias online, but perhaps she's not.

But aside from that, it's one we'll have to take away and we can

get you some updated information on.

Thank you. Ms. Reams, I'm happy to get a question that you didn't know the answer to for once.

Thank you.

Anyways, I don't know how that'll evolve, if it'll stay tennis or go pickleball, but the future's looking good in the Rutledge area.

Okay, thank you. Are there any other members? Yes, councilor.

Plant.

Go for it.

Yeah, sorry, Mr. Mayor, I just wanted to hear my colleagues. I'm going to lend my support, but what I want to draw attention to the public who may be watching the webcast and to potentially other applicants looking to build housing. What. What truly makes this project unique for me, although there are lots of reasons, is the fact that this company has its own car sharing program where these vehicles, they will have four vehicles in the home. So when we have in the project. Excuse me. So when we talk about other buildings being built in Saanich where there's one Moto or something like that, and we hope that it'll work out, here's a absolute applicant who actually has a model that they're self regulating this program.

So there will actually be four vehicles in this building. Complex. And I think that then does assuage the concerns around parking because people will be able to live car light and perhaps car free in this complex. So I want to acknowledge Woodsmere for that and I think that's a model that other applicants should consider.

Okay, thank you. Any other member of council who wishes to speak to this application. Well, I will very briefly offer my comments in support. 249new rental units would be most welcome in the community. Certainly I like to see the inclusion of more family suitable units. But of course, not every building and every construction project has to serve all needs at. And so there's certainly a big aspect of this that's going to serve young professionals, folks who wish to downsize in the community and people who are looking to settle in a really dynamic part of our community that's proximal to parks, great shopping, commercial amenities, as well as high quality and frequent public transit and the ability to get around on bike or on foot.

This is a great area that I think really contributes considerably to the vision of the Uptown Douglas corridor and one which I think this council is eager to see further, further expanded as part of the options available to folks to settle in our community. Finally, I think the prospect of daycare to be offered in this location is one that really offers a great opportunity as well badly needed for working professionals in our community to have access to neighborhood childcare. And if that's something that can be realized as part of this development, I think that would offer considerable benefits to future residents in this building and those who will be neighbors to it.

So looking forward to this one moving forward and appreciate the work that's gone into the thoughtful design. I think this is a very attractive looking building and one that we will be proud to see in Sanich's core. I'm going to call the question those in favor and opposed. None are opposed. The motion carries. Thanks very much, Councillor Phelps. Wanderhoff, can I go back to you for third reading, please?

You most certainly can, Mr. Mayor, and thank you very much. I move that bylaw number 10225 be given third reading.

Seconded by Harper on third reading. Those in favor and opposed? None are opposed. That's carried back to you.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I move that zoning bylaw 2003amendment bylaw 2 2026, number 10225 to rezone 3271, 3275, 3279, er, 3283, 3287 and 3293 Alder street and 9001 niner 07 and 911 Cloverdale Avenue from the RS6 single family dwelling zone to the RD1 two family dwelling zone.

Sorry, my apologies. From the RS6 family dwelling zone and the RD1 two family dwelling zone to the C16 neighborhood mixed use zone be

approved and seconded by Harper. I like that you're always able to work niner in there somehow. I'm going to call the question on approval. Those in favor and oppose. None are opposed. That's carried. Back to you, Councillor Phelps Vondroff.

Too many marine radio training lessons. Mr. Mayor, I move that development permit DPR009 or 23 be approved.

Seconded by Harper on the DPR. Those in favor and opposed? None are opposed. That's carried. And we got one more for you, Councillor Phelps Bondra.

Thank you very much, Justin. May I move that prior to the final reading of the zoning bylaw amendment A ratification development permit that a registration of a covenant to secure transportation demand management TDM plan B, cycling package, TDM plan C, car share package with the applicant providing the maintaining four car share EVs under their own Car Share Service and TDM Plan D, unbundled parking and B registration of a housing agreement to secure the residential component of the building as residential rental housing for.

Sorry, restoration. Registration of a housing agreement to secure the residential component of the building as rental housing for 50 years or the life of the building.

Seconded by Harper. I'll call the question. Those in favor and oppose. None are opposed. That's carried. Thank you so much. That's as far as that one's going to go this evening. I will turn it over to Mr. Sharif to take us into the next item, please.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Next item on the agenda is E3 3880 Finnerti Road. Housing Agreement Authorization bylaw. This is to give three readings to Housing Agreement Authorization bylaw 388086 number 10339 to secure 100% of the units in the development to be maintained as rental units for 50 years or the life of building.

Okay, this one is to secure the housing agreement on one that has already been in front of council very recently. So I will turn to any member of council who wishes to move first reading. Thank you, Councillor Harper. Please go ahead.

That bylaw number 10339 be given first reading.

Seconded by Phelps Bondroff on first reading. Those in favor and opposed? None are opposed. That's carried. Go ahead. Oh, One is opposed to the housing agreement?

No.

No. Okay. None are opposed. Okay, thank you. Councillor Harper, if you could make the motion for second reading, please.

That bylaw number 110339 be given second reading.

Okay. Seconded by Phelps Bondroff. Is there any discussion or questions on the housing agreement? Seeing none, I'll call the question on second reading. Those in favor and opposed? None are opposed. That's carried. Thank you. And final. I have third reading, Councillor Harper, that

bylaw number 10339 be given third reading.

Same mover and seconder on third reading. Those in favor and opposed? None are opposed. That's carried. Thank you so much. That's as far as that one can go this evening. And I'll turn to Mr. Sharif to take us into the next item, please.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Next item on the agenda is E4, Permissive Tax Exemption Bylaws 2026. This is to give three readings to Tax Exemption Real Property Bylaw 2023, Amendment Bylaw 2026, number 10319, and Tax Exemption Bylaw, Church Exemptions 2012Amendment Bylaw 2026, Number 210323, to implement the permissive tax exemptions as presented to council at the meeting of August 17, 2026.

Okay. And as Mr. Sharif said, this had already has already been to council for direction. And this the readings of the bylaw will execute on that direction. Councillor Harper, if I could turn to you to make the motions beginning with first reading.

That bylaw number one. That bylaw number 10319 be given first reading.

Seconded by Plant. I'll call the question on first reading. Those in favor and opposed? None are opposed. That's carried. We'll just note that councillor Phelps Bondroff was absent for the vote.

Go ahead, Councillor Harper, that bylaw number 10319 be given second reading.

Okay, same mover and seconder on second. Those in favor and opposed? None are opposed. The motion carries. Thank you, Councillor Harper.

And that bylaw number 10319 begins given third reading.

Seconded by councilor Plant. I'll call the question on third reading. Those in favor and opposed? None are opposed. That's carried. Go ahead, Councillor Harper, that bylaw number

10323 be given first reading.

A mover and seconder on first reading. Those in favor and opposed? None are opposed. That's carried. Thank you. Go ahead.

That bylaw number 10323 be given second reading.

Okay, same mover and seconder on second reading. Those in favor and opposed. None are opposed. That's carried.

Go ahead, Councillor Harper, and that bylaw number 10323 be given third reading.

Same mover and seconder on third. Those in favor and opposed? None are opposed. That's carried. And again, I'll just reiterate that Councillor Phelps Bondaraff was out of the room for each of those motions. Okay, that takes us through that item, and I will now turn to our final item, which I'll ask Mr. Sharif if he could introduce for us, please.

Thank you, Mr. Last item on the agenda is F1 under reports from members of Council. Verbal reports from Saanich Advisory Committee's chairs.

Okay, thank you so much. So, Council, if it's okay, we'll just go around the horseshoe, giving everybody an opportunity to speak to the council committees on which they are either a chair or, if they wish to, as a council liaison. So I will go first to Councillor Plant to provide us with an update, I guess the final update of the term.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I am pleased to provide an update on the work of the Arts, Culture and Community well Being Advisory Committee in which I chaired and had four scheduled meetings in 2026. This year, our committee expanded its mandate to incorporate accessibility, diversity, equity and inclusion, bringing these important considerations into our broader discussions about art, culture and community well being. In January, we established our priorities for the year, identifying a wide range of issues including accessibility, recreation facilities, public art, homelessness, indigenous relations and community services. In March, we received an update on the Saniches On Saniches. Excuse me, me. Climate planning, community climate hazard assessment Discussions highlighted the impacts of extreme heat on vulnerable populations, recreation and community well being, as well as the importance of equitable engagement and energy resilience.

We also received an overview of the Accessibility Technical Committee and its ongoing work to improve accessibility across the organization. This included accessible public engagement, improvements to municipal documents, and the continued development of Sanichu accessibility initiatives. Our May meeting focused on three significant areas. First, we received an update on the Gordon Head Recreation center, including ongoing roof repairs and the wide range of inclusive recreation programs offered by Saanich. Programs such as the All Body Swim the Life Financial Assistance Program. Youth Leadership Opportunities and Recreation Access for Older Adults demonstrate the importance of reducing barriers to protect participation. Second, we reviewed the Lambrick Park Campus Renewal Project.

Community engagement is currently helping to shape the future of this important public space with discussions touching on recreation facilities, potential housing opportunities and public art. Third, we received a presentation on Indigenous Relations and Reconciliations. Members, learn from staff more about Sanich's relationships with the first nations, whose Traditional territories include Saanich and requested that staff provide ongoing updates to the Committee on Reconciliation Initiatives. Finally, our June agenda brought together four important topics. Regional arts services, the state of Arts in Saanich, the REACH Regional Social Engagement Project for older adults and the Uptown Multicultural Festival. These items reflect the committee's broad mandate from supporting arts and culture opportunities to addressing social isolation and celebrating our community's diversity. Among these meetings. I want to thank. Pardon me as long I almost landed it. Sorry.

I wrote this today because we got the note saying we're doing this today. I would like to thank the committee members for their thoughtful participation and staff for their dedication, presentation and ongoing work. It has been a pleasure to serve as chair of this committee.

Thank you very much, Councillor Plant. I will turn to Councillor Bryce if you wish to provide an update on the work of the Finance and Governance committee.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. As chair of the Mayor's Standing Committee on Finance and Governance, it is a pleasure to report out to the council in a sort of final way. You have seen our work as we bring it to you. Our work seems to fall into a number of categories. They fall into sort of either routine and still important issues like receiving external audit findings and such. That's an important part of our work. We do that every year. There are areas of judgment in areas where we're like making recommendations on applications for grant funding in that area. The committee not only looks at the numbers, but also brings to the table their own values and their efforts to try and capture what they feel is in the community's best interest.

It's always challenging as there are always more worthy projects and limited dollars. But nonetheless we seem to come back with a list which council has found meets their needs. And so I think the system is working. And then there are policy discussions on various financial issues directly in this term and throughout year to year. And we're always grateful to staff for their very helpful advice. Our committee has a broad range of perspectives and we learned from each other. Trying to bring a report back to this council which had a strong consensus. We trust our work and recommendations to council provided value for input. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, Councillor Bryce. We'll go now to Councillor Phelps Bondroff who serves as liaison to the Accessibility Advisory Committee. And so I will turn to you or technical Advisory Committee. So I'll turn to you for an update.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor. I don't have too much to report. This committee meets bimonthly and we've only had a few meetings. But I do want to highlight a couple things, we had a couple of excellent guest presenters. One was Susan Councillor Susan Baines from White Rock who talked about accessibility and beaches and the highlight of our term so far was Stephanie Cadieux. The Chief Accessibility Officer of Canada. Gave not just a presentation but a very fulsome conversation with the committee and that was we were very honored to have her presence. But this is the first Chief Accessibility Officer of Canada and it was a very fulsome conversation.

I think this committee's starting to find its feet and I'm looking forward to seeing where it moves in the future, but I don't have too much more to report on that. But I think the work that we're doing to make Saanich more accessible is an ongoing process and it doesn't just focus on physical accessibility, but it focuses on a wide range of accessibility. I'm proud of the work we're doing. We definitely have some more work to be done and this committee is just getting started.

Thank you Councillor Phelps Ponroff. Councillor Brownhoff, I will turn to you for an update on your advisory committee.

Thanks Mr. Mayor. I chair the Sustainability and Climate Action Committee. This time was both the short term but important year for the committee given the work underway to complete the updated climate plan with continued record breaking extreme weather events globally and impacts closer to home and B. C. and across the island. This year continue to focus on climate adaptation and resilience work including input related to climate risk assessments, the importance of biodiversity, trees and eco ecosystems services, wildfire prevention and resilience, particularly in rural Saanich and the impacts of extreme heat.

The Committee reviewed and provided input to community climate hazard and resilience assessment and the corporate PIEVC Climate risk assessment, the 2026 climate plan and the Zero Waste Strategy. The Committee made two key motions to council this year year recommending endorsement of the plan, a climate Plan and outlining that they support the Zero Waste Strategy. The committee also provided comment and input related to energy and carbon emissions reporting and building retrofit programs, the Neighbor to Neighbor program, Our Planet Saanich Seniors Program, Tree Protection bylaw, Agriculture and food security plan update and work on community gardens.

There were multiple discussions related to fire wildfowl prevention and resilience with an update made by Fire Emergency Management, Sustainability and park staff on the integration of our Fire Smart and Natural Scaping program. The Climate. The committee received presentations on the Climate Plan Annual Report and the act of Transportation plan and report with opportunity for feedback. The CRD also presented on the Large Carnivore Monitoring Pilot project they're doing. Thanks, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you. Councillor Brownhoff, Councillor Westhaver, I'll turn to you for an update on your advisory committee.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I was honored to chair the Natural Areas Parks and Trails Committee and just came on board this year in January. I was very grateful to be able to lead a group of of enthusiastic and invested community members. I'd like to start by thanking staff, in particular the committee clerk of this committee, Angela Hawkshaw who has kept me aligned and prepared. Although it was a short lived experience, unfortunately we were only able to get together three times. However, the highlights were inspiring. Inclusive of a staff led tour of the beautiful Cuthbert Homes Park. Since then the park continues to flourish and grow and be developed in including an alcove which is welcoming the wildlife at this park.

And the park warden, also known as Harold the Heron, has taken residency here and is enjoying his new place to play as our term comes to an end. Again, I thank staff and a strong encouragement to all the residents to go out for a walk, take a hike, take a run, enjoy Saanich parks and trails and please follow the signage to protect our environmental sensitive ecosystems. And if you're unfamiliar that Saanich has parks and trails. Just a quick rundown. We have 828 hectares covering 8% of the district. More than 100 km of walking and hiking paths, 57 playgrounds, 62 sports fields, 35 tennis courts, 13 courts with pickleball lines and perhaps more to come.

And 21 basketball or sport courts, 37 beach accesses and two water parks, three lawn bowling greens, two bike skill parks, a skate park and a horseshoe club pit. We are fortunate to have a wide range of options to live, work and play. And encourage community members to be a part of community advisory committees so your voice in the future can be heard and we can continue to ensure accessibility in parks and trails is for everyone in Saanich. Thank you very much. It's been an honor to chair this committee.

Thank you. And we will always remember the evening you enthusiastically told Saanich residents to take a hike. Good luck. Thank you, Councillor Chambers. Hey, I've only got the mic for a little while longer. Councilor Chambers is the liaison to the administrative traffic committee and I will give you the opportunity to provide an update.

Thank you very much, Mr. Mayor, but I plan on talking about the Tamuk treaty. Lee is on position if you don't mind.

Sure, if you can. Absolutely.

Thank you very much. Well, these treaties, they're part of the Douglas Treaties from 1950 and throughout my Committee. We've been working at modernizing our treaties and this started 31 years ago, so it's not new. And most, most of these meetings are in camera. So it's very hard for me to come back and give reports to my colleagues. I'm like, I don't know what to say. So we have this opportunity and I just want to thank David Drummond who has just retired from the position, who has just been absolutely an amazing educator and he's been at the roundtable, he's a teacher and he would come in and talk in camera to my colleagues in a way that was hard to do in public, so not able to be done in public.

So we are in very incredibly the fifth out of the sixth stage of the treaty negotiations. They are, I'll just say they're with Beecher Bey, Shianu Malahat, Shanaim, Nanouz Song and Souk Nation where the negotiations stand. We are in stage five of six final agreement. The key milestones were the framework in 1996 agreement in principle signed 2015 landing cash offers 2023 nation.

Oh, please continue.

Nation Constitution. I just lost my place, Mr. Mayor. 2023 negotiators understanding letters of understanding. 24 public open houses. That was very recent. This summer we're progressing along and then the next formal step is the chief negotiators initial the five treaties and that signals the end of the talks and then each nation votes to the constitution and treaties than B. C. and Canada ratify. So this is a very exciting moment in governance and British Columbia and I am so happy to have learned so much. Only I haven't been able to tell you about it, so you'll have to trust me. No, it's been an absolute honour and I've been really grateful to take a wide variety of committees over the, over the.

Over my two terms and I have learned a lot and it's our last meeting here. And thanks to colleagues, thanks to staff, thanks to everyone. Love you.

Thank you. We'll turn now to Councillor devries who's the chair of the Transportation Advisory committee.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Through you I had the privilege of chairing the Transportation Committee this year. And with a mixture of long standing and new committee members, we began with a deep dive into transportation in Saanich and all the work that's underway through the engineering department and other departments. We then followed up by reviewing some of the progress that was underway with the active transportation plan and other transportation improvements across the district. We also got to meet and see the work plan for our new community Engagement specialist in the engineering department to see what they were up to and how we can do things differently.

And there was a lot of good discussion around how the various works underway could be communicated and we could collect more input. And to that effect, there's a lot of focus on the neighborhood bikeway project. We also did a walking tour of the Sinclair Road improvement improvements, which was a good hands on experience for the committee to see. All the thought that goes into these projects from those small details that you know, often go unnoticed during the day in terms of managing the water there, making sure that you're reducing conflict, and all the other additional incredible work done by District staff. Also weighing into the Wallace Drive project as well as, you know, something small yet significant, which was wayfinding and talking about what that signage might look like.

Because if you've gone anywhere in Saanich, whether you're walking, cycling, taking transit, you've probably seen a lot of different wayfinding signs from all different eras with so many different designs and expectations. And so there was a lot of thorough discussion on what that looks like. As we do these new neighborhood bikeway projects or greenways in the District. I just want to quickly reflect on what a privilege is it has been to be chair of various committees over the last eight years. And what I love about these committees is it's incredible what happens when people of different perspectives can come together. Start by asking questions, engaging in thoughtful discussion and trying to come to some kind of agreement and resolution.

And that has just been so great to witness firsthand. Thank you.

Thank you, Councillor devries. Next I will go to Councillor Harper, who chairs our economic development advisory committee.

Yes, and I also am liaison to Heritage and I just wanted to briefly touch on that before I went to economic development. So I just wanted to note that the Sandage Heritage foundation is actually an organization in transition for a number of different reasons. And so through that they have done a number of different internal things that they're able to support themselves more directly without direct support from Sandwich. They've updated procedures, they've changed the grant opportunities so they're more accessible to homeowners that have Heritage homes, that there are more opportunities to apply for grants. They've updated their website and so on. And of course they continue with the normal opportunities that they do to meet with anyone who's looking to develop a property that involves heritage as well.

And they are one of the many groups that enthusiastically is engaged in the July 1 Gorge event as well. So they were there at that time in terms of the Economic Development Committee, of which I am the chair. The major activity that's been going on this year, which involves actually more than the committee members themselves, who are very valuable members of our business community, is what's called the Intelligent Communities Initiative, which was, I did briefly talk on that, I think, the last time that we had this kind of update. But the Intelligent Initiatives Communities Initiative is trying to make sure that businesses are functioning into the future, that we are able to attract and retain the right kinds of businesses that will continue to allow Santa's to be sustainable into the future.

And one of the reasons, I think it's safe to say it is called the Intelligent Communities Initiative, at least in our case, is because it's an opportunity to connect business, government, education, nonprofit, youth and innovation partners into a practical win win network. So we had, in addition to the committee members, a number of people from each of those areas that I just listed working on a voluntary basis, which is, when you think about it, a huge asset to the community and to Saanich, working through the process of how, in fact, to achieve these goals.

So the process has moved forward substantially. There were three major workshops, there's now a major report that will be coming to the next council in terms of what the next steps are. And one of the very important participants in this process actually was the CEO of the Library Board of the Library, who is now retiring. And there are some really interesting ideas that will be perhaps coming to fruition through the new Nellie McClung build when it comes along as well. So that was a really exciting thing to be involved with. I think it's very future oriented, but very practical as well, so that we will have Saanich sustainable into the future on the business front as well as in every other way. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.

Thank you, Councillor Harper, and thanks to all members, members of council for your reports this evening. And I'm grateful to you on behalf of the residents of Saanich, for your work this term as leaders in our community and for working as the chairs of these committees or as the liaisons to these committees. I know at times the work can seem arduous, but it pays off certainly in the benefit it delivers to our residents. And we are grateful. I have had the opportunity to chair the Housing Affordability Standing Committee and the Public Safety and Emergency Planning Committees this term. It's been a great pleasure. Most of the work that has been delivered by those committees have been reported out to council already.

So I will just convey my appreciation to the members of council who've sat on Both of those committees, along with me and the community members who've served to help provide their guidance. As part of the Housing Affordability Standing Committee. We've had representation from the community associations, from the nonprofit housing sector, and from the building community, as well as our elected officials who've been so helpful in

steering

decisions that will ultimately be made to the benefit of our residents. So I just want to express my gratitude to those folks who. Who volunteered as part of that process and all of the many people who work behind the scenes in this organization in order to deliver on all of those great programs and initiatives. Truly, your council and your residents appreciate you. That concludes the final council meeting prior to the upcoming municipal election. I know there's a lot of folks in this room who've got a lot of work to do between now and 10-7-17th. So we'll be wishing you all well. And Councillor Westhaver and I will be cheering you all on as we don't get out on the campaign trail. Until we meet again, everyone. There will be one more council meeting following the election on October 26th.

That's an opportunity for those of us who haven't run, chose not to run this time, or perhaps did, did not get a seat on council to have an opportunity to say their thank yous. And of course, we will all be able to express our appreciation for the opportunity to serve. So we'll sign off for now. Until we meet again. Have a lovely evening. Oh, how about. I guess we probably should adjourn the meeting so that it doesn't go on until October 26th. I'll take a motion from Councillor Westhaver. Thank you. Thank you. Seconded by Councilor Plant. And on adjournment. Those in favor and opposed? Everyone's in favor. Have a good evening, everyone.