McTavish Road Interchange Update

At the request of Mayor Alice Finall, planning and transportation representatives from the Provincial Government attended a meeting on April 29th at our Municipal Hall to update Sidney and North Saanich Mayors, their Council members and their staff on the proposed McTavish Road Interchange project, due for completion in early 2011. North Saanich and Sidney share significant concerns about the current interchange and "fly over" design.

The major concern is the potential loss of McTavish Road as a connector to Lochside and ultimately to the Sidney core. Mayors Finall and Cross expressed, on behalf of their constituents, what a mistake the Province would be making if it proceeded with a design that eliminated connectivity for McTavish Road. The Mayors suggested that with the closure of McTavish Road, serious traffic implications for local traffic patterns in each of their municipalities would negatively impact Beacon Avenue, Canora Road, East Saanich Road and Amity Road, at the very least.

When the Provincial government representative indicated that these issues might be outside his scope, I stated that what was outside his scope was definitely inside ours -- in other words, our residents from Sidney and North Saanich would have to live with the results and our municipal governments would be left "holding the bag" if serious traffic issues were created and left unresolved by the Province.

As many of us pointed out at the meeting, whatever is built at the intersection will be there for at least 60 years so it would be prudent for the Province to "get it right" the first time. The Province is holding an Open House in mid-June so I encourage everyone to watch for the details, either on this blog and/or on the websites for North Saanich and Sidney.

What makes this whole project particularly challenging for municipal government is the fact that we are not making any financial contribution to the interchange project; therefore, our ability to control or have influence over the planning process may be somewhat limited. But that certainly doesn't mean we will sit quietly on the sidelines -- today's meeting made it clear to the Province that North Saanich and Sidney want to be active planning partners in whatever final design is chosen for the McTavish Road site. We have asked for regular, weekly communication with the Province during the planning and design phases, beginning immediately. We have stressed the importance of public consultation, given the public's keen interest in this project.

I will keep you updated on this project and provide as much information as often as I can -- stay tuned and if you have questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.

May 26 - There is an editorial in the Times-Colonist today regarding the McTavish Road Interchange. It's worth a read and can be found at:
http://www.timescolonist.com/opinion/better+airport+exchange/1631065/story.html

North Saanich's Agricultural Area Plan - A First In The CRD

Did you know that 60 or 70 years ago, Vancouver Island grew and provided its residents with about 90 per cent of their food? Today, the Island grows and provides less than 5 per cent. Did you know that if we experience a major disaster that cuts off transportation links to Vancouver Island, we have only enough food at any given time to last Vancouver Islanders for about 7 days? There is a lot of attention being paid these days (as it should be) to food security, local growing and the 100 mile diet. Everyone talks about food (availability, security, organic growing, support for local growers) and I understand that next to the economy, food is at the top of the public's agenda for action.

So I am extremely encouraged to learn that North Saanich is the first municipality within the CRD to start developing an agricultural area plan that will have local, regional and possible Vancouver Island impacts. Derek Masselink of Masselink Environmental Design has been hired to help the District carry out the planning process, starting with a presentation to Council this week that laid out the work plan for the next few months, with a lot of emphasis on public consultation. The consultant has targeted December 2009 as the completion date for the Plan.

I have believed, for some time, that North Saanich is well positioned to be a "bread basket" for Vancouver Island -- North Saanich is where large-scale food production has unlimited potential. In this context, you can call me pro-food development. This was one of the messages that many of us running for Council last fall tried to take to the public -- elect Council members who will work to restore North Saanich's farms and agricultural lands and invest in the future health and security of our community. North Saanich residents heard and understood the message and elected a Mayor and a majority of Councillors who share these goals about strengthening the connection between local food security and health -- completion and implementation of an agricultural area plan is the first step to achieving these goals.

By the way, I want to plug Dean Park on this issue -- when I was door-knocking during the last election, I learned that many Dean Park residents are fiercely rural and agricultural. Over and over again, they asked me to protect agriculture and farming in North Saanich so while Dean Park may look suburban, many of its residents are farmers at heart -- just like the latest YouTube phenomenon Susan Boyle, "Never judge a book by its cover."

North Saanich Mayor Alice Finall and Councillors Scoones, Commandeur, Chandler and I are especially pleased that North Saanich's Agricultural Advisory Commission has been instrumental in moving ahead with the project. Planning Director Tracy Olsen and her staff are also providing support to the process, which will involve extensive consultation with all stakeholders, including the farming and agricultural community, other Peninsula municipalities, local businesses and retailers, North Saanich residents and the general public. I was particularly interested to know how we can engage the public in this process so please watch for notices and announcements about public consultation meetings and open houses in and around North Saanich. I understand that the first public meeting is scheduled for May 27, 2009 with time and location TBD.

In addition to this blog, please watch for announcements on the District website and in the Peninsula New Review. If you have questions or comments about the agricultural area planning process, please contact Barbara Brennan, Chair of North Saanich's Agricultural Advisory Commission at 250-656-7808 or Hamish Crawford, Vice-Chair at 250-656-1819.

North Saanich Proposes Tax Increase Of About 5%

Given the state of our current economy, some residents thought that we should have no tax increase at all this year while others suggested that we should spend our way out of the economic recession. I believe that the District worked hard, therefore, to strike a balance between these two very different views of the world at a time when economic gloom and doom dominate the news.

After this week's budget meeting, I am supporting what I believe is a reasonable proposed municipal tax increase of about 5 per cent. In fact, one might say it's rather modest, given that the last few years have seen tax increases well above 5 per cent. At this Mayor and Council's request (with the exception of Councillor Bob Shaw who voted against the 5 per cent cap), staff worked hard to bring all departmental budgets back to just 5 per cent. Director of Finance Ralph Gillis and his staff analyzed the budget according to discretionary vs. non-discretionary spending, meaning the difference between having choice about what we spend and where we spend it and having to meet expenditures for which we have no choice, such as staff salaries, previous capital commitments, CRD levies and surcharges, hospitals, schools, provincial regulations, etc.

In the end, it means that we are trying to keep a lid on municipal spending while ensuring that we maintain our level of services and meet our commitments to the community, now and for the future.

This year's tax rate also means good news for waterfront owners, who lead North Saanich taxpayers with the largest proportional reduction to their property tax. It's also good news for our commercial and business partners as we continue our commitment to lowering the North Saanich commercial tax rate and bringing it in line with other Peninsula municipalities.

Budgeting and taxes are the most challenging exercise for small municipalities like ours, especially in a climate of provincial downloading and global recession. While I think we need to be prudent, we must also continue to move our community forward to meet tomorrow's needs and to plan for the long term.

For more details about North Saanich's budget, please check the District website. The bylaws to enact this year's tax levy will be prepared for our next Council meeting in approximately two weeks. In the meantime, if you have questions or comments, please feel free to contact Ralph Gillis directly at 250-656-0781. In addition, to get excellent information that makes all of this understandable, I recommend a visit to the District website (you can access it here on my blog) to download the Sussex Report; an excellent overview of the municipal tax system and what it means for North Saanich.

Hightlights of the AVICC Conference

AVICC Conference Highlights

From April 3 to 5, 2009 in Nanaimo, I attended the 60th annual meeting of the Association of Vancouver Island Coastal Communities (AVICC). The Association represents approximately 48 municipalities, local governments and regional districts on Vancouver Island, including Powell River and meets annually to bring forward issues and topics of concern from member communities and make recommendations and resolutions ahead of the annual Union of British Columbia Municipalities (UBCM) convention held every September. This year's new President of AVICC is Mayor Christopher Causton of Oak Bay.

I participated in the voting process and supported the following resolutions, all of which were adopted or CARRIED by the majority of the voting membership. The following resolutions may be of particular interest to North Saanich:

• AGRICULTURE FUNDING - BC spends 3.3% of its provincial budget on agriculture compared to the national average of 16.4%; Therefore, be it resolved that the Provincial Government increase financial support Agriculture consistent with the national average and cease approving any further ALR exclusions.
  
• RESTORATION OF BC HYDRO MANDATE - The BC Energy Plan limited the mandate for BC Hydro to grow public green power assets and is instead directed to buy power from private power utilities (e.g., Run of the River projects); Therefore, be it resolved that BC Hydro have its mandate restored to look for opportunities to look for sustainable alternatives.
  
• RESTORATION OF VICTIM SERVICES' AND RESTORATIVE JUSTICE FUNDING - Local governments are called on increasingly to fund Victim Services and Restorative Justice Programs; Therefore, be it resolved that the Provincial Government provides sustainable ongoing funding for community-based restorative justice and victim services' programs.
  
• ALTERNATIVE ENERGY INSTALLATION - Governments at all levels should be encouraging the use of "green" methods of energy generation; Therefore, be it resolved that Provincial Government provides incentives to encourage new construction to be pre-plumbed and pre-wired for future solar panels or other alternative energy installations.

Other resolutions that called for action from the AVICC and were CARRIED included:

• Agreement by the Provincial Government to cover costs incurred by local governments of responding to provincial referrals.
• Protection of community watersheds.
• Infrastructure program funding for municipal governments (similar to fed/prov Gas Tax Agreement) by provincial and federal governments that provides direct funding for small scale infrastructure projects.
• Compensation for large scale mining activities.
• Local government election date change from November to October.
• Safer communities and neighbourhoods legislation by the province to address public disorder and neighbourhood deterioration caused by illicit drug houses, problem addresses , etc.
• International medical graduates program revised to remove obstacles to Canadians, trained as doctors in other Commonwealth countries or the US from returning to Canada to practice.
• A provincial moratorium on all Independent power projects (IPPs) until a set of public oversight conditions are met.
• Vancouver Island transmission corridor to help Vancouver Island to achieve power self-sufficiency from 100% green power sources.
• Ferry service routes strategy for minor southern coastal ferry routes.
• VIA Rail to provide a passenger train service for Vancouver Island that is sustainable and efficient.
• BC farm assessment policy criteria and its very negative impact on small farming operations across Vancouver Island.
• Need for provincial integrated sustainable energy planning process.

If you would like more information about AVICC, please visit their website at http://www.avicc.ca/