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/

My View

Municipal governments continue to take on greater responsibility as senior governments, especially the provincial government, continue to devolve to the local level what were formerly provincial responsibilities. Municipal governments today seem left to "manage in the middle," a sometimes precarious place where they teeter between increasing public demand on one side and senior levels of government opting out on the other. Not an easy place to be, particularly when local governments sit squarely on the front lines of our communities and are the most visible, closest to us and with the greatest impact on our daily lives. With all of this in mind, it's no wonder that small municipalities like North Saanich need the support and involvement of the community to help get things done.

When ordinary residents who run for and are elected to political office (your local Mayor and Council), they can be your friend, your neighbour, attend your church, share your kids' carpool, belong to your health club, volunteer with you, work with you or belong to your service club --- this is certainly true in North Saanich and these relationships and personal connections are part of what makes this such a great small community. But when these ordinary relationships are tested by extraordinary circumstances, it may be unavoidable that personal dynamics take on a political dimension.

This is especially true in dealing with conflict where emotions can run high and people can arrive "loaded for bear" based on what they believe or think they know to be true about a given situation. Added to the fact that North Saanich residents tend to be passionate about land use and their quality of life, the potential for vocal public reaction to local government is always present. After all, public participation is the hallmark of democracy and in a small community; it's easier to get involved and to make a difference.

But when public participation is expressed by aggressive, demeaning or intimidating behaviour towards others, especially during Council meetings where issues and people often collide, I feel that we all share a responsibility to one another to demonstrate respect and decorum inside the Council Chamber, no matter how heated the argument or strong the disagreement. In fact, the Council Chamber is much like a Courtroom -- the role of Mayor and Council is quasi-judicial and decisions are guided by legislation, policies and procedures.

I am encouraged to see the public attending and participating in Council meetings. I am discouraged when anger and bad manners appear to overshadow the proceedings. All of us, including the public, the Mayor, members of Council and municipal staff owe it to each other to behave respectfully, no matter how much we disagree or how difficult or sensitive the issue is at the time. Eighteenth Century Irish-born novelist Lurence Sterne put it something like this: "Self-respect guides our morality. Respect for others guides our manners" -- worth remembering.

CRD Septic Bylaw

SOME NORTH SAANICH COUNCIL MEMBERS NOT SO PUMPED UP ABOUT PROPOSED CRD SEPTIC BYLAW

We first learned in 2008 about the CRD's proposed bylaw to de-regulate monitoring and maintenance of septic systems to the private sector and rely on the industry to collect and provide data to the CRD for their database that would tell them when property owners in the region needed to pump out their tanks.

The pump-out cycle was only every 5 years, and failed to involve inspection of septic fields or anything else related to the system. I strenuously opposed North Saanich's participation in this bylaw, arguing that half of North Saanich properties are on septic systems and that we should develop and implement our own monitoring and maintenance process that would meet local needs and actually involve inspection to protect health and the environment. But I lost the battle when the majority of the previous Council voted to participate in the CRD bylaw.

Supporting the bylaw also meant an annual total parcel tax of $40,000 paid by property owners with septic systems. I believed that the municipality and property owners were paying too much for not much.

Then, last week, the bylaw came back to the new Council for adoption. New Council members began raising similar issues to mine, including:

• Cost to individual North Saanich property owners for a service that provides little protection and nothing more than a database.
• De-regulation and lack of local government oversight that put health and the environment at risk.
• The role of CRD as nothing more than a gatekeeper.
• Reliance on private industry sector to provide information to build and maintain the database (should industry regulate itself?).
• Absence of any inspection process that looks at the whole septic system, especially the field, for potential failures.
• Exclusion of type 1 Septic Systems - the oldest known system in North Saanich and the one most prone to failure.
• Inadequate pumping schedule of every 5 years (shouldn't it be every 2 or 3 years?).
• Lack of local government involvement to enforce safety and address local issues in an expeditious manner.

As a result of this new perspective by a new Council, the Mayor has introduced a motion to repeal the bylaw, providing North Saanich with the chance of opting out. Further, in yesterday's Times-Colonist and Vancouver Sun newspapers, health officials are heavily criticizing the B.C. government's de-regulated approach to septic system monitoring, maintenance and inspection and warning the government about subsequent safety and health issues. In the Friday, March 6th edition of the Times-Colonist, the B.C. government has agreed to take another look at the legislation in time for the next UBCM convention in September.

Stay tuned for further news on this topic. At next Wednesday's CRD Board meeting (March 11), the bylaw will be introduced for voting and adoption. I suspect that in view of recent events in North Saanich, in the media and at the provincial level, the future of this bylaw is anything but certain.

Affordable Housing in North Saanich - Keeping Them Honest

By Cairine Green, Candidate for North Saanich Council -- November 2008

In this election, the issue of “affordable” housing is a topic of debate. Whether North Saanich can provide housing that young families, young singles, single parent families, people with disabilities and seniors on fixed incomes can afford to buy and sustain is a good question.

Providing social housing in a North Saanich real estate market is a huge challenge that requires more than just developers, politicians and real estate agents telling us that it should and can be done.

The red-hot real estate market, which is cooling down as we speak, was accelerated by three major factors:

• the Federal government, through CMHC, relaxed mortgage regulations by introducing zero per cent down;
• the Bank of Canada and central banks kept interest rates low; and
• major lenders increased maximum amortization periods from 25 years up to 40 years.

Buyers could borrow more, pay less and for much longer. These changes opened the market to new homebuyers who would otherwise have little access to an inflated housing market.

So what do we really mean by the term “affordable” in North Saanich? This is a fair question when you see that earlier this year; the average market price of a single-family dwelling in North Saanich was about $723,000, second highest in the CRD behind Oak Bay. In fact, the history of new housing built in North Saanich since 2002, tells the real story -- all units (single-family dwellings and condominiums in particular, including new lots) were priced according to market supply and demand, a market that had been one of the highest in more than 12 years and geared to maximum profitability, including higher income, off shore or non-resident buyers.

For the sake of argument, delete the word “affordable” and instead use the term “below market” housing. In a higher end real estate market such as North Saanich, what would “below market” housing look like? We need to examine the facts about income levels, employment markets and the disparity between land value and new housing costs in North Saanich with the second highest property assessments in the capital region.

In my view, developers define “affordable” housing in North Saanich as what they can afford to build and what you can afford to pay. If a purchaser can afford to get a mortgage for a new housing unit, single-family dwelling or multi-family unit, either low or high density, then that may be considered affordable in the North Saanich market.

According according to the recommendations of the North Saanich Housing Strategy report, anything affordable appears to be aimed at combined family incomes of between $70,000 and $100,000. Frankly, in North Saanich, that excludes young workers in service jobs, seniors on fixed incomes, people with disabilities on disability pensions and the majority of single parent families that otherwise qualify for affordable housing elsewhere in the CRD.

The Langford model, which some people have suggested we bring to North Saanich, is directly tied to the market value of land in the Western Communities. Langford works like this. The municipality requires developers to donate 1 affordable housing unit in every 10 before any re-zoning takes place. On a market price of approximately $350,000 per single-family unit for 10 units, the developer must dedicate 1 unit at a price of approximately $150,000 -$160,000. Qualified purchasers must also meet criteria that include a combined family income of no more than $60,000, family assets of no more than $50,000 and some kind of link with the community of Langford. Real estate agents marketing the affordable unit must waive their commissions. I understand that last year, there were about 1,700 applicants for one affordable unit. While this is a successful model for Langford and I commend them, it is obvious that there are not enough available units to meet the needs in Langford.

If we as municipal leaders are truly honest about our ability to build affordable or below market housing in North Saanich, then we must develop a plan that involves all key stakeholders and partners at the table. We need to involve the BC Government through BC Housing, the Federal Government through CMHC, the real estate industry, banks, non-profit organizations and social service agencies and, of course, generous developers willing to reduce profits, donate land and dedicate housing units for sale at well below current market prices.

I support any initiative for below market housing in North Saanich if it is well planned, well managed and guarantees quality of life. We can do it, but let’s be honest about what it will take and who will benefit.

CRD And Its Regional Growth Strategy Review 2008 - A Must Read

Further to my article on Regional Growth Strategy, the Capital Regional District (CRD) has released its most recent State of the Region 2008 Review of the Regional Growth Strategy (RGS). I encourage all North Saanich voters to examine this report which can be found at http://www.crd.bc.ca/regionalplanning/growth/index.htmIt tells the real story behind planned growth, development and housing in the CRD and points out the significance of our 2007 Official Community Plan (OCP) for managing growth and development here in North Saanich.

Below are some key highlights from this report that I think are critical to the current debate about unplanned growth and development and the need to protect green and blue spaces in North Saanich, defined by the CRD as a rural-residential municipality outside the regional urban containment boundary:


REGIONAL PLANNING

• The intent of the RGS is to direct the majority of growth into designated areas (the Regional Urban Containment and Servicing Policy Area (RUCSPA), accessible to servicing, transit and community facilities.
• The RGS also restricts the extension of piped services to areas beyond the RUCSPA boundary if the intent of the servicing is to facilitate urban development.
• Rural agricultural land has been continually decreasing since the Agricultural Land Reserve set aside 12,085 hectares in 1972...due to the pressures of urban development.
• When the urban portion of the region is kept compact, the advantages are that development can be more efficiently serviced, public transit can be better provided, cycling and walking can become more viable and there is better protection for green and blue spaces (e.g., North Saanich).
• The intent of the RGS is to encourage higher density development within the Urban Containment Boundary, while maintaining lower densities in rural areas...indicators are that the Urban Containment Boundary will be able to accommodate the region's population growth over the next 20 years.
• A constant land area containing the majority of the population growth indicates that the urban containment boundary is properly situated.

EMPLOYMENT FACTORS, HOUSING AND TRANSPORTATION

• The average 2007 house price in the Victoria Census Metropolitan Area is nearly 10 times the average wage. The gap between average household income and the requirement to purchase an average single detached dwelling has widened for the fourth consecutive year to nearly $75,000.
• The establishment of a Housing Trust Fund in 2005 was a key initiative in the Regional Housing Affordability Strategy. The fund supports and leverages capital funding for acquiring, developing and retaining affordable housing for individuals and families with low or moderate incomes in the region. North Saanich participates in this fund.
• Lower development costs make developing on the rural fringes attractive; however, the servicing demands on the public are high in these areas, resulting in the inefficient use of resources. Servicing development within the urban containment boundary makes the most efficient use of infrastructure.
• Between 2001 and 2006, the employment share within the CRD for the Saanich Peninsula remained stable at 11 per cent of the region's total.
• Total greenhouse gas emissions since 1995 and between 2001 and 2006 have decreased, due in large part to fuel efficient motor vehicles.

The intent of the regional containment boundary and the approaches needed to reduce sprawl development and inefficient servicing patterns should be enhanced, including: housing, unprotected green space, resource lands, regional sustainability and climate change.

Regional Growth Strategy - My position

REGIONAL GROWTH STRATEGY

By Cairine Green, North Saanich

I support the motion to deny the amendment to the Regional Growth Strategy. To explain my position, I want to provide the following background information. Like many people, I needed to completely understand what the strategy is and what it really means for North Saanich, the Saanich Peninsula and the region.

The Capital Regional District Board adopted the Regional Growth Strategy (RGS) on August 13, 2003. The strategy represents an agreement, developed and approved, by all member municipalities and the regional district in partnership, on social, economic and environmental goals and priority actions.

This is a landmark agreement, a landmark agreement as cited in a report prepared in March 2003 by the Department of Environment and Resource Studies, University of Waterloo, titled, “The Capital Regional District Growth Strategy: Herding Cats onto the Road of Sustainability”. In part, the report states:

• In many urban and rural areas, local citizens motivated by concerns about community disruption and environmental degradation have resisted development projects of various kinds. In some cases, these actions have reflected a broader concern that on a finite planet, or at least in a finite community or region, future growth in human demands will be increasingly destructive.

• The result has been a second wave of growth management that is expected to cover not just all factors that affect growth patterns, but also all consideration that affect long-term community and ecological sustainability.

• Sustainability is fundamentally a matter of applied ethics. It has a human focus but involves consideration of future as well as present interests and recognizes ultimate human dependence on the biosphere. Arguably, commitment to sustainability entails adoption of what Aldo Leopold called the “land ethic” – extending the definition of community from the social interaction of individuals to the linking of all components of the natural world, and requiring people to view themselves as stewards of the land.

• Development of this kind allows for the building of a shared local culture that encompasses history, values and traditions of a particular place or region.

In 1995, the BC government passed the Growth Strategies Statutes Amendment Act to facilitate better coordination of municipalities, regional districts and the provincial government to deal with complex growth management issues. However, its most significant provisions focus on the regional level. The act gave “legislative authority” for regional districts to voluntarily develop and adopt a Regional Growth Strategy.

A regional growth strategy is a regional vision that commits affected municipalities and regional districts to a course of action to meet common social, economic and environmental objectives. It also forms a part of a municipality’s Official Community Plan through a Regional Context Statement, which links the RGS to the municipal plan. The RGS is designed to outline the regional vision for the next 20 years.

The core objective of the Growth Strategies Act is “to promote human settlement that is socially, economically and environmentally healthy and makes efficient use of ... land and other resources.” The foremost priority goals for the RGS are:

• Avoiding urban sprawl and ensuring that development takes place where adequate facilities exist
• Protecting environmentally sensitive areas
• Maintaining the integrity of a secure, productive resource base, including agricultural, and forestland reserves
• Protecting the quality and quantity of ground and surface water

Conclusion:
Without consistent support and long term commitment from the Capital Regional District through its Regional Growth Strategy, municipal boundaries that keep urban containment compact will be vulnerable, resulting in unmanaged growth that will continue to threaten green and rural spaces, agriculture and farmland and forests and water resources. Local governments in the CRD must now decide how strong, consistent and effective they will be in the application of sound land use policy that considers critical factors such as:

• Regional energy planning and conservation
• Food production and security
• Efficient, economical and environmentally sound transporation planning
• Conservation and use of water resources
• Waste disposal

The Regional Growth Strategy enables local governments to manage growth with confidence and vision, to plan for the future and for an environmental legacy of which generations after us can be proud.

The report by the University of Waterloo concludes with the following statement that, for me, says it all in a nutshell:

• If the necessary goodwill and commitment are to be found anywhere in B.C., they are to be found among the municipal leaders and residents of the CRD, given the long standing concern for quality of life issues in this region. What happens in the CRD will therefore be an important test of the Regional Growth Strategy mechanism. If effective growth management using the Regional Growth Strategy cannot be accomplished in the CRD, it is unlikely that the mechanism will work well anywhere in the Province.
  

The latest CRD Report on Regional Growth Management is now available on the CRD website.

I urge voters to read this latest update on the State of the Region Report. It is a five-year review of the Regional Growth Strategy which was released in September 2008.
The report can be found at: http://www.crd.bc.ca/regionalplanning/growth/index.htm