Saturna Island Local Trust Committee community information meeting, February 18, 2021

[0:00:02] Trustee Patrick: Good morning. Just stand by for a few moments while we activate the system and we're waiting

[0:00:07] Trustee Patrick: for one of our trustees.

[0:00:16] Voice 14: Hey, Laura, how would you like to update on financial planning committee

[0:00:19] Voice 14: meeting since unfortunately I was otherwise occupied?

[0:00:24] Trustee Patrick: I can cover that. And I was going

[0:00:26] Trustee Patrick: to talk about the March Trust Council. So I think that would be building to that. That makes sense.

[0:00:33] Voice 14: Yeah. Yeah. I don't know what was covered yesterday, but I'll be anxious to hear.

[0:00:40] Trustee Patrick: it was a very long meeting well

[0:00:43] Voice 14: i'm glad i missed it then it

[0:00:46] Trustee Patrick: didn't end until five

[0:00:48] Voice 14: no

[0:00:49] Trustee Patrick: i'm not kidding oh

[0:00:51] Voice 14: boy and my meeting was truncated and it's going to have to be

[0:00:56] Voice 14: the meeting i missed it for um is gonna the latter half of the meeting is going to be

[0:01:02] Voice 14: rescheduled or has been rescheduled to next week so lots of meetings

[0:01:08] Voice 14: things.

[0:01:11] Trustee Patrick: Good morning. Please just stand by. We're just waiting for one of our trustees to join us

[0:01:15] Trustee Patrick: here. Have you communicated with Mr. Middleton?

[0:01:28] Voice 14: I will do so now. Let me use the old-fashioned way.

[0:01:44] Voice 14: It's only 1131, so.

[0:01:46] Trustee Patrick: I know. It's still early.

[0:01:51] Trustee Patrick: He's probably going to say he thought it started at noon.

[0:02:04] Trustee Middleton (probable): hello

[0:02:04] Trustee Patrick: there he is hi

[0:02:06] Trustee Middleton (probable): there yeah sorry yeah that might be paul calling me yeah

[0:02:09] Trustee Patrick: i was uh

[0:02:10] Trustee Middleton (probable): i was following a link that was asking for a password and uh that of course didn't work out

[0:02:17] Trustee Middleton (probable): very well um so anyway i found another uh panelist invite that seems to be working so

[0:02:23] Trustee Middleton (probable): apologies for the delay that's

[0:02:25] Trustee Patrick: all right no problem

[0:02:27] Voice 14: so should we just uh shall i call for

[0:02:29] Voice 14: adjournment now yes

[0:02:30] Trustee Patrick: now that we passed that motion on lee that's right no worries all right um i will

[0:02:39] Trustee Patrick: uh get this meeting going if that's all right with the trustees yes fantastic

[0:02:45] Trustee Patrick: all right well

[0:02:45] Trustee Patrick: good morning uh good morning yes it is still morning good morning everyone i'd like to call

[0:02:51] Trustee Patrick: this uh meeting of the saturn island local trust committee to order um begin by acknowledging how

[0:02:56] Trustee Patrick: fortunate we are to be able to gather today all across the traditional territories of the Coast

[0:03:01] Trustee Patrick: Salish people. I'm Laura Patrick, elected on Salt Spring and chair of this Local Trust Committee.

[0:03:06] Trustee Patrick: I'm joined today by Trustee Lee Middleton and Trustee Paul Brent and together we make up your

[0:03:12] Trustee Patrick: Saturna Local Trust Committee. So this meeting is being conducted electronically and is being

[0:03:18] Trustee Patrick: recorded. It is an official forum of the Local Trust Committee to make decisions about land

[0:03:22] Trustee Patrick: use planning matters and discuss relevant business. I'd like to also add that this is a

[0:03:27] Trustee Patrick: place of employment and despite the fact that some of our staff may be coming from their homes they

[0:03:32] Trustee Patrick: have the right to a safe and respectful workplace. We're grateful for having the ability to have

[0:03:36] Trustee Patrick: electronic meetings so that we can honour the provincial health orders during the pandemic

[0:03:41] Trustee Patrick: and we appreciate your understanding in advance if we run into any technical difficulties we

[0:03:49] Trustee Patrick: We will do our best to overcome those.

[0:03:52] Trustee Patrick: People that are participating as attendees,

[0:03:55] Trustee Patrick: we've muted your microphones,

[0:03:56] Trustee Patrick: and I will review in a few moments

[0:03:59] Trustee Patrick: how you can have an opportunity to speak

[0:04:01] Trustee Patrick: during the town hall.

[0:04:02] Trustee Patrick: I'd like to introduce the staff that are joining us today.

[0:04:05] Trustee Patrick: We have Maple Hung, our office administrator,

[0:04:07] Trustee Patrick: who is making this meeting run smoothly.

[0:04:10] Trustee Patrick: Thank you, Maple.

[0:04:12] Trustee Patrick: Carly Bilney is a minute taker today.

[0:04:15] Trustee Patrick: Welcome, Carly, to Citerna.

[0:04:17] Trustee Patrick: we have um a variety of staff joining us today i believe robert kojima regional planning manager

[0:04:24] Trustee Patrick: morning robert uh we have a planner brad smith we have planner phil testamal and i believe

[0:04:31] Trustee Patrick: william shulba will be joining us freshwater specialist uh later in the meeting oh there he

[0:04:37] Trustee Patrick: is uh good morning william um so before we get further we have an agenda before us are there

[0:04:46] Trustee Patrick: there any additions or changes that we need to make to the agenda nope i don't

[0:04:52] Trustee Patrick: see any can we

[0:04:53] Trustee Patrick: approve the agenda through general consent yes yep

[0:04:56] Trustee Patrick: excellent so with that we're going to go into

[0:04:58] Trustee Patrick: our reports so we have trustee reports who'd like to go first i

[0:05:03] Trustee Middleton (probable): think lee would

[0:05:06] Voice 8: okay lee yeah

[0:05:07] Trustee Middleton (probable): all right thank you very much um yeah the obviously in the time of uh of zoom

[0:05:13] Trustee Middleton (probable): meetings it's it seems like some of the activities aren't reportable because they're virtual but of

[0:05:19] Trustee Middleton (probable): course they're as real as uh they would have been had we been meeting in person and so i guess the

[0:05:25] Trustee Middleton (probable): main an activity that's certainly taken a fair amount of my time over the last um a couple of

[0:05:30] Trustee Middleton (probable): months is as uh um i think you're aware or people may be aware we have um begun to run a select

[0:05:41] Trustee Middleton (probable): elect committee to look at commissioning a review of the Islands Trust's operations for the purposes

[0:05:49] Trustee Middleton (probable): of establishing, in essence, a benchmark at this point in time where we're looking at, obviously,

[0:05:56] Trustee Middleton (probable): shifting changes to the policy statement through public consultation. And so, therefore, looking at

[0:06:03] Trustee Middleton (probable): trying to arrive at a common data set of how we see the organization is doing in relation to

[0:06:09] Trustee Middleton (probable): achieving its preserve and protect mandate, if there's some metrics we might be able to use

[0:06:13] Trustee Middleton (probable): to determine how effective the organization has been since its inception that we then might also

[0:06:20] Trustee Middleton (probable): use to measure our success going forward. So the review is in no way designed to

[0:06:29] Trustee Middleton (probable): be a critical dismantling of the trust, as I think I've heard some people be concerned about.

[0:06:35] Trustee Middleton (probable): But it's just the opposite.

[0:06:37] Trustee Middleton (probable): It's actually designed to have a moment of empirical introspection to use to help build the trust's internal organizational sustainability and its resilience as it faces significant changes in carrying out the mandate in our region.

[0:06:59] Trustee Middleton (probable): obviously with climate change um in integration with the um the reconciliation declaration that

[0:07:08] Trustee Middleton (probable): the trust has made and just a general recognition that we're in we're now almost 50 years into

[0:07:15] Trustee Middleton (probable): uh the mandate of the organization and it is time to have such a look and so um so so we have

[0:07:23] Trustee Middleton (probable): There's nine trustees.

[0:07:26] Trustee Middleton (probable): Chair Luckham is a member, and our CAO is also a member.

[0:07:31] Trustee Middleton (probable): Well, he's a non-voting member now.

[0:07:33] Trustee Middleton (probable): He felt that would be more appropriate.

[0:07:35] Trustee Middleton (probable): And so we're on the verge of producing a request for proposals that we'll put out for public tender

[0:07:41] Trustee Middleton (probable): for a qualified consultant to commence that work.

[0:07:48] Trustee Middleton (probable): We're ideally looking at awarding a contract sometime in early to mid-April.

[0:07:53] Trustee Middleton (probable): And then we would like to have a draft final report for presentation to Trust Council by December.

[0:08:00] Trustee Middleton (probable): So I don't think we've really spoken of this at the LTC level before.

[0:08:04] Trustee Middleton (probable): So if that's more detail than was required, my apologies.

[0:08:08] Trustee Middleton (probable): But Paul, Trustee Brent, is a member of the Select Committee as well.

[0:08:16] Trustee Middleton (probable): And we've been meeting biweekly since the start of the year.

[0:08:19] Trustee Middleton (probable): So that's also taken up quite a bit of his time as well.

[0:08:22] Trustee Middleton (probable): and he's been doing a fantastic job providing his input as always you can

[0:08:28] Trustee Middleton (probable): tell I'm trying to borrow his car saying nice things no and so yeah I think I

[0:08:35] Trustee Middleton (probable): think that's it that probably yeah it's probably enough from me Thank You chair

[0:08:44] Trustee Middleton (probable): Patrick Thank

[0:08:46] Trustee Patrick: You trustee Brent boy

[0:08:49] Voice 14: I don't have much to update since my my

[0:08:51] Voice 14: our last meeting, which was just last month.

[0:08:54] Voice 14: And I've spent actually most of my time

[0:08:56] Voice 14: in respect of not entirely related trust issues,

[0:09:01] Voice 14: but as people may know,

[0:09:03] Voice 14: I'm the alternate director for the CRD now.

[0:09:06] Voice 14: And so I'm finding myself involved in a heck of a lot

[0:09:11] Voice 14: of areas that have some cross relationship

[0:09:14] Voice 14: with the Islands Trust.

[0:09:15] Voice 14: I'm basically attending all of the Parks

[0:09:18] Voice 14: and Recreation Commission meetings on the islands

[0:09:21] Voice 14: as well as a great number of the water service committee meetings

[0:09:26] Voice 14: across the islands.

[0:09:27] Voice 14: And I'm involved in the First Nations Committee for the CRD,

[0:09:32] Voice 14: the Transportation Committee, and Finance Committee.

[0:09:37] Voice 14: And I'm going to most of the regional board committee meetings

[0:09:42] Voice 14: and the committee of the whole meeting.

[0:09:43] Voice 14: So I'm busy with that sort of stuff.

[0:09:46] Voice 14: And it's really interesting because there's lots of places

[0:09:49] Voice 14: where the region and the Islands Trust can collaborate

[0:09:55] Voice 14: more than they have been.

[0:09:58] Voice 14: And so that's going to be a focus of mine

[0:10:01] Voice 14: over the next little while

[0:10:03] Voice 14: while I take on this rather interesting role.

[0:10:06] Voice 14: That's it for me, not very much Islands Trust related,

[0:10:08] Voice 14: but it is Island related.

[0:10:10] Voice 14: Cheers.

[0:10:11] Trustee Patrick: Well, I want to thank you, Paul,

[0:10:13] Trustee Patrick: for it's important the work that you're doing

[0:10:16] Trustee Patrick: and really thank you for the community

[0:10:18] Trustee Patrick: and also the regional approach that you take

[0:10:20] Trustee Patrick: is one I believe in so much

[0:10:23] Trustee Patrick: and that where we can work better together

[0:10:25] Trustee Patrick: and across the different organizations.

[0:10:28] Trustee Patrick: So thank you.

[0:10:30] Trustee Patrick: I'll give you my chair report.

[0:10:32] Trustee Patrick: I guess the probably most important thing

[0:10:33] Trustee Patrick: is there's the trust council meeting

[0:10:37] Trustee Patrick: is coming up in March, March 9th through 11th.

[0:10:41] Trustee Patrick: There's two public meetings that,

[0:10:43] Trustee Patrick: well, the town hall for that

[0:10:45] Trustee Patrick: That will be in the evening of March 9th.

[0:10:48] Trustee Patrick: The time period for delegations has passed

[0:10:51] Trustee Patrick: or requests for delegations,

[0:10:53] Trustee Patrick: but anyone is welcome to join us in the town hall

[0:10:55] Trustee Patrick: and to address the trust council.

[0:10:59] Trustee Patrick: Also, there's going to be a public meeting on March 3rd.

[0:11:01] Trustee Patrick: It's an open house meeting

[0:11:04] Trustee Patrick: and an opportunity for you to submit questions

[0:11:07] Trustee Patrick: related to the policy statement work.

[0:11:10] Trustee Patrick: And so I encourage you to go to the website

[0:11:11] Trustee Patrick: to look for how you can participate

[0:11:13] Trustee Patrick: both of those public meetings and you're always welcome to listen in to the trust council meetings

[0:11:19] Trustee Patrick: march is always um the an important meeting because that's where we pass the budget for the

[0:11:25] Trustee Patrick: next next fiscal year which starts on april 1st um paul would normally be giving you a great deal

[0:11:32] Trustee Patrick: of detail of what happened in yesterday's very lengthy financial planning committee

[0:11:36] Trustee Patrick: in preparation uh which is the last sort of committee eyeballs on the budget before it

[0:11:42] Trustee Patrick: it gets brought forward to um trust council um the the budget appears and look i mean all all

[0:11:50] Trustee Patrick: purposes it has grown dramatically but one of the reasons for that growth is we had significant um

[0:11:57] Trustee Patrick: awards of grants this year um which on the successful side is we got a lot of money to

[0:12:04] Trustee Patrick: do some very good work but it also adds to the budget and it looks so the budget has taken a

[0:12:10] Trustee Patrick: significant leap but nearly 800 000 of that is grant funds so it's important to look at it

[0:12:18] Trustee Patrick: through those eyes and the work that's related to that to that the financial planning committee

[0:12:23] Trustee Patrick: spent their time really focusing on you know what they could do to reduce the draw on a surplus

[0:12:30] Trustee Patrick: and also to affect the the tax rate which i don't know what the revised tax it was

[0:12:40] Trustee Patrick: don't quote me i'm going to quote on where the tax rate was it was around three percent um um

[0:12:47] Trustee Patrick: before we we did some recommended adjustments to it and that's exactly what will come to the

[0:12:53] Trustee Patrick: trust council is the budget but also we wanted it to be clear that the recommended adjustments

[0:12:59] Trustee Patrick: are identified to trust council of what we did to this budget so there'll be a lot of work coming

[0:13:05] Trustee Patrick: there'll be a lot of debate and conversation that will be occurring um in march and a very important

[0:13:11] Trustee Patrick: meeting so uh trustees i can make sure you're healthy and uh participating fully in the march

[0:13:18] Trustee Patrick: meetings is what uh i can encourage and and the public to pay attention um oh i just wanted to

[0:13:25] Trustee Patrick: point there was a couple just a salt spring while i don't always what we do is uh worthy of sharing

[0:13:31] Trustee Patrick: but I think there was a housing action program that we have are advancing on

[0:13:38] Trustee Patrick: Salt Spring and it's with a really an eye about not it's how we build our

[0:13:42] Trustee Patrick: houses and it's really looking at deliberately working with all the other

[0:13:47] Trustee Patrick: trust areas to collect information and share outwards because this is about how

[0:13:51] Trustee Patrick: we build our houses in our islands and in a full spectrum view so it's gonna be

[0:13:58] Trustee Patrick: be some interesting work, and I'm hoping that we can share the outcome of that. So with that,

[0:14:05] Trustee Patrick: we will move on. It's your opportunity to speak. The town hall, we want to hear your questions and

[0:14:11] Trustee Patrick: comments at this time. Later in the agenda, we will be discussing some items, and the applicant

[0:14:20] Trustee Patrick: that is here for that, you will have a chance to speak later in the agenda when we consider your

[0:14:25] Trustee Patrick: application your questions and comments are valued and help us make good decisions

[0:14:31] Trustee Patrick: we ask that you when you want to speak you can raise your hand by the raise hand function on

[0:14:40] Trustee Patrick: the center of your screen we want you to direct your comments to us the local trust committee

[0:14:46] Trustee Patrick: not the audience or staff we always speak of issues not individuals and you can and that be

[0:14:53] Trustee Patrick: be clear, concise, and respectful.

[0:14:55] Trustee Patrick: So with that, as I see we have a hand raised

[0:14:59] Trustee Patrick: from John Hutchinson.

[0:15:01] Trustee Patrick: So Maple, if you can take yourself off mute,

[0:15:04] Trustee Patrick: we should be able to hear you.

[0:15:08] Trustee Patrick: Hello, John.

[0:15:09] Voice 11: Yes, are you able to hear me okay?

[0:15:11] Trustee Patrick: Can

[0:15:12] Voice 11: you hear me okay?

[0:15:13] Voice 11: Yes.

[0:15:14] Voice 11: I just wanted the local trust committee

[0:15:19] Voice 11: to know that I fully support the PEREPS application

[0:15:23] Voice 11: and that we're moving forward to finalize that very long and lengthy process I think the three

[0:15:32] Voice 11: individuals who own the property are going to be very well served by the by the new way that they

[0:15:43] Voice 11: can operate and so I just wanted the trust community to know that I'm a strong supporter

[0:15:49] Voice 11: of that approval thank you thank

[0:15:51] Trustee Patrick: you john thank

[0:15:54] Voice 11: you john i

[0:15:55] Trustee Patrick: see priscilla eubank has raised her

[0:15:58] Trustee Patrick: hand if she can still if you take yourself off mute yes

[0:16:03] Voice 1: good morning

[0:16:04] Trustee Patrick: good morning i

[0:16:06] Voice 1: had a couple

[0:16:07] Voice 1: of things i wanted to comment on um and i hope that i can comment more broadly than just the

[0:16:13] Voice 1: family application is that correct sorry town

[0:16:18] Trustee Patrick: hall is open for you can speak anything on the

[0:16:20] Trustee Patrick: me okay

[0:16:20] Voice 1: one small thing i noticed on saturnas page is that gary richardson is listed as the planner

[0:16:26] Voice 1: just might want to update that uh the other a couple of things i want to speak about one of

[0:16:34] Voice 1: them is the um lee and paul organized a really good meeting with all of the people who use

[0:16:42] Voice 1: saturn a point and that means also ministry of transport and ferries and the police

[0:16:51] Voice 1: the community hall the pub and the meeting was rich and fast moving and we were looking to

[0:17:02] Voice 1: resolve an immediate problem in that the rcmp were being called for supposed parking parking

[0:17:07] Voice 1: violations but we weren't really clear whether the parking signs actually pertained or not so

[0:17:13] Voice 1: So some of those questions were answered.

[0:17:15] Voice 1: So it was fairly big meeting.

[0:17:17] Voice 1: I think there were at least 10 people.

[0:17:19] Voice 1: And we are looking to examine the area for what can be done in the five months of the year,

[0:17:28] Voice 1: the sort of busy season from May to September, in which we have a lot of people packed into the area.

[0:17:37] Voice 1: A lot of jolly people wanting to use the pub to access the ferry and do a number of things.

[0:17:42] Voice 1: so I was representing the community club and the pub having deep interest in both of those

[0:17:51] Voice 1: I had hoped that we would have a much speedier process I spoke to Mr. Planner Brad Smith

[0:18:03] Voice 1: I think I have that right. And I've spoken to one of our trustees. And one of the reasons for speed is that we have all of the small businesses on the island are under the gun, this being our completion of one full year of COVID, and it will be another summer of COVID.

[0:18:28] Voice 1: So to be able to continue in a timely manner, which is what I had understood we were heading for, is a great import to the small businesses that are impacted there and the entire situation down there.

[0:18:44] Voice 1: And I read the agenda package and I looked at, you know, this is going to move along and we might put this as an item of one of the three top items to work with.

[0:18:55] Voice 1: And I would like to build on the energy and the quick movement of the trustees.

[0:19:02] Voice 1: The trustees are able to go to the very, like MOT and ferries, and they have more, do you

[0:19:09] Voice 1: say cachet or access to being able to build a case or to bring everybody together?

[0:19:16] Voice 1: And when I looked at what the projected outline for timing is, I was quite disappointed.

[0:19:22] Voice 1: pointed. So I would just like to say it started with an amazing and very quick and very responsive

[0:19:29] Voice 1: from here on the islands and the trustees were excellent. So I would really like to speed this

[0:19:34] Voice 1: process up. It looks like a project of administrative eternity, what I just read as to

[0:19:41] Voice 1: where it might be going. So thank you. The second thing that I would like to speak about is on the

[0:19:47] Voice 1: Peretz application, I'm not sure what John Hutchison was talking about, but two things

[0:19:54] Voice 1: that interest me. I read, and I can't, I'm sorry, I don't, I'm not able to talk to you and to look

[0:20:02] Voice 1: at the agenda package, so I'm not sure what pages is on, but it was the considerations for what go

[0:20:07] Voice 1: into if you're going to give a variation, what are the things that you think about, and one of the

[0:20:14] Voice 1: things that i would like to see and there is an ecological consideration um there isn't any for

[0:20:19] Voice 1: that it's more it's all about lots and um important considerations um those particular lots are in an

[0:20:29] Voice 1: area which sees very high winter bird um habitat uh it's warmer and drier than a lot of other

[0:20:39] Voice 1: places and has a lot of berries and and deep winter stuff that they can forage

[0:20:47] Voice 1: on. I would just like to see in there some statement of about if you're

[0:20:51] Voice 1: densifying it if that what's actually happening under a variation

[0:20:57] Voice 1: consideration that there's some recognition that different areas of the

[0:21:03] Voice 1: the island have higher considerations as habitat and that in my estimation, and I would certainly

[0:21:12] Voice 1: want that before I brought that forth backed up by an ecologist, just that there's some

[0:21:19] Voice 1: consideration at that point. The other thing I would like to say in conversation with Phil

[0:21:24] Voice 1: testimony i hope i pronounced that last name correctly um more or less is um that there is

[0:21:32] Voice 1: the ability for two cabins to go out of the three lots that two

[0:21:37] Voice 1: cabins uh could be put on without

[0:21:40] Voice 1: buildings is that correct phil that that possibility

[0:21:44] Voice 9: should i speak at this point i i

[0:21:47] Trustee Patrick: think yeah i think

[0:21:47] Trustee Patrick: right now we're just uh we'll take your questions and comments uh priscilla and

[0:21:51] Trustee Patrick: okay great

[0:21:52] Voice 1: so that's something that i think um plays into the mix also uh the cabins would i

[0:22:01] Voice 1: what i envision is that the cabins normally they're closer to the main house but that they

[0:22:07] Voice 1: do have the potential since those lots now have a hook to be it so a thousand square feet

[0:22:14] Voice 1: on the other side which would be driveways water all of the development that goes into something

[0:22:19] Voice 1: something like that for a cabin. So I didn't see that and I didn't read that in any of the agenda

[0:22:24] Voice 1: package. One other thing, I was unable to attend your meeting last time with the First Nations and

[0:22:32] Voice 1: stuff. I guess I'm disappointed. We started that process with inclusion about First Nations

[0:22:40] Voice 1: about two years ago. I think I might be correct on that. And we had a tremendous amount four years

[0:22:47] Voice 1: years ago thank you thank you i like that we could do charades you guys and then i don't yeah

[0:22:51] Voice 1: okay excellent thank you paul um and i think i'm disappointed that that is it seems to be the

[0:23:00] Voice 1: culmination of what we've ended up with we had some really interesting information come forth

[0:23:06] Voice 1: from uh the person who was your first nations um hire fiona presented some marvelous stuff

[0:23:14] Voice 1: and to my mind a big part of the trust is education for islanders going either about

[0:23:21] Voice 1: ecological matters and certainly about first nations so i at some point i'd like some

[0:23:28] Voice 1: commentary on what is that all we've ended up with is the small statement that's in our

[0:23:32] Voice 1: um plan so on that um i would also like to say i'm very supportive of um what lee was describing

[0:23:44] Voice 1: as far as I understand it.

[0:23:46] Voice 1: I would very much appreciate hearing more about that.

[0:23:51] Voice 1: Sometimes I realize things like affordable housing

[0:23:55] Voice 1: are important, but they're important in a different way

[0:23:58] Voice 1: to me than the trust is.

[0:23:59] Voice 1: The trust is to me has a great emphasis on the environment

[0:24:06] Voice 1: and on the ecological values.

[0:24:08] Voice 1: And I really appreciate even at this late date,

[0:24:12] Voice 1: we were talking about 50 years that we've had the trust

[0:24:16] Voice 1: of i think i understand of setting some ecological baselines it seems to me that's almost imperative

[0:24:22] Voice 1: and a really important thing to do to see how in 50 years what have we lost i mean i see lots of

[0:24:31] Voice 1: big douglas firs coming down on when we have those uh lots on perimeters and and they're certainly i

[0:24:38] Voice 1: think on salt spring you had 40 acres clear cut and we have had clear cuts too so that to me is

[0:24:45] Voice 1: is really important and a critical aspect of the trust.

[0:24:49] Voice 1: Thank you.

[0:24:50] Voice 1: Those are the things that I have seen to address

[0:24:54] Voice 1: at this meeting.

[0:24:54] Voice 1: Thank you.

[0:24:55] Trustee Patrick: Thank you very much, Priscilla.

[0:24:58] Trustee Patrick: Any comments from any of the trustees at this point

[0:25:01] Trustee Patrick: or anyone else wish to address us today?

[0:25:06] Trustee Patrick: I think there's just the applicant who's left.

[0:25:09] Trustee Patrick: So with that, I think we'll proceed on through the agenda.

[0:25:14] Trustee Patrick: So thank you very much for your comments.

[0:25:17] Trustee Patrick: we have the minutes for adoption from the january 26th meeting on page 8 of the agenda package

[0:25:24] Trustee Patrick: were there any corrections or additions that need to be made to the minutes

[0:25:29] Trustee Middleton (probable): um i think there was just one chair patrick um it was in regard who was going to

[0:25:37] Trustee Middleton (probable): uh undertake notification for to of the participants at the uh at the

[0:25:45] Trustee Middleton (probable): the parking and road use meeting that Priscilla just mentioned.

[0:25:50] Trustee Middleton (probable): And I, well, I can't find the exact page right now,

[0:25:53] Trustee Middleton (probable): but basically it said it was going to be Planner Smith.

[0:25:55] Trustee Middleton (probable): And when we agreed with Planner Smith,

[0:25:57] Trustee Middleton (probable): it would be Paul or I would do the initial reach out until this became a

[0:26:01] Trustee Middleton (probable): formal project of the local trust committee.

[0:26:07] Trustee Patrick: If

[0:26:07] Trustee Middleton (probable): I have that understanding correctly. Yeah.

[0:26:10] Trustee Patrick: Page three of the minutes, page six of the agenda package.

[0:26:13] Trustee Patrick: I

[0:26:13] Planner: just noted that as well so thank you for that so

[0:26:18] Trustee Patrick: that was the first first

[0:26:19] Trustee Patrick: paragraph underneath the bullets so LTC requested yeah that's right

[0:26:25] Trustee Middleton (probable): trustees

[0:26:26] Trustee Patrick: so Flannery said say trustees to facilitate I know

[0:26:31] Trustee Middleton (probable): it's the very last

[0:26:32] Trustee Middleton (probable): bullet or paragraph on on the agenda package so that actually no sorry that's

[0:26:39] Trustee Middleton (probable): not right either it's sorry it's the very next it's the top of page seven uh the paragraph

[0:26:47] Trustee Middleton (probable): would normally have highlighted that i

[0:26:49] Trustee Middleton (probable): printed it but i didn't so

[0:26:51] Trustee Middleton (probable): it was uh um for sake of the

[0:26:54] Trustee Middleton (probable): accuracy in the minutes you could put myself you put paul i i doesn't matter or you could just say

[0:26:59] Trustee Middleton (probable): trustees i

[0:27:00] Trustee Patrick: think we could probably just say it was agreed that trustees will communicate is that

[0:27:04] Trustee Patrick: the correction? Yeah. Paul? You're muted, Paul, if you're speaking. Thumbs up from Paul. So Carly,

[0:27:15] Trustee Patrick: I think you get that to the end of section seven on the top of page seven of the agenda package

[0:27:20] Trustee Patrick: to change that from Planner Smith to the trustees. Thank you. Thank you. Any other changes?

[0:27:28] Trustee Patrick: Nope. Can we

[0:27:29] Trustee Patrick: approve the minutes as amended through general consent? Yes. Yes. Okay. Thank

[0:27:34] Trustee Patrick: thank you so we have for just receipt we have the public hearing um records for both the both of

[0:27:42] Trustee Patrick: those items that are just here for our receipt and uh that brings us on to the follow-up action

[0:27:49] Trustee Patrick: list on page 12 are there any questions for on the follow-up action list or um

[0:27:56] Trustee Middleton (probable): maybe just a point

[0:27:59] Trustee Middleton (probable): clarification go

[0:28:00] Trustee Patrick: ahead um

[0:28:02] Trustee Middleton (probable): this is just in regard though just in case people are wondering

[0:28:05] Trustee Middleton (probable): what what's happening in regard the the the activities of the local uh trust committee

[0:28:12] Trustee Middleton (probable): and the southern resident killer whales as they're as they're uh um known in the

[0:28:17] Trustee Middleton (probable): in the recovery plan um covid of course derailed a lot of the activities that were happening and

[0:28:25] Trustee Middleton (probable): and indeed reduced and eliminated a bunch of the threats uh you know the immediate real-time

[0:28:31] Trustee Middleton (probable): threats to southern resident killer whales and so there was uh really not any emotion

[0:28:39] Trustee Middleton (probable): in regard these two points i'm talking about activities one and two on page 12 of the agenda

[0:28:45] Trustee Middleton (probable): package but that doesn't mean they're dropped um what's happening is the uh the um the various

[0:28:51] Trustee Middleton (probable): committees that have been struck by Transport Canada and DFO are meeting and

[0:28:57] Trustee Middleton (probable): there will be an announcement of the measures the recovery measures that will

[0:29:02] Trustee Middleton (probable): be implemented for this for this summer season which would be for the voluntary

[0:29:07] Trustee Middleton (probable): vessel slowdown in the shipping lanes but the key thing that we're going to be

[0:29:12] Trustee Middleton (probable): looking out for is the Washington state regulations in regard regulation of

[0:29:18] Trustee Middleton (probable): whale watching boats and so what our intent had been was to harmonize I mean

[0:29:25] Trustee Middleton (probable): we don't necessarily have regulatory power but that doesn't mean we can we

[0:29:29] Trustee Middleton (probable): need to stay silent or not work with other other levels of government which

[0:29:34] Trustee Middleton (probable): we've been doing with Transport Canada quite I think quite successfully is to

[0:29:38] Trustee Middleton (probable): harmonize a view about how commercial whale watching operations are conducted

[0:29:46] Trustee Middleton (probable): in the waters of the, certainly the waters of the southern trust area.

[0:29:51] Trustee Middleton (probable): So this would be, as I believe, Galliano, Pender and South Pender and Maine

[0:29:56] Trustee Middleton (probable): all signed sort of a similar declaration.

[0:30:00] Trustee Middleton (probable): And so our idea would be once we get more information about what's happening in Washington State is to see if we could harmonize what those regulations might be.

[0:30:10] Trustee Middleton (probable): Because as I'm sure you're all aware, the whale watching, commercial whale watching business is a cross-border business.

[0:30:16] Trustee Middleton (probable): Not right now, of course, because of border restrictions.

[0:30:19] Trustee Middleton (probable): But indeed, those border restrictions may persist throughout the summer, in which case I think the commercial whale watching season will be severely impacted.

[0:30:29] Trustee Middleton (probable): and and certainly have um not to be callous about the people whose livelihood depends on that

[0:30:35] Trustee Middleton (probable): um industry but just knowing that every stakeholder has a part to play in the conservation of

[0:30:41] Trustee Middleton (probable): southern resident killer whales and um and that that one of the bigger impacts is has been the

[0:30:47] Trustee Middleton (probable): size of the uh of the commercial whale watching uh fleet over the past five six years so just an

[0:30:53] Trustee Middleton (probable): update there they're not you know parked and gathering dust they're sort of parked for a

[0:30:58] Trustee Middleton (probable): a reason while we wait for the work, more work from senior levels of government.

[0:31:05] Trustee Patrick: Thank you for that update and carrying on that really important work.

[0:31:10] Voice 14: I can add a little bit to that because we're both on different technical working groups.

[0:31:16] Voice 14: And so we have connected Transport Canada to the Trust, directly to people in communications

[0:31:25] Voice 14: under Claire Frader.

[0:31:27] Voice 14: And so they're going to try to support Transport Canada in respect of outreach regarding the interim sanctuary zones for this coming season.

[0:31:38] Voice 14: So that's a good thing that we're kind of doing that.

[0:31:42] Voice 14: And in respect of harmonizing with Washington state's laws, Transport Canada and DFO have been in close contact with Washington state.

[0:31:52] Voice 14: our our laws aren't quite harmonized um yet because they're having a they're taking a

[0:32:00] Voice 14: different route in terms of limiting the amount of hours that whale watching boats can spend a

[0:32:05] Voice 14: day which is two two hour segments and limiting the number of boats that can um go out watching

[0:32:12] Voice 14: at any given time or viewing whales to three but yeah we are constantly working on harmonizing and

[0:32:19] Voice 14: And I think maybe we'll be looking at harmonizing

[0:32:22] Voice 14: our standing resolutions in the future, please.

[0:32:25] Voice 14: So, yeah, that's me.

[0:32:28] Voice 14: Thank you.

[0:32:30] Trustee Patrick: All right, any other questions on the follow-up action list?

[0:32:33] Trustee Patrick: Anything from staff?

[0:32:34] Trustee Patrick: Nope, okay.

[0:32:37] Trustee Patrick: So moving on, we do have an application before us,

[0:32:41] Trustee Patrick: a development variance permit 2020.1, correct?

[0:32:45] Trustee Patrick: And we'll be giving that report.

[0:32:48] Voice 9: All right, Bill.

[0:32:50] Voice 9: Thank you, Chair Patrick. So, DVP, SADVP 2020.1 is Peretz and the purpose of the report that's

[0:33:02] Voice 9: in front of the trustees is to consider a development variance permit and a 10%

[0:33:09] Voice 9: frontage waiver, both of which are conditions of a subdivision application under the same name.

[0:33:16] Voice 9: So the rationale for the variance is to facilitate the subdivision of the subject property in its proposed configuration, which is shown in figure two.

[0:33:26] Voice 9: Sorry, I don't know the page numbers on the agenda, but in the report.

[0:33:30] Voice 9: So that property is located.

[0:33:33] Voice 9: It's actually 102, 104 and 106 Boot Cove Road.

[0:33:37] Voice 9: And the parent parcel is divided by Boot Cove Road.

[0:33:44] Voice 9: and it has three legal dwellings on the water side of that road that are currently in place.

[0:33:51] Voice 9: So the property was the subject of a rezoning application in 2012 which was completed in 2018

[0:33:59] Voice 9: and that was for the transfer of two densities from a donor lot and the site-specific zone which

[0:34:05] Voice 9: is RGB facilitates the creation of the three separate waterfront lots and one for each of

[0:34:12] Voice 9: the existing lots and the layout plan would allow each of the dwellings to be legally cited in

[0:34:19] Voice 9: accordance with the setback regulations in the zone itself so the variance application portion

[0:34:28] Voice 9: is to vary subset or subsection 12.7 of the lub subdivision regulations which states that no lot

[0:34:37] Voice 9: lot may have a width less than one third of its depth so again referring to the layout plan all

[0:34:44] Voice 9: three of the lots are long and narrow and they exceed that maximum ratio therefore they need a

[0:34:49] Voice 9: variance in order to proceed with subdivision so the existing parent lot shape the constraints of

[0:34:58] Voice 9: the current dwelling locations the road location and the need for relatively equal size properties

[0:35:04] Voice 9: results in the proposed layout and those slots are technically what is referred to as hooked

[0:35:12] Voice 9: so there'll be three properties each with a portion on each side of the road

[0:35:18] Voice 9: the 10 waiver portion of the of the application is to waive uh regulation in the local government

[0:35:25] Voice 9: act which states um or requires that um all parcels with a subdivision have minimum frontage

[0:35:32] Voice 9: on the highway that must be 10% of the perimeter of the lot so for that both lots A and B don't

[0:35:42] Voice 9: meet that frontage requirement and therefore they require resolution by the local trust committee to

[0:35:47] Voice 9: exempt those parcels from the regulation so both the variance and the 10% exemption will complete

[0:35:54] Voice 9: the island's trust conditions for the subdivision and allow it to be finalized

[0:35:58] Voice 9: by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. The DVP notices were

[0:36:05] Voice 9: circulated to surrounding property owners and residents within 100 meters of the parcel

[0:36:12] Voice 9: and staff received numerous phone calls and there was one written submission on behalf of the owners

[0:36:21] Voice 9: of the old old point farm uh and apologies to the writers of that there was some glitches on

[0:36:28] Voice 9: how that arrived to staff and when it arrived to staff but my understanding is that um many of the

[0:36:35] Voice 9: concerns that were stated in that letter have been addressed by um trustee paul and i've forgotten

[0:36:43] Voice 9: forgotten your last name. I'm sorry. It's

[0:36:45] Voice 14: okay. Oh, sorry, Phil.

[0:36:49] Voice 9: I'm sorry. I forgot your last

[0:36:51] Voice 9: name.

[0:36:52] Voice 14: I'm very forgettable, Phil. No,

[0:36:55] Voice 14: not really. But there

[0:36:56] Voice 9: you go. Anyways, just to address the

[0:36:59] Voice 9: concerns in that letter, they raised questions about land value, community amenity, and other

[0:37:09] Voice 9: Other issues which are more appropriate to the rezoning application, which, as I stated earlier, has been completed. Subdivision process is a technical exercise where we are basically reviewing for compliance with bylaw regulations which have been put in place.

[0:37:27] Voice 9: So, and similarly, Priscilla had some comments, sorry, Priscilla, Eubank had some comments earlier about densification, which is not true. The subdivision is not densifying. It is merely proceeding with the subdivision of the land, which was permitted through the rezoning.

[0:37:47] Voice 9: So, and Priscilla did have some questions as well about the density that would be permitted and again this goes back to zoning and given the current lot sizes she's correct there's the ability on lot A for only one dwelling and then lots B and C, which are the two southern ones would have because of their size would have the ability to have one dwelling and one cottage where they put that cottage or accessory buildings is basically up to the owner.

[0:38:17] Voice 9: and the maximum size for that cottage would be a thousand square meters which

[0:38:22] Voice 9: sorry thousand square feet which she stated. So just to move the

[0:38:28] Voice 9: recommendations that are on page one of the report are that the LTC approve

[0:38:32] Voice 9: issuance of the DVP 2020.1 parets and that the again the LTC exempt lots A and

[0:38:41] Voice 9: and B from the proposed subdivision, sorry, of the proposed subdivision for lot three of plan

[0:38:51] Voice 9: 17076 from the one-tenth perimeter provision of section 512 of the Local Government Act.

[0:38:57] Voice 9: And the rationale for those recommendations are that the LTC has approved the rezoning application

[0:39:04] Voice 9: to permit the subdivision in its general configuration. The rationale in staff's

[0:39:09] Voice 9: estimation is reasonable the impacts on neighboring properties are minimal and as the pattern of

[0:39:17] Voice 9: development is generally in keeping with the surrounding and the proposed variance does not

[0:39:22] Voice 9: challenge the intent of the regulation and neighbors have been notified and to date as I

[0:39:28] Voice 9: stated one submission has been received and there are alternatives to the resolutions that are on

[0:39:34] Voice 9: on the final page of the report.

[0:39:35] Voice 9: So that's my summary.

[0:39:37] Trustee Patrick: Thank you, Planner Tessimile.

[0:39:39] Trustee Patrick: Alan Pretz, the applicant is here.

[0:39:41] Trustee Patrick: Do you have anything you'd like to add

[0:39:44] Trustee Patrick: or any questions or comments on the report?

[0:39:47] Voice 7: Yes, thank you, Chair Patrick.

[0:39:49] Voice 7: I'm assuming you can hear me?

[0:39:50] Trustee Patrick: Yes.

[0:39:51] Voice 7: I won't take a lot of time

[0:39:52] Voice 7: because I've been through a lot of these meetings

[0:39:54] Voice 7: over the past eight or nine years.

[0:39:57] Voice 7: So you're probably a lot of you sick of hearing from me,

[0:40:00] Voice 7: but number one, thank you, Chair Patrick and trustees,

[0:40:03] Voice 7: trustees Brent and Middleton for having our application in front of the trustees today and

[0:40:10] Voice 7: thank you to planners Smith and Testamale for the background work as many of you who had or

[0:40:16] Voice 7: or some of you at least who've been with us on this journey since 2012 and certainly Priscilla

[0:40:21] Voice 7: and John would be too who who I've seen at virtually every meeting I've been at over those

[0:40:26] Voice 7: nine years um would know that we were really trying to um the original rezoning was really

[0:40:33] Voice 7: done in a with the intent to allow the property to remain with the families who have been on the

[0:40:40] Voice 7: island me personally included for 50 years now um and uh and the rezoning which um was legally

[0:40:48] Voice 7: approved by the by this uh trust committee in 2018 as was mentioned earlier um then allowed us

[0:40:54] Voice 7: to really do the next step, which was the subdivision in order to get these lots essentially

[0:41:01] Voice 7: out of a company in a very old structure dating back 50 years. And so that it could then get

[0:41:06] Voice 7: handed down to the next generation, just for those of you who wouldn't have that background.

[0:41:11] Voice 7: And as I say, Priscilla and John certainly would. And we had two options here. I think if we had

[0:41:18] Voice 7: had realized that we were going to run into the need

[0:41:22] Voice 7: for a variance just because of the way the land

[0:41:26] Voice 7: was structured and the houses on the land.

[0:41:30] Voice 7: I think if we had realized back before it was finalized

[0:41:34] Voice 7: that we would have to ask for variance

[0:41:36] Voice 7: or change the way that we drew the lot lines essentially

[0:41:40] Voice 7: in a very awkward way and certainly not optimal

[0:41:46] Voice 7: optimal and in keeping with really, you know, ultimately access to roads and those kinds of

[0:41:52] Voice 7: things. We may have put something in the rezoning of that land that allowed for it, but we didn't.

[0:41:59] Voice 7: So when I realized this and when the planners brought this to my attention a few months ago,

[0:42:05] Voice 7: I think we had two options. One was to come before you to ask for a variance. The second was to

[0:42:12] Voice 7: redraw the lot lines in a very as i say awkward way that would not allow for very good access

[0:42:16] Voice 7: would require more roads to be built and and trees to be cut down and all those kinds of things which

[0:42:22] Voice 7: we certainly don't want to do which is why in discussion with the planners we agreed that it

[0:42:28] Voice 7: was best just to come to the committee and to ask for for a variance to do what i had committed um

[0:42:36] Voice 7: to doing all along and that it was to leave things as much as they are right now.

[0:42:42] Voice 7: Again, those of you who know Nepenthe and the three families know that we probably have

[0:42:47] Voice 7: the preeminent landscape architect in Canada, if not the world, in Cornelia Overlander.

[0:42:53] Voice 7: She has drilled into us since I was a child 50 years ago, the need to preserve.

[0:42:58] Voice 7: We have trees coming through our decks as a result because she didn't want us to cut

[0:43:03] Voice 7: down anything more than we needed to.

[0:43:05] Voice 7: And I can tell you, my generation, the next generation has that same mindset to Priscilla's comment earlier.

[0:43:12] Voice 7: And I know that all of us on Saturna have great nature around us.

[0:43:16] Voice 7: We may have certain nature on our property that we intend to preserve and protect.

[0:43:21] Voice 7: And I know all of you do as well.

[0:43:24] Voice 7: And I don't think we're any different than any other land on the island, which I know is why we have the regulations that we have.

[0:43:32] Voice 7: With that, I'll stop.

[0:43:33] Voice 7: I think I've already gone on too long, but I appreciate your consideration of this application,

[0:43:39] Voice 7: which will put us in a position, as Planner Testamale mentioned, to finally finalize what

[0:43:45] Voice 7: we started back in 2012.

[0:43:48] Trustee Patrick: Thank you very much.

[0:43:49] Trustee Patrick: Trustees, questions for the applicant or staff?

[0:43:52] Voice 14: I have no questions.

[0:43:56] Trustee Patrick: Mr. Middleton?

[0:43:57] Trustee Middleton (probable): As Mr. Peretz points out, we've been made well familiar with this file over the years,

[0:44:04] Trustee Middleton (probable): and i view this indeed just as a

[0:44:06] Trustee Middleton (probable): natural progression of what was we were uh told was the

[0:44:11] Trustee Middleton (probable): journey that was being embarked on um back at the i wasn't around for the beginning it's gone on

[0:44:16] Trustee Middleton (probable): that long that it predates my my time as a trustee but um yeah there's not no surprises here at all

[0:44:22] Trustee Middleton (probable): it looks like good work from from the the planner thank you and and yeah the application is exactly

[0:44:29] Trustee Middleton (probable): as we we would have expected um obviously we wouldn't have been aware of

[0:44:34] Trustee Middleton (probable): the need for a variance but the variance seems entirely reasonable it doesn't

[0:44:38] Trustee Middleton (probable): seem to be precedent-setting because of the unique nature of this application so

[0:44:42] Trustee Middleton (probable): I think I'd be comfortable to move to a recommendation and that being that the

[0:44:50] Trustee Middleton (probable): Saturnia local trust committee approve issuance of development various permit

[0:44:53] Trustee Middleton (probable): Permit Application SA-DVP-2020.1, Peretz.

[0:45:00] Trustee Patrick: We'll do them individually if we can.

[0:45:03] Trustee Patrick: So is there a second to that first motion?

[0:45:05] Voice 14: I'll second that.

[0:45:06] Trustee Patrick: Any discussion on this motion?

[0:45:09] Trustee Patrick: I'll call the vote.

[0:45:10] Trustee Patrick: All those in favor?

[0:45:12] Trustee Patrick: And that is carried.

[0:45:15] Voice 14: And I'm going to move that the

[0:45:16] Voice 14: Saturna Island Local Trust Committee exempt lots A and B

[0:45:19] Voice 14: of the proposed subdivision of lot three, section 18,

[0:45:22] Voice 14: Saterna Island Cowichan District Plan 11979

[0:45:26] Voice 14: except part in plan 17076,

[0:45:30] Voice 14: bracket SA-SUB-2020.1 bracket parets

[0:45:39] Voice 14: and a bracket from the one 10th perimeter provision

[0:45:43] Voice 14: of section 512 of the Local Government Act.

[0:45:45] Trustee Patrick: Is there a second?

[0:45:46] Trustee Middleton (probable): Second.

[0:45:47] Trustee Patrick: Any discussion on this motion?

[0:45:50] Trustee Patrick: No, I'll call the vote.

[0:45:51] Trustee Patrick: all those in favor and that too is carried so thank you very much for coming today and

[0:45:57] Trustee Patrick: thank

[0:45:59] Voice 8: you again for

[0:46:01] Trustee Patrick: having us thank you

[0:46:03] Voice 8: thanks thank you thank

[0:46:05] Trustee Patrick: you okay moving on to the next

[0:46:09] Trustee Patrick: item on our agenda then is 13.1 the groundwater sustainability project a presentation from

[0:46:15] Trustee Patrick: william shulba welcome william and the floor is yours hi

[0:46:21] Voice 10: thank you so much chair um i do have a

[0:46:24] Voice 10: presentation that i'd like to share um so maple i'm just gonna try sharing my screen here i'll

[0:46:30] Voice 10: hopefully it works out fine okay no problem

[0:46:35] Voice 3: i'm sorry okay

[0:46:43] Voice 8: and can

[0:46:50] Voice 10: you see my screen

[0:46:53] Voice 12: that looks good william

[0:46:54] Voice 10: okay great thanks um so yeah thank you uh sterner local trust committee

[0:47:00] Voice 10: um this is going to just be a brief overview of the southern gulf islands groundwater

[0:47:05] Voice 10: sustainability strategy and um there is going to be there's no uh request of or recommendation

[0:47:15] Voice 10: request from the ltc at this time however the local trust committee can um consider uh next

[0:47:22] Voice 10: steps and we'll address that at the end of my presentation okay so uh great so um again just

[0:47:36] Voice 10: Just to recap that the Groundwater Sustainability Strategy

[0:47:39] Voice 10: is a project of the Local Trust Committee.

[0:47:42] Voice 10: It is a project of all Southern Gulf Island

[0:47:45] Voice 10: Local Trust Committees.

[0:47:47] Voice 10: And the work has been underway since 2019.

[0:47:52] Voice 10: And we are getting really close

[0:47:56] Voice 10: to finalizing the deliverables from the project.

[0:48:02] Voice 10: So yeah, as we know, all the water on Saturna Island

[0:48:06] Voice 10: comes from the sky, comes from rain, if not from off-island bulk imports on the

[0:48:14] Voice 10: ferry, but essentially this project is to determine how much groundwater recharge

[0:48:23] Voice 10: is occurring from rain and how much is being used by the users of the

[0:48:33] Voice 10: the groundwater and the ecosystems and run off to the ocean. And this was all done by

[0:48:41] Voice 10: desktop analysis. There was no on island work with boots on the ground.

[0:48:48] Voice 10: So the sustainability strategies laid out in four phases. The first one is data and information

[0:48:57] Voice 10: inventory. And then phase one was the recharge mapping. Phase two looked at regional groundwater

[0:49:03] Voice 10: water budgets and availability assessments.

[0:49:05] Voice 10: And phase three is the future phase,

[0:49:08] Voice 10: which is occurring on Galliano Island.

[0:49:12] Voice 10: They've, the LTC decided to continue on with the project.

[0:49:16] Voice 10: And we'll just discuss that at the end

[0:49:19] Voice 10: of my presentation here.

[0:49:22] Voice 10: So the first data gathering phase involved

[0:49:26] Voice 10: a lot of information,

[0:49:28] Voice 10: a lot of geological collecting information, LIDAR.

[0:49:31] Voice 10: I have marine ecosystem data on here. I'm pleased to report that I just found out this week that we have successfully landed the Canadian Hydrographic Survey detailed bathymetry of the Salish Sea, which is probably about a half a million dollar data set.

[0:49:50] Voice 10: and under the Amish Trust Conservancy as the qualified donee we got it for free

[0:49:54] Voice 10: and so that data set's really exciting for this work and I'll show a 3D model of Saturna Island

[0:50:00] Voice 10: and how valuable that data set is to this project as well. Okay so the invitation the

[0:50:11] Voice 10: data gathering and information gathering is meant to eventually update our map it our public

[0:50:19] Voice 10: facing mapping agent. It's pretty thin when it comes to water information, so I'm striving to

[0:50:30] Voice 10: increase the amount of information to the public through this project. So phase one involves

[0:50:39] Voice 10: recharge mapping. There's a whole bunch of assessments and other mapping that went into

[0:50:45] Voice 10: this it's a derivative product from all of this information that is available to us already.

[0:50:54] Voice 10: So there is a methodology that we went through and not to dwell on much of this but

[0:51:01] Voice 10: essentially the groundwater recharge potential is determined from geology which is liniment and

[0:51:08] Voice 10: fault and as well as the topography slope factor and as well as the ecosystems and all three of

[0:51:14] Voice 10: these uh combine together to create a recharge potential um i developed the the ecosystem

[0:51:21] Voice 10: infiltration factor and we have been working on that um a little bit more through the review of

[0:51:27] Voice 10: this pro of this project that this um method was uh was not criticized but encouraged to

[0:51:36] Voice 10: refine and we'll be we're doing that in the northern gulf island uh in the northern gulf

[0:51:40] Voice 10: islands right now okay so the uh saturn was broken into several groundwater regions as part of this

[0:51:48] Voice 10: project um it's possible that this will be a new analysis uh because there is new aquifer mapping

[0:51:55] Voice 10: that has determined east point as its own little aquifer um there's a reason why we included it in

[0:52:01] Voice 10: in this long pumbo channel stretch,

[0:52:04] Voice 10: but we'll get to that in a moment.

[0:52:09] Voice 10: And we did some detailed 3D modeling of the islands

[0:52:14] Voice 10: and this is Saturna.

[0:52:15] Voice 10: You can see East Point is off into the top right here

[0:52:20] Voice 10: and the bathymetry,

[0:52:22] Voice 10: which is really blocky offshore bathymetry

[0:52:24] Voice 10: is now we got the new data set.

[0:52:26] Voice 10: So we'll be able to see a lot more structure.

[0:52:29] Voice 10: This would be really great for eelgrass mapping

[0:52:31] Voice 10: and for other marine type of work.

[0:52:34] Voice 10: I'm really interested in looking at it

[0:52:36] Voice 10: in respect to saltwater intrusion.

[0:52:39] Voice 10: So this is a view of East Point

[0:52:40] Voice 10: looking from the south of the island,

[0:52:42] Voice 10: looking into the island.

[0:52:44] Voice 10: And the reason why we have East Point

[0:52:46] Voice 10: as this long groundwater region

[0:52:48] Voice 10: is the majority of the recharge can fall

[0:52:52] Voice 10: in the higher elevations and kind of skateboard down

[0:52:55] Voice 10: into the area of East Point.

[0:53:00] Voice 10: If you can see the screen line here, this is sea level. This is tumbo off to the right there.

[0:53:08] Voice 10: And so in East Point, you can see that the majority of wells are below sea level.

[0:53:12] Voice 10: So by engaging in this work and looking at the morphology of the bathymetry with respect to the island,

[0:53:20] Voice 10: we'll be able to refine the saltwater intrusion risk a bit more into the future,

[0:53:27] Voice 10: rather than just using top-down mapping methodology we can look it into a 3d geometry

[0:53:33] Voice 10: it also helps for determining water balance so there's a few uh or there's several data sets

[0:53:41] Voice 10: that went into the the mapping of recharge uh topography is a big one so how much contributing

[0:53:47] Voice 10: area is there from water moving from high elevation to low elevation uh slope is is an

[0:53:54] Voice 10: important factor. Those areas with steep slopes do not infiltrate water as well as the flatter

[0:54:03] Voice 10: lying areas. And I said we have the terrestrial ecosystem mapping, which is the top right,

[0:54:08] Voice 10: which looks at the ecosystem's ability to infiltrate water and how much it captures

[0:54:14] Voice 10: and releases back to the atmosphere, as well as geological structures like faults and folds.

[0:54:20] Voice 10: Okay, and so there's two considerations here with recharge. So the one on the bottom right is just the intrinsic ability for the island to accept water and for it to, if there is an equal distribution of water everywhere, how the island would infiltrate the water.

[0:54:43] Voice 10: On the top right, which I'm going to get into in these next slides, is when we actually distribute water onto the island, which is not consistent.

[0:54:52] Voice 10: There is a precipitation distribution across the island. How much actual water after surplus goes into the ground?

[0:55:01] Voice 10: So this is after the ecosystems use it and and push it to the atmosphere. How much water is left over?

[0:55:08] Voice 10: OK, so and that's and so that's part of phase two. This is the water availability assessment.

[0:55:12] Voice 10: So we looked at climate change scenarios. We looked at precipitation. We looked at how the ecosystems will transpire the water. And we looked briefly at zoning and build-out assessment, but on Saturna, it's not a large factor.

[0:55:29] Voice 10: factor. Water demand assessment was the most difficult data set that we went with. It's

[0:55:36] Voice 10: the most difficult one to proxy. And so the overall groundwater availability is looking

[0:55:43] Voice 10: at the recharge potential and that balance between the water usage or water demand and

[0:55:51] Voice 10: how much the ecosystems use. This is the most difficult data set that needs a lot more work.

[0:55:56] Voice 10: we're basically using estimates to how much water is being used for say domestics is 300 liters per

[0:56:03] Voice 10: day or sorry 600 liters per day which is an average found from literature. So as I said

[0:56:12] Voice 10: we looked at precipitation so you can see that East Point gets some of the least amount of

[0:56:19] Voice 10: precipitation in the entire island's trust or the southern gulf islands um and and so uh we we use

[0:56:27] Voice 10: that as a as a factor to determining how much water is available and looked at average temperature

[0:56:34] Voice 10: i'm not going to dwell on this looked at evapotranspiration this is the ecosystem's

[0:56:39] Voice 10: role and how much water they use once the water gets into soil storage not just uh interception

[0:56:45] Voice 10: from the from the canopy and then what's left over is is then able to potentially

[0:56:54] Voice 10: infiltrate into the ground and then that results in the overall groundwater

[0:56:58] Voice 10: groundwater recharge for the area and this is the the end and so we went

[0:57:06] Voice 10: through already said that so now we look at the users so there is there's

[0:57:14] Voice 10: thousands of wells in the in the wells database for the southern gulf islands and so from that

[0:57:19] Voice 10: we were able to do some machine learning and and some coding to find out which groundwater wells

[0:57:25] Voice 10: had fracture data and which is really exciting because we're going to start determining at what

[0:57:30] Voice 10: depth the water is coming from and start modeling these fractures and so we can determine potential

[0:57:37] Voice 10: potential areas of saltwater intrusion risk,

[0:57:41] Voice 10: as well as producing fractures to predictably understand

[0:57:45] Voice 10: how deep wells will be in a new area.

[0:57:49] Voice 10: I looked at how the yield of the wells to determine,

[0:57:54] Voice 10: try to determine some water use and depth and other uses.

[0:58:00] Voice 10: And so this is all put into a data dashboard,

[0:58:02] Voice 10: which is going to be available to planners and to myself

[0:58:05] Voice 10: to use as we go forward and to consultants when they request it.

[0:58:11] Voice 10: And so this is kind of the collation of a whole bunch of information.

[0:58:19] Voice 10: So on Saturnia, there's several aquifers, some surficial ones.

[0:58:23] Voice 10: And so the aquifer usage is broken down and other uses,

[0:58:31] Voice 10: water uses are broken down into this dashboard.

[0:58:33] Voice 10: board and then each individual groundwater region has a monthly water balance so if you gaze over to

[0:58:42] Voice 10: the right side of your screen here you can see that we're in groundwater recharge there's

[0:58:46] Voice 10: none occurring during the summer water usage is higher in the summer this scale is bad we're going

[0:58:53] Voice 10: to work on that still in draft of course and so and then we have runoff here which is decreased

[0:59:01] Voice 10: in summer. So this is showing water uses increasing in the summer periods and the amount of water

[0:59:07] Voice 10: available has decreased. Then for each, this is just showing this again, so for each groundwater

[0:59:14] Voice 10: region this is the ultimate balance between the precipitation, the surplus, and how much

[0:59:20] Voice 10: recharge is actually experienced in that area. So you can see here in this larger area of Saturna,

[0:59:26] Voice 10: all of this precipitation per year. However, the recharge is very limited, a fraction of what

[0:59:34] Voice 10: precipitation comes down. And ultimately, at the end of the project, there's a determination of

[0:59:44] Voice 10: how much water use is compared to how much recharge there is. I would say this approach

[0:59:52] Voice 10: Roach is probably the least effective on Saturna Island just because of the distribution of wells.

[1:00:00] Voice 10: these large groundwater regions. For example, I believe that we should cut off East Point and do

[1:00:06] Voice 10: a water budget just for East Point. But you can see that there are this section near town here

[1:00:14] Voice 10: is showing that there is a significant amount of recharge being used. There's a sensitivity

[1:00:21] Voice 10: analysis needs to be built into this because you can't use 100% of recharge. Sustainable use is

[1:00:26] Voice 10: between 50 and 70 percent so um as you can see all this other red and these other islands here

[1:00:32] Voice 10: there's a lot more water stress in in other islands than than there is um on saturn with

[1:00:38] Voice 10: respect to water balance there's other considerations like salt water intrusion that

[1:00:43] Voice 10: that well that affects the turnout a little bit more than than the amount of available water

[1:00:51] Voice 10: and so phase three of this project is to implement this stuff and to go through a planning exercise

[1:01:00] Voice 10: and there's a whole bunch of other concurrent work that's going on or historic work so we have

[1:01:06] Voice 10: the drastic mapping which is the intrinsic vulnerability of the aquifers to surface

[1:01:12] Voice 10: contamination i'm on the project team for the province looking at risk of saltwater intrusion

[1:01:17] Voice 10: so we're doing the full remapping exercise that should be completed this year water allocation

[1:01:22] Voice 10: plans are old they probably need to be updated by the province and then there's a whole bunch

[1:01:27] Voice 10: of other tools that the ltc can consider with respect to official community plans group of

[1:01:33] Voice 10: water regulation land use bylaw amendments um epa's all that kind of stuff and education and

[1:01:41] Voice 10: outreach which probably is uh one of the larger considerations for saturn i would i would say if

[1:01:48] Voice 10: the ltc wishes to take on any uh future work from this um

[1:01:53] Voice 5: and

[1:01:55] Voice 10: so there's a few timelines here this

[1:01:57] Voice 10: was in the in the report um that was submitted and so we're getting close to having the deliverables

[1:02:03] Voice 10: finalized and and just moving forward with this work so uh the the next steps are to finalize

[1:02:09] Voice 10: the the reports from GW Solutions and get into the public domain. Another step is to finalize

[1:02:18] Voice 10: recharge maps and put that technical report to the LTC and that should be coming up in the spring

[1:02:26] Voice 10: time. Right off the bat we're going to be using this work planners to in existing land use planning

[1:02:34] Voice 10: applications and something similar to how steep slopes and other types of mapping is used by planners consideration during applications.

[1:02:46] Voice 10: And so the fourth step here is the LTC can consider to retain this project as a top priority.

[1:02:54] Voice 10: And then there's a whole bunch of other detailed analysis staff can do with respect to OCP and

[1:03:02] Voice 10: and new policies, but that's for the LTC to consider.

[1:03:10] Voice 10: And perhaps I can turn this over to Robert Kojima,

[1:03:16] Voice 10: because I know that he has been speaking to the trustees,

[1:03:19] Voice 10: so a little bit more than I do.

[1:03:22] Voice 4: Thanks, William.

[1:03:23] Voice 4: So yeah, just for the trustees information,

[1:03:27] Voice 4: as William mentioned, Galliano has made this a top priority

[1:03:30] Voice 4: on their work program.

[1:03:31] Voice 4: so this is a project that would be assigned to the new the new regional planning group so

[1:03:36] Voice 4: narissa chadwick in this case is working on that project north pender has retained it on

[1:03:42] Voice 4: their top priorities um but is going to be doing further kind of discussion of the scope if you

[1:03:50] Voice 4: like of the project that they're meeting next week similarly with south pender and main has

[1:03:55] Voice 4: decided they're gonna take it off their top priorities and might um you know revive it um

[1:04:00] Voice 4: perhaps next term as a top priority,

[1:04:03] Voice 4: seeing how the project unfolds on other islands.

[1:04:05] Voice 4: So as William said, it's up to the local trust committee

[1:04:08] Voice 4: if you want to keep this as a top priority

[1:04:11] Voice 4: and

[1:04:11] Voice 3: then we'd come back with the timeline

[1:04:15] Voice 3: and some potential amendments.

[1:04:20] Trustee Patrick: Thank you very much.

[1:04:22] Trustee Patrick: Trustees, questions?

[1:04:27] Voice 14: I'm just wondering, I think William mentioned

[1:04:31] Voice 14: that the saltwater intrusions study

[1:04:34] Voice 14: or portion of the study would be available later this year.

[1:04:39] Voice 14: Is that different than the March date or what?

[1:04:45] Voice 10: So the, since I'm just an external on that project,

[1:04:50] Voice 10: I don't like, I don't have a good handle on,

[1:04:53] Voice 10: I just get updated from time to time.

[1:04:56] Voice 10: And the last update that I,

[1:04:58] Voice 10: that we had with the project team,

[1:05:00] Voice 10: it looked like they were getting really close

[1:05:03] Voice 10: to to completing the southern gulf islands um and so i i believe that they're wrapping that up

[1:05:11] Voice 10: in for the end of fiscal uh for the province so then when the timing on when i like i'll be able

[1:05:19] Voice 10: to publicly share those maps is i'm unsure of yet and so that that project is not directly related

[1:05:29] Voice 10: to the LTC's Groundwater Sustainability Strategy Project.

[1:05:36] Voice 10: That's an external project that I'm an external member on.

[1:05:41] Voice 10: So yeah, and also the,

[1:05:45] Voice 10: well, the Regional Planning Committee

[1:05:48] Voice 10: put in funds to that $10,000 last year.

[1:05:53] Voice 10: I just kind of bought us a seat at the table

[1:05:57] Voice 10: for this year as well.

[1:05:57] Voice 10: And so I need to report back to them when I have the map.

[1:06:04] Voice 10: So once that happens at the RPC table, then the Saturna LTC will be copied on that.

[1:06:11] Voice 10: And I can send the LTC a copy of that report once I give it to RPC.

[1:06:19] Voice 10: But I'm hoping that comes in. I'm hoping I can report back on that in the springtime, but not the March date.

[1:06:28] Voice 10: That's more related to the sustainability strategy, the recharge mapping and the groundwater availability.

[1:06:38] Voice 14: Another question is a copy of your presentation, I assume, is not confidential.

[1:06:42] Voice 14: Can you possibly forward a copy of it to us trustees?

[1:06:47] Voice 14: these and as well i'm wondering if i could get copies of the peer reviews that were that were

[1:06:53] Voice 14: done

[1:06:54] Voice 10: um well okay so

[1:06:58] Voice 10: well i'll take the first one first so this this report um yeah it's oops

[1:07:04] Voice 10: it's at a it's been given at a public meeting so um i think technically i um should should share

[1:07:12] Voice 10: it with you i i will caution that all of the figures in here are draft right so that they

[1:07:18] Voice 10: They can be updated, of course.

[1:07:21] Voice 10: With the peer review, I think that I've already provided

[1:07:26] Voice 10: that analysis to the regional planning committee.

[1:07:31] Voice 10: So I can forward that report on to the LTC,

[1:07:39] Voice 10: but no, I'm not sharing the detailed review.

[1:07:45] Voice 10: That wasn't part of it.

[1:07:46] Voice 14: So they're confidential, I presume.

[1:07:47] Voice 14: We'd have to get a freedom of information request to access those?

[1:07:53] Voice 14: Well, I don't, I'm

[1:07:55] Voice 10: not commenting on that.

[1:07:56] Voice 10: I think that like if the LTC, I mean, yeah, I guess I need to understand why the LTC wants

[1:08:06] Voice 10: those reviews.

[1:08:09] Voice 10: use and if there is something that is not in my report to the RPC that the LTC wishes to consider

[1:08:18] Voice 10: then I mean let's just discuss that I don't think we're going to FY each other right that's kind of

[1:08:24] Trustee Patrick: I'm going to say as a member of the the regional planning committee I'm going to go off my memory

[1:08:29] Trustee Patrick: here which is challenging but we we do receive a very technical report on the outcome of the

[1:08:38] Trustee Patrick: peer review the committee uh it was so technical the committee uh uh basically didn't question

[1:08:48] Trustee Patrick: the results but did ask for further work on the use of the mapping to have another follow-up

[1:08:54] Trustee Patrick: report and i i don't believe that's come back if i'm yeah

[1:08:58] Voice 10: i just i just submitted that on well i

[1:09:00] Trustee Patrick: meant

[1:09:00] Voice 10: but it hasn't come

[1:09:01] Trustee Patrick: to the committee did it yep

[1:09:02] Voice 10: yeah the last the last meeting uh we put it

[1:09:07] Voice 10: It was, it's obviously not as detailed as this is the OCP

[1:09:12] Voice 10: and the BPA that we have addressed and worked on

[1:09:15] Voice 10: because that's to come,

[1:09:16] Voice 10: but the last regional planning committee meeting,

[1:09:24] Voice 10: I put a report forward on the applicability

[1:09:28] Voice 10: of groundwater mapping,

[1:09:30] Voice 10: mapping, um, which, which satisfied that, that RPC's, um, uh, resolution.

[1:09:37] Voice 10: Yeah.

[1:09:40] Voice 14: Maybe I just need to get, uh, grab a look at the, uh, regional planning committee's

[1:09:44] Voice 14: report then.

[1:09:45] Voice 10: Yeah, I'll send you both of those trustee Brent.

[1:09:48] Voice 10: And, um, if you need anything more than that, then, um, then we can discuss that.

[1:09:57] Voice 10: I don't really think going to FOI makes a lot of sense, but perhaps it could be shared in confidence.

[1:10:05] Voice 10: I'm not sure. It's just there's or I mean, it would just take a lot of redaction.

[1:10:10] Voice 10: There's just like a lot of names and private information that the reviewers were privy to, if that makes sense.

[1:10:22] Voice 10: that they they were privy to private like information that has privacy implications so

[1:10:27] Voice 10: then their review also in included some elements that have privacy implications as well so

[1:10:34] Voice 10: um like there's certain data sets that we use that that aren't public data so that's why i'm

[1:10:41] Voice 10: saying just like whole scale sharing the the reviews is not possible yeah

[1:10:45] Voice 14: so this would be

[1:10:46] Voice 14: like well logs and the stuff and if that's the case yeah i understand that yeah

[1:10:50] Voice 10: well logs but

[1:10:51] Voice 10: but also some island health information that we got

[1:10:54] Voice 10: from like small water users and stuff.

[1:10:58] Voice 10: Like it wasn't just the Turner, right?

[1:11:00] Voice 10: It was the entire Southern Gulf Island.

[1:11:02] Voice 10: So we got some non-public sensitive information

[1:11:05] Voice 10: from that through data requests, so yeah.

[1:11:08] Voice 14: Okay, I understand, cool.

[1:11:14] Trustee Middleton (probable): Excuse me, Chair Patrick, if I may.

[1:11:17] Trustee Middleton (probable): Yes, please.

[1:11:18] Trustee Middleton (probable): Very, very interesting work.

[1:11:19] Trustee Middleton (probable): looks very it's sort of I think what we hope we would begin to start seeing when

[1:11:26] Trustee Middleton (probable): we as a group of trustees at Trust Council not just on Saturna began to

[1:11:31] Trustee Middleton (probable): look and say we really are lacking data and information of an empirical sense

[1:11:36] Trustee Middleton (probable): about the groundwater situation and we certainly knew that on Saturna and just

[1:11:41] Trustee Middleton (probable): even in that brief presentation the much more sophisticated picture it paints of

[1:11:47] Trustee Middleton (probable): the of the aquifer system on the island and and in particular how how the height that the

[1:11:53] Trustee Middleton (probable): the situation on east point is um is affected uh by we knew salt water but but we didn't know about

[1:12:01] Trustee Middleton (probable): how the the the aquifer but we didn't know much i don't think about the aquifer beyond

[1:12:06] Trustee Middleton (probable): some of the the studies that we we had you know as amateurs looked at from dr diana allen and

[1:12:12] Trustee Middleton (probable): that they i think the other report work that was done out at this point so seeing this and seeing

[1:12:18] Trustee Middleton (probable): the integration of the bathymetric data isn't super promising and so um i don't i don't know

[1:12:25] Trustee Middleton (probable): that we're necessarily being asked to to do anything at this point beyond i guess wait for

[1:12:31] Trustee Middleton (probable): the report and then see what i mean maybe there'll be some recommendations what what staff think the

[1:12:38] Trustee Middleton (probable): local trust committee should do with the data that's coming out of the report but we could

[1:12:41] Trustee Middleton (probable): see already how promising that the the groundwater budget and uh concept is in terms of a concept

[1:12:48] Trustee Middleton (probable): that might be um um not so much used in in planning per se on saturn obviously because

[1:12:55] Trustee Middleton (probable): the island is more or less i should say built out but just in terms of the sustainability of people's

[1:13:00] Trustee Middleton (probable): use and their understanding of where the water comes from in more detail um and i know trustee

[1:13:06] Trustee Middleton (probable): brent has spoken about the power of education and for people in terms of their uh their use of this

[1:13:12] Trustee Middleton (probable): this very critical resource and it just seems there's so much promise in terms of the data

[1:13:17] Trustee Middleton (probable): and how it it might be applied to uh to both education as well as our just generally our

[1:13:23] Trustee Middleton (probable): understanding of uh of the of the resource here you know particularly like you see from the

[1:13:29] Trustee Middleton (probable): the mapping how critical in some ways the national park is to the

[1:13:33] Trustee Middleton (probable): supply of of um of

[1:13:36] Trustee Middleton (probable): uh what might be a more sustainable uh supply of groundwater i can't say that i haven't seen

[1:13:43] Trustee Middleton (probable): the data for the other islands for instance but i mean it's it's uh yeah you know i won't go on

[1:13:48] Trustee Middleton (probable): and on it's just quite exciting your presentation just to see the depth of data and see the depth

[1:13:52] Trustee Middleton (probable): of analysis that it'll allow us to make in the future and and um and i i think people will be

[1:14:00] Trustee Middleton (probable): very interested so i guess for now we say thumbs up we look forward to the report um i don't think

[1:14:05] Trustee Middleton (probable): we need to adjust it on it is on our top priorities i understand as of now i i would say we just leave

[1:14:12] Trustee Middleton (probable): it there for the time being and uh look forward to the report but yeah thanks and thanks for your

[1:14:18] Trustee Middleton (probable): report, William. It was really good. Really enjoyed it.

[1:14:21] Voice 10: Yeah, great. Thanks, Trustee Middleton.

[1:14:24] Voice 10: And I agree with you. I think that on Saturna, the empirical data, we can look at it a little

[1:14:33] Voice 10: bit differently. I think that on some islands, indeed, it's to address current planning,

[1:14:38] Voice 10: new planning, build out. I believe Saturna looks a lot like Hornby in a way,

[1:14:48] Voice 10: where it's a lot of it's built out there's a big mountain it's protected recharge zone has

[1:14:54] Voice 10: historically been protected through some type of means um and so i'm actually going from this

[1:15:00] Voice 10: terrestrial ecosystem mapping to the uh to a forestry data set called the vegetation resource

[1:15:06] Voice 10: inventory and that's looking at um not just the ecosystems but individual like tree stands and

[1:15:13] Voice 10: and crown cover.

[1:15:14] Voice 10: So we could even work on looking at preserving the recharge

[1:15:20] Voice 10: by determining like difference in types of tree stand

[1:15:27] Voice 10: and canopy health.

[1:15:29] Voice 10: And like, for example, in Galliano,

[1:15:32] Voice 10: they have had a long history of thinning out

[1:15:36] Voice 10: out densely populated second growth trees, and probably to the benefit of recharge.

[1:15:45] Voice 10: So it could be that perhaps there's a partnership with Parks Canada on how to look at different

[1:15:53] Voice 10: scenarios to improve recharge or something like that.

[1:15:58] Voice 10: But indeed, I think that this work can be used for protecting the existing user as much

[1:16:03] Voice 10: as determining an increase in density intensity of water use so and and the education part is i think

[1:16:10] Voice 10: is is key for all this for sure so yeah thanks for your comments yeah thank

[1:16:16] Trustee Middleton (probable): you very much all

[1:16:17] Trustee Patrick: right any further questions no

[1:16:20] Voice 14: but i'd like to echo um echo lee's comments and thank you very

[1:16:25] Voice 14: much for what is a good report and some i'm glad you added that additional um information because

[1:16:32] Voice 14: because it sounds very exciting.

[1:16:33] Voice 14: Cheers.

[1:16:34] Voice 8: Yeah. Thank you.

[1:16:35] Voice 8: Thanks.

[1:16:36] Trustee Patrick: Thank you very much.

[1:16:37] Trustee Patrick: Thank you chair.

[1:16:38] Trustee Patrick: Or to more information to come.

[1:16:41] Trustee Patrick: All right. Thank you.

[1:16:43] Voice 10: Oh yeah. I should stop my screen share.

[1:16:45] Voice 10: Great.

[1:16:46] Trustee Patrick: All right.

[1:16:47] Trustee Patrick: Well, moving on, we have the next item is 14.1.1

[1:16:50] Trustee Patrick: which is the top priorities report, which is on page 37.

[1:16:53] Trustee Patrick: There's Mr. Smiley there, William.

[1:16:58] Trustee Patrick: William. So on page 37, top priorities report. Any questions?

[1:17:06] Trustee Middleton (probable): I guess

[1:17:07] Trustee Patrick: you're muted, Paul, if you were speaking, sorry.

[1:17:12] Voice 14: No changes. And I'm happy with the way it sits right now for now.

[1:17:17] Trustee Middleton (probable): Yeah. I

[1:17:18] Trustee Middleton (probable): guess we, we wait for the,

[1:17:21] Trustee Middleton (probable): the first nations relationship building and the, and the,

[1:17:25] Trustee Middleton (probable): the revision to the zoning in the national park reserve lands to obviously

[1:17:29] Trustee Middleton (probable): they work their way through the the final stage of their implementation which is i i saw um

[1:17:36] Trustee Middleton (probable): plana smith has them forwarded prepared and forwarded off to the minister's office so

[1:17:40] Trustee Middleton (probable): that's great um yeah i would say because i and i guess this would be the point maybe to bring up

[1:17:46] Trustee Middleton (probable): just in terms of the uh the traffic planning and use i guess just uh some knowing some of the other

[1:17:55] Trustee Middleton (probable): stuff that might be coming down the pipeline just a bit of a reluctance to tie up planner smith's

[1:18:00] Trustee Middleton (probable): time on something that you know in in a great to a great uh i guess um level of detail in terms of

[1:18:10] Trustee Middleton (probable): um particularly looking at private uh parking usage and and so maybe it's just something we

[1:18:17] Trustee Middleton (probable): could discuss further before we actually make any kind of official motion to uh to have you know

[1:18:23] Trustee Middleton (probable): push a priority and obviously there's no no room for it at this point till the um one and three

[1:18:29] Trustee Middleton (probable): have moved through so i guess it's my long-winded way of saying no changes so thank

[1:18:37] Trustee Patrick: you i wanted to

[1:18:39] Trustee Patrick: share um i called it my aha moment um it came from salt spring and then i experimented further with

[1:18:45] Trustee Patrick: north tender is normally i i noticed that a lot of times us as trustees we send uh send staff away

[1:18:52] Trustee Patrick: with a simple like one sentence direction to add a project and they come back with a detailed

[1:18:59] Trustee Patrick: project charter and we go speaking away on it um and i recognize we're really missing an important

[1:19:04] Trustee Patrick: step there and that is to have that political conversation really in detail about what we want

[1:19:10] Trustee Patrick: from the project what were we expecting from the project where are the guardrails where

[1:19:14] Trustee Patrick: what's the what is the deliverables that we're expecting and have that discussion as

[1:19:19] Trustee Patrick: as politicians amongst ourselves to agree

[1:19:22] Trustee Patrick: on what we really think the project is.

[1:19:25] Trustee Patrick: Because I noticed sometimes other local trust committees,

[1:19:29] Trustee Patrick: I'm not saying, I think you two have been pretty clear,

[1:19:32] Trustee Patrick: but some get going on a project and they go,

[1:19:34] Trustee Patrick: oh no, I think I want to go over here.

[1:19:36] Trustee Patrick: And then they come up against something

[1:19:38] Trustee Patrick: that's out of scope or not in the project.

[1:19:40] Trustee Patrick: So I think there's really value

[1:19:42] Trustee Patrick: in spending that time upfront talking about the project.

[1:19:49] Voice 14: So

[1:19:50] Trustee Patrick: one of

[1:19:52] Voice 14: the things I'd like to talk about in respect to that parking project is I don't think it's appropriate for Islands Trust to be spearheading that, coordinating it.

[1:20:03] Voice 14: It's just going to be I just don't think it's really an Islands Trust remit.

[1:20:08] Voice 14: And I think, frankly, given what can be accomplished realistically, it's probably better if we just handle it on island, as was done before.

[1:20:18] Voice 14: I mean, Lee did a really good job of getting everybody, all the interested parties and stakeholders on island.

[1:20:25] Voice 14: They seem sort of enthusiastic.

[1:20:27] Voice 14: And I think we can probably continue on with that and be pretty effective, given the fact that we're here on the ground.

[1:20:37] Voice 14: and we know precisely what the issues are and uh get things done so that that would be my

[1:20:44] Voice 14: um preference in respect to that yep

[1:20:49] Trustee Patrick: no i guess the question is when if resources are are needed

[1:20:52] Trustee Patrick: and then at that time you could clarify what it is that uh you need from trust i

[1:20:57] Trustee Middleton (probable): guess um i think

[1:20:59] Trustee Middleton (probable): poland smith had had his hand and i can step aside to let him speak first before my comments chair

[1:21:04] Trustee Middleton (probable): i

[1:21:05] Planner: just wanted to uh wheel back to the um the first nations relationship building the national parks

[1:21:12] Planner: zoning project just to clarify that they are vetted to executive committee uh and they meet

[1:21:17] Planner: on uh february 26 i believe and then uh uh if and when that is approved then i will vet them to the

[1:21:24] Planner: minister's office clarify that

[1:21:26] Trustee Middleton (probable): thank you for that that clarification yeah and i would just say

[1:21:30] Trustee Middleton (probable): echoing paul i mean we we we have a we're hearing that there's the potential of a fairly complex um

[1:21:38] Trustee Middleton (probable): application uh that you know it may may or may not appear but if it does appear it would be very

[1:21:44] Trustee Middleton (probable): time consuming it look it looks like and so in in sort of it's like diminishing returns i think i'm

[1:21:51] Trustee Middleton (probable): sure plan smith would do an exceptional job on on a transportation plan um it's just as paul said

[1:21:57] Trustee Middleton (probable): the leverage we have and actually as bound by space public space that is not private space

[1:22:05] Trustee Middleton (probable): is pretty limited and it might be uh worth just taking a shot at seeing if icbc will will provide

[1:22:11] Trustee Middleton (probable): the funding that they mentioned to enhance the existing spaces and then see where we go and if

[1:22:17] Trustee Middleton (probable): there's still a need if there's still a multi-stakeholder issue where people you know it

[1:22:22] Trustee Middleton (probable): really isn't working in terms of law enforcement highways then then obviously we've we've got you

[1:22:28] Trustee Middleton (probable): know uh planner smith's attended the meeting has an understanding so yeah i think i would maybe we

[1:22:34] Trustee Middleton (probable): would leave it at that point for now and of course we can reserve for future conversation and then

[1:22:41] Trustee Middleton (probable): this means of course we leave the uh top priorities list as is currently and thanks uh planner smith

[1:22:48] Trustee Middleton (probable): for the clarification there about the the status of one and three that's useful

[1:22:55] Trustee Patrick: thank you staff is that okay any direction needed let's see oh go ahead

[1:23:01] Planner: i was just going to i'm not

[1:23:02] Planner: sure if we're uh if this is also uh 14.1.3 the project's discussion or if we're i just wanted

[1:23:09] Planner: to remind ltc of the uh issue around the school uh property and some discussion in the public

[1:23:17] Planner: the public rail might be useful as to what LTC would like to do with that.

[1:23:20] Planner: Thanks.

[1:23:22] Trustee Patrick: I think we're just entering into that conversation.

[1:23:24] Trustee Patrick: So

[1:23:25] Trustee Patrick: I just want to make sure the project's list again, we're just satisfied that list

[1:23:29] Trustee Patrick: can remain the same as well. So we're at the fourteen point one point three,

[1:23:33] Trustee Patrick: which is a discussion.

[1:23:38] Voice 14: Well, in respect of the school,

[1:23:43] Voice 14: I don't think we have to act on it now.

[1:23:45] Voice 14: Now, if we do, I'd be proposing a standing resolution that would allow educational use

[1:23:52] Voice 14: in rural residential zones adjacent to the school, if that's what we need to do to keep

[1:24:01] Voice 14: this in abeyance until such time as we have a technical review.

[1:24:07] Voice 14: But I'll seek staff's advice on that and also the opinion of my fellow trustees.

[1:24:15] Trustee Patrick: Trustee Middleton, anything?

[1:24:17] Trustee Patrick: think um

[1:24:18] Trustee Middleton (probable): yeah when i saw that knowing that it's almost completely non-controversial nature and

[1:24:25] Trustee Middleton (probable): impact on surrounding neighbors i thought it it was an ideal situation to note it obviously as

[1:24:32] Trustee Middleton (probable): a discrepancy and and something that needs repair in the land use bylaw and put it on the list that

[1:24:38] Trustee Middleton (probable): we used uh i know what was our land use bylaw review was maybe three years ago and that's

[1:24:43] Trustee Middleton (probable): effectively i thought that was an effective process where there was kind of a a list of

[1:24:49] Trustee Middleton (probable): things that were either no longer correct or needed updating or needed clarification

[1:24:54] Trustee Middleton (probable): and that that was the substance of the review so that's what i i to me this seems like an ideal um

[1:25:01] Trustee Middleton (probable): opportunity to note it for revision or addressing in the land use in the in the land use bylaw at

[1:25:07] Trustee Middleton (probable): any presumably an updating or a maintenance review down the road and for the time being

[1:25:13] Trustee Middleton (probable): simply leave it at that and i would echo i guess what trustee brent said if they we need to be

[1:25:17] Trustee Middleton (probable): slightly more formal about it we we just have um a standing resolution permitting educational use in

[1:25:23] Trustee Middleton (probable): that structure until such time as where you i'm sure brad you would be able to craft something

[1:25:32] Trustee Middleton (probable): that that made legal sense there if it was required i'm not sure that it is in that nobody

[1:25:38] Trustee Middleton (probable): has you know made any mention you guys in doing your due diligence obviously uncovered in response

[1:25:43] Trustee Middleton (probable): response to the CRD, the building permit application, which is great, I mean, good work, and I would

[1:25:49] Trustee Middleton (probable): just say, yeah, note it for the land use by-law review, but if you recommend we do something in

[1:25:54] Trustee Middleton (probable): the interim, as Paul has suggested, then, yeah, I would support that as well.

[1:25:59] Voice 4: Yeah, we don't need

[1:26:01] Voice 4: anything from the LTC at this point, so, yeah, we'll note it for a future LUB technical update.

[1:26:08] Planner: And I will say the school district was really pleased to be able to move forward, so, yeah.

[1:26:12] Planner: Yeah. Okay, good.

[1:26:14] Trustee Patrick: All right. Any other project discussions that we need to have then?

[1:26:22] Voice 14: I don't think so. I mean, we've got some stuff drafted out here, but we're not actioning any

[1:26:27] Voice 14: of them. And so we can just, as far as I'm concerned, leave it the way it is. And I mean,

[1:26:37] Voice 14: I mean, we can delete and add at will over time, but yeah, I don't have anything that I see as a high priority.

[1:26:44] Voice 14: And understanding the load that's on a lot of the planners right now, yeah, I'm happy with just keeping it the way it is.

[1:26:53] Trustee Patrick: All right. Thank you.

[1:26:55] Trustee Middleton (probable): Can we remove that? It would just be purely a housekeeping item because obviously it's not directing any work at this point.

[1:27:03] Trustee Middleton (probable): but there are some items which i i see now we could just simply remove as we you know time has

[1:27:08] Trustee Middleton (probable): moved on and the priority is not there like the amenities owning an accessible housing review that

[1:27:14] Trustee Middleton (probable): was uh that was an issue when we were looking at the um um the density bank and how amenities

[1:27:25] Trustee Middleton (probable): zoning might function in place of the density bank and it was just i think we heard from the

[1:27:29] Trustee Middleton (probable): the community that was an overly esoteric discussion that wasn't really something they

[1:27:35] Trustee Middleton (probable): were interested in having. And, you know, we could probably spend hundreds of hours of planner time

[1:27:41] Trustee Middleton (probable): going into options there, but again, diminishing returns. So, I mean, I would say number two could

[1:27:49] Trustee Middleton (probable): just simply be removed.

[1:27:51] Voice 14: I'd agree with that, although we may have some populating of our

[1:27:56] Voice 14: our CADR in the future, yeah, let's just remove it.

[1:27:59] Voice 14: And I'd be quite happy to remove the watershed lands DPAs at this stage.

[1:28:06] Voice 14: Because

[1:28:06] Trustee Middleton (probable): that's no longer an issue as it's a park.

[1:28:10] Trustee Middleton (probable): So, yeah.

[1:28:11] Trustee Middleton (probable): Right.

[1:28:12] Trustee Middleton (probable): Do you need a motion to remove two and five?

[1:28:16] Trustee Patrick: No.

[1:28:16] Voice 4: No, we're hearing consensus here.

[1:28:19] Voice 4: Okay.

[1:28:19] Trustee Patrick: So just let the minutes note that we removed two and five

[1:28:24] Trustee Patrick: from the project's report through general consent.

[1:28:29] Voice 14: And just if my memory is fading with my age,

[1:28:34] Voice 14: review of drinking water regulations,

[1:28:36] Voice 14: was that really around the MOTI's requirement

[1:28:43] Voice 14: that proof of potable water be proven

[1:28:50] Voice 14: provided prior to any subdivision application

[1:28:53] Voice 14: And that how that sort of confronts or goes against the potential for rainwater and for us to be promoting rainwater catchment, which almost sounded like what William Shulba was talking about, how we get lots of rainfall, but we're not capturing a lot of it in in recharge.

[1:29:19] Voice 14: charge it would seem to me that wow there's an opportunity to capture it in in rainwater catchment

[1:29:26] Voice 14: and use that for you know to to assist us in protecting our aquifers or am i nuts um i see

[1:29:34] Trustee Patrick: you peaked uh william shilva's interest he's turned his camera on william did you want to

[1:29:41] Trustee Patrick: say anything there's

[1:29:43] Voice 10: a lot there um so yeah like the proof of water the regulatory thing

[1:29:50] Voice 10: um we yeah like there hasn't been a lot of like subdivision potential built on on rainwater um

[1:30:00] Voice 10: Rainwater use as an alternative supply should be done on every single building in the Islands Trust Area in my opinion.

[1:30:08] Voice 10: Whether or not it can function as a sustainable primary supply is really to be determined.

[1:30:17] Voice 10: There's several domestic users across the Islands Trust Area that use rainwater as a primary supply.

[1:30:26] Voice 10: Expensive, not easy to do.

[1:30:28] Voice 10: um like the the the best uh recharge uh rainwater capturing device we have is the ecosystem so

[1:30:39] Voice 10: there's that but um i think the first time i ever met you trustee brent we we had a quick

[1:30:45] Voice 10: discussion about diverting uh rainwater and how that is a proverbial drop in the bucket when it

[1:30:53] Voice 10: comes to recharge right so the diversion of of water from a roof into into barrels is as a

[1:31:01] Voice 10: negligible change on recharge especially in the rural island trust area so but um going going to

[1:31:10] Voice 10: the exploration of using rainwater as proof of water for the purposes of subdivision the

[1:31:19] Voice 10: the LTC technically holds that card in the land use bylaw.

[1:31:26] Voice 10: And so I guess it could be part of the phase three,

[1:31:31] Voice 10: a part of the work of the groundwater sustainability strategy

[1:31:35] Voice 10: to try to coordinate with MOTI to see if the LTC says

[1:31:41] Voice 10: in their land use bylaw that if proof of water

[1:31:45] Voice 10: for rainwater is proved in a prescriptive way,

[1:31:49] Voice 10: would moti accept that and that's i don't even think that's a question that i couldn't just

[1:31:55] Voice 10: give you the answer to right now i think no no

[1:31:59] Voice 5: yeah

[1:32:00] Voice 10: i think i

[1:32:00] Voice 14: appreciate that i appreciate that

[1:32:03] Voice 14: william and you know i just see it potentially as as okay yeah you do that the subdivision gets

[1:32:09] Voice 14: blessed but nobody gets a building permit unless they um unless their their building uh has a

[1:32:17] Voice 14: a rainwater catchment system engineered

[1:32:21] Voice 14: to satisfy XYZ requirements, something like that.

[1:32:26] Voice 14: Can I add?

[1:32:30] Planner: Yes.

[1:32:31] Planner: From a staff perspective,

[1:32:33] Planner: what Trustee Brent just discussed there,

[1:32:36] Planner: I really think is exactly what we need

[1:32:38] Planner: in terms of a consistent approach to not,

[1:32:43] Planner: well, where we describe cisterns staff,

[1:32:47] Planner: both at the planning level as well as enforcement get stuck in actually defining what a cistern is

[1:32:54] Planner: and that gray area there and none of the bylaws in my view actually really adequately explain

[1:33:02] Planner: what a cistern is and provide a diagram for example of what that x y and z requires to

[1:33:09] Planner: actually equip a building with a cistern and that would be so helpful to have a consistent

[1:33:16] Planner: an approach across and we've talked a little bit within our team around if that can fit into this

[1:33:20] Planner: more regional uh planning approach that we're moving towards and uh at least for the southern

[1:33:27] Planner: gulf islands uh having a consistent diagram and application of even a cistern would take so many

[1:33:35] Planner: gray area questions away for us and uh to simplify things for everyone well

[1:33:40] Trustee Patrick: i think i think that's

[1:33:41] Trustee Patrick: important to bring up the regional planning committee does have developing model bylaws

[1:33:45] Trustee Patrick: for a number of water issues on their plate so i would encourage planners to provide feedback

[1:33:53] Trustee Patrick: into that um and

[1:33:55] Planner: i guess it also requires ltc to to be to have appetite to take up that regional

[1:34:00] Planner: approach which i personally think uh staff would recommend because a regional approach to this

[1:34:07] Planner: would just uh one just demonstrate consistency as an organization and two to simplify things for

[1:34:13] Planner: for everything and strengthen our our regulatory resolve as well with better with better

[1:34:19] Planner: descriptions and william maybe you have thoughts and robert sorry i

[1:34:23] Voice 4: see robert's hand up so three

[1:34:25] Voice 4: and four yeah they're a little obscure about what uh what they were i'm sure the ltc knew exactly

[1:34:29] Voice 4: what they had in mind when they added into the projects list but uh even a couple years later

[1:34:34] Voice 4: sometimes you kind of scratch your head about what would what did that mean but just based

[1:34:37] Trustee Middleton (probable): the history on that on that but i don't mean to interrupt robert but i i i have a very precise

[1:34:43] Trustee Middleton (probable): memory of why they went there so we can go there in a moment okay

[1:34:46] Voice 4: i was just going to say both of

[1:34:47] Voice 4: them would lend themselves either to being part of the implementation of the freshwater strategy

[1:34:52] Voice 4: if you go that route or potentially they could be bundled up with some other technical amendments

[1:35:08] Trustee Patrick: I

[1:35:09] Voice 4: was just saying that either of these would lend themselves to being part of the implementation of the freshwater strategy, if the LTC decided to go that route, or as standalone technical amendments, say, along with the school zoning amendment.

[1:35:30] Voice 10: I just want

[1:35:31] Voice 10: to say one last thing about cisterns, is that,

[1:35:33] Voice 10: But I think that, like, what happened on Salt Spring Island with the seasonal cottages bylaw that required rainwater capture, we're seeing a little bit of pushback on that.

[1:35:48] Voice 10: Like, say, for example, I live on Salt Spring, and I have a 30-gallon well, so why would I want to spend $20,000 on a rainwater capture system?

[1:35:59] Voice 10: That doesn't make sense.

[1:36:00] Voice 10: but what does make sense is storage and it doesn't matter what type of water

[1:36:05] Voice 10: system you have requiring storage is not a bad thing even if the storage is there

[1:36:12] Voice 10: for emergency use to be filled up by a water truck even so I think that there's

[1:36:17] Voice 10: the LTC can can show some caution there too to yeah requesting cisterns or

[1:36:24] Voice 10: determining what systems are is is a really good thing to do then looking at

[1:36:29] Voice 10: at what water source goes into the cisterns.

[1:36:32] Voice 10: I think that's like another consideration, right?

[1:36:36] Voice 10: So yeah, I just wanted to put that up there.

[1:36:40] Trustee Middleton (probable): Thank you.

[1:36:41] Trustee Middleton (probable): Chair Pacioretty, I remember that generally

[1:36:44] Trustee Middleton (probable): what Robert and Paul said is dead on,

[1:36:51] Trustee Middleton (probable): but there was specific issues came,

[1:36:53] Trustee Middleton (probable): one about subdivision approval, yes,

[1:36:59] Trustee Middleton (probable): and proof of potable water, but the other was, you'll recall when we had our secondary suite

[1:37:05] Trustee Middleton (probable): bylaw, I went for review, and the ministry intervened and made specific comment in regard

[1:37:12] Trustee Middleton (probable): the provision of sufficient quantity and quality of water, and it was basically an open term. It

[1:37:20] Trustee Middleton (probable): still is an open term, and I understand why it's an open term, and William's presentation sort of

[1:37:24] Trustee Middleton (probable): underscores underscores it but what we thought was if we as an ltc could define quality and quantity

[1:37:32] Trustee Middleton (probable): um that's the that's i think what uh planner smith you said about the bylaw approval is that it

[1:37:38] Trustee Middleton (probable): actually um could be seen as weird the buck stops here authority in terms of um of what that would

[1:37:44] Trustee Middleton (probable): look like but of course the legal jeopardy is is great and we thought this is an ideal regional

[1:37:50] Trustee Middleton (probable): issue is both understanding so and this is where we started we went down the path of saying we need

[1:37:56] Trustee Middleton (probable): to understand the groundwater situation in a lot more depth than we do as in what is what what is

[1:38:02] Trustee Middleton (probable): the quantity what are some of the quantity issues what are some of the quality issues and how might

[1:38:06] Trustee Middleton (probable): they interface with viha in terms of potable water systems and that word as sufficient quality

[1:38:13] Trustee Middleton (probable): and so we we've kind of left them there as placeholders not for not for individual work

[1:38:19] Trustee Middleton (probable): that we expect the local trust committee to do but work that interfaces with all of the work that's

[1:38:24] Trustee Middleton (probable): happening regionally around around groundwater groundwater use uh rainwater catchment storage and

[1:38:30] Trustee Middleton (probable): to plan a smith's point to absolutely endorse commonality of of uh of um of description uh

[1:38:38] Trustee Middleton (probable): around such things as catchment and catchment appliances so so i think they're okay there as

[1:38:43] Trustee Middleton (probable): they are i mean we might need to like clarify if you know paul and i don't continue as as trustees

[1:38:49] Trustee Middleton (probable): make way for new trustees they'd wonder what the heck that is they'd need to be you know a

[1:38:54] Trustee Middleton (probable): reasonably detailed history about what the point there is but um i think the work is ongoing i

[1:39:00] Trustee Middleton (probable): think what william pointed out before is that's totally part and parcel of where we were trying

[1:39:04] Trustee Middleton (probable): to go with it we knew it would take time we knew it would be an effort bigger than the local trust

[1:39:08] Trustee Middleton (probable): committee and it's proceeding so but I admit that Robert is right they do they

[1:39:18] Trustee Middleton (probable): do read vaguely so we might want to do some housekeeping in reworking or

[1:39:22] Trustee Middleton (probable): rewarding them at some point but I'm not sure we need to do that right now well

[1:39:27] Trustee Patrick: thank you and also pleased to report trustee Brent that the round table is

[1:39:33] Trustee Patrick: for the freshwater strategy for the trust area is proceeding and is getting formed and they have a

[1:39:41] Trustee Patrick: series of workshops planned over the next March and April and May I believe so I'm excited to

[1:39:48] Trustee Patrick: see that work proceed I think some of this is going to all hopefully hopefully get caught

[1:39:53] Trustee Patrick: together so I that's at least that'll be my job if I can have a voice on that table

[1:40:00] Trustee Patrick: all right any other discussions then so thank you moving on we have a applications

[1:40:09] Trustee Patrick: list here are there any questions on any of the applications

[1:40:14] Trustee Patrick: no

[1:40:17] Trustee Middleton (probable): thank you can i

[1:40:19] Planner: just provide a quick comment there yes i just i did review the list and we've

[1:40:24] Planner: removed now the mr crooks uh uh mr uh ilio uh the one file uh i i contacted mr uh mr crooks or sorry

[1:40:37] Planner: uh ron hall regarding the other uh potential rezoning application with that request for that

[1:40:43] Planner: small portion of uh mr crooks is a lot to go to industrial and they're still uh having discussions

[1:40:50] Planner: And so, but everything is more up to date and I am up to speed with all of those files now so.

[1:40:59] Trustee Patrick: Great. And I think if you could also follow up apparently having the former planners name listed somewhere on the Saturn a website page if you could find that as a trustee.

[1:41:11] Planner: that in

[1:41:12] Voice 14: the follow-up

[1:41:12] Trustee Patrick: trustee brent so

[1:41:14] Voice 14: that's not under planner or planner hours but it is

[1:41:18] Voice 14: under meeting calendar and agendas it does refer to the that little sidebar where it says meeting

[1:41:24] Voice 14: calendar and agenda um it's uh it shows it goes uh gary but under planner planner hours or planner

[1:41:35] Voice 14: or availability or whatever it's called.

[1:41:38] Voice 14: Your name is there, Brad.

[1:41:40] Voice 12: Thank you.

[1:41:41] Voice 12: I'll have Maple update that.

[1:41:44] Trustee Patrick: Thanks, sir.

[1:41:44] Trustee Patrick: Yeah.

[1:41:45] Trustee Patrick: Always these very things.

[1:41:47] Trustee Patrick: And eventually there'll be a new website

[1:41:48] Trustee Patrick: coming one of these days.

[1:41:50] Trustee Patrick: Okay.

[1:41:51] Trustee Patrick: Any other questions on applications?

[1:41:53] Trustee Patrick: Then we'll proceed.

[1:41:56] Trustee Patrick: There is the Trust Conservancy Report

[1:41:59] Trustee Patrick: is here primarily for information.

[1:42:02] Trustee Patrick: It's always important to read what's going on

[1:42:04] Trustee Patrick: with the trust conservancy um

[1:42:06] Voice 14: have we received that all

[1:42:08] Trustee Patrick: right is there a second yeah the second

[1:42:10] Voice 14: then all

[1:42:11] Trustee Patrick: right uh i'll call the vote then all those in favor and that's carried that report's

[1:42:17] Trustee Patrick: been received um we have um also the information here on the forest conservation outreach campaign

[1:42:25] Trustee Patrick: that they undertook is here for your information and i should also point out that through the

[1:42:30] Trustee Patrick: coastal douglas fir work on salt spring uh they're producing um quite a bit of uh educational material

[1:42:38] Trustee Patrick: on how to be a good steward of forests that will be quite useful to other islands as well so looking

[1:42:44] Trustee Patrick: forward to that getting it's getting very close to being done and they tried to create very user

[1:42:49] Trustee Patrick: friendly to people you know basically owners of lots people who are already you know living how

[1:42:53] Trustee Patrick: to live amongst the coastal douglas spur and take care of it so um we have oh yes oh

[1:43:02] Trustee Middleton (probable): no it's good

[1:43:03] Trustee Middleton (probable): the under

[1:43:06] Trustee Patrick: new business so there is this uh i can talk to this even though it's signed by uh chair

[1:43:12] Trustee Patrick: luckham because i'm the one that advocated for this sort of along the lines of what paul was

[1:43:16] Trustee Patrick: saying in the beginning of the meeting about working cooperatively together um this i so

[1:43:23] Trustee Patrick: So many of the islands in the Southern Gulf Islands

[1:43:25] Trustee Patrick: have been working on short-term vacation rentals.

[1:43:26] Trustee Patrick: It's either legal, illegal.

[1:43:29] Trustee Patrick: Some islands are, I can speak for Salt Spring,

[1:43:31] Trustee Patrick: some islands are having considerable challenges

[1:43:33] Trustee Patrick: with by-law enforcement.

[1:43:35] Trustee Patrick: And so what I wanted to do was just have a chance

[1:43:41] Trustee Patrick: for the islands to come together.

[1:43:42] Trustee Patrick: Every island has appointed one person

[1:43:44] Trustee Patrick: to participate into a meeting and explore.

[1:43:48] Trustee Patrick: Are there other tools such as business licenses

[1:43:52] Trustee Patrick: or other tools that may be better or available that as a region if we had a stronger voice to

[1:43:59] Trustee Patrick: bringing attention to to such things I can tell you that Adam Olson's already said either he or

[1:44:05] Trustee Patrick: his staff would come to such meeting as well just to have that opportunity to say as a region are

[1:44:12] Trustee Patrick: there things that are we could have a voice so I

[1:44:18] Voice 14: think it's a good idea although I'm sort of

[1:44:22] Voice 14: meeting doubt. I look to what the San Juans has done in respect of their short-term vacation

[1:44:30] Voice 14: rentals. And so they're basically, from what I understand, they effectively have business

[1:44:36] Voice 14: licenses. They have to be registered. They have to be approved. And I believe if my, again,

[1:44:43] Voice 14: fading memory serves correct, is that a portion of the revenue they receive goes to either

[1:44:48] Voice 14: they're um affordable housing or some other initiative and it seems to be working very well

[1:44:54] Voice 14: there so they've they've controlled the number and uh they've also controlled uh you know how

[1:45:00] Voice 14: they operate and in a way that at least the counselors that we talked to uh from the san

[1:45:07] Voice 14: juan seem really happy with so boy if we could do something like that um yeah business

[1:45:12] Trustee Patrick: licenses are

[1:45:14] Trustee Patrick: are the common tool that is used amongst most regions and it's just we don't have that tool

[1:45:21] Trustee Patrick: in our toolbox only the crd can implement that tool so that's where working together

[1:45:26] Trustee Patrick: you know we could work better together to manage this issue agreed

[1:45:32] Voice 14: so

[1:45:34] Trustee Patrick: i guess

[1:45:35] Voice 14: does that mean i'm

[1:45:36] Voice 14: going to be the one well

[1:45:37] Trustee Patrick: i'll look

[1:45:38] Voice 14: at trustee middleton

[1:45:39] Trustee Patrick: paul where i think we're imagining

[1:45:41] Trustee Patrick: just have a hopefully short meeting via whether or not it goes beyond that I

[1:45:46] Trustee Patrick: think it was just to get the group together to say are we missing tools as

[1:45:50] Trustee Patrick: a region is there an appetite as a region to do more work or not so this is

[1:45:55] Trustee Patrick: just a preliminary meeting where it goes don't know

[1:46:00] Trustee Middleton (probable): certainly support the concept

[1:46:01] Trustee Middleton (probable): of the regional brain trust in terms of what other islands have done and yeah

[1:46:07] Trustee Middleton (probable): Yeah, if Paul doesn't, you know, have the time to attend,

[1:46:14] Trustee Middleton (probable): which I'm sure he doesn't, but he might anyway,

[1:46:16] Trustee Middleton (probable): because he loves this topic, I'm sure.

[1:46:18] Trustee Middleton (probable): You know, I'm happy to attend in his place.

[1:46:25] Trustee Middleton (probable): But, Trustee Brent,

[1:46:27] Trustee Middleton (probable): do you have an overwhelming desire

[1:46:28] Trustee Middleton (probable): to attend this meeting?

[1:46:30] Voice 14: I certainly do not.

[1:46:32] Voice 14: But if it is going to involve the CRD, I probably should.

[1:46:36] Voice 14: Good. So, yeah, it's an

[1:46:38] Voice 14: interesting topic. And yeah,

[1:46:42] Trustee Middleton (probable): I probably should.

[1:46:44] Trustee Middleton (probable): I vote you attend this meeting on behalf of the local trust committee.

[1:46:49] Trustee Patrick: Is there a second to that? I'll second

[1:46:51] Trustee Patrick: that motion. Any discussion?

[1:46:56] Voice 5: No.

[1:46:58] Trustee Patrick: All those in favor? Carried. So thank you, Paul.

[1:47:02] Trustee Patrick: Paul, I did hear Lee say that he'll step in if you're unable to attend the meeting.

[1:47:08] Trustee Patrick: So and now I think this was the last island to appoint.

[1:47:12] Trustee Patrick: So now the Salt Spring staff will move towards scheduling a meeting at some point.

[1:47:17] Trustee Middleton (probable): Yeah, no, thank you for the initiative.

[1:47:19] Trustee Middleton (probable): It's a good idea.

[1:47:20] Trustee Middleton (probable): And thanks for going, Paul.

[1:47:21] Trustee Middleton (probable): It's important stuff.

[1:47:22] Trustee Middleton (probable): So appreciate it.

[1:47:23] Trustee Patrick: It is.

[1:47:24] Trustee Patrick: And we're getting a, I don't want to even go there.

[1:47:27] Trustee Patrick: It's a fun topic.

[1:47:28] Trustee Patrick: All right.

[1:47:29] Trustee Patrick: under 16.1 we do have to read this electronic meeting um motion would one of you like to do that

[1:47:36] Trustee Patrick: sure

[1:47:37] Trustee Middleton (probable): i can read it um that in order to meet the principles of openness transparency

[1:47:43] Trustee Middleton (probable): and accessibility meetings of the certain island local trust committee will be held electronically

[1:47:48] Trustee Middleton (probable): until ministerial orders under the emergency program act and requirements or recommendations

[1:47:52] Trustee Middleton (probable): under the public health act change regarding public attendance to trust body meetings and

[1:47:58] Trustee Middleton (probable): that such meetings be live streamed and the public invited to participate in meetings

[1:48:02] Trustee Middleton (probable): by connecting to the link or the phone number provided in the meeting notice in order to observe

[1:48:07] Trustee Middleton (probable): proceedings and speak when invited by the chair is

[1:48:11] Trustee Patrick: there a second a second

[1:48:13] Trustee Patrick: by trustee brent any

[1:48:15] Trustee Patrick: discussion call the vote all those in favor and jerry's looking forward to a time when we are

[1:48:22] Trustee Patrick: are beyond this pandemic I think we all are so our next meeting is not scheduled till May a very

[1:48:29] Trustee Patrick: warmer time of the year and this is a opportunity for a second town hall we don't rework any of the

[1:48:38] Trustee Patrick: decisions we made today but is there anyone that wishes to address us during the second town hall

[1:48:45] Trustee Patrick: raise your hand at the center of the screen not seeing any as you know your trustees always

[1:48:56] Trustee Patrick: want to hear from you so please reach out and then and tell us your thoughts

[1:49:03] Trustee Patrick: all at any time so that I need a motion to adjourn

[1:49:08] Trustee Middleton (probable): moved

[1:49:09] Trustee Patrick: is there a second second that all

[1:49:13] Trustee Patrick: right call the vote all those in favor

[1:49:16] Trustee Patrick: and we are adjourned so thank you guys that was a good meeting and do we

[1:49:22] Voice 14: Do we actually,

[1:49:22] Voice 14: do we need a seconder for a motion to adjourn?

[1:49:26] Trustee Patrick: Probably not.

[1:49:28] Voice 14: I've always wondered about that.

[1:49:30] Voice 14: So maybe next we'll get an expert.

[1:49:32] Voice 14: Robert Kojima, could you?

[1:49:37] Trustee Patrick: I'll do homework between now and the next meeting and have my Robert's Rules of Order in order for that so I can answer that question better.

[1:49:45] Trustee Patrick: Okay?

[1:49:46] Voice 14: Okay.

[1:49:47] Voice 14: I just figured

[1:49:48] Voice 14: Robert would know off the top of his head.

[1:49:50] Voice 14: I don't.

[1:49:51] Trustee Patrick: Robert should know Robert's rules of order

[1:49:53] Trustee Patrick: they're his rules

[1:49:57] Trustee Middleton (probable): I'd

[1:49:58] Trustee Patrick: just like to

[1:50:00] Trustee Middleton (probable): thank you all

[1:50:02] Trustee Middleton (probable): thanks

[1:50:03] Trustee Middleton (probable): good meeting thanks

[1:50:05] Voice 4: have

[1:50:06] Planner: a good afternoon everyone thank you

[1:50:08] Planner: thank you bye

Saturna Local Trust Committee   
Electronic Business Meeting Minutes 
February 18, 2021                                                                  ADOPTED                                                    Page 1 of 6 
 
 
  Saturna Island Local Trust Committee 
Minutes of Regular Meeting 
 
Date: 
Location: 
February 18, 2021 
Electronic Meeting (Zoom Webinar) 
 
Members Present: Laura Patrick, Chair 
 Lee Middleton, Local Trustee 
 Paul Brent, Local Trustee 
  
Staff Present: Robert Kojima, Regional Planning Manager 
 Brad Smith, Senior Planner 
Phil Testemale, Planner 2 
William Shulba, Freshwater Specialist 
Carly Bilney, Recorder 
Maple Hung, Planning Assistant (Host) 
  
Public: There were approximately 3 attendees in the Zoom Webinar.  
 
1. CALL TO ORDER 
Chair Patrick called the meeting to order at 11:33 a.m. She acknowledged that the meeting was 
being held in traditional territory of the Coast Salish First Nations. 
2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA 
By general consent the agenda was approved as presented. 
3. TRUSTEE REPORT 
Trustee Middleton reported on the following: 
 A committee has been established to seek a consultant in its review of the Islands Trust; 
 The review is seeking to assess how well the Islands Trust is achieving its mandate to 
preserve and protect; and 
 The review is designed to build the Islands Trust's organizational sustainability. 
Trustee Brent reported on the following: 
 As alternate director for the Capital Regional District (CRD), Trustee Brent has attended 
Parks and Recreation Commission meetings as well as meetings related to water service, 
First Nations topics, transportation, finance and regional issues; and 
 There are many opportunities for increased collaboration between the Regional District 
and the Islands Trust. 
 
4. CHAIR'S REPORT 
AD O P T E D 
   
 
 

  
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February 18, 2021                                                                  ADOPTED                                                    Page 2 of 6 
 
Chair Patrick reported on the following: 
 The next Trust Council meeting is scheduled for March 9-11; 
 There is an open house meeting scheduled for March 3, which will include an 
opportunity to submit questions related to the policy statement work; and 
 The budget will be passed at the March meeting.  
 
5. TOWN HALL AND QUESTIONS 
Town Hall was held and the following comments were made: 
 Support was expressed for SA-DVP-2020.1 (Peretz); 
 Support was expressed for including an ecological consideration in assessing SA-DVP-
2020.1 (Peretz); 
 Trustees were urged to continue the work begun to resolve parking issues near the 
Saturna Point Store; and 
 A desire was expressed for the Local Trust Committee (LTC) to set ecological baselines 
that can be measured against in the future. 
6. COMMUNITY INFORMATION MEETING 
None 
7. PUBLIC HEARING 
None 
8. MINUTES 
8.1 Local Trust Committee Minutes Dated January 26, 2021 (for Adoption) 
The following amendment to the minutes were presented for consideration: 
On top of page 7 of the current agenda package (page 4 of the January 26, 2021 LTC 
Minutes), says, “It was agreed that Planner Smith will communicate with original 
meeting participants and coordinate with agencies for a future meeting.” 
The suggested amendment would change the sentence to say, “It was agreed Trustees 
will communicate...” 
By general consent the minutes were adopted as amended. 
8.2 Local Trust Committee Bylaws No. 129 and 130 Public Hearing Record Dated January 
26, 2021 (For Receipt) 
Received for information. 
8.3 Local Trust Committee Bylaw No. 132 Public Hearing Record Dated January 26, 2021 
(For Receipt) 
Received for information. 
8.4 Section 26 Resolutions-without-meeting Report – None 
 
9. BUSINESS ARISING FROM THE MINUTES 

  
Saturna Local Trust Committee   
Electronic Business Meeting Minutes 
February 18, 2021                                                                  ADOPTED                                                    Page 3 of 6 
 
9.1 Follow-up Action List Dated February 2021 
Discussion was held about interim sanctuary zones for the recovery of Southern 
Resident Killer Whales and the following comments were made: 
 Laws regarding the issue are not yet harmonized between Washington State and 
British Columbia; 
 The commercial whale watching season will be severely impacted if the 
US/Canada border remains closed throughout the summer; and 
 The LTC will support Transport Canada in its outreach initiatives regarding the 
sanctuary zones. 
10. DELEGATIONS 
 None 
11. CORRESPONDENCE 
Correspondence received concerning current applications or projects is posted to the LTC 
webpage 
12. APPLICATIONS AND REFERRALS 
 
12.1 SA-DVP-2020.1 (Peretz) - Staff Report 
  
Planner Testemale provided a summary of the report regarding SA-DVP-2020.1 (Peretz). 
 
SA-2021-001 
It was Moved and Seconded, 
that the Saturna Island Local Trust Committee approve issuance of Development 
Variance Permit application SA-DVP-2020.1 (Peretz); and 
                             
 CARRIED 
SA-2021-002 
It was Moved and Seconded, 
that the Saturna Island Local Trust Committee exempt Lots A and B of the 
proposed subdivision of Lot 3, Section 18, Saturna Island, Cowichan District, Plan 
11979, Except Part in Plan 17076 (SA-SUB-2020.1 [Peretz]) from the 1/10 
perimeter provision of Section 512 of the Local Government Act.  
                                CARRIED 
13. LOCAL TRUST COMMITTEE PROJECTS 
13.1 Groundwater Sustainability Project – Presentation by William Shulba  
Islands Trust Groundwater Specialist William Shulba presented the Groundwater 
Sustainability Strategy and the following comments were made: 
 The project provides important empirical information on groundwater in the 
Islands Trust region; 
 The project will allow the LTC to consider next steps and staff to do further 
analysis with respect to the Official Community Plan and Land Use Bylaws and 
new policies; 

  
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Electronic Business Meeting Minutes 
February 18, 2021                                                                  ADOPTED                                                    Page 4 of 6 
 
 Galiano and North and South Pender Islands have made this a top priority 
project, while Mayne Island has chosen to see how the project unfolds on other 
islands; and 
 The Regional Planning Committee has received a briefing of the technical review 
of the project as well as a briefing on the applicability of the groundwater 
mapping to land-use planning and conservation. 
 
14. REPORTS 
14.1 Work Program Reports  
14.1.1 Top Priorities Report Dated February 2021 
Received for information. 
Discussion was held about time constraints and whether or not the parking 
project should be addressed by the LTC within the public sphere or handled, 
instead, by residents. 
14.1.2 Projects List Report Dated February 2021 
Received for information. 
14.1.3 Review of Projects – Discussion 
Received for information. 
By general consent item 2 - Amenity Zoning and Accessible Housing 
Review – and item 5 – Watershed Lands - DPA – were removed from the 
Projects Report. 
Discussion was held about whether rainwater catchment could be a sustainable 
primary supply of water and whether cisterns should be required; the following 
comments were made: 
 Water storage is useful; 
 Requiring that a building be equipped with a cistern is difficult as current 
bylaws do not adequately define cistern; 
 Requiring water storage and determining what water source goes into 
cisterns (eg. rainwater vs groundwater storage) are two separate 
considerations; 
 Local Trust Committees taking this issue up in a regional approach would 
strengthen regulatory resolve; and 
 There is need to provide clarification on items 3 and 4 of the Projects List  
– Review of drinking water regulations and Secondary suites - potable 
water source.  
 
 
 
 

  
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Electronic Business Meeting Minutes 
February 18, 2021                                                                  ADOPTED                                                    Page 5 of 6 
 
14.2 Applications Report Dated February 2021  
Received for information.  
14.3 Trustee and Local Expense Report Dated December 2020  
Received for information.  
14.4 Adopted Policies and Standing Resolutions  
Received for information.  
14.5 Local Trust Committee Webpage 
14.6 Islands Trust Conservancy Report Dated November 24, 2020  
SA-2021-003  
It was Moved and Seconded,  
that the Islands Trust Conservancy Report has been received. 
           CARRIED 
14.7 ITC Forest Conservation Outreach Campaign - Briefing November 2020 (attached) 
Received for information.  
15. NEW BUSINESS 
15.1 Salt Spring LTC Letter re Short Term Vacation Rental Communications and Strategies  
Chair Patrick described the initiative led by Salt Spring LTC regarding Short Term 
Vacation Rental strategies.  
SA-2021-004 
It was Moved and Seconded,  
that Trustee Brent would attend the meeting re Short Term Vacation Rental 
Communications and Strategies. 
CARRIED 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

  
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Electronic Business Meeting Minutes 
February 18, 2021                                                                  ADOPTED                                                    Page 6 of 6 
 
16. UPCOMING MEETINGS 
16.1 Electronic Meetings 
SA-2021-005 
It was Moved and Seconded, 
that in order to meet the principles of openness, transparency, and accessibility, 
meetings of the Saturna Island Local Trust Committee will be held electronically 
until Ministerial Orders under the Emergency Program Act and requirements or 
recommendations under the Public Health Act change regarding public 
attendance at trust body meetings; and that such meetings be live streamed, 
and the public invited to participate in meetings by connecting to the link or the 
phone number provided in the meeting notice, in order to observe proceedings 
and speak when invited by the Chair. 
                             CARRIED 
 
16.2 Next Regular Meeting Scheduled for May 20, 2021 - Location: TBD 
17. TOWN HALL  
No comments were made. 
18. CLOSED MEETING 
None 
19. ADJOURNMENT 
By general consent the meeting was adjourned at 1:20 p.m. 
 
____________________________ 
Laura Patrick, Chair 
 
Certified Correct: 
 
_______________________ 
Carly Bilney, Recorder