ROCKLAND
NEIGHBOURHOOD
ASSOCIATION
Meeting
of the Board of Directors
1401
Rockland Avenue
September
9, 2015
Present:
Janet
Simpson (JS), Bob June (BJ), Dave Clark (DC), Norman Clark (NC),
John Edwards
(JE), Ian Mayhill (IM), Vanessa Dingley (VD), Dave McWalter (DW),
Stephen
Roughley (SR), Pamela Madoff (PM)
Absent: Sue Simpson (SS), Marc Hunter (MH),
Meeting called to order at 19:01
·
Agenda
o DC
records
minutes
o Add
VCAN
insurance (NC); adjust order to ensure following priorities are
covered
within allotted time.
§ October
14th meeting between Board, PM and City planning and
Engagement
Staff
§ Communications
Strategy
§ Land
Use
Report
o Motion
to
approve (DC/IM)
§ Carried
·
Minutes of June 10, 2015
o Motion
to
approve (BJ/MH)
§ Carried
·
Councillor’s Report
o
1745 Rockland 5-4 vote to
send the proposal to
Public Hearing
o
October 1st 5 to 6:30 NA/CA Land use
meeting
o
AGGV rezoning postponed to
late October or
beyond; addressing parking issues.
o
Although the recent Small
lot subdivision
proposal has been withdrawn, the intent of this zone is to
preserve existing
viable housing.
o
Public hearing for St
Andrews, spill over to September
17th 7:30
at City Hall
o
Job fair for friendly
parking and information
persons.
o
“Safe Walk” To make City
Parkades more
welcoming, escort service. Free walk to your car. Separate
telephone number for
each parkade.
o
Park and public place
budget gone to beautify
parkades. Bastion Square, Centennial Square, Johnson Street.
o
Working group on physical
accessibility. New
work on mile zero to make the monument accessible.
o
City sheltering workshop
September 16th
6:30 to 8:30
o
There is a Regional housing
trust fund and a City
housing trust fund. Symbolic $ from City to Saanich for affordable
housing near
Victoria municipal boundary.
o
From October to February
there will be 4 Government
Street closures for walking
o
Cycling workshop - speakers gathering to
critique existing bike
plans
o
Operational plan 2015,
Status of all current
projects, highlights of second quarter. Web address is
·
New Business
o October
14th Meeting between Board, PM and City Planning and
engagement
staff
§ One
to
two hours instead of regular October Board meeting.
§ Present
a
balanced view of our strategies and issues.
§ What
are
RNA priorities for Local Area Planning under the OCP? (default is
Villages
and Transportation corridor)
§ Other
NA/CAs
have mentioned training for LUC members; expectations for Council
Liaisons.
o Communications
Strategy
§ SR
distributed
a strategy framework and requested immediate feedback, bullet
points within the framework, so that he can have the strategy
drafted for
October 14th.
·
Committee Reports
§ Land
Use
·
Planner Helen Cain left,
Rockland files handled
by Lucina Baryluk for now.
·
AGGV proposal passed design
advisory and design
panel; rezoning hearing postponed, addressing parking issue.
·
1070 Joan Crescent – to
Heritage Review
·
1082 Richmond at Oak Bay
Ave. needed some
signatures, final requirement, and now has passed council. New
fencing, work is
starting.
·
1618 Richardson Small Lot
proposal withdrawn.
o DM
is
researched small lot development; intent is to retain existing
viable
structures. (from June meeting: JS will determine RNA position on
this topic)
·
750 Pemberton Meadows –
started discussions with
the new owner and consultant Roger Tinney; considering rezoning
for 5 new
strata units in 3 buildings, retaining existing home and carriage
house for 9
(existing) rental units.
o VD
and
IM talked to existing tenant – opportunity to engage renters and
give them
a collective voice.
·
1745 Rockland
o Council
passed
it on to Hearing (5 to 4 vote)
o The
developer
and consultant Roger Tinney meet with neighbours September 16th
o Height
is
an issue as panhandle rules should apply
o JS:
In
face of unanimous opposition from neighbours, why did this go to
hearing? PM:
If it is turned down, proponent would have to wait for a year to
re-submit.
·
1618 Richardson
o DM
is
researching small lot development; JS will determine RNA position
on this
topic
§ Social
·
IM put together a package
including step-by-step
process and communications templates for Government House events.
ACTION: review
Ian’s material, then post to “Management Information” on the web
page
·
DC reported on AGGV
Paint-in. Thanks to all the
volunteers who helped out that day.
o RNA
booth
was in a potentially good location, Moss at Fort Street, but large
signage would be an improvement for next year. Request next year’s
location
opposite 1010 Moss.
o Environment
Committee
Open House - City staff helped with displays on Stormwater, Urban
Food
Production; Ken Milbrath had a presentation on the Pemberton
Trail; Urban
Wildlife Stewardship Society had information on their spay-vac
program for
deer. Gwyneth Evans played Celtic harp, accompanied by Gary
Bauslaugh on harmonica.
·
4th annual
Rockland-wide yard sales.
About 15 participants, ads in TC and photocopied posters cost
$118. ACTION –
send thank you note to AGGV for space and tables.
§ Welcome
Committee
– 15 visits over the summer, lots pending
(DW left)
§ Woodland
Garden
– meeting with new volunteers this month
§ Environment
–
·
DC met with A/Director of
Parks Julie Macdougal
to discuss areas where neighbourhood initiatives could complement
City
programs, and to see what materials Parks Department have that RNA
can use in
displays.
·
Tree preservation. New
Director Thomas Soulier was
asked if RNA could be notified when otherwise protected trees on
private
property are permitted for removal or alteration. (City does
inform us with
regards to such trees on City property). Parks team did a review
of other
jurisdictions, and it is not a common practice. Personal Privacy
comes into
play. Long term solution would be through revisions to the Tree
Preservation
Bylaw. City’s operational plan calls for a community forum on the
Parks Master
Plan late this year.
ACTION: invite
Thomas or his
delegate to discuss with the board ways to improve the bylaw.
·
Tree Registry – book for
CRD written by Gerry
Chaster
·
Business Arising
o Directors
please
review notes from July 5th meeting on Membership and
Committees and supply feedback to JS, especially on criteria for
membership and
fees.
o DC
modified
the RNA logo converting lemons to acorns.
o Awards
group
will meet and report to the November RNA board meeting.
·
Meeting was adjourned at
21:05 (VD/BJ)
·
Next meeting-October 14,
2015 @ 1401A Rockland