Rockland Neighbourhood Association
Meeting of Board of Directors
June 11th, 2003
Friends of Government House Meeting Room

Directors present - Catherine Spencer, Brian Allen, Dave Clark, Doris Schuh,
Susan Bartol-Drinker, Leida Marie Grant, Helmut Hissen, Leigh Large, Jane Lunt, Gordon McAllister, Ethelyn McInnes-Rankin, Cecilia Peters, Pamela Tobin.

Regrets - Honya Androsoff, Kathryn LeSueur, Frank Ryan, Walter Yeo.
               Councillor Chris Coleman:  unable to attend.  Sent his regrets.

The meeting commenced at 7:30 PM

1.  Approval of agenda:    Motion:  to approve.    Carried

2.  Minutes of April 12, 2003:
       Motion:  to accept the minutes of April 12, 2003
           Discussion: Change "DPA" to "development permit area".   Carried

3. Financial Report:
Membership account -     $5534.13
Matching Funds Account - $  43.36
Garden Account -         $  987.99
       Motion:  to accept financial report.   Carried

4.  Correspondence:
- Cary bulletin - Friends of Government House Gardens
- Community Planning - upcoming events
- City council minutes (2 sets)
- Letter from Greenways committee (event passed)
- St. Matthias Church - directions for hall maintenance.
- Letter from Helmut Hissen inviting all Land Use chairs to a meeting on June 24th.

5.  Phone calls:
• Neil Beswick - 1020 St Charles - plans to proceed with rezoning application
            and requests a meeting with the Land Use committee.
• Call from a member seeking clarification of a point in the draft minutes for meeting of directors on May  2003.  Draft of minutes is considered confidential until approved at the next following meeting of the board.

 6.  Committee reports:
a)  Community Association Network -
• Mark Pakenham spoke of concern re: Victoria development - the density bonus  process does not always benefit the immediate neighbourhood.
• Shift in criminal activity from the downtown core due to red-zone attention.
• Gail Price-Douglas - proposes a request to the City for increasing base funding   required for communications, co-ordination of functions, meeting space, etc.
• At the upcoming meeting there will be a request from BCGEU for a moratorium
      on proposed changes to liquor distribution, pending further consultation with communities and public.  Some applications are already underway.
      Consensus that this is outside our mandate.  
      There will be no response from RNA presented to C.A.N.
- RNA will host next week's CAN meeting
Motion:  $30 to cover expenses for refreshments.   Carried

     b)  Garden - Purchased "sea soil" and it is distributed on the garden.
Motion:  to approve $21.40 for reimbursement.   Carried

c)  Graffiti - a director reported grafitti to the appropriate number and that it had been      removed promptly.

     d)  Land Use - Land Use Committee met May 30th.
          Presentation from Veronica Doyle re: Seniors' housing, assisted living,
          Made preparations for the public meeting, discussed issues that might arise.

         1322 Rockland - a public meeting was held on June 2nd.
This was the first meeting held on this application for the neighbourhood hosted by the association.    Feedback from the meeting:
- Some discomfort at the way the meeting unfolded; (unpleasant, lack of decorum).
-  Speeches were limited to one minute by prior decision.
-  Some people sought to have more time.
- Interruptions set the tenor for the meeting.
-Inappropriate for opponents to pressure attendees at the entrance.
- Report is in a draft letter addressed to Mayor and Council.

             Motion:  to approve the draft letter.
 Discussion followed - Should the board express a position on the proposed   development or attempt to present the facts in a neutral tone?
 The letter, as drafted, conveys the information that council requires for decision.
             Recommendation: to send a copy of the letter to the Anglican Church Women.  
                                                                            Carried - 11 in favour, one opposed.

         Discussion followed on how we could improve the conduct at public meetings:
Lack of communication is one of the difficulties.   Prior information to give a better  understanding of land use committee process and the developer's process might help.


- Opportunity to clarify rules and guidelines for board member conduct .
               Board code of ethics was circulated.
               Discussion on possible roles - advocacy; facilitation and listening;
                                                         administration of constitution and bylaws.
- What roles are appropriate within board meetings; at public meetings; at other times?
-Advocacy at public meetings risks loss of credibility, liability and can inhibit comment and discussion from neighbours.  Some people at the meeting on June 2nd did not, due to the tenor of the meeting, put forward their opinions that were contrary to the general tone.
- Written comments sent to the board will be forwarded to the City as attachments to the letter.

       910 Richmond is a panhandle lot.  Owners wish to subdivide with access to the new   lot off Lyman Duff Lane.   It is thought to be a Board of Variance issue, so RNA would not be directly involved.  (Subdivision is a provincial matter, as long as minimum lot sizes are not violated.).  Now, it seems that it is going to be referred to the Committee of the Whole.  The association has not, as yet, received a request for input but the Committee of the Whole may decide that they wish to hear from us.

      Development Permit Area is a grey zone - may be referred to Neighbourhood    Association but not required.  The president has requested that we be informed
      on DPA issues.  (Fort St. and Oak Bay Ave is within a DPA)

     Verrinder Avenue - 3 lots with 1930's houses are for sale for 1.2 million.             
     There are difficulties with the access from the busy Fort Street and Oak Bay Avenue intersection.  There have been inquiries from developers.  RNA wants to be co-operative, refers developers to immediate neighbours and city planner, Brian Sikstrom.

      It was suggested that new directors could be invited to a special session to gain a better understanding of the basics of land use procedures.

e)  Social - Annual social will be held at Craigdarroch Castle on November 12th, 7-9.

f)  Newsletter - a draft for the newsletter was circulated.  Amendments were suggested.
        Motion:  to publish the newsletter as amended.   Carried

7. Strategic Planning -
Karen Ramsay reports that there are not any funds available for strategic planning via the Special Project Grants program but that she would be pleased to contribute her time and possibly a colleague’s time to assist us in conducting a Strategic Planning session.  If funding is what we wish, we may consider using or applying funding available through the Neighbourhood Development Program (base or matching) for this year or next year.

      Meeting of Chairs of all Land Use Committees:  Invitations were sent out to all
      land use chairs for a meeting on June 24th with the focus on our role in dealing on common issues with the City Planning Department.

8.  Date and place of the next meeting:
     July 9th, 2003 - 7:30 at the Friends of Government House volunteers' centre.

9.  Close of Meeting:  Motion: to close the meeting at 21:50 p.m.   Carried