Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee regular meeting, May 20, 2021

[0:00:00] Voice 2: Anyone who wants to join in might be looking to join in now.

[0:00:02] Voice 2: Who knows how exciting this could be.

[0:00:05] Voice 2: Just giving you all a heads up and yeah.

[0:00:09] Voice 6: Okay.

[0:00:15] Voice 6: I certainly hope we have more than current three members participating.

[0:00:21] Voice 6: Yeah.

[0:00:23] Voice 1: In the chair, it's going to join us soon.

[0:00:28] Voice 1: Then we'll have a quorum.

[0:00:32] Voice 2: Okay.

[0:00:32] Voice 2: I was also informed by email that Bob McKay is counting bicycles.

[0:00:42] Voice 2: Counting bicycles. Okay.

[0:00:44] Voice 2: And we'll be here by 10.05, hopefully.

[0:00:48] Voice 2: I

[0:01:01] Voice 7: have a whole bunch of bicycles in my garage. Do I need to send an email to him?

[0:01:09] Voice 6: That's right, David. I forgot. You probably have 10. Am I mistaken? Close?

[0:01:18] Voice 7: Well, since it's public now, maybe I don't have any.

[0:01:29] Voice 6: Hi, Jenny.

[0:01:33] Voice 6: Morning, Jenny.

[0:01:34] Voice 6: Jenny may be on mute, I think, so far.

[0:01:46] Voice 6: We have anyone else yet?

[0:02:02] Voice 3: I guess. Where are my kids?

[0:02:04] Voice 6: There you are, Jenny. How are you?

[0:02:09] Voice 6: Can you hear us, Jenny?

[0:02:20] Voice 4: I have Jenny on two screens for some reason.

[0:02:24] Voice 4: Yeah, I do too. That's interesting.

[0:02:34] Voice 4: Hopefully that doesn't mean she gets two votes.

[0:02:36] Voice 4: good

[0:02:37] Voice 8: morning

[0:02:51] Voice 4: everybody can you hear me good morning sebastian hi sebastian morning

[0:02:59] Voice 1: i wonder

[0:03:02] Voice 1: if we wait till 1005 if mike uh being the vice chair if you don't mind start the meeting because

[0:03:08] Voice 1: technically you should start at 10 okay

[0:03:12] Voice 6: you want me to start it now or you want to wait till 1005

[0:03:15] Voice 6: 10.05.

[0:03:16] Voice 6: Okay.

[0:03:18] Voice 1: Because we spoke with Robin earlier.

[0:03:20] Voice 1: We know she's coming.

[0:03:22] Voice 6: Okay.

[0:03:22] Voice 6: Good.

[0:04:24] Voice 1: It's 10.05.

[0:04:29] Voice 1: Mike, would you mind maybe start the roll call, and then we could go to the approval

[0:04:35] Voice 1: agenda.

[0:04:36] Voice 1: Hopefully, people will show up by then.

[0:04:39] Voice 6: Okay.

[0:04:40] Voice 6: Well, we'll call the meeting to order, and let me see who we have here.

[0:04:48] Voice 6: So, we have David Dunison, John Gauld, Sebastian Moffitt, Jenny McClain, and I am here, and

[0:05:04] Voice 6: everyone else's staff, I believe, except perhaps Sarah, who is a guest, viewing the meeting.

[0:05:12] Voice 6: Great.

[0:05:15] Voice 6: And we have Bob.

[0:05:21] Voice 6: Doesn't look very much like Bob, but-

[0:05:23] Voice 6: No,

[0:05:23] Voice 4: not on my screen either.

[0:05:26] Voice 6: Is that Bob?

[0:05:28] Voice 6: Bob's signing on.

[0:05:31] Voice 9: No, I'm in Bob's garden because Brian is on another Wi-Fi Zoom call at home,

[0:05:38] Voice 9: and we didn't think we'd have enough bandwidth.

[0:05:41] Voice 6: Ah, well, then I can hand it off to the chairwoman in charge of the meeting, I guess.

[0:05:49] Voice 6: Go

[0:05:50] Voice 8: ahead, Mike. You're doing great.

[0:05:51] Voice 8: We're

[0:05:51] Voice 6: just done a roll call. We have, I believe, five now or six members, six, six members of the meeting. So I have to go back to the

[0:06:09] Voice 6: Approval of the agenda.

[0:06:13] Voice 6: Can we have

[0:06:15] Voice 6: Do we take a voice vote on the approval of the agenda.

[0:06:20] Voice 6: Louisa

[0:06:22] Voice 1: I make a motion and second, and then you can vote.

[0:06:26] Voice 6: Okay. So I move that we approve the agenda as printed out earlier. We have a second. Any discussion? Okay. All those in favor,

[0:06:43] Voice 4: raise your hands.

[0:06:44] Voice 4: No, hang on. I have a comment on the agenda if I could.

[0:06:47] Voice 4: Oh, sorry. I missed that. Sorry. Go ahead.

[0:06:50] Voice 6: Well,

[0:06:51] Voice 4: I'm just wondering whether there's a typo in item number six. It says that we're moving to the roundtable discussion at 1035. And I'm guessing that might be 1135. That's a very long roundtable and a very short discussion on item five.

[0:07:06] Voice 6: Yeah, that is a good question.

[0:07:10] Voice 1: It's not a typo. Number five is essentially staff presenting what you're going to talk about. The intent is really allowing the task force to have more time for discussion.

[0:07:22] Voice 6: Okay.

[0:07:23] Voice 4: Thank you.

[0:07:24] Voice 6: And can I ask a question regarding the abbreviated letters GVAP? Is that our group or is that the 2007 group?

[0:07:37] Voice 1: GVAP is Ganges Village Area Plan. That's the acronym for it. So it's new.

[0:07:43] Voice 6: So that's new. Okay. So throughout the earlier document from 2007, there were several references to GVAP, either approving or supporting, etc.

[0:08:00] Voice 6: Was that the Ganges Village Area Plan Group of 2007, or is that supposed to be where we come in and can make comment on it?

[0:08:10] Voice 1: So, Vice Chair, I suggest we approve the agenda, and then we can talk about that one way on that item.

[0:08:19] Voice 6: All right.

[0:08:20] Voice 6: If we could have a show of hands, please, of all those that approved the agenda, and that passes unanimously.

[0:08:34] Voice 6: Hi, Bob.

[0:08:36] Voice 6: Hello.

[0:08:37] Voice 6: Morning, Bob.

[0:08:40] Voice 6: So we've got two Bob's on the screen one looks like him and the other one maybe not.

[0:08:45] Voice 6: Okay, great.

[0:08:49] Voice 6: All right, next on the agenda.

[0:08:52] Voice 6: The previous meeting approval of the draft minutes for April 15, I'm unaware. Did we receive the draft minutes for viewing or not.

[0:09:08] Voice 1: Rob, can you answer that? I thought it was being sent to you. I apologize if you haven't received it. We can certainly add it to the next one so you can approve, I guess, the prior meeting minutes and this one.

[0:09:31] Voice 6: Could you say that again? Are you suggesting we approve them now without seeing them or wait until next meeting?

[0:09:39] Voice 6: What

[0:09:40] Voice 1: I'm saying is, sorry, Vice Chair, I wasn't aware that it wasn't in the packet, so if you have not received the minutes, we will include it for the next meeting, so you will

[0:09:52] Voice 1: get both minutes, and apologies on our end, I was not realizing that.

[0:09:58] Voice 6: Not a problem, not a problem. Okay, so we'll wait, number two will be tabled until next meeting.

[0:10:05] Voice 6: Now, acceptance of the Ganges Village Area Plan Task Force Work Plan, Attachment Work Plan, and Attachment Work Plan Timetable.

[0:10:17] Voice 6: I believe we should open this for discussion first.

[0:10:22] Voice 1: I can certainly make a brief presentation on that.

[0:10:25] Voice 6: Okay.

[0:10:26] Voice 1: And now that the chair is back, if you wish, you can hand it back to the chair to run the meeting.

[0:10:34] Voice 1: I

[0:10:35] Voice 6: would love to do that. Be my guest.

[0:10:38] Voice 1: So that's okay, Chair. Madam Chair, I will just quickly go through what we showed on the packet.

[0:10:48] Voice 8: Yes.

[0:10:54] Voice 1: Okay. So as the task force members, remember last time we provided you with the work plan and the timeline, it was much more detailed and there were some questions and comments raised.

[0:11:11] Voice 1: and so we decided we're just going to make it very simple mainly because as part of the terms

[0:11:18] Voice 1: of reference the task force has to approve the work plan so rather than spending the energy on

[0:11:24] Voice 1: talking about the work plan that you have to approve because that's part of the requirement

[0:11:29] Voice 1: we're just making it really simple the intent is just so that we have a work plan being approved

[0:11:34] Voice 1: and it's consistent with the project charter so we're not deviating from it and we right now

[0:11:41] Voice 1: Now what's shown before you is the first stage is already done.

[0:11:45] Voice 1: We have our first meeting.

[0:11:46] Voice 1: So the major part of the task force, your energy is spent on this next stage, which is talking about the development of the vision, the area plan content, and also participate in the public engagement activities.

[0:12:02] Voice 1: And that will take you to probably the summer, the end of summer of next year.

[0:12:07] Voice 1: We're not using anything that's of any substance, it's very general.

[0:12:12] Voice 1: So you're making sure that you're comfortable in approving the work plan.

[0:12:18] Voice 1: There's still a lot of room to add any ideas you want within the year that you want to

[0:12:24] Voice 1: talk about.

[0:12:24] Voice 1: And then there will be the stage of reviewing the draft of the area plan and then the final

[0:12:31] Voice 1: adoption.

[0:12:31] Voice 1: So the timeline that we propose essentially does, if you can see my cursor on the screen, this is where the big chunk of it for the task force to get together is the formation.

[0:12:46] Voice 1: you brainstorm with ideas you talk about potential solutions you talk about policies and all that

[0:12:53] Voice 1: staff in the background will continuously put things together continuously bring it forward

[0:13:00] Voice 1: for you to review and by the end of next year in the summer this is the stage where you're almost

[0:13:06] Voice 1: all done and it's really you will be perhaps still engaged in the amendment of the official

[0:13:15] Voice 1: community plan in order to include this standalone area plan. By reference, it has to be part of the

[0:13:22] Voice 1: OCP. So the end stage is mostly the technical legal side of things that you no longer need to

[0:13:29] Voice 1: be involved in it. You know, take it to LTC, take it to the minister. So that's the timeline. So

[0:13:36] Voice 1: essentially, we are now at the stage where you will have a lot of brainstorming, a lot of

[0:13:41] Voice 1: discussions and so we encourage you to just approve this uh kind of a work plan some of the

[0:13:51] Voice 1: formation and the reason why the task force is being here so that we can move on to the next

[0:13:57] Voice 1: stage so that's for this item thank you chair thank

[0:14:04] Voice 9: you louisa are there any comments or

[0:14:06] Voice 9: questions on that i

[0:14:08] Voice 6: have a quick question regarding the timing um which is the timeline

[0:14:12] Voice 6: line and maybe we're not going to vote on that as as the same item but a separate item but either way

[0:14:19] Voice 6: it's mentioned in the agenda now uh louisa that um we would be making our sort of final

[0:14:27] Voice 6: recommendations before public uh engagement would be by july of 2022 is is the hope um

[0:14:36] Voice 6: Is that sort of set in stone or because I noticed that with public engagement, it goes well beyond the current terms of the islands trustees.

[0:14:47] Voice 6: And as I mentioned in the last meeting, I think it's important that we try to reach a decision, create an ability to obtain a decision on our work with the current trustees in office, since they were the ones that appointed this task force.

[0:15:09] Voice 6: So I guess my question is, are those dates set if we vote to approve this agenda or can the dates be flexible?

[0:15:20] Voice 1: I know through you, Chair, it's impossible to predict the dates and we don't know what kind of technical challenge we're running to on certain topics.

[0:15:31] Voice 1: so this is really just tentative you approved it in principle and you you approved it because then

[0:15:39] Voice 1: you know again like i said it's the terms of reference dictated that the task force need to

[0:15:44] Voice 1: have a work plan so staff is proposing this framework for you to work on and it's not

[0:15:50] Voice 1: casting stone uh it could be longer or it could be shorter it really depends

[0:15:55] Voice 1: hands. Okay.

[0:15:59] Voice 9: I'm just curious about the public engagement activities. Is that something you

[0:16:03] Voice 9: guys have already designed and have plans for today? So,

[0:16:10] Voice 1: Chair, once we get through the framework,

[0:16:14] Voice 1: the next two items will give you a better idea. We're going to actually brief you on the public

[0:16:20] Voice 1: engagement portion of it.

[0:16:23] Voice 9: Okay. Just to respond to what Mike was saying, is there an interim

[0:16:27] Voice 9: timeline item that says you know we we come up with the elements that we want to focus on and

[0:16:34] Voice 9: the and the priorities before the public engagement and that deadline is something

[0:16:39] Voice 9: like September 2021 for us to complete those elements and then we engage with the public

[0:16:45] Voice 9: is that what you were getting at Mike and that's ahead of the election well

[0:16:51] Voice 6: I was saying perhaps

[0:16:52] Voice 6: perhaps by September 2022, because the election, I think, is in October 2022.

[0:16:57] Voice 6: But, I mean, that would still be pressing things right to the end.

[0:17:02] Voice 6: And I'm hoping that we can finish our work and our recommendations even prior to July of 2022,

[0:17:10] Voice 6: so that the LTC can review and we'll have public engagement while the current trustees are in office.

[0:17:20] Voice 6: I would like to hear what other members of the task force feel about that.

[0:17:35] Voice 9: Go ahead, John.

[0:17:37] Voice 4: I think it's an excellent point that Mike makes and I agree with him.

[0:17:41] Voice 4: I think if we have a draft plan out by July, as it shows here, that will have any substantial

[0:17:50] Voice 4: recommendations that are going to be important enough to the local trust committee that it

[0:17:55] Voice 4: if we're, you know, somehow an election platform issue or something like that,

[0:18:00] Voice 4: that I think that would be in time.

[0:18:02] Voice 4: And I think it's just getting that draft report out.

[0:18:04] Voice 4: So I support what Mike's saying.

[0:18:07] Voice 4: And I think we should be diligent to make sure we do complete a draft with

[0:18:11] Voice 4: the, with the preliminary recommendations.

[0:18:13] Voice 4: So that's all clear well in advance of the election,

[0:18:16] Voice 4: but I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm content with the current schedule,

[0:18:18] Voice 4: but I'm also determined that we stick to that schedule so that we do get the

[0:18:23] Voice 4: election.

[0:18:24] Voice 9: Yeah, I'd like to make a motion that we accept this work plan.

[0:18:27] Voice 9: Did you raise your hand, David?

[0:18:30] Voice 9: I missed that.

[0:18:31] Voice 9: Okay.

[0:18:32] Voice 9: That we, are you seconding that?

[0:18:36] Voice 6: Sebastian's raising his hand.

[0:18:38] Voice 6: Yeah, I would like to make a comment here.

[0:18:40] Voice 6: I'm not

[0:18:40] Voice 10: quite sure what I want to say,

[0:18:42] Voice 10: but I know that I like what Louise is saying

[0:18:46] Voice 10: and about the whole intent of let's just get something

[0:18:49] Voice 10: that's conceptually we can work within and move on

[0:18:52] Voice 10: and work the details out later I think that's absolutely the right way to go

[0:18:57] Voice 10: that said I don't like this Gantt chart that's there I'd like to throw it away

[0:19:03] Voice 10: it's not even draft it's just to me it's silly and it presupposes that all sorts of things are

[0:19:11] Voice 10: worked out which they're not I don't think it even helps understand the potential tasks so

[0:19:17] Voice 10: So I'd like to see that Gantt chart thrown away and something appropriate in

[0:19:22] Voice 10: terms of a set of tasks and timelines and emphasis be developed by our group

[0:19:28] Voice 10: in consultation with our champions, the trustees.

[0:19:32] Voice 10: The other thing I wanted to say is that the whole focus here is on a draft

[0:19:38] Voice 10: area plan. I mentioned this last time we were together here.

[0:19:42] Voice 10: I don't know when's the right time to talk about this,

[0:19:44] Voice 10: but I think that we are really curtailing and creating huge problems by focusing just on a

[0:19:51] Voice 10: final area plan here I don't think that and I could be wrong I don't think that's the intent

[0:19:56] Voice 10: of the trustees from what I understand and I can see how it's happening but it happened last time

[0:20:03] Voice 10: and it was a disaster I this is like deja vu I think this should be reworked somewhat so that

[0:20:09] Voice 10: that the outputs and outcomes are much broader and more in line with the objectives that have

[0:20:15] Voice 10: been set out for our group. I don't know when we talk about that, but what I really don't like is

[0:20:20] Voice 10: accepting this list. I'd rewrite that list before we accept it, even at the conceptual level to

[0:20:26] Voice 10: allow for different kinds of outputs and a more collaborative process. So I don't know. I'm happy

[0:20:32] Voice 10: to produce something and send it to you in a day or two and us to discuss that. I'm not worried

[0:20:38] Voice 10: And I think I can do something that's more flexible and accommodating than what we've got here. And I'm just worried about what we're putting in place here on paper in terms of the overall scope of what we're taking on.

[0:20:55] Voice 10: on

[0:20:55] Voice 3: um can i i think that we would probably be wise to approve this work plan because

[0:21:03] Voice 3: i actually agree with what mike is saying about trying to get something going while this current

[0:21:11] Voice 3: trustees are in place because i think that's actually really important because there is such

[0:21:17] Voice 3: an interruption of flow when there's an election and so i also think that the reason why we're

[0:21:24] Voice 3: we're doing this is because we're kind of in a social crisis on Salt Spring because of the lack

[0:21:30] Voice 3: of affordable housing and then the way that different things are being explored with whether

[0:21:37] Voice 3: or not there's enough groundwater and so there needs to be something that's from us that's kind

[0:21:42] Voice 3: of like a vision statement that needs to take place as soon as possible but I don't feel held

[0:21:46] Voice 3: back or restricted by this current schedule I mean I think we can actually as long as it's

[0:21:53] Voice 3: something written in that we can modify it or modify some of our objectives. I mean, the other

[0:22:00] Voice 3: plan worked with developing objectives, targets, and policies. So hopefully the framework we're in

[0:22:09] Voice 3: can still enable us while we're working with each other to determine our objectives, then

[0:22:14] Voice 3: what are our targets for those objectives? What kind of policies do we suggest that would

[0:22:19] Voice 3: would implement those I still I think we can do that within this framework and if we were to just

[0:22:23] Voice 3: approve it right now we could kind of just move on but if we say okay let's take it away and go

[0:22:28] Voice 3: back to the next month we're really stalling things so I actually favor approving it personally

[0:22:34] Voice 9: all right um let's uh David can we can we move on we need to get going on the rest of the um can

[0:22:41] Voice 9: you make it really short please

[0:22:43] Voice 7: sure can um so I agree with uh both Jenny and Mike I'm I'm curious

[0:22:48] Voice 7: I'm curious in terms of what Sebastian said and has offered, but as I understand, sort of rephrasing or paraphrasing Louisa, in many ways, this is just a placeholder.

[0:23:01] Voice 7: So I think a lot of what we're going to do is probably along the lines of what Sebastian was suggesting, but I definitely agree with what Jenny and Mike did.

[0:23:10] Voice 7: I'd

[0:23:11] Voice 9: like to make a motion that we approve the attachment one, okay, that's that really simple work attachment one that's the work plan, really simple and then approve attachment to but add working draft and big letters across the top and invite Sebastian to share something with us next meeting.

[0:23:39] Voice 9: Great. All those in favor. Any opposed.

[0:23:45] Voice 9: All right. Thanks. On with the agenda. Let's go. Next, acceptance of the, wait, we did that,

[0:23:55] Voice 9: to the status of 2007 report. That is pretty cool. Thank you. Lisa or Rob, are you going to speak to

[0:24:03] Voice 9: that?

[0:24:03] Voice 1: Yes. Thank you, Chair. So item four is really just to give you an update as requested by the

[0:24:11] Voice 1: task force at the last meeting to review the 2007 report so we spent actually a lot of time

[0:24:20] Voice 1: combing through the document and we make some recommendation and the question asked about the

[0:24:26] Voice 1: acronym GVAP it's just a way for us instead of spelling out the whole thing there are some

[0:24:32] Voice 1: things that we feel we can certainly incorporate into the new Ganges Village area plan so we kind

[0:24:39] Voice 1: of noted to at the end of each of their bullets uh where things that you know question asked uh

[0:24:46] Voice 1: you know if it is being implemented or not we do our best to answer those questions and like i said

[0:24:52] Voice 1: a lot a huge amount of time was spent on that and we definitely don't want to come through every

[0:24:58] Voice 1: single item with the task force because this is a 2007 report um one thing we want to point out is

[0:25:04] Voice 1: is that we don't really have the history.

[0:25:08] Voice 1: We're pretty new as SAP, we don't have any history

[0:25:12] Voice 1: and it's really difficult for us to know

[0:25:14] Voice 1: the reason why certain things are not implemented.

[0:25:18] Voice 1: Some of them are more obvious

[0:25:19] Voice 1: because you are working with local planning services.

[0:25:23] Voice 1: So we have limited jurisdictions

[0:25:25] Voice 1: and some of the things we really cannot take over.

[0:25:30] Voice 1: And so that's just our guess

[0:25:32] Voice 1: why certain things are not being implemented.

[0:25:34] Voice 1: So this is the best effort we can provide

[0:25:39] Voice 1: to the task force in reviewing the document.

[0:25:43] Voice 9: I had a quick question.

[0:25:45] Voice 9: So many of them say something like not in planning purview.

[0:25:49] Voice 9: I was wondering what is within the planning purview?

[0:25:54] Voice 1: So this is kind of interesting

[0:25:56] Voice 1: and I think it's worth you sort of bring that to discussion.

[0:26:00] Voice 1: I know in Ganges Village, as well as in other projects on Salt Spring Island, there are a lot of it that is really not within our purview because it's either done by CRD or it's really, you know, the mandate of BC Housing.

[0:26:18] Voice 1: Lots of the issues that, you know, need to be tackled, it's not within local planning services.

[0:26:26] Voice 1: But what we could do is develop the kinds of policy that is implementable, not something saying, you know, put it in the area plan to say fix the road.

[0:26:38] Voice 1: We need to reward it that it would get us there, but LPS cannot fix the road.

[0:26:44] Voice 1: we can provide policy to encourage the development standard of certain standard width certain

[0:26:51] Voice 1: standard of i guess improvement by working with crd so that's what we were saying it's not within

[0:27:00] Voice 1: our purview just to let you know in order to implement certain things that is outside our

[0:27:05] Voice 1: purview it's probably worth you a more lengthy discussion on how to achieve that um any other

[0:27:17] Voice 9: Other questions, comments, David?

[0:27:21] Voice 7: And just to repeat Mike's question for clarification.

[0:27:27] Voice 7: So where it says GVAP in this review, that is current for us.

[0:27:35] Voice 7: So that's something that we can look at, tackle, recommend, et cetera.

[0:27:40] Voice 7: Is that correct?

[0:27:42] Voice 1: Correct.

[0:27:42] Voice 1: It's just a short way for us, instead of writing a lot of notes on top of the document,

[0:27:47] Voice 1: would just say, we can pull certain elements

[0:27:50] Voice 1: into the current Genshin.

[0:27:57] Voice 7: Thanks.

[0:28:00] Voice 7: This is really helpful.

[0:28:01] Voice 7: Thank you for Stanford for doing this.

[0:28:04] Voice 7: So

[0:28:05] Voice 10: I have a question, Lisa.

[0:28:07] Voice 10: I found it very helpful going through

[0:28:09] Voice 10: and seeing all the comments.

[0:28:11] Voice 10: It was a remarkable effort and thank you for doing that.

[0:28:17] Voice 10: You were involved personally and more than one staff.

[0:28:21] Voice 10: how was that all done? It was a group effort?

[0:28:25] Voice 1: Everything we do, of course me being the project

[0:28:29] Voice 1: manager, I take the lead on it and then I delegate to staff that has the technical expertise to look

[0:28:36] Voice 1: at it. So it's a group of people and we also work with our manager as well.

[0:28:42] Voice 10: It was kind of an

[0:28:44] Voice 10: orientation of sorts for staff themselves to go through that document and see where they're

[0:28:50] Voice 10: are limited and see what's been done over the last 10 or more years so I think it was probably a good

[0:28:56] Voice 10: good start and when I when I look at all that I realize that this task force orientation

[0:29:06] Voice 10: item in our work plan it it can break down to a lot or a little as as we decide right like

[0:29:18] Voice 10: Like when I was part of the focus group that prepared that whole long list

[0:29:22] Voice 10: and we walked together all through Ganges on two different occasions.

[0:29:27] Voice 10: And then we went out in the Harbor by boat and we went all around the

[0:29:31] Voice 10: Harbor as a group.

[0:29:32] Voice 10: Then we brought in key people and ask questions and did our research.

[0:29:36] Voice 10: It's even more difficult now. I mean, I know time,

[0:29:40] Voice 10: I agree totally with Mike that we need to push. In fact,

[0:29:43] Voice 10: I think in a way we'll do a better job if we do it intensively and get it

[0:29:47] Voice 10: done with instead of spread it out but the orientation now we need to get up to speed on

[0:29:54] Voice 10: not only the new issues around the the fire hall and the market and housing affordability

[0:30:00] Voice 10: and so forth but also everything that's been done that's only fair to all the work that's been done

[0:30:05] Voice 10: it also ultimately can save us time and avoid repeating mistakes of the past so it's not a

[0:30:11] Voice 10: small item the task force orientation could be several months of us getting up to speed and

[0:30:16] Voice 10: comfortable not just with acronyms but with all the thinking and how it's changing and where we're

[0:30:21] Voice 10: at as a group we need to be comfortable with that how how does that fit into uh april 2021

[0:30:31] Voice 3: um well what i think i think um if we were doing like we all do work on our own as well and we all

[0:30:39] Voice 3: come from a certain walk of life let's say i mean uh each person bringing their own knowledge

[0:30:48] Voice 3: from what they've experienced on salt spring so like because sebastian you were involved

[0:30:53] Voice 3: you're there with the memory of all that work that was done and so you can weave that in when

[0:31:00] Voice 3: we're in our our working groups and our discussion groups so i'm hoping that you can actually be a

[0:31:06] Voice 3: living embodiment of that work that was done and you can you can weave it in and i'll stop there

[0:31:13] Voice 3: because that's just what was on my mind and i'll let others have comments all right john next

[0:31:21] Voice 4: sure well i guess i'm going to start off by saying i think that the policy the work

[0:31:25] Voice 4: was done several years ago is in my mind different than the tasks that we have in front of us in

[0:31:32] Voice 4: terms of a local area plan um but i think we're gonna have lots of discussion about that you know

[0:31:36] Voice 4: in terms of what our deliverable really is and what we should be focusing on before that i wanted

[0:31:42] Voice 4: to ask staff something because it might help on this issue and that is that the local government

[0:31:47] Voice 4: the Local Government Act talks about what should

[0:31:48] Voice 4: and should not be in an official community plan.

[0:31:51] Voice 4: And it's my understanding that a Local Area Plan

[0:31:54] Voice 4: as part of the official community plan

[0:31:55] Voice 4: would be subject to the same provisions

[0:31:57] Voice 4: of the Local Government Act.

[0:31:59] Voice 4: And if I take that, so that would be very helpful

[0:32:03] Voice 4: for the group, I think, to understand

[0:32:04] Voice 4: what the Local Government Act says to municipalities,

[0:32:09] Voice 4: this is what you must do in a Local Area Plan.

[0:32:12] Voice 4: But I also, and I don't need an answer today on this one,

[0:32:15] Voice 4: but there is a section in the Local Government Act

[0:32:18] Voice 4: and I'm just going to read it if I can quickly.

[0:32:21] Voice 4: It says, if a local government proposes to include a matter

[0:32:24] Voice 4: in an official community plan,

[0:32:26] Voice 4: the regulation of which is not in the jurisdiction

[0:32:29] Voice 4: of the local government,

[0:32:31] Voice 4: the plan may state only the broad objectives

[0:32:34] Voice 4: of the local government with respect to that matter.

[0:32:39] Voice 4: So that might help the committee if I'm correct

[0:32:43] Voice 4: act and if that is applicable to the local area plan that basically says we can't take something

[0:32:50] Voice 4: that's not in our jurisdiction like water or fire and and set a whole bunch of goals or detailed

[0:32:58] Voice 4: policies for another organization as i say we're going to have lots of discussion about about this

[0:33:04] Voice 4: but i think i would ask staff if you could get back to us on kind of an interpretation of that

[0:33:11] Voice 4: that clause. And then I'll stop at that point.

[0:33:15] Voice 1: So, Chair, if I may, I think it will be better if we

[0:33:20] Voice 1: move on to item five, because it will talk about the area plan framework, and it can help the

[0:33:26] Voice 1: discussion. I don't want to take too much time away from the roundtable discussion. So it will

[0:33:32] Voice 1: be good if I can just present you with that PowerPoint presentation. Hopefully that answers

[0:33:38] Voice 1: some of the questions that got brought up.

[0:33:41] Voice 9: I guess if I had a comment too just thank you Louisa.

[0:33:46] Voice 9: I mean this is a big document to work through like you said Sebastian and to understand I mean

[0:33:52] Voice 9: it's extraordinary and it is you know not only a plan but a strategic vision which I think is

[0:33:58] Voice 9: acceptable to you know there's a caveat in there. And I wonder if we could have like some

[0:34:06] Voice 9: some subcommittees to look through some of the past information like I really the the headings

[0:34:13] Voice 9: on that you know accessibility environmental footprint livability aesthetics you know there

[0:34:20] Voice 9: might be people interested in digging into the past on each of those and and sharing something

[0:34:25] Voice 9: or just getting up to date is there is there an interest amongst the members and sort of

[0:34:32] Voice 9: you have a process, Louisa?

[0:34:36] Voice 1: Yeah, we are very concerned about having a subgroup

[0:34:40] Voice 1: because you're appointed official,

[0:34:43] Voice 1: so you actually serve as a special project planning commission.

[0:34:48] Voice 1: So to create a subgroup,

[0:34:49] Voice 1: we need to consult with the local trust committee.

[0:34:53] Voice 1: You need to follow the community charter,

[0:34:55] Voice 1: especially regarding a quorum, regarding open meeting law.

[0:35:00] Voice 1: so I think in concept it's a good idea but your role is very different the task force even though

[0:35:08] Voice 1: I think the term task force may be confusing but you're actually in a planning commission capacity

[0:35:15] Voice 9: yeah but if there were just a couple of us that met we wouldn't be breaking any rules

[0:35:21] Voice 9: to kind of catch up a little little coffee shop study group I would appreciate meeting with

[0:35:28] Voice 9: somebody to motivate me to read through all of this and understand it better

[0:35:31] Voice 8: go ahead i think

[0:35:36] Voice 3: each one of us is kind of already driven by a fair connection to ganges and that's why we're

[0:35:44] Voice 3: in this and we felt important to us to go into this so if we're in our own time constantly

[0:35:52] Voice 3: reading about ganges or talking to people about ganges then that's good and we bring that into

[0:35:58] Voice 3: two of the next meeting and it's different than a subgroup it's just a person meeting with somebody

[0:36:04] Voice 3: like in their garden talking about ganges reading about it then it's not going through official

[0:36:09] Voice 3: channels where it has to be approved that's by that's my um my point of view but it wouldn't

[0:36:14] Voice 3: be headed as a subgroup because that gives it some authority that's just my point of view

[0:36:18] Voice 9: good point jenny okay and then um were there any other comments david or john i saw hands david i

[0:36:25] Voice 7: I somehow I don't want a table, but I want to earmark what John was saying.

[0:36:31] Voice 7: I want to make sure we come back to that.

[0:36:35] Voice 7: But maybe we first need a motion to accept that, you know, what staff has done here.

[0:36:45] Voice 7: It's just, you know, as a point of acknowledgement.

[0:36:49] Voice 7: And there's clearly going to be a lot of work.

[0:36:52] Voice 7: uh i think is we're all collectively recognizing with respect to how how we want to go about

[0:36:58] Voice 7: digging into this reviewing it updating our knowledge etc but um is that is that reasonable

[0:37:06] Voice 7: can we put a motion forward to accept do

[0:37:10] Voice 9: we need to

[0:37:11] Voice 7: thank and accept

[0:37:12] Voice 9: no

[0:37:13] Voice 7: don't need to not

[0:37:15] Voice 7: necessarily okay no

[0:37:17] Voice 10: i don't want to

[0:37:19] Voice 10: unnecessarily delay things we've got lots to do but

[0:37:22] Voice 10: But this roll up we have of commission is not what I expected to be part of here.

[0:37:27] Voice 10: So I need to rethink things a bit.

[0:37:30] Voice 10: But I do understand a commission would be receiving things, talking it over and using

[0:37:36] Voice 10: all of our different perspectives, as Jenny's pointed out, to make decisions.

[0:37:41] Voice 10: What I think underlies a lot of people's expectations, including the trustees, and I could be wrong

[0:37:48] Voice 10: here is that we're engaged also in a design exercise and design is quite different than

[0:37:54] Voice 10: decision making it's not robert's rules of order and all that stuff it's actually bringing

[0:37:59] Voice 10: expertise and local knowledge and all sorts of exciting brainstorming techniques and drawings

[0:38:05] Voice 10: and images and looking at the past and taking walks and dreaming and discussing over coffee

[0:38:11] Voice 10: design it doesn't happen enough and it frustrates trustees and staff and if we're not the group

[0:38:19] Voice 10: that's going to be engaged in leading a design exercise for this village who is and how do we

[0:38:25] Voice 10: create that group so that they can then bring the results to us and we'll sit and according to

[0:38:31] Voice 10: commission standards and so forth make good decisions about and throw out the stuff that's

[0:38:35] Voice 10: just too dreamy and crazy and so forth uh i don't know who's doing the design here but it's

[0:38:42] Voice 10: absolutely fundamental to us producing something that's worthy of this island and and that makes

[0:38:48] Voice 10: this village a masterpiece you know and i i'm wondering like under the title public engagement

[0:38:56] Voice 10: that doesn't say anything to me i mean there's there's a lot of lousy public engagement that

[0:39:02] Voice 10: happens when people are brought into meetings you participate in participation but not really

[0:39:06] Voice 10: an actual design is a wonderful thing everybody can participate in it and it produces fabulous

[0:39:13] Voice 10: results if you give it time but where's the design in all of this it's just I'm just

[0:39:20] Voice 9: I

[0:39:20] Voice 10: couldn't

[0:39:22] Voice 9: agree with you more Sebastian and I think that might be the perfect segue

[0:39:25] Voice 9: way to the next section where Luisa and and others might be telling us their vision for how

[0:39:33] Voice 9: design could be part of this. So can we agree to move on on the agenda and hopefully have our

[0:39:39] Voice 9: question addressed in that way? All right Luisa. Okay I'm

[0:39:49] Voice 1: going to share the screen again.

[0:39:50] Voice 1: Okay. Are you able to see the PowerPoint?

[0:40:09] Voice 3: Yes.

[0:40:10] Voice 1: Okay. That's good. So, yeah, hopefully, the PowerPoint presentation will answer

[0:40:17] Voice 1: some of the questions, if not all of them. And thank you, Suspension. I love hearing,

[0:40:23] Voice 1: you know, comments like that. I appreciate your passion. And unfortunately, we do have to work

[0:40:29] Voice 1: within the confines of Local Government Act and the Community Charter. So, without digressing too

[0:40:36] Voice 1: much but to uh the intent to introduce you on the area plan framework and the process so just

[0:40:46] Voice 1: in case if some members are new to this right now all the objectives all the governing framework is

[0:40:55] Voice 1: under the official community plan for salt spring island and so there is a section particular

[0:41:03] Voice 1: specifically on village guiding the development growth village and for specific objectives to

[0:41:13] Voice 1: ganges village as you are aware there are only two pages governing the core of salt spring island

[0:41:19] Voice 1: and in addition to that we mentioned it to you before we also share the maps with you is the

[0:41:26] Voice 1: land use destination development permit area and the heritage designated area and for all three

[0:41:34] Voice 1: could be part of this process to consider whether they're appropriate or they need to be expand or

[0:41:40] Voice 1: however way it's going to transform. And we want to give you some examples of area plan. What are

[0:41:47] Voice 1: you going to envision at the end of the day and what local planning services, what our office

[0:41:54] Voice 1: will be. And this is one example of the waterfront area plan produced by Ladysmith. And they talk

[0:42:01] Voice 1: about the typical introduction and the vision the objectives and policy for certain elements and

[0:42:10] Voice 1: this is what john actually mentioned about under local government act what is the expectation of an

[0:42:16] Voice 1: area plan this is another one uh and that might be slightly different and again same for us here

[0:42:25] Voice 1: for South Spring Island, your content may be more than just land use, employment, economic,

[0:42:33] Voice 1: circulation, some calls it transportation, and, you know, however way we want to focus on

[0:42:39] Voice 1: specifically for South Spring Island. And we need to delineate the area, what that plan is going to

[0:42:47] Voice 1: impact, what is the parameter under the area plan. This is another one, and this one, again,

[0:42:56] Voice 1: Again, very similar, even though it's slightly different.

[0:42:59] Voice 1: Look at the objective, look at the vision, and provide a sort of an area plan boundary.

[0:43:10] Voice 1: And this is another one.

[0:43:12] Voice 1: And this one is a little bit longer as well as the content, mainly because it covers three neighborhoods.

[0:43:21] Voice 1: So again, it provides an area plan boundary so the public knows how far the area plan will govern.

[0:43:28] Voice 1: And it also identified the village center.

[0:43:32] Voice 1: So for Salt Spring Island to start, as a team internally from our office, this is what we

[0:43:41] Voice 1: propose to look at.

[0:43:43] Voice 1: The blue line represents the study boundary.

[0:43:47] Voice 1: So it's a lot broader, it's a greater Ganges Village area.

[0:43:51] Voice 1: area. The green area, the green boundary signify the containment area, which is the urban core

[0:43:59] Voice 1: where density, where intensity should happen. And then the red area highlight the Ganges village.

[0:44:08] Voice 1: And this is where we want to share with the task force. And this is your role to determine how to

[0:44:15] Voice 1: to adjust the boundary but this is where we know the development impact and the development

[0:44:23] Voice 1: activities what has happened and what should happen kind of looking forward to the future

[0:44:30] Voice 1: one thing i want to point out is area between the blue and the green it's a transitional area

[0:44:38] Voice 1: lots of things happen that need to be protected so within that area there are green belts

[0:44:45] Voice 1: the agricultural land preserved area.

[0:44:52] Voice 1: And so within the area plan,

[0:44:54] Voice 1: when we talk about area within this transitional zone,

[0:44:59] Voice 1: we will provide, for example,

[0:45:01] Voice 1: the policies that talk about protection in perpetuity.

[0:45:06] Voice 1: When we talk about area within the containment,

[0:45:09] Voice 1: this is where we talk about how to sustainably grow

[0:45:12] Voice 1: as far as development growth within the area and what would we envision within the red zone which

[0:45:21] Voice 1: is the village area. So this is kind of what we want to explore with the task force and again

[0:45:29] Voice 1: that is going to evolve through the course of the discussion. So as for the framework within

[0:45:37] Voice 1: the area plan what we identified one thing is the name right now it hasn't been passed in stone

[0:45:43] Voice 1: but this is what we proposed and i don't know how exactly to pronounce the first nations term

[0:45:52] Voice 1: but this is what we propose for ganges village and interestingly in our discussion first

[0:46:00] Voice 1: our local trust committee really liked that term and think we should consider that but we need

[0:46:06] Voice 1: permission from first nations before we can even do that having said that through our conversation

[0:46:12] Voice 1: with First Nations, they actually gave us that term. So it sounded like in some way we kind of

[0:46:19] Voice 1: got that permission to use that term. And although in the project charter and even earlier version of

[0:46:26] Voice 1: the staff report, we talk about the area plan should give us guidance for future growth for

[0:46:33] Voice 1: the next 15 years. But from professional planning practice, we know 50, it's too long. Lots can

[0:46:41] Voice 1: can happen. Legislation can change. Growth can change. So we think typically it's about 30 years

[0:46:48] Voice 1: to be safe. And even within 30 years, loss can change. Legislation change over time. So this is

[0:46:57] Voice 1: what we're talking about. I guess what I meant is sometimes we need to amend the area plan.

[0:47:03] Voice 1: It needs to go through a refresh. So the contents that we propose for the task force to consider

[0:47:12] Voice 1: We put question mark because it's not casting stone.

[0:47:15] Voice 1: You can call it whatever you feel it's appropriate.

[0:47:20] Voice 1: Typically, we have an introduction.

[0:47:23] Voice 1: And then the meat of the plan is the objectives and policies that help us deal with the future,

[0:47:31] Voice 1: address concerns, and explore any other elements you want to include.

[0:47:38] Voice 1: and typically include the land use element, mobility, the environment, the infrastructure

[0:47:44] Voice 1: and unique to us is the First Nations section and what we want to let you know is that that

[0:47:52] Voice 1: particular chapter on the First Nations is something you probably don't need to worry about

[0:47:57] Voice 1: because Island Trust is mandated to implement the reconciliation so there are a lot of things

[0:48:04] Voice 1: that are very specific to First Nations and we need to consult with First Nations to work on

[0:48:09] Voice 1: that chapter. So this is something that staff will produce and you will get the opportunity to review

[0:48:15] Voice 1: it. And especially right now, Islands Trust executive level is going through the policy

[0:48:22] Voice 1: statement that incorporate a lot of the First Nations element into it. And it pertains to a lot

[0:48:29] Voice 1: of the cultural sensitivity. The way we use our verbiage is very critical and so this is something

[0:48:36] Voice 1: that we will be responsible for. Another section that we will be responsible for largely is the

[0:48:44] Voice 1: introduction. Staff is already looking at putting the introduction together and maybe at some point,

[0:48:53] Voice 1: we're talking about months down the line, there will be the draft of the introduction for you to

[0:48:58] Voice 1: review and comment on it. And what we look to you to help us to guide us is the vision statement

[0:49:07] Voice 1: and also the content of the plan. So with that being said, kind of give you an update on where

[0:49:15] Voice 1: we are at. Working in the background, you meet once a month and for staff, the rest of the hours

[0:49:22] Voice 1: we spend a lot of time doing a lot of engagement. We do a lot of the documents and do a lot of

[0:49:28] Voice 1: analysis. And right now, we have gone through the first consultation with First Nations.

[0:49:35] Voice 1: We met with stakeholders. We formed this technical working group that we mentioned to you before.

[0:49:42] Voice 1: And we are in the process of putting a first round of survey together. And this is

[0:49:50] Voice 1: the fourth bullet that talks about the approved public engagement plan. That plan is online. So

[0:49:56] Voice 1: So when you have questions about public engagement, what are we doing?

[0:50:00] Voice 1: It's approved.

[0:50:02] Voice 1: The local trust committee look at it, and it's based on the public engagement framework.

[0:50:08] Voice 1: And that framework was put together pretty much through our Islands Trust.

[0:50:14] Voice 1: We want to, the value, the core value of the public engagement and how to make it meaningful,

[0:50:20] Voice 1: that framework is also online for this project.

[0:50:24] Voice 1: project and if you want I can definitely pull that out and email to all of you so you can look

[0:50:29] Voice 1: at the framework as well as the public engagement plan itself it's two separate document the plan

[0:50:37] Voice 1: implement the framework and I'll be happy to email to you if you want mainly because we just did our

[0:50:43] Voice 1: soft launch on our website a lot of the documents I was told the links were broken so you I think

[0:50:51] Voice 1: I think the ones we talked about, it's okay, but just in case, if you have trouble accessing it, we'll be happy to provide that.

[0:51:01] Voice 1: We are currently continuously doing research and analysis.

[0:51:05] Voice 1: We are facilitating the task force, which is your group, and the technical working group.

[0:51:10] Voice 1: And as far as the public engagement process, this is the most important component of Ganges Village.

[0:51:18] Voice 1: We want to make sure that we do very meaningful engagement process.

[0:51:24] Voice 1: So in the budget, the local trust committee actually is the Island Trust because it's

[0:51:31] Voice 1: a big pool of budget coming from the Island Trust, approved the request for a professional

[0:51:39] Voice 1: consultant to do the public engagement process because we don't have the kinds of capacity

[0:51:45] Voice 1: and capability to do it.

[0:51:47] Voice 1: we don't have the software we don't have the design capacity to do it and a professional

[0:51:53] Voice 1: consultant can do a much better job than than we can also they are the third neutral party

[0:52:00] Voice 1: so they don't have a bias as far as how to ask questions and we're going through the procurement

[0:52:08] Voice 1: process and in fact it's already out we're just closing probably in about a week and then when

[0:52:16] Voice 1: we select a consultant. Once we get the consulting team, the first task that we do is to do some

[0:52:22] Voice 1: brainstorming session with the task force. They will come and meet with you guys and they will

[0:52:27] Voice 1: listen and just kind of help brainstorming the approach to the public engagement process. Again,

[0:52:36] Voice 1: new idea is great, but please do keep in mind that LTC did approve a plan. So take a look at

[0:52:44] Voice 1: the plan, if you feel deficient, by all means add to it, but otherwise it should be within the

[0:52:51] Voice 1: framework that was approved. And if something that is significantly changing, we need to take

[0:52:57] Voice 1: it back to LTC for them to approve it. And so that's kind of the brief summary on where we are

[0:53:07] Voice 1: as far as the framework we're providing to you so for the next hour i think this is where you

[0:53:16] Voice 1: can talk about what we just proposed and if you have any questions as far as a

[0:53:25] Voice 9: lot about that

[0:53:27] Voice 9: wow can

[0:53:30] Voice 6: i ask a question of luisa uh

[0:53:33] Voice 9: first mike then bob um

[0:53:36] Voice 6: luisa the material you brought up on

[0:53:38] Voice 6: on our screens are we able to obtain that from you can you send that to us

[0:53:45] Voice 6: you you put out an outline just now for an RFP that's being worked on by staff as as far as I

[0:53:55] Voice 6: understand and you said that was directed by the LTC I would just like to see that page and and

[0:54:02] Voice 6: look at the plan that you have in mind for the project and the other thing is the for community

[0:54:10] Voice 6: plans that you have already looked at, I think, for some of us anyway. I like to read those things

[0:54:18] Voice 6: because I hate reinventing the wheel. I was treasurer of the Chamber of Commerce for four

[0:54:24] Voice 6: years, during which time I asked a simple question, how many members do we have? And

[0:54:29] Voice 6: believe it or not, no one could come up with the correct number. And I said, why are we doing this

[0:54:37] Voice 6: or that or whatever that might be specific to Salt Spring when other waterfront communities

[0:54:45] Voice 6: or villages have already organized better approaches to marketing for tourism, as an

[0:54:53] Voice 6: example, and we never looked at anyone else, and I kept saying, we really need to do the

[0:54:58] Voice 6: research.

[0:54:58] Voice 6: One question I asked was how many parking stalls do we have in Ganges then and now?

[0:55:07] Voice 6: This was back in 2010, and I proposed a traffic plan for Ganges that went to the CRD and they put the kibosh on it,

[0:55:17] Voice 6: but it was basically one very large roundabout that included adjustments so that we would

[0:55:24] Voice 6: actually have more parking for people coming on Saturdays instead of having to park all the way

[0:55:30] Voice 6: up to Ganges Hill. Anyway, some of those things were never acted on, but we never looked at other

[0:55:36] Voice 6: communities when I was at the chamber. I like the idea that you've looked at four, and I'd like us

[0:55:43] Voice 6: have that opportunity to review those, and maybe if there are others that have

[0:55:50] Voice 6: come to the forefront in more recent years, we can also take a look at some of

[0:55:56] Voice 6: those.

[0:55:59] Voice 9: Great. I guess Bob, and then I wonder if we could if we

[0:56:07] Voice 9: should organize our thoughts around, you know, like the outline that you sort of

[0:56:13] Voice 9: presented it in with the area and then the sort of title and vision and then the topics and the

[0:56:19] Voice 9: public engagement afterwards and sort of collect our thoughts that way but um bob what was your

[0:56:25] Voice 9: yeah

[0:56:26] Voice 5: thanks robin um i'd like to actually loop back around i'll be brief uh to um points that

[0:56:33] Voice 5: you made you ask at the beginning about uh not planning purview uh john alluded to it a bit in

[0:56:39] Voice 5: and what he was talking about.

[0:56:41] Voice 5: And I'm looking at the plan from before

[0:56:45] Voice 5: and looking at the traffic section,

[0:56:47] Voice 5: which is one of my main interests.

[0:56:49] Voice 5: And I noted with some of the other plans,

[0:56:52] Voice 5: there was a lot on mobility and pedestrianization

[0:56:55] Voice 5: and all that kind of stuff,

[0:56:56] Voice 5: but it looks like here it's MOTI,

[0:57:00] Voice 5: so it's not within planning purview.

[0:57:03] Voice 5: And I acknowledge that it was,

[0:57:06] Voice 5: as John noted, that you can say in a general way, I just like to hear at some point something back

[0:57:15] Voice 5: on how we're going to deal with that, because we've got a road running right through the middle

[0:57:19] Voice 5: of Ganges Village, and that's going to have a major impact on anything we talk about, so

[0:57:25] Voice 5: that's it, and I'll mute myself because of the phone. I think there's more than one road.

[0:57:31] Voice 5: yeah

[0:57:32] Voice 8: there's

[0:57:36] Voice 5: one big one there should be more than one can I

[0:57:39] Voice 5: make a comment

[0:57:39] Voice 6: on that Robin

[0:57:40] Voice 6: um

[0:57:42] Voice 9: yeah did anybody else have their hand up uh okay Mike um

[0:57:46] Voice 6: just one thing that we looked at

[0:57:48] Voice 6: when we were when I was at the chamber regarding the parking situation and and uh whether traffic

[0:57:54] Voice 6: calming could be used etc and I know the CRD has looked into that as well according to MOTI

[0:58:00] Voice 6: the highway going from Fulford up to Vesuvius is what they define as a major highway under MOTI

[0:58:11] Voice 6: and because of that there are lots of restrictions that we're not allowed to do

[0:58:16] Voice 6: so I think Bob's made a good point it goes through the middle of town and that's not

[0:58:22] Voice 6: helping anyone but the RCMP for example recommended that we could restrict the

[0:58:29] Voice 6: the speed limit through town if we wanted to calm traffic because we weren't allowed to put in

[0:58:35] Voice 6: those, I call them bumpers, but the things that jut out into the road to make it

[0:58:40] Voice 6: more difficult to pass through because MOTI wouldn't allow it. And then there was some

[0:58:44] Voice 6: discussion about whether they'd even allow a traffic circle. But the RCMP made that recommendation

[0:58:54] Voice 6: And yet, Modi did not accept it. So I think there are going to be a lot of drawbacks on that. I know there's been an alternative route plan.

[0:59:03] Voice 6: And there's even been some dedicated land put aside supposedly but I have no idea where that is at. And maybe the staff can assist us on that if anyone knows or Bob perhaps

[0:59:16] Voice 9: Right, we're kind of going off into the transportation topic. And I think it'd be good if we got back to what Louisa was sharing.

[0:59:25] Voice 9: But what were you going to say, Jenny?

[0:59:28] Voice 3: Yeah, pretty much what you're saying, because you know that there was to be a certain traffic circle,

[0:59:34] Voice 3: but it turned out it was impossible based on the width of the road when it was stopped by private land ownership.

[0:59:42] Voice 3: And instead, there's now an accelerator lane where there was to be a circle.

[0:59:45] Voice 3: So that's a big, big issue about that.

[0:59:48] Voice 3: And I guess it should be something we talk about, but not put it in the middle of what we're talking about for Ganges, because it's something that the.

[1:00:00] Voice 3: Commission has been working on for for years but we can reference to it that we we wouldn't like

[1:00:06] Voice 3: there's a lot of problems with it we could get lost in that that's another whole subject area

[1:00:11] Voice 3: that's huge but I like what Mike said about lowering the speed I think that would make a

[1:00:15] Voice 3: huge difference if that was enforced like all around the school zones everywhere so I'll stop

[1:00:20] Voice 3: now um

[1:00:21] Voice 9: I I couldn't I had a comment um I wonder I wanted to start by talking about your first thing

[1:00:29] Voice 9: that you shared was the area and the area map and then um so would it be all right with you

[1:00:34] Voice 9: guys if like we talked about area and then once we're done hashing that we move on to the the

[1:00:40] Voice 9: title and the vision and then we hash out the topics and then we hash out the public engagement

[1:00:45] Voice 9: um so on the area map i guess i i was wondering to me it looks like uh the village core should

[1:00:53] Voice 9: include like mobis it should include the entire harbor because um especially with the design and

[1:00:59] Voice 9: planning of a future harbor walk or um turning around to face the water or things like that so

[1:01:06] Voice 9: i was i was going to just propose what what if we expanded the the village urban core to include

[1:01:11] Voice 9: the mobis area and then also um a little bit up the fullford ganges road to include

[1:01:17] Voice 9: you know the a little more potential dense housing to serve Ganges with you know because

[1:01:26] Voice 9: right now it sort of shoots off on Drake or something on your map and then there's a little

[1:01:30] Voice 9: bit up higher on Charlesworth or something Bishop's Walk but is that what we can talk

[1:01:39] Voice 9: about right now can we talk about adjusting the boundaries on that map?

[1:01:45] Voice 1: Chair so the item number

[1:01:48] Voice 1: number five is really just a presentation. And because I'm done now, and it's not an action item,

[1:01:54] Voice 1: so you don't need to make a motion. Feel free to just start your conversation and you can talk

[1:02:00] Voice 1: about anything you want. I'm trying to pull this slide for the map. Okay. Is it clear enough for

[1:02:11] Voice 1: Yes.

[1:02:13] Voice 9: And I guess I'm wondering, so we do, is this a given or are we discussing the boundary right now? Is that something that we can?

[1:02:26] Voice 6: Can I ask for a point of information on that? Louisa, when was this map designated this is the area and was that in the last study or was that done more recently or was that done by the trust?

[1:02:39] Voice 6: We

[1:02:39] Voice 1: just did that last week as staff. We want to provide a study area for you to consider. And if you feel once as a group, you're comfortable with it, that's when we take it to LTC and see the task force recommend this as the proposed study area.

[1:02:59] Voice 1: And again, this will evolve through the course of developing the area plan, you will have a draft. So this will stay as a draft. The public needs to know how far are we when we talk about this study area. So we need to kind of shape something, put it together as a draft, and then you can continuously tweeting it.

[1:03:23] Voice 5: Can you expand that a bit, Louisa, so we can see it better?

[1:03:28] Voice 1: I wonder if I actually turn into a PowerPoint, it might be better. Let's see. Is this better?

[1:03:36] Voice 5: Yeah, that's a bit better. Still, yeah. It's still kind of hard to read. I'm trying

[1:03:54] Voice 5: to make it up or right. There's a little peninsula up there and I am not quite sure where that is,

[1:03:59] Voice 5: but anyways.

[1:04:02] Voice 6: Louise, are you going to be able to provide this PowerPoint presentation to all of us

[1:04:09] Voice 6: by email, in which case we can then look at it and enlarge it as we're staring at it?

[1:04:16] Voice 1: Yeah, that's for sure. That's exactly what we plan on doing. And you can certainly mark up the

[1:04:23] Voice 1: area plan. I may even send you the map as a standalone document so you can kind of draw on it

[1:04:30] Voice 1: and send it to us. We can try and do the best update we can and bring it back to you.

[1:04:35] Voice 1: We don't want to send a PowerPoint ahead of time because it would not make sense if you look at it without us explaining it.

[1:04:42] Voice 1: So we would definitely provide you with information after this meeting.

[1:04:47] Voice 5: All good.

[1:04:48] Voice 7: Is there a summary of the process that you went through on this?

[1:04:57] Voice 7: So why, you know, we just talked about the upper right.

[1:05:01] Voice 7: I kind of look at this whole thing and I start scratching my head.

[1:05:05] Voice 7: Why that there, this here?

[1:05:10] Voice 7: The methodology would be helpful.

[1:05:13] Voice 7: Before I start, I'm checking myself on asking questions.

[1:05:18] Voice 7: Why it isn't this here?

[1:05:20] Voice 7: Why is that there?

[1:05:21] Voice 1: Yeah, I understand.

[1:05:23] Voice 1: We could do our best to put something together.

[1:05:26] Voice 1: And a lot of it is based on the current planning activities as well, why the right looks, you know, the top right corner looks the way it is.

[1:05:38] Voice 1: It's just how things evolve.

[1:05:40] Voice 1: And also based on the development permit area as well, where we feel it's appropriate to be part of this area plan.

[1:05:48] Voice 1: We can try and provide some notes.

[1:05:54] Voice 7: Thank you.

[1:06:02] Voice 9: Any other comments on this?

[1:06:04] Voice 9: or I want to talk about title and vision statement.

[1:06:10] Voice 9: What are we, what are we,

[1:06:12] Voice 9: we're just sort of getting this information and discussing it.

[1:06:15] Voice 9: Do we have a, are we deciding anything today?

[1:06:20] Voice 9: We're just discussing.

[1:06:22] Voice 1: Chair, I think this is your, as in the group,

[1:06:27] Voice 1: the task force moving forward from now till the end of the year.

[1:06:32] Voice 1: This is the content you can explore in what sequence you want.

[1:06:37] Voice 1: and how you want to discuss that.

[1:06:40] Voice 1: And even change the format if you want,

[1:06:43] Voice 1: that's up to the task force,

[1:06:44] Voice 1: as long as it's within this concept,

[1:06:48] Voice 1: because that's what was approved by local trust committee.

[1:06:51] Voice 1: I

[1:06:54] Voice 9: can't really see your hands,

[1:06:55] Voice 9: if anybody has their hands up,

[1:06:57] Voice 9: but one comment I would make, oh, Jenny, next, okay,

[1:07:00] Voice 9: would be that the title, working title,

[1:07:07] Voice 9: would be on the objectives and policies.

[1:07:10] Voice 9: I really liked how the last one used livability as one of their topics, and this list feels really dry, and so if there was some kind of health, connectivity, livability, something that referred to the people and the quality of life,

[1:07:31] Voice 8: that

[1:07:32] Voice 9: would be nice.

[1:07:34] Voice 9: Okay, Jenny?

[1:07:35] Voice 3: Yeah, I did read a lot of philosophy ahead of this. And I think that what we want to see from what my vision is of Ganges, like, I don't know if this is wrong to just jump into this, but it's one where no one is left behind.

[1:07:51] Voice 3: So you see there's a lot of inequities in the world, not just on Salt Spring, between rich and poor. And as I grew up in Ganges, it was always a place where there was a combination of people who some were quite wealthy, some weren't wealthy at all, but they could all enjoy equal access to amenities.

[1:08:11] Voice 3: So, for example, if you have an open green space, then everybody can use that. And so there's a neighborliness about the place. And then other things that came to mind are because right now, people who are thinking ahead are looking toward a circular economy rather than a linear economy.

[1:08:33] Voice 3: so there's kind of a flow of things being reused there's local food production that should be going

[1:08:40] Voice 3: on um there's there's a few different things but we are from a time which not to over stress this

[1:08:49] Voice 3: because i know people find it upsetting but there was colonial ravages that have existed throughout

[1:08:55] Voice 3: the world where one group would benefit at the expense of another so i'd like to bring in

[1:08:59] Voice 3: something for Ganges which is kind of like about the sharing where we're working together so that

[1:09:04] Voice 3: that's my points about vision yeah yeah

[1:09:13] Voice 4: I think that the slide there that shows an example of

[1:09:16] Voice 4: local area plans of course it lists a number of things it's gone now but of course it talks about

[1:09:21] Voice 4: mobility transportation infrastructure and those are local area plans that are produced in

[1:09:27] Voice 4: municipalities that have the full range of services so I think what we're going to find

[1:09:32] Voice 4: it's courses that when we go through that really only the land use section do we have purview over

[1:09:39] Voice 4: and if we go back to the task group work and look at all those items that are listed as not in

[1:09:45] Voice 4: purview and and and look at the items that you know probably haven't moved anywhere they're going

[1:09:51] Voice 4: to be a lot of them that fall under what i call the encouragement statement so we're going to be

[1:09:56] Voice 4: able to put absolute policy in place for land use and then we're going to put encouragement

[1:10:02] Voice 4: statements, coordination statements, collaboration statements on all these other aspects.

[1:10:08] Voice 4: And quite frankly, you know, I mean, we all have different levels of optimism, but I've

[1:10:12] Voice 4: been around long enough to know that, you know, with our fractured governance system

[1:10:16] Voice 4: here on Salt Spring, all our different governance groups have their plates full already.

[1:10:23] Voice 4: And you don't see, you know, Bob and I sat on a governance committee and it was about

[1:10:30] Voice 4: trying to get these groups together and and that hasn't worked over all these years so

[1:10:36] Voice 4: so it's kind of disheartening in a sense and I know from the point of view of the people that

[1:10:41] Voice 4: were involved in that task force you know there's a lot of fantastic visioning and then all this

[1:10:46] Voice 4: disappointment because it can't be reasonably implemented but I want to give a quick example

[1:10:51] Voice 4: of why I think really just the very simple area plan that we're talking about is could be so

[1:10:57] Voice 4: so valuable. And that, of course, is that, you know, there sits Ganges with no housing

[1:11:03] Voice 4: in Ganges, no policy for housing in Ganges. And, you know, a complete community, healthy

[1:11:11] Voice 4: community cannot be a community that doesn't even have housing in your village core. So

[1:11:16] Voice 4: this is a huge oversight. And the local area plan is a huge, huge step towards that by

[1:11:25] Voice 4: I can remove all those land use barriers to have live work housing and affordable housing,

[1:11:30] Voice 4: special needs housing, regular housing within Ganges.

[1:11:34] Voice 4: So as much as it's kind of disheartening that we could do another great policy document

[1:11:39] Voice 4: that was done and have wonderful visioning, it's not going to go anywhere, quite frankly,

[1:11:45] Voice 4: in our governance structure.

[1:11:48] Voice 4: And so although I agree with that, I don't want that to sound too negative.

[1:11:55] Voice 4: But I think there is an opportunity by just following the area plan guidelines and dealing with some basic things in terms of land use, we could do an awful lot for Ganges because there's this huge omission in Ganges about housing, even to start off.

[1:12:10] Voice 4: If we solve that, I think that would be a huge accomplishment for this group.

[1:12:16] Voice 3: Well, what I found, of course, with reading that 2007 document.

[1:12:20] Voice 3: I'm sorry,

[1:12:20] Voice 9: Jenny. Sebastian had his hand up before. Sorry.

[1:12:25] Voice 10: I want to thank John for so well articulating one option for us, which is to follow the rules,

[1:12:31] Voice 10: stick within the jurisdictions that have been laid out here. And that reduces our work to

[1:12:38] Voice 10: something that maybe we can get done and do well. And as I agree with him, it's an important

[1:12:43] Voice 10: contribution here. And I think that no one can also criticize us or get upset because we're

[1:12:50] Voice 10: working outside the boundaries of what's allowed by law for uh for the uh the islands trust um

[1:12:57] Voice 10: and then we perpetuate those problems of course but there it's not it's nothing much we can do

[1:13:02] Voice 10: about it we're we're working under a concept of community that's very old and outdated where you

[1:13:08] Voice 10: just separate out land use from everything else and you can see very well from all the responses

[1:13:14] Voice 10: responses that staff prepared how difficult that makes for us to come up with an overall plan for

[1:13:21] Voice 10: Ganges but it is the one place that I would want to debate John at some point if there's ever an

[1:13:27] Voice 10: opportunity here is because I knew John's position on this and I respect it and he's got huge

[1:13:32] Voice 10: experience and he's right what he's saying that said I come to this group with experience as well

[1:13:39] Voice 10: that goes back many years of running collaborative teams not where you just talk about collaborative

[1:13:45] Voice 10: at the front like we've done and then you just ignore it from then on which is what is being

[1:13:50] Voice 10: proposed here but we actually get our local trust committee to meet with the senior people at CRD

[1:13:58] Voice 10: and infrastructure and say can you please buy into this wonderful little initiative we got of

[1:14:04] Voice 10: doing a masterpiece on Ganges with all sorts of exceptions because we're an exceptional place

[1:14:09] Voice 10: somehow we coax seduce involve them so that they feel part of this then at the middle level we and

[1:14:16] Voice 10: staff meet with their middle level staff but we've got the blessings to do things differently

[1:14:20] Voice 10: and to work together to set up that kind of collaborative process i know it can be done

[1:14:26] Voice 10: it's extremely effective when it's done but it requires a different kind of group than what we've

[1:14:33] Voice 10: got here i think a group that's like really gonna work hard at it and it's not separated out like

[1:14:38] Voice 10: Louisa keeps talking about, we did this, we do that.

[1:14:41] Voice 10: I go, well, who's in charge here?

[1:14:42] Voice 10: Like the public engagement consultant talks back to Louisa

[1:14:47] Voice 10: or to the trustees and not to us,

[1:14:49] Voice 10: but we're supposed to use the results of that.

[1:14:51] Voice 10: So it seems very chopped up and spread out.

[1:14:57] Voice 10: And I can't imagine in the current structure,

[1:15:00] Voice 10: us actually bringing a collaborative process

[1:15:03] Voice 10: to this issue of Ganges design.

[1:15:06] Voice 10: And without it, we're only dealing with a tiny bit of Ganges, and we have to manage expectations accordingly, or we will look like we failed here and coming up with a real leadership, you know, a leading visionary and hopefully motivating and encouraging plan for the village as a whole.

[1:15:28] Voice 10: So, I'm not, this is a debate that has to happen at some point. We have to be happy to stick within the rules of what we've been given, or we look for innovations that deal, that get us around these things, and there's lots of examples of that too, John, of municipalities that don't do what the province asks them to do, they do what they want to do, and they make it happen well, and I can give you examples of that.

[1:15:50] Voice 10: we don't have to do what's legally allowed for us to do we can stretch out a bit and we can use

[1:15:58] Voice 10: collaborative processes to truly engage other people but it would need a strategy and it would

[1:16:04] Voice 10: need the trustees getting seriously involved in this whole exercise because they have to

[1:16:10] Voice 10: create the opportunity for the the actual middle level people at CRD to come over and join us

[1:16:17] Voice 10: if we do a charrette or an exercise or brainstorming on transportation or roads or

[1:16:23] Voice 10: whatever else so otherwise we're not going to get there like john says their plates are full and

[1:16:28] Voice 10: they will not come here unless we establish something right up front with the senior people

[1:16:34] Voice 10: that this is a special exercise to do a village plan despite the limitations within the um within

[1:16:42] Voice 10: within the trust act and within the jurisdictions we have.

[1:16:46] Voice 10: So anyways, I've said it enough.

[1:16:48] Voice 10: I don't know when that debate happens, John,

[1:16:50] Voice 10: but I'm looking forward to it.

[1:16:52] Voice 10: All right, Jenny.

[1:16:54] Voice 3: Right on, I just love to talk.

[1:16:56] Voice 3: That was really hard for me to listen to that

[1:16:59] Voice 3: because I actually believe the reason

[1:17:02] Voice 3: what we're dealing with right now

[1:17:04] Voice 3: has a lot more to do with groundwater

[1:17:06] Voice 3: than all these ideas that we need experts to come in

[1:17:09] Voice 3: from off island because we're building in the watershed for most of ganges there's watershed

[1:17:15] Voice 3: 721 and 722 and the islands trust is working very hard on this because they're mapping

[1:17:21] Voice 3: groundwater because of the change when crofton book was built that was allowed to be a multi-family

[1:17:28] Voice 3: housing that was going to work off groundwater then the idea the proposal for metal lane is also

[1:17:34] Voice 3: to work from wells that they've dug the fire hall is trying to dig wells just about everybody's

[1:17:38] Voice 3: trying to dig wells around Ganges and there's also some concerns that that actual aquifer

[1:17:45] Voice 3: is going to become depleted and so it's actually from my point of view it's more important to

[1:17:52] Voice 3: actually look at the real reasons why certain things failed like people want to see the density

[1:17:58] Voice 3: within Ganges and then there was the water moratorium so that meant that housing had to

[1:18:04] Voice 3: to be put to a standstill there's actual real issues and then i i'd like to be able to really

[1:18:11] Voice 3: let the trust continue working with their experimental wells where they're studying

[1:18:15] Voice 3: the groundwater and have some idea of reality of what why things didn't work and also i so super

[1:18:25] Voice 3: hate hearing that we need some more bureaucrats from off island i mean sorry but i just hate that

[1:18:29] Voice 3: that we need that to help us.

[1:18:31] Voice 3: I mean, come on, we're here to do this job here.

[1:18:38] Voice 9: Thanks, yeah, you didn't have your hand up before Mike,

[1:18:42] Voice 9: did you?

[1:18:42] Voice 9: No, David.

[1:18:45] Voice 7: So on that note, I had two questions

[1:18:49] Voice 7: from Louisa's PowerPoint,

[1:18:51] Voice 7: and then I highlighted on my notes here

[1:18:54] Voice 7: statements from John and Sebastian.

[1:18:59] Voice 7: So, and Jenny's question is,

[1:19:04] Voice 7: i think follows a consistent theme you know why talk to these people or why involve them

[1:19:10] Voice 7: necessarily um so louisa in your powerpoint i was wondering if we could get a list of who

[1:19:18] Voice 7: the stakeholders are or anticipated to be um also who's on the technical working group

[1:19:25] Voice 7: and the points that, at least I felt was a segue of points between Sebastian and John in terms of

[1:19:37] Voice 7: collaborative teams, whether we want to have or run the risk of having somebody off island dictate

[1:19:45] Voice 7: what we're doing, I think is part of what Jenny was expressing a concern about, and not entirely

[1:19:51] Voice 7: Jenny, but I think that's part of it. But like to, nothing we do is in isolation. So who are

[1:20:00] Voice 7: these other groups and how we choose to engage or not engage with them? You know, that, that becomes

[1:20:07] Voice 7: our purview, but who, who are we already engaged with? It'd be nice to see what that, what those

[1:20:15] Voice 7: lists are.

[1:20:20] Voice 9: Is it possible to get a list of the tax group members

[1:20:24] Voice 1: please? I can provide you it's in the

[1:20:30] Voice 1: area plan we already listed those and it's also in the staff report presented to local trust committee

[1:20:37] Voice 1: so I can certainly send you a copy of those. I

[1:20:41] Voice 9: would certainly love to

[1:20:42] Voice 9: walk around town with

[1:20:45] Voice 9: with you guys and the public and look through the previous document that was given to us in this

[1:20:53] Voice 9: meeting, the 2007 focus group results, and just look at those recommendations while walking around

[1:21:01] Voice 9: town and discuss them and try to understand that better. I'm curious, there's a sort of a PR group

[1:21:11] Voice 9: that's going to be hired is that uh is there a geographic limit for where they're coming from

[1:21:18] Voice 9: are they going to be um i mean could sebastian do it or i mean are they are they like a victoria

[1:21:28] Voice 9: group coming over to say you know now we're going to put stickers on i'm just curious so chair uh

[1:21:37] Voice 1: the rfp is for professional consulting group there's a list of responsibilities that they

[1:21:44] Voice 1: they will have to adhere to so and we don't know where they will be coming

[1:21:51] Voice 1: from because we're still going through the bidding process and I was going to

[1:21:58] Voice 1: comment if I may on your idea of you know as a group just to walk this site

[1:22:05] Voice 1: walk maybe even within the study area the boundary that we identify I think

[1:22:12] Voice 1: you can do that if you let us know so that we go through the public noticing process so that way

[1:22:19] Voice 1: it's being advertised that we know there's a quorum that you guys are going to be out there

[1:22:24] Voice 1: walking uh although you need to somehow track your conversation because no discussion should

[1:22:31] Voice 1: take place without the public knowing how you guys come to those conclusion or discussions

[1:22:36] Voice 1: questions. It's a bit tricky, but it can be done if you are, you know, if you really want to have

[1:22:43] Voice 1: a meeting outside. Except I just think that there will be limited staff capability to do that to

[1:22:50] Voice 1: support you.

[1:22:53] Voice 9: Would anybody else like to go for a walkabout? David?

[1:22:59] Voice 5: Sure. I

[1:23:01] Voice 9: know we have a meeting

[1:23:03] Voice 9: scheduled for June. We could do it, you know, two weeks before that, or we could do it as our

[1:23:09] Voice 9: our meeting.

[1:23:13] Voice 7: Almost any day I would put that high on my priority list. There will

[1:23:19] Voice 1: have to be enough

[1:23:20] Voice 1: time for us to put a public noticing out.

[1:23:24] Voice 9: How much time do you need? Two weeks? Can

[1:23:26] Voice 1: we get back to you

[1:23:27] Voice 1: on potential dates? Sounds great.

[1:23:34] Voice 7: And then obviously I also want to know what the process

[1:23:38] Voice 7: is you'd recommend, Luis, in terms of capturing at least the topics of our conversation. I mean,

[1:23:44] Voice 7: I mean, there's all kinds of mapping software so we can track where we walk.

[1:23:50] Voice 9: I'm happy to take notes and share it from our walk and discussion.

[1:23:56] Voice 9: I'd also propose that I'm really interested in using this Healthy Cities Assessment Tool that's out there.

[1:24:04] Voice 9: and it's it's um maybe Luisa and other staff could suggest some kind of a tool that we could

[1:24:12] Voice 9: while we're going around looking at these things we can also kind of compare it to what is

[1:24:18] Voice 9: understood you know to support healthy communities and sort of do like a this was you know this was

[1:24:24] Voice 9: the goal this is what's now and and sort of just make some scores and the public's totally whoever

[1:24:30] Voice 9: whoever is invited to join along with that, but maybe there's, I mean, that's a framework that's

[1:24:34] Voice 9: kind of accepted and current, this 2020 Healthy Cities Assessment Tool, that you just sort of rank

[1:24:42] Voice 9: your numbers, and it would give us something to organize our notes out of that walk on.

[1:24:53] Voice 9: I can share the link to that email, Gene. Mike?

[1:24:59] Voice 6: Thank you. I want to go back to a couple of

[1:25:02] Voice 6: questions that involve David's comments and ask Louisa for some answers on a couple of things.

[1:25:12] Voice 6: You'd mentioned in the PowerPoint presentation that staff had already engaged with several of

[1:25:20] Voice 6: the stakeholders. It sounded as though you'd already had meetings. And yes, like David,

[1:25:27] Voice 6: it, I'm interested to know who those people are because we're kind of being left out of the

[1:25:32] Voice 6: discussion and communication on that. Second thing is you said that an RFP had already been

[1:25:40] Voice 6: sent out and that there were answers to it and different groups interested in signing on as a

[1:25:48] Voice 6: consultant to this project. I'd like to ask, was it the LTC that decided how the RFP would be

[1:26:00] Voice 6: written, or was that staff, and when was it sent out, and can we get a list of those that answered

[1:26:06] Voice 6: so that we know the kinds of groups or consulting firms that are interested in engaging in this?

[1:26:13] Voice 6: I do tend to agree that as a group, we should have some input there, and yes, I'm sure we're all interested in having either local people and or those specifically engaged in non-municipal waterfront village areas,

[1:26:38] Voice 6: and not people from large cities that have major projects that they have perhaps engaged in rather than something the size and scope of a Ganges village.

[1:26:51] Voice 6: Could you comment on that, please, Louisa?

[1:26:54] Voice 1: Sure. I think that will be a challenge because the procurement process, it's actually going through the province.

[1:27:03] Voice 1: it's really legalistic it's not subject to the review of the task force or ltc is not even part

[1:27:09] Voice 1: of that so and because at the end of the day it will be a contractual agreement between islands

[1:27:15] Voice 1: trust and the consultant uh and it's not the task force you're not part of this contractual

[1:27:22] Voice 1: agreement right

[1:27:23] Voice 6: but you just said the local trust committee had nothing to do with it either

[1:27:27] Voice 6: how can it be under contract to the trust if the local trust committee is unaware of the

[1:27:32] Voice 6: the conditions of the RFP?

[1:27:34] Voice 6: They

[1:27:35] Voice 1: are aware of us going through the procurement process

[1:27:39] Voice 1: and the procurement is the standard procurement process.

[1:27:43] Voice 1: And LTC, my understanding is they never get involved in that.

[1:27:46] Voice 1: I checked before I even move forward with the process.

[1:27:50] Voice 1: They are aware that we will be doing that.

[1:27:53] Voice 1: Those are the administrative function

[1:27:56] Voice 1: that is not part of governance under LTC.

[1:28:00] Voice 1: That's my understanding.

[1:28:01] Voice 1: And as far as the task force was formed while this is even before we did the early conversation, LTC directed us to have early conversation.

[1:28:13] Voice 1: It was passing the resolution, which group to consult, who to talk to, so we can send you the checklist.

[1:28:19] Voice 1: In addition to that, we want to broaden our outreach, so we try to reach out to as many community groups as we can.

[1:28:27] Voice 1: some of them didn't respond back to us but we have a list of the stakeholders that we try to

[1:28:34] Voice 1: contact okay

[1:28:36] Voice 6: another quick question back to the rfp was it advertised on bc bid by any chance

[1:28:42] Voice 6: okay because it's the standard practice of the crd has not been to use bc bid for rfps and it's

[1:28:50] Voice 6: something that was always a concern to me thanks i

[1:28:54] Voice 9: wonder um should we get back to uh that's that's

[1:28:58] Voice 9: good good questions though uh the sort of vision statement and title um i wonder if we could go

[1:29:09] Voice 9: around jenny suggested and describe what we each feel is um sort of special or irreplaceable about

[1:29:18] Voice 9: Ganges. And

[1:29:21] Voice 1: yes, Louisa? I believe John raised his hands for quite some time.

[1:29:29] Voice 4: Yeah, I was kind of aware that sometimes when we're sharing the screen, not everybody's

[1:29:34] Voice 4: visible at the side, so then people are putting their hands up and not being acknowledged. But

[1:29:38] Voice 4: that's a technical thing we can work out. Yeah, I just wanted to talk generally a little bit,

[1:29:42] Voice 4: I guess, to Mike's and some other comments, and that is that, you know, I think Louisa's

[1:29:47] Voice 4: has made a good, done a good job of pointing out to us,

[1:29:50] Voice 4: you know, how many players there are,

[1:29:52] Voice 4: how many moving parts there are to the program.

[1:29:55] Voice 4: You know, it's a fairly complex thing

[1:29:57] Voice 4: and staff are having to manage it.

[1:30:00] Voice 4: So, you know, we have to decide, you know, are we kind of in a leadership role, an auditing role or a support role?

[1:30:08] Voice 4: And frankly, I'm happy that we're in a support role.

[1:30:13] Voice 4: I think our challenge is to find kind of a balance between being in the support role and understanding the big picture.

[1:30:22] Voice 4: and it's always important to understand the big picture but you know that puts more uh pressure

[1:30:27] Voice 4: on staff and and um you know we we can't i don't think know everything understand everything and

[1:30:35] Voice 4: be aware of everything on this project i think quite frankly we have to kind of that is the ltc's

[1:30:40] Voice 4: role and staff's role and staff's leading this and so i think we just we have to trust staff

[1:30:44] Voice 4: that they're going to share with us as much as they can that they that they think we need to

[1:30:50] Voice 4: know and we have to accept I think to some degree that we're in a we're in a support role and we're

[1:30:55] Voice 4: not going to you know be party to the whole picture and and be auditing the whole process or

[1:31:01] Voice 4: or frankly leading the process right um so I think um we just have to find that balance

[1:31:08] Voice 4: individually and as a group um

[1:31:14] Voice 9: are there any other direct comments about uh Luis's

[1:31:20] Voice 9: suggestion of this framework or should we take Jenny's suggestion and take turns sort of

[1:31:29] Voice 9: sharing what you know looking towards a vision statement collectively the things that we

[1:31:37] Voice 9: either hold dear and would like to see preserved about Ganges or really enhanced for Ganges.

[1:31:45] Voice 9: Yeah

[1:31:46] Voice 10: if I could just back up to what John's saying to understand things better

[1:31:52] Voice 10: development of vision statements john is that a support role or is that a leadership role

[1:31:57] Voice 10: and how would we support development of vision statements by just contributing like everybody

[1:32:02] Voice 10: else in the city or going around in a circle now and talking about our own personal things i i'm

[1:32:08] Voice 10: not quite sure as you as is clear and clear what is the role of a commission in this exercise like

[1:32:14] Voice 10: like this and what can we do that's useful given that it's even a draft area plan is a major

[1:32:23] Voice 10: undertaking and staff are you know of course extremely busy and there's other contractors

[1:32:32] Voice 10: and task groups involved and we don't have a sense for where the gaps are and what we're

[1:32:37] Voice 10: filling but even on the example of vision statements can you elaborate as to how we support

[1:32:43] Voice 10: a vision statement that would drive following work

[1:32:46] Voice 10: on either development area plan

[1:32:48] Voice 10: or for the village as a whole?

[1:32:51] Voice 7: Yeah, I actually thought, John,

[1:32:52] Voice 7: you were gonna say we were in a leadership role

[1:32:55] Voice 7: when you introduced that.

[1:32:58] Voice 4: Well, it's for us to discuss, I suppose,

[1:33:00] Voice 4: but to your point, Sebastian,

[1:33:05] Voice 4: I think we have a big role in vision.

[1:33:07] Voice 4: I think Louisa has kind of said,

[1:33:09] Voice 4: we have a lesser role in public participation.

[1:33:11] Voice 4: We have a lesser role in terms of seeing it through all the approval processes and things.

[1:33:17] Voice 4: So, yeah, no, sometimes we have a key role, but I think we have to recognize that there are other parties that are going to step in and do the public consultation, for instance, as Louisa just pointed out.

[1:33:29] Voice 4: So, no, I'm not saying I have the answer here.

[1:33:33] Voice 4: I'm trying to suggest that, you know, we have to kind of strike a balance.

[1:33:36] Voice 4: I think we all have to agree that we're not running the whole show here and we're not controlling and everybody isn't the end of a string coming from us.

[1:33:49] Voice 4: We are one of many players and we just have to find our role that we can be most useful and most beneficial.

[1:33:57] Voice 4: vision

[1:33:58] Voice 3: honestly i think uh we don't need to worry so much about that because the official community

[1:34:03] Voice 3: plan is a guiding document for salt spring and then when we are working on a vision that we hope

[1:34:11] Voice 3: to have incorporated in terms of an influence on policies it will actually make an influence

[1:34:19] Voice 3: on policies and it isn't necessarily to worry about that whether it can be played out based

[1:34:26] Voice 3: on these barriers or not because um it already there there's already something going forward

[1:34:33] Voice 3: with a lot of um trying to retain families in ganges and different things that people wanted

[1:34:40] Voice 3: to have with there being like a community that's a very friendly community i mean you you know we

[1:34:46] Voice 3: do have success like it's not that we're held back by so many barriers i mean you can't walk

[1:34:52] Voice 3: out your door in Ganges without talking to at least 10 people on your way to the store I mean

[1:34:56] Voice 3: there's a lot of things that have actually really worked and I think we have a good strong chance

[1:35:02] Voice 3: of seeing what we envision for Ganges and that's why we're in this group and then we would put it

[1:35:08] Voice 3: through and it would end up influencing the policies and the objectives the targets and

[1:35:15] Voice 3: the policies i think i think we're in a great seat here driver's seat yeah

[1:35:19] Voice 7: i echoing the uh

[1:35:21] Voice 7: jenny and and flipping john again so i my perception is this is a leadership uh role

[1:35:33] Voice 7: and we are being supported in that we don't have to do the work the consultant's going to do

[1:35:41] Voice 7: and we do need to recognize uh you know we don't have to do what the what all these other

[1:35:47] Voice 7: other groups have been, will do, but there's a commonality, a purpose that we are tasked

[1:35:57] Voice 7: with, and whether it's the simple statements that get around the legal issues, as you so

[1:36:06] Voice 7: eloquently observed for us early on, what we should be doing is, you know, here's a

[1:36:15] Voice 7: a vision moti you know here's a statement from us asking you to please respect this vision

[1:36:22] Voice 7: you know and and dealing with the other groups in that way so it's we are not the moti so they're

[1:36:32] Voice 7: supporting us and somebody here needs to be the central uh group if you will a central voice that

[1:36:41] Voice 7: says hey don't forget we have you know a vision here please participate and that's a leadership

[1:36:50] Voice 7: role.

[1:36:58] Voice 9: Whether we're leaders or participants, I think your vision statement is really going to

[1:37:03] Voice 9: help with that. I'm also curious about, there's obviously an interest in getting really deep on

[1:37:12] Voice 9: these topics. I don't know whether meeting monthly is going to really do that. I wonder if there's a

[1:37:18] Voice 9: way to put a public notice in that, you know, say, I'm not sure if this is too often, but once a week

[1:37:26] Voice 9: there's going to be a, you know, whether it's Switchboard Cafe or somewhere, you know,

[1:37:34] Voice 9: informal chat with some notes about a topic or something. A lot of people

[1:37:39] Voice 1: are already doing that

[1:37:40] Voice 9: with Ask Salt Spring and the different commissions, but I'm just looking for a way to

[1:37:47] Voice 9: connect around these topics in a nice way. I really want to get back to what

[1:37:54] Voice 9: what Jenny was asking, because I think we can discuss whether we're leadership or not leadership

[1:38:00] Voice 9: and a lot of things, but, um, maybe we can get at the core of, of, uh, what, what, what maybe we'd

[1:38:12] Voice 9: like to, what, what about Ganges we would like to see. Does that, does that make sense, Sebastian?

[1:38:20] Voice 9: What would you, how would you start looking at a vision statement with a leadership role?

[1:38:26] Voice 9: role i

[1:38:29] Voice 10: i think it's really important as you're saying and i i do think that vision is a tool

[1:38:37] Voice 10: and if you carefully connect it to your policies through goals and objectives targets and things

[1:38:42] Voice 10: like jenny's saying that it's a very powerful tool it's your foundation and it does need as

[1:38:47] Voice 10: louisa said these things need to be refreshed and my experience is you know change is accelerating

[1:38:55] Voice 10: all around us and maybe a vision statement lasts 15 years and probably less actually and now it's

[1:39:01] Voice 10: a good time actually to lead a visioning exercise and if everybody expects what's happened and has

[1:39:09] Voice 10: had been heard in that exercise it empowers the whole community and the politicians can take

[1:39:15] Voice 10: more assertive measures than they normally might and uh and the vision is what propels the whole

[1:39:23] Voice 10: plan and i think it's a it's funny the whole concept of support group in my just a footnote

[1:39:31] Voice 10: here it's thinking about what john's saying as i said support is that uh my experience as a change

[1:39:39] Voice 10: person involved with communities is that at first you do support but you get so much public input

[1:39:46] Voice 10: and the visions are so motivating and well done that when the politicians try and back up and not

[1:39:52] Voice 10: do things now your support stopping them from backtracking right so at first you're helping

[1:39:57] Voice 10: and then later on you're supporting in a different way and it actually helps move things forward it's

[1:40:02] Voice 10: very difficult especially with such divided jurisdictions as we're dealing with but the uh

[1:40:08] Voice 10: this is a not necessarily an answer to your question jenny but if if it was up to me

[1:40:14] Voice 10: um i would repeat the charette experience here um the vision would be intended to be the marching

[1:40:22] Voice 10: marching orders for a broad design exercise that all groups would be invited to participate

[1:40:27] Voice 10: in and which would address different parts of this and that's an ambitious exercise but

[1:40:32] Voice 10: you know I've done that with other communities up the coast here and it's worked really well

[1:40:37] Voice 10: I mean you know Mike's comments were well taken we can learn very quickly the cheapest

[1:40:44] Voice 10: fastest way to learn is looking at other communities and what they've done and I think that the

[1:40:48] Voice 10: The very best design process is one that has intensive workshops with everyone involved.

[1:40:54] Voice 10: And a lot of research that we would do now would be to support that exercise.

[1:40:59] Voice 10: And the vision statement also drives that exercise.

[1:41:02] Voice 10: I saw it was mentioned as a maybe in our initial working orders when I went through what this commission was going to be doing or whatever we call ourselves.

[1:41:12] Voice 10: But it hasn't been mentioned since.

[1:41:14] Voice 10: And it's now somewhere in a public engagement activity.

[1:41:18] Voice 10: but it could be the driving exercise as it was last time.

[1:41:21] Voice 10: I would think that many would agree with me that it worked well in terms of

[1:41:28] Voice 10: producing interesting ideas.

[1:41:30] Voice 10: We could go much better this time with the support of the LTC and with the

[1:41:35] Voice 10: timing that we've got, but I'm not,

[1:41:40] Voice 10: I'm not sure that that's even part of what's envisioned now,

[1:41:43] Voice 10: what's going forward. I don't know. And you know

[1:41:47] Voice 9: what I'm saying?

[1:41:48] Voice 9: We should definitely have some kind of exercise like that. And it seems like if we give enough public notice, we could, you know, potentially organize something.

[1:42:00] Voice 9: Luisa, and then I want to start with our closing on sharing our personal vision for Ganges, so we can have something positive at the end.

[1:42:13] Voice 1: Thank you, Chair. I'm going to send the public engagement framework and the public engagement plan for the task force to review because all the ideas you talk about is already in the plan, so you're not creating anything new.

[1:42:28] Voice 1: I don't need to take it back to your LTC for amendment. It's included, and the design charrette is part of the responsibility for the consultant.

[1:42:37] Voice 1: We want the consultant to help us with that because of the organizing, preparing and designing.

[1:42:45] Voice 1: A lot of work goes into that.

[1:42:47] Voice 1: So that's all part of it.

[1:42:49] Voice 1: I would suggest you take a look at that before you start doing anything outside what you're supposed to do.

[1:42:56] Voice 1: I don't want to be the one to keep reminding you, but you're serving on the capacity of an appointed official as a planning commission.

[1:43:02] Voice 1: commission. So having a lot of subcommittee, it's more for a community group. You have the freedom

[1:43:10] Voice 1: to do all that. But when you're appointed, we need to make sure you follow the community charter.

[1:43:15] Voice 1: And that is sometimes hard because, you know, you become appointed, it seems like there's a lot of

[1:43:21] Voice 1: restrictions. And that's why we want to put it in the plan where there's a lot of public engagement

[1:43:27] Voice 1: activities where the task force can participate. And that's in the terms of reference.

[1:43:32] Voice 1: And again, I remind you, the terms of reference can give you more guidance on the role you're playing.

[1:43:40] Voice 1: I'd like to add in that it's not necessarily leadership or support as much as your advisory.

[1:43:47] Voice 1: And you do have the influence in developing the policy.

[1:43:50] Voice 1: So your main recommendation to your LTC.

[1:43:54] Voice 1: So I think it's an important group.

[1:43:56] Voice 1: they're influential that way, but not so much on looking at governing the administrative side of

[1:44:03] Voice 1: things, how they are being developed. But your focus is really on policies, objectives, and

[1:44:09] Voice 1: efficiency.

[1:44:11] Voice 9: Thank you, Louisa. Well, let's, if everybody's okay with it, let's close with a

[1:44:19] Voice 9: a fairly brief statement on your vision for Ganges.

[1:44:26] Voice 9: I would say, Bob, you haven't spoken very much.

[1:44:29] Voice 9: Do you want to start?

[1:44:31] Voice 5: I have a clear vision for Ganges.

[1:44:34] Voice 5: It's walkable Ganges.

[1:44:35] Voice 5: I presented it a number of times on the pathways and other places.

[1:44:40] Voice 5: The problem, and I agree, visioning in the beginning, important.

[1:44:45] Voice 5: To get ideas, great.

[1:44:47] Voice 5: but as we've seen from 2007 a lot of stuff doesn't get done unless you get specific about things

[1:44:54] Voice 5: and so i um that's that's the the big thing i think we need to to focus on there's beyond

[1:45:04] Voice 5: purview stuff if we had don't have a say there and we can make general objectives let's make a

[1:45:10] Voice 5: point of doing that and following up because otherwise we're going to end up when i first

[1:45:16] Voice 5: saw the 2007 plan uh and i realized there were so many ideas so long ago and so little has happened

[1:45:25] Voice 5: of important things like i say walkable ganges is great until you try and walk across the road

[1:45:32] Voice 5: thanks um

[1:45:35] Voice 9: i think at least talking mike comes first a second just

[1:45:47] Voice 6: have to unmute okay um

[1:45:48] Voice 6: Um, I agree with an earlier comment made about housing. There was a lot in the 2007 plan about

[1:45:59] Voice 6: housing, and they didn't have a housing committee as I think we do now. I think housing in the,

[1:46:06] Voice 6: what is currently the core, even on the outskirts of the core of Ganges, is almost non-existent,

[1:46:14] Voice 6: particularly for several groups that I think have been unincluded, and we want to be an

[1:46:20] Voice 6: inclusive community. So I think that my vision is that we have to densify Ganges

[1:46:27] Voice 6: and do it in a well-planned manner because we need to address those groups, those disadvantaged

[1:46:36] Voice 6: groups. And as Christine Torgerson was quoted as saying, she has seen urban sprawl and she didn't

[1:46:45] Voice 6: like it. So if we start building outside of the Ganges core and putting in developments here and

[1:46:55] Voice 6: there, rezoning to industrial or commercial land along Fulford Ganges and other areas,

[1:47:02] Voice 6: it's not going to meet her definition. It's going to end up creating urban sprawl.

[1:47:10] Voice 6: So if we can define an area that's the Ganges Village proper and plan the development, I think we need to address the housing issue and do it correctly this time and not give it lip service and not have anything happen.

[1:47:27] Voice 6: and again I'm afraid I have to agree with both John and Sebastian that might

[1:47:32] Voice 6: not be in our purview but it is land use so to some degree is certainly in the

[1:47:39] Voice 6: islands trust purview and we should be able to to address that

[1:47:44] Voice 9: David

[1:47:45] Voice 9: um david microphone

[1:47:56] Voice 7: on helps um vision

[1:48:03] Voice 9: for ganges or yes

[1:48:05] Voice 7: so i i for

[1:48:10] Voice 7: an hour and 40 minutes i've been struggling with i just really hope we don't have to discuss this

[1:48:17] Voice 7: um and in the last five or ten minutes a few light bulbs went off um actually starting with

[1:48:25] Voice 7: with Jenny. And I wrote down the word harmony. I think harmony is something that we represent

[1:48:36] Voice 7: and we need to keep in mind. The next piece is, and again, stimulated by John, and I don't mean

[1:48:47] Voice 7: it as a backhanded compliment, but leadership. I think the Ganges is looked at within not only

[1:48:56] Voice 7: salt spring but all of the islands trust communities for leadership and that we

[1:49:04] Voice 7: the ganji should represent the best of what the gulf islands and the larger area represents

[1:49:17] Voice 7: which which again to nodding to jenny is part of that is harmony so you know you think about

[1:49:23] Voice 7: the farmers, you know, the Saturday market, the artist communities, everything we have here,

[1:49:31] Voice 7: that the other islands necessarily look to us for leadership. So, you know, there are many

[1:49:39] Voice 7: similar issues all the islands have. Of course, the Islands Trust was established to try and

[1:49:46] Voice 7: provide guidance and support for that. But what is the true embodiment? The true embodiment is

[1:49:52] Voice 7: arguably ganges um and uh they're along with harmony not and not necessarily captured within

[1:50:04] Voice 7: harmony is an inclusivity um that you know so it's it's what you know walking through ganges

[1:50:11] Voice 7: um you know i i am in a different socioeconomic class yes than other people but i i hopefully

[1:50:21] Voice 7: am i targeted because of whatever socioeconomic class i personally am i look for you know this

[1:50:27] Voice 7: is what i enjoy is all that what's happening around me um and uh yeah just i wrote down

[1:50:37] Voice 7: mike's comment on densification i haven't i haven't articulated my head yet how that weaves in

[1:50:44] Voice 7: but absolutely um we can't we can't have a crazy sprawl it's it's nuts that you have to want you

[1:50:52] Voice 7: You know, it should be more convenient.

[1:50:55] Voice 7: Maybe that's part of the vision.

[1:50:56] Voice 7: It's convenient.

[1:50:59] Voice 7: Anyhow, thanks.

[1:51:05] Voice 9: John.

[1:51:09] Voice 4: I mean, it's a huge question,

[1:51:11] Voice 4: but I'll talk about housing because I mentioned that

[1:51:15] Voice 4: if you came in with a scheme tomorrow

[1:51:17] Voice 4: to put affordable housing in Ganges

[1:51:19] Voice 4: or upper story suites or live work situation

[1:51:23] Voice 4: like we have over at Merchant News,

[1:51:26] Voice 4: you're into a long, long process

[1:51:28] Voice 4: that's because there's no zoning that allows that in Ganges right now.

[1:51:32] Voice 4: You'd have to start from scratch.

[1:51:34] Voice 4: So to me, Ganges has some issues.

[1:51:38] Voice 4: It's not a complete healthy community,

[1:51:40] Voice 4: and it has some safety and security issues.

[1:51:44] Voice 4: And, you know, very commonly accepted planning practices is you wouldn't

[1:51:49] Voice 4: create a village that doesn't have people there,

[1:51:51] Voice 4: where you roll up the sidewalks at night because nobody lives upstairs of any

[1:51:55] Voice 4: of these units or anything.

[1:51:56] Voice 4: So, to me, part of my vision and what I really hope we can accomplish here is to correct this deficiency in that you can't live in Ganges today.

[1:52:15] Voice 4: And so I think that's really important to have a healthy, diverse community, to have all levels of housing.

[1:52:24] Voice 3: Jenny?

[1:52:25] Voice 3: Right on.

[1:52:27] Voice 3: I hope that when we do the walkabout, I would be able to point out all the housing that's

[1:52:33] Voice 3: been taken out of Ganges because actually when I was a kid, most of Ganges was housing

[1:52:40] Voice 3: and a lot of the amenities we have, including the new high school, the pool, all the, the

[1:52:48] Voice 3: Island Savings Credit Union, all the stores, those were all, that was all housing.

[1:52:53] Voice 3: So Ganges was a walkable, livable community.

[1:52:56] Voice 3: I know people don't like hearing from people who grew up here and they say

[1:53:01] Voice 3: things like, well, that's in the past,

[1:53:02] Voice 3: but if we're actually going to look at looking forward and we are trying to

[1:53:07] Voice 3: look into the past too,

[1:53:08] Voice 3: because Ganges would have been a very powerful place with a lot of fresh

[1:53:13] Voice 3: water running to the ocean and first nation gathering spot for many families,

[1:53:19] Voice 3: many children, people working together to share food, to, you know,

[1:53:24] Voice 3: know do laundry together to gather salmon and I think we should really try to think of Ganges

[1:53:30] Voice 3: in a very deep way and you know when I was a kid I could play in Ganges and it was a complete

[1:53:38] Voice 3: experience like I didn't need my parents to drive me here there and they wouldn't anyways my parents

[1:53:44] Voice 3: just wouldn't do that like older parents like from the 70s never did that the same as parents

[1:53:49] Voice 3: do now. So we had to find out what we could do in Ganges. And so I would like for Ganges to always

[1:53:56] Voice 3: remain as a place where families can live. But you know, in terms of density, you also need green

[1:54:04] Voice 3: space. So you know, we have to really look at the planning very carefully, because you need to be

[1:54:09] Voice 3: able to provide places to get outside of those dense houses to where people can socialize. So

[1:54:16] Voice 3: So that's, that's what I have to say, but yeah, that's all I can say for now.

[1:54:23] Voice 9: Thank you.

[1:54:24] Voice 9: And Louisa just mentioned that the staff are leaving to prepare for the next meeting, but

[1:54:28] Voice 9: we still, so thank you everybody.

[1:54:30] Voice 9: See you next time.

[1:54:31] Voice 9: And I guess,

[1:54:32] Voice 9: but we still have two of us to share, at least two of us to share some of

[1:54:38] Voice 9: our visions.

[1:54:39] Voice 9: Sebastian.

[1:54:41] Voice 10: Yeah, thank you.

[1:54:42] Voice 10: any uh i guess i i it feels far too ambitious now but when i was thinking about all this in advance

[1:54:53] Voice 10: and what we might do i was hoping we'd be the tail that wagged the dog and that we could help

[1:54:57] Voice 10: resolve some issues around governance and about the how people feel about the island's trust and

[1:55:03] Voice 10: and some of these key uh pressure issues around uh what's happening in the core

[1:55:10] Voice 10: Ganges and housing and so forth and I thought what what an exciting opportunity it could be

[1:55:15] Voice 10: clearly that's not going to happen at least as part of our commission here but who knows I think

[1:55:23] Voice 10: in terms of my personal view of where Ganges is going I think a lot of the stuff we came up with

[1:55:33] Voice 10: 10 years ago or more in a design charrette I like and I would love an opportunity to show

[1:55:40] Voice 10: some of those images and give you guys a 10 or 15 minute summary of what came out of the whole

[1:55:46] Voice 10: exercise uh some of it's kind of neat you know like it makes and it just kind of adds flesh to

[1:55:52] Voice 10: the to the bones of the uh report that you've read um since then of course lots has changed

[1:55:58] Voice 10: but one uh i guess enduring concept it's mentioned in the focus group report and it's kind of

[1:56:09] Voice 10: of blossomed in my head since then is this uh kind of question of ganges as its identity and

[1:56:16] Voice 10: what is rural living and who who owns ganges and how come there's nobody living in it and i'm going

[1:56:22] Voice 10: well actually it's a weird village it's the village yes people don't live in it but it's

[1:56:28] Voice 10: still as if people live in it everybody's spread out we're like one huge exurbia and that's our

[1:56:33] Voice 10: village and we look at it as ours even if we don't live in it and that's true as i think david

[1:56:38] Voice 10: was saying for much of the gulf islands and a key part of good planning in my view is to do

[1:56:44] Voice 10: peripheral planning where you ask crofton and you ask you know galliano and you ask vancouver what

[1:56:51] Voice 10: do they think ganges should be and what you know how do they view ganges because a lot of people

[1:56:57] Voice 10: have ownership over ganges that don't live there and that makes it a very unusual community when

[1:57:02] Voice 10: i go to other seaside communities it's almost as if they're surrounded by beautiful areas but

[1:57:07] Voice 10: but everybody lives in the village.

[1:57:09] Voice 10: That's the more norm here.

[1:57:10] Voice 10: We're the opposite extreme, I think.

[1:57:13] Voice 10: The other thing I'll mention, just the last thing,

[1:57:16] Voice 10: is in terms, and that one is more around the identity of Ganges

[1:57:21] Voice 10: and what it is and everybody feeling good about it and owning it.

[1:57:24] Voice 10: The second thing is this idea that we're an arts community,

[1:57:29] Voice 10: maybe it's not as important as climate change or housing or so forth,

[1:57:33] Voice 10: but what really sets us apart from other villages that I go

[1:57:36] Voice 10: and visit everywhere is that we are a top recognized arts community and the quality

[1:57:41] Voice 10: arts is fantastic and what i'd like to see okay is that we take a fractal view of that

[1:57:47] Voice 10: fractal at all levels the there's the the individual artistic creations of the many

[1:57:54] Voice 10: people whether it's music or sculpture or paintings whatever that we do on this island

[1:57:58] Voice 10: we attract people from all over we won more awards than all of toronto on art here in canada so

[1:58:04] Voice 10: So that's the objects you see in the galleries,

[1:58:08] Voice 10: but the people themselves and how they dress and relate

[1:58:10] Voice 10: and all the yoga communities

[1:58:12] Voice 10: and one of the two extant hippie communities

[1:58:15] Voice 10: in all of Canada, that's artistic as well.

[1:58:17] Voice 10: And so should be the village in which we live

[1:58:21] Voice 10: and the built community we create.

[1:58:24] Voice 10: The Islands Trust Preserve and Protect Mandate

[1:58:26] Voice 10: was originally created to allow the large cities

[1:58:30] Voice 10: to enjoy this beautiful natural environment and come and visit.

[1:58:33] Voice 10: but now we've got loads of people and our biggest industry is building buildings and how come

[1:58:38] Voice 10: we don't are clearer that the built environment should be also beautiful here you come to enjoy

[1:58:46] Voice 10: beautiful nature and a beautiful built environment that complements that natural experience and

[1:58:52] Voice 10: that's what's missing in the mandate I'd like to add it in and that we focus much more on the

[1:58:57] Voice 10: built environment being a creative work of art and that's why I think our motto should be

[1:59:02] Voice 10: masterpiece Ganges and we should turn Ganges at that fractal scale into one big piece of work of

[1:59:08] Voice 10: art and of course it would be lovely to live there and to visit there and to call it our own but I

[1:59:14] Voice 10: think it's an artistic exercise at part and it would address the economics and how people relate

[1:59:20] Voice 10: to each other and and the look of our gateways and the sculpture walks and the seaside talk and

[1:59:26] Voice 10: And it doesn't let CRD come in and put in a washroom that looks like a washroom everywhere else on the coast.

[1:59:34] Voice 10: No, we are a handmade crafts and arts community.

[1:59:40] Voice 10: And you don't dare put in a washroom that looks like every other washroom on the coast.

[1:59:44] Voice 10: That's not who we are.

[1:59:45] Voice 10: And let's get them to agree to that and sit down with us and actually make a beautiful village over time.

[1:59:52] Voice 10: That's my village.

[1:59:54] Voice 9: Amen, brother.

[1:59:56] Voice 9: Thank you. And then I was gonna say, I'd like to make

[2:00:00] Voice 9: a motion that we add 10-minute presentation by Sebastian onto our next agenda with some of the

[2:00:07] Voice 9: drawings from the 2007 report. Does anybody want to second that? Bob, does anybody approve of that?

[2:00:16] Voice 9: All those in favor? Is anybody opposed to that? One

[2:00:24] Voice 9: opposed, noted. The motion

[2:00:27] Voice 9: carries and is that, can we add that to the next month's agenda, Louisa?

[2:00:34] Voice 1: Would you, Sebastian, would you want to send it over to us so we can distribute it in the

[2:00:40] Voice 1: packet?

[2:00:41] Voice 10: Yeah, or it could just be a slideshow.

[2:00:43] Voice 10: It's intended to be an

[2:00:45] Voice 10: informal update.

[2:00:46] Voice 10: Just, you know, it's kind of fun, but I think it's also useful as part of our orientation.

[2:00:53] Voice 1: We can

[2:00:53] Voice 1: add that as an item on the agenda.

[2:00:55] Voice 1: And

[2:00:56] Voice 9: just to share my vision of Ganges has to do with facing and connected with the harbor, possibly passenger ferry service in and out so that I spent four hours over the last two days counting bicyclists moving through Ganges and there are so many cars.

[2:01:17] Voice 9: ours. It's just not pleasant. It's bikeable and walkable and there's more housing and there may

[2:01:25] Voice 9: be in the future a community college within the Ganges Corps that can engage all ages and provide

[2:01:32] Voice 9: training for all sorts of the services that are hard to get training for on the island and that

[2:01:38] Voice 9: that there are public spaces that are expanding

[2:01:41] Voice 9: and possibly even camping,

[2:01:44] Voice 9: more camping within a walkable distance.

[2:01:47] Voice 9: So lots of visionary things.

[2:01:50] Voice 9: And I just thank you all.

[2:01:52] Voice 9: I thought that was really interesting

[2:01:54] Voice 9: and I am really looking forward

[2:01:55] Voice 9: to our walkabout in a few weeks.

[2:01:58] Voice 9: Thanks Louisa for all of your coordination

[2:02:00] Voice 9: and all your patience and have a great day everyone.

[2:02:08] Voice 9: uh

[2:02:08] Voice 1: one more comment

[2:02:09] Voice 9: from luisa i motion to adjourn

[2:02:11] Voice 1: i

[2:02:12] Voice 9: motion to adjourn

[2:02:13] Voice 5: and thank you robin

[2:02:15] Voice 9: thanks guys see ya okay

[2:02:17] Voice 5: thank you thanks everybody bye