Gabriola Island Local Trust Committee community information meeting, October 7, 2024

[0:00:06] Voice 5: Okay, and here we are. Good afternoon, everyone. Greetings. I'm Chair Toby Elliott here on

[0:00:15] Voice 5: Instantanemic Territory on Gabriela Island, but this is the regular business meeting of the Maine

[0:00:22] Voice 5: Local Trust Committee. And so I want to welcome you all and begin by acknowledging that the land

[0:00:30] Voice 5: in which we live, work, and play, has been home to Coast Salish peoples, both Sinchothin-speaking

[0:00:38] Voice 5: and Hul'q'uminum-speaking peoples and families for many, many, many generations. And we want

[0:00:43] Voice 5: to acknowledge the place in which we live and work, the stewardship that has got us to that

[0:00:49] Voice 5: place, and the knowledge that hopefully carries us into the future as we do our work. So thank

[0:00:56] Voice 5: you um introducing my co-trustees your local trustees trustee david mott good

[0:01:02] Voice 15: afternoon i'm

[0:01:03] Voice 15: thankful to to to be able to join electronically today i'm to today i'm up in the courtney which

[0:01:10] Voice 15: is traditional home of the commodities first nations and i'm attending dem and island local

[0:01:15] Voice 15: trust committee tomorrow so i'm thankful that we managed to move the agenda and format around to

[0:01:21] Voice 15: do the electronic version and i can participate thank you so much

[0:01:24] Voice 5: excellent it's great to have

[0:01:27] Voice 5: you here even if on the road and trustee janine dodds and

[0:01:31] Voice 9: i'm here i'm here at home which is

[0:01:33] Voice 9: traditional territorial coast salish and reserve lands of the sarlap and i just thought i'd let

[0:01:39] Voice 9: you know that when i was coming home on the ferry the other day the chief steward had made

[0:01:43] Voice 9: announcement we are arriving at magical main island so i would like everyone to know that

[0:01:49] Voice 9: we are now hereby called magical main island which on a day like this he was right on

[0:01:56] Voice 6: that's wonderful

[0:01:56] Voice 6: thank you for bringing us that uh we're joined by uh staff uh planner

[0:02:03] Voice 6: narissa chadwick hello hello

[0:02:06] Voice 8: and

[0:02:07] Voice 6: phil testamale good to see you hi uh warren dingman

[0:02:12] Voice 5: in the wings

[0:02:13] Voice 5: is there and our meeting minute taker and meeting facilitator lisa millard so together we three make

[0:02:22] Voice 5: up the local trust committee and um well let's just get into it we've got an agenda before us

[0:02:29] Voice 5: is there any additions or changes to our published agenda uh yeah

[0:02:35] Voice 9: i just want to add to new business

[0:02:38] Voice 9: at the end of the meeting um proposed letter regarding fallow deer to the crd okay

[0:02:45] Voice 5: so we'll

[0:02:45] Voice 5: add that a new business

[0:02:48] Voice 5: 13.2 fallow deer letter the never-ending question i'm so sorry

[0:02:58] Voice 5: you know before i knew anything about the islands trust i knew about the fallow deer

[0:03:04] Voice 5: and

[0:03:04] Voice 9: they're not magical no

[0:03:08] Voice 5: so without anything else we'll adopt the agenda as amended and um

[0:03:15] Voice 5: as is tradition we'll move into town hall and questions so this is your opportunity to address

[0:03:22] Voice 5: the local trust committee i understand we've got um there was about 20 participants today

[0:03:28] Voice 5: day or 13 attendees and so um please keep your um your dialogue to items of local interest to the

[0:03:38] Voice 5: low to the main island local trust committee i understand a number of you are here today um

[0:03:43] Voice 5: with items of concern and so we're very open to hearing about that we ask that you speak

[0:03:48] Voice 5: respectfully uh speak to issues not to to um personalities or other members of the community

[0:03:55] Voice 5: community and just um yeah let's keep it in in a good respectful tone so yes i see people are

[0:04:02] Voice 5: raising their hands and so if you raise your hand um we can promote you to speaker and you can

[0:04:10] Voice 5: say what you need to say uh two three minutes would be great so ranjeet i see you there hello

[0:04:31] Voice 6: you've been promoted to speaker so you can go right ahead ranjeet i can't hear anything i'm

[0:04:44] Voice 6: not sure is anyone else hearing anything i

[0:04:47] Voice 9: don't know that she wanted to speak i heard oh i heard

[0:04:50] Voice 9: your volume's not very good so you didn't want to speak to us ranjeet you have to put your hand down

[0:05:00] Voice 9: thank

[0:05:06] Voice 5: you okay and i recognize it is a bit of a change from the normal um regular in-person

[0:05:14] Voice 5: meeting so i apologize for the awkwardness and having changed this to an electronic meeting

[0:05:19] Voice 5: um but please if anybody wishes to address us put up your hand ranji you are recognized and

[0:05:27] Voice 5: you're in the room you want to unmute yourself and uh and go ahead and let us know what you're

[0:05:35] Voice 5: thinking still

[0:05:47] Voice 4: muted if you're trying to talk all

[0:05:58] Voice 15: right oh oh there you are

[0:06:00] Voice 1: that's what happened

[0:06:01] Voice 1: thing. Ah,

[0:06:03] Voice 5: excellent. Oh, sorry.

[0:06:06] Voice 5: Could you tell us your name?

[0:06:07] Voice 1: I'm Robert Anthony.

[0:06:09] Voice 5: Robert Anthony.

[0:06:10] Voice 5: Yeah.

[0:06:13] Voice 1: Shall I go? Yeah. Okay. Well,

[0:06:15] Voice 1: I'm here on behalf of a group of neighbors.

[0:06:19] Voice 1: They delegated me to speak to you today. I think I drew the short straw.

[0:06:25] Voice 1: And the purpose of addressing the meeting is about an illegal short-term rental that's been

[0:06:32] Voice 1: been operating in our neighborhood for several years, despite numerous reports and complaints

[0:06:37] Voice 1: from area residents. So at first we were baffled and then frustrated and finally enraged that this

[0:06:46] Voice 1: known illegal rental had been allowed to persist. How is it that a non-resident landlord has been

[0:06:52] Voice 1: able to profit for years at the expense of local area residents? Now, you know, neighbors in an

[0:07:00] Voice 1: an area. We see one another, we meet, we talk, and the topic of that illegal rental has arisen

[0:07:07] Voice 1: frequently. Now, our concerns are certainly aroused by the disruptive noise and commotion

[0:07:14] Voice 1: from the offending property. But it's more than that, because we have to suffer the consequences

[0:07:19] Voice 1: of these large groups of adults who stress our local water utility during the height of the

[0:07:24] Voice 1: summer drought. And even when the summer fire ban requires contractors to lay down their tools in

[0:07:31] Voice 1: the interests of fire safety, our neighborhood was alarmed by smoke wafting from the wood-burning

[0:07:37] Voice 1: heater for the hot tub at this illegal rental. So recently, it was resolved that we, as a

[0:07:45] Voice 1: neighborhood, had to take more direct action to defend our neighborhood. Through discussions

[0:07:50] Voice 1: Amongst area residents, a letter was prepared, and it was sent to our local area trustees, outlining our concerns and pleading for more enforcement action to stop this illegal short-term rental.

[0:08:04] Voice 1: So, David Mott, thank you, and Janine, you've been very responsive, and you made that letter that was sent available to the Islands Trust prior to the meeting.

[0:08:15] Voice 1: meeting. In addition, you've informed us that the Islands Trust has begun a more rigorous

[0:08:21] Voice 1: enforcement of short-term rental bylaws, and that there's going to be consideration of additional

[0:08:27] Voice 1: enforcement options at the meeting today. Now, such initiatives are very much appreciated,

[0:08:33] Voice 1: and we're hopeful that additional measures, more conscientious vigilance and enforcement,

[0:08:39] Voice 1: enforcement will serve to stem the scourge of illegal short-term rentals, not only in our

[0:08:45] Voice 1: neighborhood, but throughout the Southern Gulf Islands. So while you trustees are considering

[0:08:50] Voice 1: measures to improve and strengthen the bylaws and enforcement of zoning regulations, we want

[0:08:56] Voice 1: to partner with you. So what is it that we can do? What can the residents do to help the Islands

[0:09:02] Voice 1: Trust stem the illegal rentals that are operating in our community? Thank you.

[0:09:10] Voice 5: Thank you so much, Mr. Anthony. I think our manager by law and manager Warren Dingman is here and could provide some answers maybe after the town hall is finished. So if anybody else wants to speak or ask questions, we'd love to hear them all at once. Thanks.

[0:09:36] Voice 5: and again if anybody wants to be recognized and promoted to speaker you just have to raise your

[0:09:45] Voice 5: electronic hand it's down there at the bottom of your screen it's much less friendly in an

[0:09:59] Voice 5: electronic environment i know nobody wants to talk okay i'll just call one more time any more

[0:10:08] Voice 5: speakers we'll have another opportunity at the end of the meeting but this is of course if you

[0:10:13] Voice 5: you want us to consider anything on this agenda not related to an application of course

[0:10:23] Voice 5: no okay um so a couple of questions were asked i mean the local trust committee can consider what

[0:10:31] Voice 5: more people can do to partner and support enforcement on um these vacation rentals but

[0:10:37] Voice 5: warren could you provide a bit of an update on either this file or in general morning chair

[0:10:47] Voice 14: Good afternoon. This particular property, I believe it's the one on Aya Reach that is

[0:10:55] Voice 14: the most concerned recently. This operation was fined in the spring, penalties in excess

[0:11:02] Voice 14: of the $1,000 and they paid penalties in the excess of the $1,000. Enforcement's been ongoing

[0:11:11] Voice 14: going since 2020 and the property owner's been advised the operator's been advised and they will

[0:11:17] Voice 14: take down the ad when there is enforcement uh but in the end i think the financial incentive

[0:11:24] Voice 14: has been too great and it usually pops back up again each season so there have been penalties

[0:11:30] Voice 14: issued um there were additional penalties issued for the month of august after the most recent

[0:11:37] Voice 14: and complaints came in, the property owner and operator disputed the tickets

[0:11:43] Voice 14: and signed a compliance agreement where they've agreed to cease the operation,

[0:11:48] Voice 14: take down the advertising.

[0:11:51] Voice 14: If they fail to do that, don't meet the terms of the condition,

[0:11:56] Voice 14: they owe $7,500 in fines or could.

[0:12:00] Voice 14: So there is an agreement in place to cease operation at this particular STBR.

[0:12:06] Voice 14: ours um what the local community can do is submit regular complaints about short-term vacation

[0:12:14] Voice 14: rentals we actually don't receive a lot of complaints about short-term vacation rentals

[0:12:19] Voice 14: it's usually you know just very specific ones that will receive a complaint about so if there

[0:12:25] Voice 14: are concerns uh we need to hear from the residents that they're concerned about a certain operation

[0:12:30] Voice 14: so that we can escalate enforcement if necessary.

[0:12:34] Voice 14: I will say for this particular operation,

[0:12:38] Voice 14: some of the use has been a lawful use

[0:12:42] Voice 14: because the owner lets friends and relatives use it without payment.

[0:12:47] Voice 14: So we can't stop that.

[0:12:49] Voice 14: That's just, you know, if he wants to have guests in his dwelling on Main,

[0:12:55] Voice 14: he can do that.

[0:12:56] Voice 14: But for the unlawful part of the operation,

[0:12:58] Voice 14: operation. As I've said, we've issued penalties. We have an agreement in place that should

[0:13:04] Voice 14: stop the use in this particular operation and the operator has been told to consider

[0:13:09] Voice 14: getting a temporary use permit or applying for one if they do want to try and operate

[0:13:13] Voice 14: in the future. I guess that's the best information I have right now on this particular one. For

[0:13:22] Voice 14: any other operation on the island, we need the complaints. We need the information from

[0:13:27] Voice 14: those on the island when there are uh they believe that you know whatever it is i mean we can't do

[0:13:33] Voice 14: anything about nuisance noise but if the operation is creating noise there may be something under the

[0:13:38] Voice 14: home occupation regulations that we can proceed on over to you chair thank

[0:13:44] Voice 5: you thank you so much

[0:13:46] Voice 5: manager dingman um what else can the local trust committee do um we haven't considered the question

[0:13:54] Voice 5: But I don't know if it's still an option to opt in to Bill 44 for the principal residency requirement for short-term vacation rentals.

[0:14:05] Voice 5: So some local trust committees have opted in, including Gabriel Island, which I'm from.

[0:14:10] Voice 5: And that requires that any owner of a short-term vacation rental has to live in the residence.

[0:14:21] Voice 5: So, yeah, Trustee Dodds.

[0:14:22] Voice 5: Well,

[0:14:23] Voice 9: we already have a regulation. Basically, all short-term vacation rentals are on properties where people live. So we've never had a free-for-all. We do have

[0:14:34] Voice 9: a couple of temporary use permits. We've always had bed and breakfast, which is your traditional short-term.

[0:14:40] Voice 9: so we have bed and breakfast but the owner lives in the house we have short-term vacation rentals

[0:14:45] Voice 9: which are primarily small cottages where the actual residents live there full-time

[0:14:50] Voice 9: so we do not have if we do have they are non-permitted and i don't think that we need

[0:14:57] Voice 9: to make it any clearer than that we expect them to be operated as home occupations the two that

[0:15:02] Voice 9: have temporary use permits it's only two and we've not been bombarded with requests and we've

[0:15:07] Voice 9: actually denied some requests so so i don't think we need to opt into the provinces rules

[0:15:14] Voice 9: ours are pretty good

[0:15:15] Voice 6: excellent um i do see another

[0:15:20] Voice 5: hand uh raised trisha hope uh if we could

[0:15:25] Voice 5: promote her to speaker or the person thank you

[0:15:31] Voice 16: My question is to Mr. Dingman. You say that we need to issue complaints. Who do we address the

[0:15:43] Voice 16: complaints to? Do we give them to our trustees? Do we give them to you or some other CRD office?

[0:15:51] Voice 16: If we need to want to complain, where can we complain to, please?

[0:15:57] Voice 16: So,

[0:16:00] Voice 14: Chair, they can submit them directly to me.

[0:16:03] Voice 14: We do have a report of concern or complaint form on our website.

[0:16:08] Voice 14: There's also a bylaw enforcement email, bylawenforcementatlionstrust.bc.ca.

[0:16:14] Voice 14: And you can also submit to your trustee.

[0:16:16] Voice 14: So there's multiple ways that you can submit in writing a complaint.

[0:16:20] Voice 14: The primary way is using our online complaint form.

[0:16:25] Voice 16: Thank you for clarifying that.

[0:16:27] Voice 9: Yes, Trustee Dodds?

[0:16:29] Voice 9: I just want to clarify, we are not the CRD and the CRD does not do complaints about short-term

[0:16:36] Voice 9: vacation rentals. I know it's quite confusing who does what, but complaints about non-permitted

[0:16:42] Voice 9: uses on residential property need to come to the Islands Trust, but that's really important

[0:16:48] Voice 9: that you do that. Thank you.

[0:16:52] Voice 5: Excellent. Thank you for clarifying. I see one more person with

[0:16:57] Voice 5: their hand up uh could we recognize and promote Carly McWilliams go ahead uh McWilliams thank you

[0:17:07] Voice 13: I just wanted to ask um if bill the bill that you were talking about 44 was adopted would it allow

[0:17:15] Voice 13: stricter penalties for for people who are not using the short-term rental laws correctly

[0:17:24] Voice 13: or would it all be the same because it falls under island trust i'm

[0:17:30] Voice 5: actually interested to hear how

[0:17:32] Voice 5: it's going to work on gabriola so it's um i believe it comes into force in november

[0:17:38] Voice 5: and so there's been a grace period and so um i don't know warren has any email i haven't seen

[0:17:46] Voice 5: any email information going out to property owners on gabriola of what the enforcement

[0:17:51] Voice 5: measures actually are um but my impression is that they would also receive some communication

[0:18:00] Voice 5: from the province in addition to um the fines that are levied by the trust area do you know

[0:18:10] Voice 5: if i'm correct in that but

[0:18:12] Voice 14: jerry if the province chooses to do enforcement on the gulf islands

[0:18:16] Voice 14: then yes they would be able to levy fines that are far in excess of what we can do we're limited

[0:18:21] Voice 14: right now to $500. Right now, the province is focusing, their enforcement team is focusing

[0:18:28] Voice 14: on those jurisdictions that issue business licenses. And I think that will actually remain

[0:18:34] Voice 14: their focus. I mean, it's the, in the end, it's the easier path to follow is that you

[0:18:43] Voice 14: have, it'll be very much more clear cut for them. And you've got these, you know, Vancouver,

[0:18:48] Voice 14: Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo, Surrey, all these much bigger jurisdictions with greater populations,

[0:18:53] Voice 14: I think, and they don't have a large team, I think that's where their focus is going to be.

[0:18:59] Voice 14: So if they end up doing enforcement in our area, I think it could be a year or two

[0:19:06] Voice 14: if they are going to do that.

[0:19:10] Voice 13: Thank you.

[0:19:17] Voice 5: The way that I've seen it is it just sort of backs

[0:19:20] Voice 5: up the support that your local trust committee has already enacted through its bylaws and it's

[0:19:24] Voice 5: standing resolutions for proactive enforcement and sort of signals a notice to off-island property

[0:19:30] Voice 5: owners that this isn't an acceptable practice so it's as much a communication tool right now but

[0:19:38] Voice 5: we're going to see how that works out on gabriola very shortly anyone else uh for to address the

[0:19:46] Voice 5: the local trust committee and if not looks like we're all done for now sure elliot

[0:19:54] Voice 17: yes a member

[0:19:56] Voice 17: of the public has asked a question in the question and answer section of the zoom i can read it out

[0:20:04] Voice 17: to you if you like oh

[0:20:05] Voice 5: sure thank you staff how

[0:20:07] Voice 17: are short-term vacation rentals affecting our

[0:20:10] Voice 17: rental housing shortage planner

[0:20:15] Voice 5: chadwick do you have any uh indication do we have the answer is

[0:20:20] Voice 8: we have no idea because to assess that kind of a to assess that kind of a thing you'd really have

[0:20:28] Voice 8: to do some like detailed research because things are different on different islands i mean i

[0:20:32] Voice 8: participated a little bit um uh about five years ago in a bit of a survey on north pender island

[0:20:38] Voice 8: um and um you know one of the the things that came out in that in that uh work was that a lot

[0:20:45] Voice 8: of the people that operate short-term vacation rentals are not interested in um in renting out

[0:20:51] Voice 8: full-time because they use the properties themselves or they've had um they've had

[0:20:56] Voice 8: problems with renters in the past so um it's really it's really so dependent on the community

[0:21:02] Voice 8: and the people and all of the things so it's really not a very easy question to answer

[0:21:10] Voice 9: yes trusty dads yeah and i just want to say that outright short-term vacation rentals that are

[0:21:16] Voice 9: are permitted on main island are people with legal cottages and a lot of those people these

[0:21:21] Voice 9: are cottages they have their primary resident they have a legal cottage most of them they they

[0:21:26] Voice 9: don't want to make i mean some might that comes and goes but for a lot of them it's an opportunity

[0:21:31] Voice 9: for family friends etc some for some people they need the extra income so as nerissa said not

[0:21:39] Voice 9: convinced that we would open up a whole lot of rentals rental is a whole much more complex issue

[0:21:45] Voice 9: for individual residential property owners.

[0:21:49] Voice 9: It's very complex, no simple fix.

[0:21:52] Voice 9: And also some of our only two TU temporary use permits

[0:21:58] Voice 9: for short-term vacation rentals

[0:22:00] Voice 9: are properties that are used for recreational purposes.

[0:22:04] Voice 9: So unlikely to become long-term rentals.

[0:22:06] Voice 9: People have a cottage on Main.

[0:22:09] Voice 9: They have a temporary use permit,

[0:22:10] Voice 9: so they have access to that house

[0:22:12] Voice 9: when they want to recreate.

[0:22:13] Voice 9: age so it is complicated yes

[0:22:19] Voice 5: thank you for that any more speakers um if not we'll close town hall

[0:22:30] Voice 5: and questions and move into the rest of our meeting sorry for the rooster crowing out there

[0:22:36] Voice 5: got a very vocal hurt block right outside the window um okay well thank you for your questions

[0:22:46] Voice 5: and thank you to the members of the public who've attended and are watching we appreciate your input

[0:22:52] Voice 5: and we really do need to work in partnership so thank you for that message and thank you to warren

[0:22:58] Voice 5: for being here to answer questions um okay so moving into section six our minutes we've got

[0:23:08] Voice 5: minutes of july 29th 2024 uh for adoption are there any changes or amendments those minutes

[0:23:17] Voice 5: all good so i'll take it by general consent the minutes of july 29th 2024 be adopted

[0:23:23] Voice 5: and we do have a report on the resolutions about meeting which was to turn this meeting

[0:23:30] Voice 5: into an electronic one and finally we'll go to our follow-up action list on page 11 of your agenda

[0:23:38] Voice 5: questions or um updates from our planner trustees do you have any um questions on the follow-up

[0:23:47] Voice 5: action list no

[0:23:50] Voice 9: i just yeah i don't have any questions no excellent

[0:24:02] Voice 5: moving swiftly through

[0:24:05] Voice 5: then uh we've got no correspondence although we did uh local trust committee received that

[0:24:13] Voice 5: one letter that Mr. Anthony you wrote in so thank you for that and so now we'll

[0:24:21] Voice 5: move into the our applications section we've got two before us today the DBP

[0:24:28] Voice 5: 2023.1 Seymour and staff report is on page 13 to 34 that be Nerissa or Phil

[0:24:39] Voice 5: I can

[0:24:42] Voice 8: lead it off and Phil might want to chime in because he did a substantial part contribution to this report. So, including the drawings, by the way, because I can never pull that off.

[0:24:58] Voice 8: um yeah so so i think we're all familiar with this this file so the um the development variance

[0:25:04] Voice 8: permit is for the construction of uh two retaining walls and um the reconstruction of the stairs so

[0:25:10] Voice 8: the stairs are actually being reconstructed into in into the um previous location but they are

[0:25:18] Voice 8: being integrated uh with the wall so there there's

[0:25:21] Voice 1: a slight change

[0:25:22] Voice 8: to to um what was previously there

[0:25:24] Voice 8: And so in this case, this, as we spoke about before, it's a house that is pretty much in the setback, various setbacks, and it predates bylaws.

[0:25:46] Voice 8: So, it was issued a building permit on the condition that it be built within the existing envelope, because the existing envelope was legally non-conforming.

[0:26:02] Voice 8: So, the CRD has assured us that they have been building within that envelope.

[0:26:14] Voice 8: So the walls are, were never there before. And so that's why we, they need to, they need this variance.

[0:26:24] Voice 8: And so the, the walls are really to help stabilize the road because the property is very close to the road and the building is very close to road and the work that was done on the building.

[0:26:40] Voice 8: there was some disturbance around it and um and it you know the this the it's challenged the

[0:26:47] Voice 8: stability potentially i mean probably um hence the need for the the wall and so the designs that

[0:26:57] Voice 8: were um are provided here and went out with the um with the variants uh are were approved by the

[0:27:07] Voice 8: Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. And yeah, so basically we're looking for variance

[0:27:17] Voice 8: to a number of setbacks and those are all like very well explained on

[0:27:21] Voice 8: page 16. So it's the front the front line setback the each side and also the setback from the

[0:27:31] Voice 8: the natural boundary of the sea so are there are there any questions and phil's popped up here so

[0:27:40] Voice 8: he's also available to answer them and phil if there's anything i missed please jump in thanks

[0:27:51] Voice 11: narissa i um i don't think you've really omitted anything um yeah okay

[0:27:59] Voice 5: thank you

[0:28:00] Voice 5: um uh trusty mod i see your hand and i just want to let the um mike seymour msr

[0:28:10] Voice 5: our solutions um is here and uh i believe speaking on behalf of the applicant if you want to promote

[0:28:17] Voice 5: um him lisa would be great and uh trustee mod over to you

[0:28:23] Voice 15: okay well with considerable reluctance

[0:28:26] Voice 15: i will move that the mainland local trust committee approve issuance of m a dvp 2023.7

[0:28:33] Voice 15: 7 Seymour.

[0:28:35] Voice 9: I'll second the motion.

[0:28:37] Voice 5: Okay, moved and seconded. So discussion on the motion

[0:28:42] Voice 5: and or questions for the applicant?

[0:28:46] Voice 15: No, it's just my reluctance to know that the applicant

[0:28:49] Voice 15: has created a situation here that we don't have an option. It has become a public safety issue.

[0:28:56] Voice 15: The excavation was undertaken without permits to the edge of the road, well within Ministry

[0:29:03] Voice 15: of transportation property it's it's just like I'm free it because this is

[0:29:12] Voice 15: the ultimate example of it's easier to get permission and then forget or

[0:29:16] Voice 15: previously get through the service and permission because you know if the

[0:29:20] Voice 15: application would come in before any work had been undertaken which is how

[0:29:23] Voice 15: it's supposed to happen there would have been under considerable my goal because

[0:29:28] Voice 15: of the instability of that bank the threatening of the road etc etc etc but

[0:29:34] Voice 15: But I, as a trustee, am left with no alternative

[0:29:37] Voice 15: than to approve this because I just, for my community,

[0:29:40] Voice 15: I cannot say no.

[0:29:42] Voice 15: But the fact that we've been put into this position

[0:29:45] Voice 15: by a set of professionals is uncautionable.

[0:29:48] Voice 15: And I wish more of it had been outlined in the staff report.

[0:29:53] Voice 15: I've never seen an example of this.

[0:29:55] Voice 15: It's more egregious.

[0:29:56] Voice 15: I'm voting for it, but you know.

[0:30:00] Voice 15: I'm very, very, very not happy about it. Thank you.

[0:30:04] Voice 5: Yes. To you, Trustee Dodds, and just a point of clarification, Trustee Maud,

[0:30:10] Voice 5: at what point would you have wanted to see more information in terms of the staff report,

[0:30:14] Voice 5: or was it just the timing of when all the information came to the LTC?

[0:30:20] Voice 15: Well, I would have appreciated more detail in the staff report stating that the work was undertaken without permits

[0:30:26] Voice 15: and was trespassing on a Ministry of Transportation property.

[0:30:32] Voice 5: Trustee Dodds?

[0:30:34] Voice 9: Yeah, just to, I agree with what Trustee Maud has said. Even when the construction first began, he raised questions a number of times about what about permits. And so this basically has carried on for quite some time, the construction and the digging in the bank and all of the work that was done there. So he's quite right in his words, but obviously at this point, absolutely so much has taken place there that we need to approve this.

[0:31:01] Voice 9: And

[0:31:06] Voice 5: I noticed the applicant has, oh, does have his hand up.

[0:31:12] Voice 5: So would you like to address this question or the issue of permits, Mr. Seymour?

[0:31:18] Voice 5: Thank

[0:31:19] Voice 10: you very much, Chair.

[0:31:21] Voice 10: This is Mike Seymour from MSR Solutions.

[0:31:23] Voice 10: And I very much appreciate the responses from both Trustees Maude and Dodds.

[0:31:32] Voice 10: I do appreciate the issues that they raise.

[0:31:36] Voice 10: And the first step in this approval process related to a construction requirement during the building of the site and the excavations were done with permits from the Ministry of Transportation.

[0:31:53] Voice 10: It's understanding that changes occurred and concerns through construction brought us to this point.

[0:31:59] Voice 10: and we did have a discussion with Trustee Maude many, many months ago.

[0:32:04] Voice 10: It's taken time for us to get to this point.

[0:32:07] Voice 10: I will leave the disagreement on those works,

[0:32:12] Voice 10: but I would like to note that we've been working closely with Islands Trust

[0:32:15] Voice 10: and with the Ministry of Transportation,

[0:32:19] Voice 10: and that took us a very, very long time to get approvals from them

[0:32:22] Voice 10: to where we are today, and it appearing to be at a last minute

[0:32:27] Voice 10: it and under coercion and i apologize for that that was never ever the intent other than working

[0:32:33] Voice 10: as best we could however the weather has turned and it did require us to work with certain things

[0:32:39] Voice 10: i do note that the report uh indicated mot approval had not been uh provided we do confirm

[0:32:46] Voice 10: it has been provided verbally uh from the ministry of transportation because they've asked for some

[0:32:52] Voice 10: changes with respect to an operation and maintenance plan and that is being forwarded to them this

[0:32:58] Voice 10: afternoon uh the precedence in allowing this wall again we we will leave that uh comment you've

[0:33:06] Voice 10: stated your position on it but we've had ongoing monitoring through construction with coast

[0:33:12] Voice 10: geotechnical andreas sageo is on uh this call if you would like to have any questions with regards

[0:33:19] Voice 10: to that. And we are working with the CRD on the final permit issuance on this. However, that is

[0:33:27] Voice 10: subject to this approval. And I'm hoping that although you may be reticent that that is

[0:33:33] Voice 10: forthcoming. So I'm here to answer questions. Andreas is also from Coast Geotechnical on the

[0:33:39] Voice 10: call to answer questions by if he needs to raise his hand. Thank you very much.

[0:33:43] Voice 10: Thank

[0:33:46] Voice 5: you for your comments Mr. Seymour. I have no further questions other than I suppose

[0:33:55] Voice 5: how the water and sewage treatment and disposal field will be dealt with that just seems but

[0:34:03] Voice 5: that's not the question on this DVP right now so hopefully that's going to be addressed in a safe

[0:34:11] Voice 5: I

[0:34:14] Voice 10: will state that it is following the sewage system regulation and the water treatment has been as part of our building permit with CRD and will be reflected with appropriate schedules and letters of certification.

[0:34:28] Voice 5: Excellent. Thank you for that. So any further discussion or are we ready to vote on the DBP?

[0:34:38] Voice 5: all

[0:34:39] Voice 15: right well maybe two points of clarification one is um has the applicant applied for a foreshore

[0:34:44] Voice 15: license for the the um parts of the property that are actually projecting within the foreshore

[0:34:51] Voice 15: and also on the other side of the road is there going to be retaining wall built to stabilize

[0:34:56] Voice 15: that bank that seems to be collapsing thank you good

[0:35:02] Voice 5: questions uh foreshore lease and

[0:35:05] Voice 5: And stabilization of the banks on the upper part of the property.

[0:35:10] Voice 5: Mr. Seymour or Andreas, who would be the appropriate person to speak to that?

[0:35:16] Voice 10: I would like Andreas to speak to any geotechnical concerns.

[0:35:23] Voice 10: And as for the foreshore lease, I'm not sure.

[0:35:28] Voice 10: We will have to, if that's a question that's being asked,

[0:35:31] Voice 10: we will have to reach out to the client on the status of that

[0:35:33] Voice 10: because I believe that's in my thought that is legal non-conforming and if a

[0:35:39] Voice 10: conformance is required by Islands Trust please let us know on that separate to

[0:35:45] Voice 10: the retaining wall structure thank you okay

[0:35:50] Voice 5: recognizing Andreas here thank you

[0:35:53] Voice 5: hello

[0:35:54] Voice 2: thank you chair everybody in regards to I'm predominantly

[0:36:00] Voice 2: responsible that's for the slope on the water side of Georgina Point Road

[0:36:05] Voice 2: where the retaining walls are being constructed um i just wanted to add a bit of a commentary that

[0:36:10] Voice 2: this bank pre-excavation now i came after it was excavated by the contractor and we had this

[0:36:19] Voice 2: stability issue um and so that was after this excavation had occurred but pre

[0:36:26] Voice 2: pre-excavation or pre-construction this bank was very very steep and um

[0:36:33] Voice 2: It wasn't very stable, along with much of the bank along Georgina Point Road wasn't very, wasn't very stable before this work is commenced and that it's going to be substantially in the order of probably fourfold safer at the completion of construction.

[0:36:51] Voice 2: construction. So I guess for the community to be just rest assured that now this portion of the

[0:36:57] Voice 2: road is very strong and can withstand, you know, a very large earthquake and experience minimal

[0:37:03] Voice 2: movement. In regards to Trustee Maud's comment on the other side of the road,

[0:37:11] Voice 2: I've asked questions. It's my understanding that that bank hasn't been adjusted. It's how it was

[0:37:17] Voice 2: left by MOT from many, many years ago, that they haven't done any excavation on specifically on

[0:37:28] Voice 2: the bank that borders the ditch on the east side of Georgina Point Road. I haven't noticed any

[0:37:37] Voice 2: significant failures occurring on that bank or even insignificant.

[0:37:42] Voice 2: significant um there's uh but it is steep and vertical but um it's my understanding just from

[0:37:51] Voice 2: discussion with the contractor that that's the way it's been uh for many many years and that it

[0:37:58] Voice 2: it's uh it's within modi's right away

[0:38:04] Voice 5: trustee mod do you want to clarify that and i do have a

[0:38:07] Voice 5: follow-up question yeah

[0:38:09] Voice 15: i certainly can from personal observation clarify that the other side

[0:38:13] Voice 15: all the vegetation all the trees have been removed um there was quite a bit of slope adjustment

[0:38:20] Voice 15: and on more than one occasion i i have like removed rocks that are like one one foot to

[0:38:26] Voice 15: one and a half foot in diameter from the middle of the road after a rain event so there has been

[0:38:32] Voice 15: quite a bit of subsidence of that bank onto the road and it's and it's regular that the contractor

[0:38:38] Voice 15: on site is there with the excavator cleaning out the ditch on that side where the subsidence has

[0:38:44] Voice 15: come onto the road and started to to drift so yeah there is a lot of slope instability there

[0:38:50] Voice 15: um so so if like the statement that that on the property owner hasn't um affected that stability

[0:38:58] Voice 15: no because the mass amount of trees and vegetation that we're taking off that we're providing any

[0:39:02] Voice 15: sort of stability it's all been removed and there has been a lot of subsidence over the last couple

[0:39:08] Voice 15: of years but this approach has been undertaken and as i say i personally have removed degrees

[0:39:13] Voice 15: from the road that have come down onto the road from that property

[0:39:16] Voice 2: so it is an issue i'd be happy

[0:39:19] Voice 2: to assess that slope again my scope works on the other side of the road where the retaining wall

[0:39:24] Voice 2: is in the cottage um and i haven't been contracted for that side of the road um it is it is steep but

[0:39:33] Voice 2: the embankment along Georgina Point Road

[0:39:35] Voice 2: is steep for many, many, many locations.

[0:39:42] Voice 2: And it's my understanding

[0:39:44] Voice 2: it is within Modi's right of way.

[0:39:46] Voice 2: And I guess, I mean, I'm in support

[0:39:50] Voice 2: that if there's obviously a stability issue,

[0:39:54] Voice 2: my career is to solve them.

[0:39:57] Voice 2: And so I'm definitely in support of that.

[0:40:00] Voice 2: I guess, though, it is a little bit

[0:40:02] Voice 2: of a misconception on steep slopes that that trees provide stability they they really only stabilize

[0:40:09] Voice 2: about a maximum of one meter of soil um in depth and so when we look when we geotext talk about

[0:40:19] Voice 2: slope instability um yeah it's a misconception that the slopes being held up um there might be

[0:40:27] Voice 2: some erosion that's caused by removal of trees but not a full-on slope instability i think in the end

[0:40:35] Voice 2: it might be getting i don't know i could divert back to mike but it might be getting hydro seeded

[0:40:41] Voice 2: in the end to avoid any erosion issues um maybe some vegetation can be re-established but from

[0:40:48] Voice 2: what you're describing trustee mod it it looks like it needs more if it's continually

[0:40:53] Voice 10: exceeding

[0:40:55] Voice 10: i'll add trustee maude we will have a look at this we will reach out with general contractor

[0:41:01] Voice 10: and the owner and we will provide an update and a response on this i think it is important to

[0:41:06] Voice 10: address your concerns and we will do so thank you absolutely yes

[0:41:11] Voice 15: if i could just finish up it's just

[0:41:14] Voice 15: it's like my family's been on on the island um for a long time as the trustee dodds and

[0:41:23] Voice 15: And, like, I've never ever, in all my time on Main Island,

[0:41:29] Voice 15: I've never seen any slapping on that side of the road,

[0:41:33] Voice 15: onto the road, in that section ever.

[0:41:39] Voice 15: There was a rain event, the big storm, a couple of years ago,

[0:41:43] Voice 15: where there were some stairs on that bank that ended up

[0:41:47] Voice 15: in the middle of the road when the bank collapsed.

[0:41:50] Voice 15: Again, because the owner had done a bunch of disturbance.

[0:41:53] Voice 15: disturbance. But since all the trees and all the vegetations were removed, which you can clearly

[0:42:00] Voice 15: see in the photographs and the staff report, it's basically every time it rains, part of that bank

[0:42:07] Voice 15: ends up on the road, which has never happened before. So I respect the professional opinion,

[0:42:14] Voice 15: but my anecdotal observation as a resident is that, you know, there wasn't a problem before

[0:42:20] Voice 15: floor vegetation was removed and now there is a problem and i i think if we had a repeat of that

[0:42:27] Voice 15: rain event um i think that um it might be very very scary i'll leave it at that i think we're

[0:42:34] Voice 15: straying a little bit far off topic unfortunately absolutely

[0:42:36] Voice 2: but as mike said we will look at it

[0:42:38] Voice 2: and respond to it i i again i just haven't uh been concentrating on that side of the road um

[0:42:44] Voice 2: throughout the construction of this but absolutely um if if there are anecdotal

[0:42:49] Voice 2: evidence here's lots of erosion problems during rain events and storm events then

[0:42:57] Voice 5: well and and if you can carry the concern of the whole ltc back this is concern on behalf of

[0:43:03] Voice 5: residents if a rock were to fall and somebody is in an accident on that very active road who

[0:43:10] Voice 5: who is responsible if there has been upper slope disturbance that has caused

[0:43:14] Voice 5: that, you know, that's a very serious concern.

[0:43:18] Voice 5: And so your client is frankly, you know,

[0:43:22] Voice 5: building a house and then supporting it after the fact.

[0:43:26] Voice 5: And so we are speaking on behalf of the residents of main Island and saying,

[0:43:30] Voice 5: make sure that your client has the message they need to do due diligence and

[0:43:35] Voice 5: don't do diligence to that upper slope and not leave it to just getting,

[0:43:40] Voice 5: moatee clearance or saying that that's in the moatee right-of-way that is the responsibility

[0:43:45] Voice 5: of any property owner that's doing that level of development above a public road thank you

[0:43:51] Voice 5: thank

[0:43:51] Voice 10: you chair and we will take those uh very serious concerns back to the owner and the

[0:43:57] Voice 10: contractor to make sure that they are addressed and we will have a follow-up report to islands

[0:44:01] Voice 10: trust on this issue thank you for raising those appreciate

[0:44:05] Voice 5: that very much any further discussion

[0:44:08] Voice 5: on the motion?

[0:44:09] Voice 9: Nope. Just want to say thank you, Toby. I think you summed it up well. A lot of us

[0:44:13] Voice 9: look at the water tanks and hold our breath when we drive by. So thank you.

[0:44:18] Voice 5: Okay. Okay. So on the

[0:44:24] Voice 5: motion, the issuance of DVP 2023.7, Seymour, all those in favor, please raise your hand.

[0:44:34] Voice 5: and that is carried and congratulations you may continue your work before the rain

[0:44:41] Voice 10: much appreciate thank you all of you and we'll follow up

[0:44:44] Voice 5: thank you appreciate it thank you so

[0:44:47] Voice 5: much thank you uh mr testamale um are you here for the next one as well

[0:44:54] Voice 5: Well,

[0:44:54] Voice 7: next

[0:44:56] Voice 5: up, let's skip through here.

[0:45:05] Voice 5: Okay, 2024.3, the Bacchus Seawall Development Variance Permit.

[0:45:13] Voice 5: You can go ahead there.

[0:45:14] Voice 11: Okay, thanks, Chair Elliott.

[0:45:16] Voice 11: So

[0:45:16] Voice 12: this is for Development Variance Permit at 564 Hewitt Road.

[0:45:22] Voice 12: and the purpose of the report as part of the package is to retroactively consider a development

[0:45:28] Voice 12: variance permit for the placement of a boulder seawall within the setback from the natural

[0:45:33] Voice 12: boundary of the sea and in the applicant's words that was put in place to prevent further shoreline

[0:45:39] Voice 12: erosion and damage to the natural environment ecosystem and property as winter storms and tides

[0:45:45] Voice 12: intensify so the applicant has also stated that she was unaware of the requirement to obtain a

[0:45:51] Voice 12: permit before initiating the works. The specific variance would reduce the

[0:45:57] Voice 12: required setback from the natural boundary of sea from 7.5 meters to 0

[0:46:02] Voice 12: meters. The application is a result of a bylaw complaint received in February

[0:46:09] Voice 12: 2024 and subsequent enforcement action. So in addition to the boulder placement

[0:46:15] Voice 12: there also has been fill and grass planting put in behind the actual boulder

[0:46:20] Voice 12: seawall so the analysis in the report identifies that there is a similar seawall in place to the

[0:46:27] Voice 12: southwest so it's somewhat contiguous with this but the properties to the northeast do not appear

[0:46:33] Voice 12: to have any structural protection there's no development permit designated however the

[0:46:38] Voice 12: potential impacts and the ocp policy which is cited where a new application would require

[0:46:46] Voice 12: professional reporting to provide an assessment of the effectiveness of the

[0:46:50] Voice 12: protection works and potential impacts so staff with the application encouraged

[0:46:56] Voice 12: the applicant to voluntarily provide that reporting and also provided her

[0:47:01] Voice 12: with contacts with professionals who have green shores experience staffs

[0:47:08] Voice 12: recommendation on page one is that main island local trust committee defer

[0:47:12] Voice 12: consideration of the permit and request that the applicant submit to the

[0:47:16] Voice 12: Islands Trust to report by a professional geo sorry engineer with experience in geotechnical

[0:47:21] Voice 12: engineering or professional geoscientists with green shores experience the rationale for the

[0:47:27] Voice 12: recommendation is that the effectiveness of the work and potential impacts on a natural environment

[0:47:31] Voice 12: and on the neighboring properties cannot be accurately assessed without that professional

[0:47:36] Voice 12: reporting I've also provided alternative resolutions and that's a short summary thank you

[0:47:45] Voice 5: Thank you. Before I go to you, Trustee Maude, I just wanted to ask if the applicant, Ms. Bacchus, is here

[0:47:54] Voice 5: and would like to be promoted to speaker. Thank you. And over to you, Trustee Maude. And you'll have a chance to speak to the application, of course, but any specific questions so far?

[0:48:08] Voice 5: Well,

[0:48:09] Voice 15: thank you, Chair. I guess my question is, like, I wholeheartedly support this. Unlike the previous application of Ms. Bacchus's undertaking work to protect her property was not aware of her obligations or the restrictions.

[0:48:27] Voice 15: And I think it's an innocent oopsie, but it's the reality of that property and that location.

[0:48:35] Voice 15: This is the type of thing that has to happen to protect the natural environment and the

[0:48:40] Voice 15: factory assets.

[0:48:44] Voice 15: I'm fully prepared to approve this because the work's done.

[0:48:51] Voice 15: and so no matter I can't see having a further report or something affecting this decision

[0:49:00] Voice 15: and I don't think that we want to see anything more any more disturbance or such

[0:49:08] Voice 15: on the foreshore I think it's done so I just I and that's my only question I

[0:49:18] Voice 15: I appreciate the staff report and the recommendation, but I don't really see the requirement to do the further report because it's finished.

[0:49:30] Voice 15: So I'll just leave it at that. Thank you.

[0:49:33] Voice 5: Thank you, Trustee Maude, for those comments.

[0:49:37] Voice 5: Ms. Backus, would you like to address the Local Trust Committee or speak to your application at all?

[0:49:43] Voice 5: uh

[0:49:44] Voice 3: yes thank you chairperson and thank you to the committee for entertaining this application

[0:49:49] Voice 3: i just a bit of clarity and i want to apologize that i didn't uh do the permit process prior i

[0:49:58] Voice 3: had considered the there were existing boulders there uh riffraff boulders and had had some large

[0:50:05] Voice 3: sort of logs that had been wedged against the bank that had washed away the last two winters

[0:50:10] Voice 3: in the higher tides and I'd had significant erosion and so I had thought that just adding

[0:50:17] Voice 3: some reinforcing the existing boulders with some additional boulders I didn't realize that I was

[0:50:22] Voice 3: required to get the permit so that is my I take responsibility and apologize for not doing this

[0:50:27] Voice 3: the correct way I was a bit and just to clarify there was not fill there was existing grass there

[0:50:35] Voice 3: there when the machine was lifting the boulders, they tore up the grass. I later had some topsoil

[0:50:40] Voice 3: brought to level out and reseed the grass that had been destroyed. It wasn't like I was adding

[0:50:45] Voice 3: additional fill to the site. The only thing that was added aside from later topsoil was

[0:50:51] Voice 3: some boulders to fill in the gaps that had been opened up and the erosion. I'd lost about two

[0:50:57] Voice 3: meters and parts of the bank over the last two winters. And I was concerned about further erosion.

[0:51:02] Voice 3: and the other piece I have to say I was a bit surprised when I went online earlier and saw the

[0:51:09] Voice 3: agenda I hadn't had any information about an engineering report I know Mr. Testamale had

[0:51:16] Voice 3: sent me an email we had discussed on the phone other options and he talked about green shores

[0:51:21] Voice 3: and offered to send me information he did send me an email in April with some links to some

[0:51:26] Voice 3: biologists there was no reference to engineering so i wasn't aware that this um was something that

[0:51:33] Voice 3: uh he had been expecting from me when i saw the report i thought i had completed all of

[0:51:38] Voice 3: the steps so that was perhaps a misunderstanding um on my part um aside from that yeah i i you

[0:51:48] Voice 3: know would certainly be willing to do that i agree with with uh trustee mod i've the work has been

[0:51:53] Voice 3: been done um i've had support from virtually all of my neighbors i have 13 letters everyone in the

[0:51:59] Voice 3: bay certainly the neighbors on either side and around i haven't had anyone uh disagree with it

[0:52:05] Voice 3: and in fact a lot of them gave me informal advice on what they thought not as long as i'm an islander

[0:52:12] Voice 3: as others so um anyway i uh appreciate all the the work that has been done and and uh

[0:52:19] Voice 3: the information that was provided to me from Mr. Testimel.

[0:52:24] Voice 3: I appreciate that, and I wanted to have that information

[0:52:27] Voice 3: as I go forward if this becomes an increasing problem

[0:52:31] Voice 3: as we're all grappling with the effects of climate change

[0:52:34] Voice 3: and the intense storms, to know the other options available.

[0:52:37] Voice 3: This has been a very large learning experience for me

[0:52:40] Voice 3: going through this process,

[0:52:42] Voice 3: so I appreciated getting that information,

[0:52:45] Voice 3: but I wasn't planning to do something different

[0:52:48] Voice 3: until I'd gone through this process with the committee here that has due to various things

[0:52:54] Voice 3: got delayed longer than I had expected so thank you for considering this thank

[0:53:00] Voice 5: you so much for

[0:53:00] Voice 5: those words uh trustee Dodds uh before anyone yeah are you yeah

[0:53:04] Voice 9: I'm speaking in favor of the

[0:53:07] Voice 9: of the actual application um realistically as trustee Maud said the work's been done and

[0:53:13] Voice 9: realistically the work was done many many years ago it actually is a repair job to work that was

[0:53:18] Voice 9: long, long done, long ago, the impact both neighbors on either side of this property on the

[0:53:23] Voice 9: north side and the south side of both sides letters of support. The neighbor on the south side, in

[0:53:28] Voice 9: fact, built the original wall that's there and built the original house that Mrs. Bacchus now

[0:53:33] Voice 9: lives in. The folks on the northern side, they've they've been in their house for I'm guessing over

[0:53:38] Voice 9: 50 years. All of the neighbors that wrote in the vast majority are names that their families have

[0:53:45] Voice 9: been in that area for a long long time certainly i would advise that that a green shore specialist

[0:53:52] Voice 9: be consulted i don't think this variance and an approval of it would mean the end of this process

[0:53:59] Voice 9: so i'm quite comfortable voting in favor of going ahead with the development permit but definitely

[0:54:04] Voice 9: with the advice that further further professional advice be sought because i live not too far from

[0:54:10] Voice 9: this particular spot with a similar sort of beach and high tides king tides logs and logs move all

[0:54:16] Voice 9: the time and actually i'm be very surprised if some specialist actually will give you the perfect

[0:54:20] Voice 9: answer uh repairing your seawall is is ongoing there's no one day the log is going to come up

[0:54:27] Voice 9: and over that's the reality um there's not going to be a perfect fix to these lower line properties

[0:54:32] Voice 9: so thank you i

[0:54:35] Voice 5: had two questions um and thank you for those the affirmation of support i just

[0:54:40] Voice 5: wanted to understand things a little bit longer a little bit more because i'm not familiar with the

[0:54:44] Voice 5: topography does the property line actually extend over the natural boundary of the sea has that

[0:54:52] Voice 5: receded over the year because i can

[0:54:54] Voice 12: speak to that so that it it that property line that you see

[0:55:00] Voice 12: um is actually based on on the sub original subdivision plan and commonly those are in

[0:55:06] Voice 12: In a situation that there could have been, yes, you're right, the shoreline does move, particularly in this sort of situation, but that was based on the original subdivision plan.

[0:55:18] Voice 12: What we look for when we're enforcing or when we're permitting to the natural boundary of the sea, it always has to be the current surveyed natural boundary of the sea.

[0:55:31] Voice 12: And as this work was done without permits, it was the only way that the surveyor could determine the natural boundary or the current one is to put it where the boulder seawall had been placed recently.

[0:55:46] Voice 12: So does that answer the question?

[0:55:51] Voice 5: That does answer my question.

[0:55:52] Voice 5: My second question was, is there, I've never asked this question actually, is there any liability on the part of the local trust committee issuing a variance permit?

[0:56:04] Voice 5: Not

[0:56:04] Voice 12: to my understanding. You don't have any legal liability.

[0:56:07] Voice 12: I would like the opportunity to just clarify a few points if I can.

[0:56:13] Voice 12: In response to, first of all, in response to Chair Maud and Chair Trustee Dodds.

[0:56:19] Voice 12: In the staff report, I'm pointing to objective policies that are in your OCP, and those clearly state that in a situation where it was a new application that you would inform yourselves with a professional.

[0:56:35] Voice 12: I don't see this as being any different.

[0:56:38] Voice 12: And then this is my experience, and I've read a fair amount of reports by professional engineers and by biologists, and I'll get to that point soon, that there's a huge consequence of building seawalls, particularly on neighboring properties, because you change the geomorphology of the beach, and it's a knock-on effect, effectively.

[0:57:02] Voice 12: so that's um the reason that our recommendation is for that um and secondly um sorry when i did

[0:57:11] Voice 12: speak to miss bacchus i did um provide her with a biologist but the biologists work with and this

[0:57:18] Voice 12: was part of our phone conversation they work with engineers and often they come up with what are

[0:57:23] Voice 12: called hybrid situations it probably wouldn't look a lot different from this but it would come

[0:57:28] Voice 12: with the information about what the concern i was just discussing um and thirdly um in this

[0:57:34] Voice 12: circumstance there is the ability to retroactively look at this particularly from the point of view

[0:57:40] Voice 12: of the ability uh restoring natural systems so not just having you know grass or a lawn there

[0:57:46] Voice 12: there is the ability to work with biologists and even geotechnical professionals to retrofit

[0:57:54] Voice 12: something like this so there's those are the reasons for um the recommendations and i hope

[0:58:00] Voice 12: that clarifies my conversation with miss bacchus so thank

[0:58:05] Voice 5: you for that trust you dot yeah i just

[0:58:08] Voice 9: want to clarify that my comment was that the actual rock riprap seawall has been there for

[0:58:14] Voice 9: a very very long time so i know this is a new application quite understand but having spent

[0:58:20] Voice 9: spent many hours on that beach um basically it's the same seawall that's always been there and i

[0:58:26] Voice 9: actually have every expectation that the recommendation for mrs bacchus to to investigate

[0:58:32] Voice 9: more with this will happen so this really is to delay this by saying not to proceed until you get

[0:58:38] Voice 9: the report i think once the report's available we will gladly see it but i'm quite ready to move on

[0:58:44] Voice 9: on with this with this staff report this was brought from a complaint a visitor to the beach

[0:58:49] Voice 9: who contacted me and so they went through the process but the vast majority of of seawalls

[0:58:56] Voice 9: that we have are of this structure people don't know that this is what's required and i i i think

[0:59:03] Voice 9: that to continue this process and drag this out any longer it really isn't really going to serve

[0:59:08] Voice 9: any purpose at this point i think the advice is being taken and i think we should move on

[0:59:13] Voice 9: on it past this resolution, which I don't have.

[0:59:17] Voice 9: Dave will have it.

[0:59:18] Voice 9: Thank you.

[0:59:22] Voice 15: Okay, I'm prepared to move it.

[0:59:24] Voice 15: It's the alternate motion that's on page 39.

[0:59:32] Voice 15: And that is that the Main Island Local Trust Committee

[0:59:34] Voice 15: approve application MADVP 2024.3 Baptist.

[0:59:40] Voice 15: I say this with due respect to staff.

[0:59:44] Voice 15: um is is i do appreciate um the commentary um but um as i say it's it's as trustee dots

[0:59:54] Voice 15: has noticed this is a long-standing seawall um this is basically a

[1:00:00] Voice 15: huge six year history is it's a saltwater marsh that was within film for development. So it's the ecosystems already been substantially changed in many, many past decades. And this is just moving forward, I think, in a positive manner. Thank you.

[1:00:20] Voice 5: So moved on that on that motion. Do we have a seconder? Seconded by Trustee Dodds. Discussion on the motion to you, Trustee Maud?

[1:00:31] Voice 15: I think I said too much already.

[1:00:35] Voice 5: I do.

[1:00:37] Voice 5: I hear what you're saying, trustees.

[1:00:40] Voice 5: My concern actually is for the future,

[1:00:43] Voice 5: not just looking at the past

[1:00:45] Voice 5: and what seawalls have been built

[1:00:47] Voice 5: and are in place

[1:00:48] Voice 5: and what has been the precedence

[1:00:50] Voice 5: that's been set.

[1:00:52] Voice 5: But if we are going to educate

[1:00:55] Voice 5: residents of the Gulf Islands

[1:00:56] Voice 5: about how to live in harmony with nature

[1:01:00] Voice 5: and not have property destroyed,

[1:01:02] Voice 5: destroyed, we need to bring really sound advice and not just our own experience.

[1:01:11] Voice 5: So my suggestion is after we vote on this motion, simply that the Maine Island Local

[1:01:18] Voice 5: Trust Committee recommends that the applicant, Ms. Backus, you know, investigates the

[1:01:26] Voice 5: possibilities and seriously considers opportunities for retrofitting and renaturalization

[1:01:33] Voice 5: you know and seeking expert advice because I think it's in everybody's interest to make sure

[1:01:40] Voice 5: that the shores are protected but that it's done in the right way and so with the changing

[1:01:45] Voice 5: changing climate and how waves move and how like Leonard Bale was saying the knock-on effect of

[1:01:53] Voice 5: having a hard structure means there's other impacts that you can't always predict so I just

[1:01:59] Voice 5: think for the applicants safety and for all of our education we I would like to recommend I don't know

[1:02:05] Voice 5: if I need a resolution to do that but it just would be my strong recommendation that you seek

[1:02:10] Voice 5: some professional advice and Green Shores education on on how to keep supporting that

[1:02:16] Voice 5: shoreline structure not going to make a resolution out of it I can't tell you to

[1:02:21] Voice 5: get further information but anyway on the motion um all those in favor and hands down any opposed

[1:02:33] Voice 5: and that is carried i just chose to abstain yes trust your god and

[1:02:38] Voice 9: i don't i don't think we need

[1:02:39] Voice 9: to make a recommendation i i think as i say i have every faith that uh that mrs packus will

[1:02:45] Voice 9: will seek and there she is so i'm sure she will she wants to speak go

[1:02:50] Voice 5: any any further um

[1:02:52] Voice 3: Anything further, Ms. Bacchus?

[1:02:54] Voice 3: I just want to thank you, first of all, and just want you to know I actually have a biologist from the Conservancy coming over to my house tomorrow at 10 a.m. to give me some actualization.

[1:03:05] Voice 3: So for the whole property, I'm looking at some options.

[1:03:08] Voice 3: So I'm absolutely, it is, I totally agree.

[1:03:11] Voice 3: It's a route that I'm quite interested in proceeding with.

[1:03:14] Voice 3: So I'm already in the early stages of looking to that direction as well.

[1:03:19] Voice 3: So thank you very much.

[1:03:20] Voice 5: That's great.

[1:03:21] Voice 3: Great.

[1:03:21] Voice 5: Well, best of luck to you. And thank you for working through the process with us.

[1:03:27] Voice 5: Thank you.

[1:03:30] Voice 5: Okay. Well, we're at 2.30. Would anyone like a small break? Or do you want to move into an update, Planner Chadwick, on our housing project?

[1:03:46] Voice 5: Oh my gosh, there's dinosaurs next door. It's the chickens. How are you, chicken?

[1:03:51] Voice 7: can i

[1:03:52] Voice 5: trust you yeah well i

[1:03:53] Voice 5: have to problem i need 10 minutes okay why don't we take a 10 minute

[1:03:57] Voice 5: break recess until uh 2 45 that was great

[1:04:01] Voice 5: thank you funny story not so funny story i know we're

[1:13:02] Voice 5: still recording but i was like what is the smell i smell i'm in my car i'm like it smells really

[1:13:12] Voice 5: bad i leave the car go to my place and realize it's the dog poop on my shoe so i'm happy to

[1:13:19] Voice 5: report i don't smell as bad as i thought i did

[1:14:22] Voice 5: okay we are back it looks like everyone is here thank you for making a short and efficient break

[1:14:32] Voice 5: and um with no further ado i'd like to turn it over to our favorite the one and only

[1:14:39] Voice 5: planner chadwick there

[1:14:41] Voice 8: seems to actually be two of me i'm all right there is a job

[1:14:47] Voice 8: if you have

[1:14:47] Voice 8: a shadow there seems

[1:14:48] Voice 8: to be actually two of me so i'd like to find that other person because i've

[1:14:52] Voice 8: got a lot of work and i could really use them um met your cloning request yeah i know thank you

[1:15:01] Voice 8: everyone um yeah so uh housing project so um the my focus at the moment is is um is uh organizing

[1:15:14] Voice 8: this community meeting that we're having on the the 28th monday the 28th at our regular scheduled

[1:15:22] Voice 8: ltc um meeting time um and um um we are going to chair as i mentioned before we're going to have to

[1:15:34] Voice 8: to pass a resolution related to that at some point

[1:15:37] Voice 8: to cancel that and replace it, the LTC meeting

[1:15:40] Voice 8: and replace it by the community workshop on housing.

[1:15:47] Voice 8: So whenever you think that's suitable, we can do that.

[1:15:53] Voice 8: So the way that I see this workshop going so far,

[1:15:57] Voice 8: I really want to take the opportunity to kind of really

[1:16:01] Voice 8: identify what elements contribute to affordable housing.

[1:16:05] Voice 8: And so there's land use, there's financing, there's tenure. So that's how the land is owned or shared. And there's housing type. And those sort of seem to are the key, right? And I think we want to dig, what we want to identify very clearly to the community is, what is the LTC responsible for?

[1:16:21] Voice 8: and that would that would be you know around the uh the zoning the land use pieces uh you know land

[1:16:27] Voice 8: use can also um um and what what you've written into your um ocp and lub land use bylaw can also

[1:16:36] Voice 8: affect tenure and it can also affect housing type so we can look at the the relationship between

[1:16:41] Voice 8: those things and the things that that and what the um housing action plan for main island looks like

[1:16:46] Voice 8: and how we'll be moving forward on that i've got um justine stark confirmed from the crd who will

[1:16:53] Voice 8: come and speak about the um about the gulf island housing strategy and um you know components of

[1:17:02] Voice 8: that um are related to financing and tenure like all of the things and um i've got uh the habitat

[1:17:10] Voice 8: out for humanity folks have that in their calendar and hopefully we'll be able to make it

[1:17:15] Voice 8: um i know they came was it last year a

[1:17:17] Voice 8: little bit before i can't remember um and they came and

[1:17:22] Voice 8: talked to the community it was very um exciting it was very exciting to hear about the um their

[1:17:28] Voice 8: model and they're still very very keen to to work with main island and to see what kind of

[1:17:34] Voice 8: opportunity there might be for them to have a project here that would require some kind of

[1:17:39] Voice 8: um they need the land once they've got the land they can start to move forward um in trying to um

[1:17:47] Voice 8: uh you know uh get get some housing built and um you know that that is what their model is and then

[1:17:54] Voice 8: um they've got a you know really interesting uh it's a it's a it's an affordable home ownership

[1:18:00] Voice 8: model as opposed to a rental model um i'll be talking to main island um housing society

[1:18:07] Voice 8: idea later this week they've got a housing navigator program that they're they're launching

[1:18:14] Voice 8: and they'll they'll be able to share a little bit about what what that is helping people to

[1:18:20] Voice 8: match up people with opportunities and I think help them to figure their way through maybe

[1:18:26] Voice 8: creating some housing as well so it's really actually and then the other thing I've also I've

[1:18:31] Voice 8: also um reached out to the folks who uh were sort of managing the teacherage program a project

[1:18:37] Voice 8: because i think that is just a stunning example of how you get housing done um if you can motivate

[1:18:44] Voice 8: the community i mean it's it really is an outstanding model so i think um you know maine

[1:18:50] Voice 8: has a whole lot um to share with each other about what's happening and a lot to share with other

[1:18:57] Voice 8: other LTCs as well. So I'm quite excited about this workshop and bringing all of these different

[1:19:04] Voice 8: folks together, trying to just get some clarity on what everybody's role is and how we can move

[1:19:09] Voice 8: forward together. And it includes the community too, because it would be neat if we could get

[1:19:13] Voice 8: into some conversation around, I know when Habitat for Humanity visited us last time,

[1:19:20] Voice 8: there were some people who were putting up their hands and saying, oh, I've got a property I'd like

[1:19:22] Voice 8: to donate or i you know i would carve off a piece of mine to give it to habitat well some of those

[1:19:29] Voice 8: things require zoning changes and that's one of the things that's on the list of of um housing

[1:19:35] Voice 8: actions is you're looking at subdivision and looking at maybe making it more flexible for

[1:19:40] Voice 8: specifically for the donation of land so if if you're out there or if your friends you know

[1:19:46] Voice 8: your friends i would be interested in learning a little bit more about um about how the elements

[1:19:52] Voice 8: that contribute to affordable housing what the ltc is doing and what these other organizations

[1:19:57] Voice 8: are doing or have done and if there are people out there who are interested in exploring what

[1:20:04] Voice 8: kind of opportunities there may be for them to donate portions of their land or their or um

[1:20:10] Voice 8: or or um or share portions of their land um you know come and we'll have that conversation and

[1:20:20] Voice 8: And we can see where we can move forward with all of that.

[1:20:27] Voice 5: So just to encapsulate, we need to do two things.

[1:20:31] Voice 5: Change the type of meeting on the 28th, which was a regular business meeting, to essentially a workshop.

[1:20:40] Voice 5: So that we are just, it's not even a community.

[1:20:44] Voice 5: I mean, I thought there was only two types of meetings, community information meeting or regular business meeting.

[1:20:50] Voice 5: So can we designate a workshop?

[1:20:53] Voice 8: Yes, we can. So this is, I would say this is outside of, I wouldn't necessarily call it a community information meeting because community information meeting is sort of more directly connected.

[1:21:03] Voice 8: I mean this is directly connected to the project but it's not directly connected to the project process as in it's not something that's necessarily moving policy changes forward at this point in time.

[1:21:14] Voice 8: It's more of an information about that project and other projects.

[1:21:19] Voice 8: So that's why I'm inclined to call it a community workshop.

[1:21:25] Voice 5: Thank you for that.

[1:21:27] Voice 5: And so the idea is to get all these different potential partners and some of the elements,

[1:21:35] Voice 5: air the elements that need to be considered if we're going to address housing on a number

[1:21:41] Voice 5: of different levels.

[1:21:42] Voice 5: So that includes other organizational stakeholders, community members, and other levels of government.

[1:21:53] Voice 5: So would the Islands Trust be preparing an information package or just kind of framing the conversation?

[1:22:00] Voice 5: Or is this like a free-for-all?

[1:22:02] Voice 5: Yeah,

[1:22:03] Voice 8: no, it's not a free-for-all at all.

[1:22:05] Voice 8: it's um i will be creating a presentation to frame up the the whole discussion and we'll have our um

[1:22:13] Voice 8: our our guests will have an opportunity to speak very specifically to their areas of focus and then

[1:22:20] Voice 8: we'll have um some workshop elements um to focus in on on different aspects um of of this um of of

[1:22:29] Voice 8: of this challenge and so there there will be opportunity for open discussion um with whoever's

[1:22:35] Voice 8: there and um and i think it depends on who the complement of folks in the room are um will depend

[1:22:41] Voice 8: on i think the direction of the conversation great

[1:22:47] Voice 5: uh trustees do you have any questions or

[1:22:49] Voice 5: comments and then i have one more just have

[1:22:53] Voice 9: a question do you need two separate motions one

[1:22:55] Voice 9: to cancel the regular press meeting and then the second one to have a community information meeting

[1:23:02] Voice 9: I

[1:23:02] Voice 8: think you can roll it into one. I think you can. Yeah, you could say, you know, to cancel the regular LTC meeting and for it to be replaced by.

[1:23:12] Voice 8: yeah um

[1:23:15] Voice 5: so i'm putting on my cap as the um a member of the regional planning committee

[1:23:23] Voice 5: and the recent um council endorsed um the proposal to advance some work on tiny homes

[1:23:33] Voice 5: by working with other local governments and setting up sort of technical roundtables so

[1:23:39] Voice 5: So we haven't had any staff input yet into what that might look like.

[1:23:44] Voice 5: And I certainly don't want to speak on behalf of the Regional Planning Committee, but would there be space to explore some options of how the CRD and the LTC might work together on what might that look like or what do we need to consider to enable tiny homes?

[1:24:08] Voice 5: and what are the barriers should that be a component of the housing workshop or are we

[1:24:14] Voice 5: not ready for that

[1:24:15] Voice 8: well again I think it depends on who the complement of folks in the room are

[1:24:20] Voice 8: and where the conversation will go I mean certainly it'll be an item that we can bring

[1:24:26] Voice 8: up as a as a as an option for conversation great

[1:24:31] Voice 5: planet uh chad it's okay we don't

[1:24:36] Voice 8: look that that's

[1:24:38] Voice 8: similar it's the glasses we

[1:24:43] Voice 9: we have people living full-time in their tiny homes and certainly i will

[1:24:47] Voice 9: make an effort to perhaps you know to invite those people if they want to share their experience

[1:24:51] Voice 9: and then we have young families quite a few of them now who have recently built they're not tiny

[1:24:57] Voice 9: homes on wheels but they've built small more affordable homes and so hopefully i you know

[1:25:03] Voice 9: know somebody from that group when can I can come in even if they can speak a bit about the process

[1:25:08] Voice 9: of building their own home and the cost of it if that's at all relevant right now because there are

[1:25:13] Voice 9: about four families who in quite recently have completed their own homes and these are homes

[1:25:19] Voice 9: you know around one certainly was 800 square feet so they're smaller homes so I don't we need

[1:25:25] Voice 9: to go that far or if that's relevant right now but I could do that if you think it's helpful

[1:25:32] Voice 9: helpful to ask those some representation from that group um

[1:25:38] Voice 8: yeah i i think it it's definitely

[1:25:42] Voice 8: it's always helpful to get example like real time examples of of of you know costs i think is really

[1:25:49] Voice 8: a key thing and how you keep kept costs down that's why i you know i mean i'm i've reached

[1:25:55] Voice 8: out to the teacherage folks because they've sort of like you know pulled off a miracle basically

[1:26:00] Voice 8: in terms of costs, and so it would be, I think, very interesting to the conversation, it'll be

[1:26:05] Voice 8: very, I think it'll be very important for all, like for my, you know, for myself, the Islands

[1:26:13] Voice 8: Trust, for the regional district, and for Habitat for Humanity to understand, you know,

[1:26:22] Voice 8: what those individuals that are doing real-time building, what their experiences have been.

[1:26:29] Voice 9: well i will i'll reach out to a few people see if some if somebody can come and speak to the

[1:26:34] Voice 9: real experience thanks

[1:26:35] Voice 8: yeah and let me know if i'll

[1:26:38] Voice 9: let you know oh yeah within a week

[1:26:40] Voice 9: perfect okay i'm ready to move the motion sure thank you

[1:26:46] Voice 9: okay i move that they may now local

[1:26:48] Voice 9: trust committee cancel its regular business meeting of october 28th and reschedule it as

[1:26:55] Voice 9: as a community workshop on housing.

[1:26:57] Voice 9: Can I say housing options?

[1:26:59] Voice 9: Sure, yeah.

[1:27:00] Voice 9: Okay.

[1:27:03] Voice 5: So moved and seconded by Trustee Maud

[1:27:06] Voice 5: that the Main Island Local Trust Committee

[1:27:08] Voice 5: cancel its regularly scheduled business meeting

[1:27:12] Voice 5: and reschedule it as a community workshop

[1:27:15] Voice 5: on housing options.

[1:27:20] Voice 5: Minutetaker Millard, are you captured that?

[1:27:25] Voice 17: Yes, Chair Elliott, I've got that, thank you.

[1:27:27] Voice 5: Excellent.

[1:27:29] Voice 5: Any further discussion on the motion?

[1:27:31] Voice 5: All those in favor, raise your hand or say aye.

[1:27:34] Voice 5: That is carried.

[1:27:36] Voice 5: Excellent.

[1:27:38] Voice 5: And when can we expect information to be going out once that is changed?

[1:27:44] Voice 5: I guess we want to give people at least two weeks' notice.

[1:27:47] Voice 8: Yeah, so we have sent out information to the subscriber list already.

[1:27:53] Voice 8: And I've got some physical posters here for Trustee Maude to pick up next time he's in the office.

[1:28:00] Voice 8: to take over to the island um and uh we'll change it on the website right away i

[1:28:07] Voice 9: guess trusty dots

[1:28:08] Voice 9: can someone send me something that's facebook friendly i can post this on facebook but i don't

[1:28:13] Voice 8: yeah

[1:28:13] Voice 9: i actually cut and pasted and sent um to a few people that i knew would be interested but

[1:28:18] Voice 9: yeah it would be great thank you

[1:28:20] Voice 8: sure yeah i can definitely have morgana put something together

[1:28:23] Voice 8: excellent

[1:28:25] Voice 5: well thank you for your excellent work on this planner chadwick i'm really excited i will

[1:28:33] Voice 5: reiterate that i hope other housing advocates from other islands in the southern gulf island

[1:28:39] Voice 5: network come or at least watch are they going to be able to watch we're going to stream it

[1:28:44] Voice 5: workshop that'd be great okay i'm planner dodds did you have something else

[1:28:48] Voice 5: what is wrong with me i drank some punch over the break

[1:29:04] Voice 5: all right thank you for that um very very happy to see the progress uh and moving forward so

[1:29:13] Voice 5: back to where are we here so our active projects report and future projects list as always we can

[1:29:21] Voice 5: amend this uh if you want to reorder the priority or the listing of any projects yes trusty dots

[1:29:28] Voice 5: well

[1:29:28] Voice 9: i just want to note that at the top of our list is education around marine zoning and marine

[1:29:34] Voice 9: uses that's been there for a while and we know that there is a lack of lack of knowledge education

[1:29:39] Voice 9: information so hopefully we can get there fairly soon i

[1:29:43] Voice 5: agree i have been wanting to make this a

[1:29:46] Voice 5: priority of the Regional Planning Committee for a long time. We went down a necessary track with

[1:29:51] Voice 5: bylaw compliance and enforcement, but I really think marine issues are going to be top of mind.

[1:30:00] Voice 5: um excellent so we've got a series of um reports sorry back to the agenda toby

[1:30:08] Voice 5: applications report and trustee local expense report um local trust committee web page are

[1:30:17] Voice 5: there any updates no so for my chair's report the great honor of going first oh dear or the

[1:30:27] Voice 5: the trepidation um we there september was a very very full month in fact i don't remember

[1:30:35] Voice 5: anything that happened before september because it felt like that was a year um most all the

[1:30:43] Voice 5: members of the uh executive committee as well as two other trustees and staff attended ubcm which

[1:30:52] Voice 5: which is the annual Union of BC Municipalities Convention.

[1:30:57] Voice 5: The first day of that was actually a C2C forum.

[1:31:02] Voice 5: So the Community to Community Forum that is sponsored annually by,

[1:31:09] Voice 5: well, it's a fund by UBCM to promote intergovernmental dialogue

[1:31:15] Voice 5: and reconciliation between First Nations and local governments.

[1:31:20] Voice 5: and so this was a day-long forum and I'm still writing a report on it I took many notes as I

[1:31:30] Voice 5: often do but there were about five examples of different local governments regional districts

[1:31:36] Voice 5: mainly and the city of Vancouver was one notable example that we're working with First Nations

[1:31:44] Voice 5: as partners in developing either an implementation plan for UNDRIP principles, as in the case

[1:31:53] Voice 5: of City of Vancouver with Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh, and Squamish, and really what are the deliverables

[1:32:00] Voice 5: going to be for the City of Vancouver through every department over the next five to ten

[1:32:05] Voice 5: years.

[1:32:06] Voice 5: And then another notable example is the Regional District of Okanagan working with West Bank

[1:32:13] Voice 5: First Nation, to the point that they sit in each other's meetings, the First Nation, and they have

[1:32:20] Voice 5: a really active service agreement. The First Nation cannot vote in the regional district of

[1:32:25] Voice 5: Nanaima or Okanagan's meetings, but that's sort of the legislative barrier. They're doing everything

[1:32:32] Voice 5: up to that to work in collaboration. So that was a really compelling forum. It was a one-day forum

[1:32:41] Voice 5: and ended with an address by the Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould

[1:32:46] Voice 5: and really charging local governments with,

[1:32:49] Voice 5: you are vested with the power to do good work in community

[1:32:53] Voice 5: regardless of where the implementation of,

[1:32:57] Voice 5: or sort of the enshrinement of the DRIPA legislation

[1:33:02] Voice 5: in your local government act.

[1:33:04] Voice 5: So I'll be writing lots about that.

[1:33:09] Voice 5: It was a really wonderful session.

[1:33:11] Voice 5: but um the islands trust went with uh we had four meetings five meetings trustee mod

[1:33:17] Voice 5: at least

[1:33:19] Voice 5: two with ministry of municipal affairs uh senior staff one on first nations engagement

[1:33:26] Voice 5: asking questions about how we're doing and can we get more support thank you for the support

[1:33:32] Voice 5: um and then the other um requesting input on um a strategy to approach the province for

[1:33:40] Voice 5: uh to review and update the islands trust act so we brought that back to council

[1:33:47] Voice 5: and um had a vigorous debate um tuesday and wednesday and that ended with into a resolution

[1:33:56] Voice 5: to uh request or send a letter requesting that the province review the islands trust act

[1:34:03] Voice 5: um it wasn't unanimously supported there was a lot of debate and um and ultimately it was decided

[1:34:10] Voice 5: not to send this in the middle of the election period when there is no active government so

[1:34:18] Voice 5: lots uh of discussion at trust council what else did we we did not end up discussing the strategic

[1:34:25] Voice 5: plan which needs to land before 2025 spring so we have an active well we've extended last

[1:34:35] Voice 5: strategic plan up until uh next march so uh we're sort of running on um on the previous council's

[1:34:43] Voice 5: direction and expanded it a little bit but we really need to set the course i was very happy

[1:34:49] Voice 5: with at the end of trust the very end of our meeting trust council unanimously endorsed the

[1:34:54] Voice 5: the work of the tiny homes working group that had been sort of ancillary to the regional planning

[1:35:01] Voice 5: committee which i'm on and our request was to add advocacy and really a sort of an action plan for

[1:35:13] Voice 5: tiny legalizing tiny homes in the trust area to the strategic plan a and support with funding

[1:35:20] Voice 5: expanding um some technical roundtables so that the islands trust can work with other levels of

[1:35:25] Voice 5: government mostly the regional districts uh to reduce the barriers and to essentially set a

[1:35:32] Voice 5: framework what would be a workable framework for tiny homes um i'll be working with the regional

[1:35:38] Voice 5: district of nanaimo which just passed bill uh or bylaw 500 and it is actively working on updating

[1:35:47] Voice 5: dating or sorry um it's followed the island's trust um in terms of not enforcing on people

[1:35:55] Voice 5: living in non-compliant dwellings but it's as well researching the possibility of supports for

[1:36:02] Voice 5: people living in rvs and tiny homes so regional district of nanaimo is is one partner that i'll be

[1:36:09] Voice 5: definitely looking to work with here and we'll see how that work expands across the other local

[1:36:14] Voice 5: trust areas. So UBCM, we also met with Ministry of Forests, I believe, asking questions about

[1:36:24] Voice 5: getting more support for wildfire management, education for residents, because we're often in

[1:36:32] Voice 5: this kind of position of giving conflicting information with conservation values and

[1:36:40] Voice 5: and mitigating wildfire potential risk.

[1:36:46] Voice 5: So in terms of deadfall, leaving deadfall,

[1:36:48] Voice 5: taking deadfall away, leaving big logs.

[1:36:51] Voice 5: So they said, yes, absolutely.

[1:36:54] Voice 5: Let's do some workshops.

[1:36:57] Voice 5: But I'm not sure where we're going to go with that.

[1:37:00] Voice 5: What was the other meeting, Trustee Maude?

[1:37:02] Voice 5: It was housing, of course.

[1:37:05] Voice 5: So we had a meeting with BC Housing

[1:37:07] Voice 5: housing and uh the deputy minister of housing and that was really positive they actually just

[1:37:14] Voice 5: had three or four projects from the on this trust area in the queue either you know and and we're

[1:37:22] Voice 5: very aware of them and and quite aware of our challenges so we had a really good conversation

[1:37:27] Voice 5: i thought and um uh i think the day after two big housing projects were approved or announced

[1:37:36] Voice 5: in the Islands Trust area, one in, as they do right before an election is called,

[1:37:42] Voice 5: on Gabriela Island and in Bowen. So it was some good news. Some, you know, pre-election

[1:37:52] Voice 5: bluster and not promises, but rhetoric. And there's been a lot of work that is going to

[1:38:02] Voice 5: fall out from that last council meeting so looking forward to digging into that we have an executive

[1:38:07] Voice 5: committee meeting on wednesday and i'll see you there trustee mod vote it for my report turn to

[1:38:14] Voice 5: you trustees uh who would like to go first trustee mod i see your mic off oh

[1:38:20] Voice 15: all right um i can just

[1:38:24] Voice 15: dovetail onto that is qbcm what was um some very busy days um the trust council was some more busy

[1:38:31] Voice 15: busy days. For me, like you have a wonderful memory of September. To me, September was a blur

[1:38:38] Voice 15: and I remember August. So I think together we make a great partnership. We survived another

[1:38:47] Voice 15: great summer. There were so many events from the music festival to, I think, next weekend's the

[1:38:53] Voice 15: Apple Festival. We had the church fair. We had the fall fair. Just endless, endless. Almost every

[1:39:00] Voice 15: weekend there was an activity on island some sort of special event all very well attended all very

[1:39:06] Voice 15: well done um we have a community that is outstanding at organizing events people coming

[1:39:13] Voice 15: out and supporting those events and it's it's just it really is great um it's the you know main island

[1:39:20] Voice 15: is the magical island i will totally agree with that i call it the happy island magical sounds

[1:39:26] Voice 15: sounds like more fun so I'll go with that and I'll hand it over to Trustee Dodds who could expand on

[1:39:30] Voice 15: that.

[1:39:33] Voice 9: So no the usual busy summer is always busy and the ferries ran late and there's the

[1:39:38] Voice 9: frustrations and the water districts had struggled in some cases with water and then of course

[1:39:44] Voice 9: September came and we had Trust Council and in Trust Council we had a committee of the whole

[1:39:49] Voice 9: meeting as it worked through the policy statement and then we had another one the following week

[1:39:54] Voice 9: week. So we really started to dive into the policy statement. It's been quite interesting as we move

[1:40:00] Voice 9: through it. A lot of wordsmithing goes on, but it's slowly taking shape. So that's a positive.

[1:40:08] Voice 9: I, of course, had my fellow deer meeting this morning for two hours. But the meeting was with

[1:40:14] Voice 9: Paul Brent, CRD director and Stephen Henderson, manager CRD. And so you'll hear a motion later

[1:40:21] Voice 9: on under new business um after the meeting we had today so it was a nice uh nice summer but

[1:40:28] Voice 9: then we got into september and back into too many meetings that's my summary i

[1:40:34] Voice 5: hear you on that it's

[1:40:36] Voice 5: back to work after back to work um well thank you for those reports it's always good to hear what's

[1:40:43] Voice 5: going on we don't have an electoral area director report but glad to hear that you're meeting with

[1:40:48] Voice 5: paul brent um and there is a two-page update from the islands trust conservancy in the agenda if

[1:40:56] Voice 5: anybody wants to take a look okay so moving into new business uh we've got a an advocacy issue that

[1:41:08] Voice 5: has made the round of most of the trust committees uh at least the ones that i've been on around dark

[1:41:14] Voice 5: sky principles. And this was brought forward by Trustee Morrison of North Pender regarding dark

[1:41:24] Voice 5: sky principles and inviting LTCs and the Bowenine municipality to notify Trustee Morrison of their

[1:41:31] Voice 5: interest if they want to engage with relevant local trust, relevant regional districts about

[1:41:38] Voice 5: adopting dark sky principles so um this was asked to be circulated to all ltcs and to there is an

[1:41:48] Voice 5: indication if you want to express your interest and notify trustee morrison that you'd like to

[1:41:54] Voice 5: be involved we could do that um i'm not sure honestly what the sort of course of action is

[1:42:01] Voice 5: so it's it looks like further exploration is needed i would just say indicate your interest

[1:42:08] Voice 5: if you are um i know a few ltcs have but i don't know what the plan is going forward and if no

[1:42:17] Voice 5: actions needed we can just receive that for information looking for signs of interest

[1:42:24] Voice 5: dark skies not at the moment yeah

[1:42:27] Voice 15: i guess i it's interesting to me uh it's it sort of it

[1:42:32] Voice 15: It carries on with what we've always said is each island is unique with different interests and different opportunities.

[1:42:41] Voice 15: I know certainly on North Bender, on Saturn Island, and on Denman Island, there's strong community interest.

[1:42:49] Voice 15: On Main Island, I haven't heard a peep.

[1:42:54] Voice 15: I know Trustee Dodds maybe wants to jump in if she's heard anything, but I haven't had anybody make any interest.

[1:43:01] Voice 15: brought it up a couple of times and chatting with people and no sort of engagement so

[1:43:07] Voice 15: um but trustee does might have some more to put on that thank you

[1:43:11] Voice 9: no i've never had anyone

[1:43:13] Voice 9: complain about it and then i just wonder about how how you would enforce we have in the development

[1:43:19] Voice 9: permit for commercial we have criteria but how we would the vast majority of our property owners

[1:43:24] Voice 9: are residential and i think other than an educational issue where people might become

[1:43:30] Voice 9: come aware and i'm just not even sure how many i do notice pender has a lot of lights

[1:43:35] Voice 9: late at night no i i have not never heard it from my community and i think right now we have more

[1:43:40] Voice 9: than enough to work on that's important stuff and this may come up another time

[1:43:45] Voice 5: excellent

[1:43:46] Voice 5: thank you for that input so we'll receive that for information and of course you're free to jump in

[1:43:54] Voice 5: with trustee morrison into further work if you're interested on a personal level

[1:44:00] Voice 5: at this point the ltc won't uh so the new business item regarding fallow deer um what would you like

[1:44:07] Voice 5: to bring forward so

[1:44:08] Voice 9: i just wanted to make a motion um based on the meeting that i had this morning

[1:44:13] Voice 9: with our fallow deer committee and the crd um i just want to move that the main island local

[1:44:19] Voice 9: trust committee authorizes trustee dodds to draft a letter well to write a letter to the crd board

[1:44:26] Voice 9: on behalf of the Main Island Local Trust Committee expressing our support for the

[1:44:32] Voice 9: Fallow Deer Committee's request that CRD take the issue of the Fallow Deer funding management

[1:44:38] Voice 9: to the province on our behalf.

[1:44:43] Voice 5: Okay I have so

[1:44:45] Voice 5: I don't think

[1:44:45] Voice 9: Lisa got all of that but basically

[1:44:47] Voice 9: yeah

[1:44:48] Voice 6: let me know all of

[1:44:49] Voice 9: that. Did

[1:44:51] Voice 6: you repeat it please?

[1:44:52] Voice 9: Okay so that the Main Island Local Trust

[1:44:54] Voice 9: committee authorized trustee dodds to write on behalf of the trust committee a letter which

[1:45:00] Voice 9: will go to the capital regional director actually to the capital regional board director paul brandt

[1:45:06] Voice 9: requesting that the capital regional district board take on our advocacy project for the fallow

[1:45:12] Voice 9: deer to the province for funding and support i

[1:45:19] Voice 5: think we could summarize that a little bit

[1:45:21] Voice 5: yeah

[1:45:22] Voice 9: however with yeah

[1:45:24] Voice 5: there's two

[1:45:25] Voice 9: completely different locations that meant the same thing

[1:45:27] Voice 9: okay basically

[1:45:29] Voice 17: i just want

[1:45:31] Voice 9: permission to write a letter on behalf of the local trust committee

[1:45:35] Voice 9: understood so

[1:45:36] Voice 5: that trustee dodds can write to the crd to on advocacy regarding advocacy on

[1:45:44] Voice 5: fallow deer yes

[1:45:45] Voice 9: yes because it will be me speaking on behalf of the trust committee

[1:45:49] Voice 9: committee okay

[1:45:50] Voice 5: and

[1:45:51] Voice 9: not me just speaking on my behalf so you need to approve that

[1:45:55] Voice 5: excellent

[1:45:56] Voice 5: so we have the somewhat of a motion um i believe the intent is clear yeah seconded by uh trusty

[1:46:05] Voice 5: maude thank you all those in favor and that is carried

[1:46:10] Voice 9: we're just trying to as a committee and

[1:46:13] Voice 9: And with advice from both Stephen Henderson and Paul Brent, trying to move our, what would you call it, our level of importance up to actually the CRD board,

[1:46:24] Voice 9: which Paul is undertaking to try to find ways for us to actually be not just supported by him himself, but by the entire board.

[1:46:32] Voice 9: We're looking for ongoing funding and support.

[1:46:37] Voice 5: Okay. Thank you.

[1:46:38] Voice 5: Thank you.

[1:46:39] Voice 5: Appreciate your ongoing work on that very important issue.

[1:46:43] Voice 5: um okay so we do have i'll just say there our next meeting is not the regular meeting it is a

[1:46:52] Voice 5: community workshop on housing options is scheduled for october 28th 2024 in person at the agricultural

[1:46:59] Voice 5: hall main island and so now we'll give an opportunity for anyone to address the local

[1:47:06] Voice 5: trust committee in town hall uh we have three attendees i see and so if any of you would like to

[1:47:15] Voice 5: speak about anything you've heard or give us any feedback now is your chance just need to

[1:47:20] Voice 5: raise your digital hand and we'll promote you to speaker okay one more time anyone wishing to speak

[1:47:32] Voice 5: to the local trust committee not seeing any we will say that town hall is finished for today

[1:47:43] Voice 5: um so we do have a motion to go into closed meeting and after this we may rise and report

[1:47:50] Voice 5: um for anybody watching um but could i have somebody read the motion on the bottom of page two

[1:47:59] Voice 5: or i could i

[1:48:04] Voice 15: will move that the meeting be closed to the public in accordance with the

[1:48:08] Voice 15: community charter part four division three section 91 f for the purpose of considering law f law

[1:48:16] Voice 15: enforcement if the council considers that disclosure could reasonably be expected to

[1:48:20] Voice 15: harm the conduct of an investigation under or enforcement of an enactment and that the recorder

[1:48:26] Voice 15: and staff attend the meeting excellent i

[1:48:30] Voice 5: will second um any further discussion all those in

[1:48:34] Voice 5: in favor raise your hand that is carried so um we've concluded our in-camera business and can

[1:48:43] Voice 5: rise and report that we received um updates on bylaw enforcement activities and that the bulk

[1:48:50] Voice 5: of um bylaw enforcement files a large percentage of them are stvrs that are being actively

[1:48:57] Voice 5: actively investigated by staff and so uh thanks staff for being active and keeping track of all

[1:49:06] Voice 5: these um things happening and updating the lts media we really appreciate it so uh without

[1:49:14] Voice 5: further ado um yes we'll see you on the 28th we'll see you on the 28th okay it's been a while

[1:49:22] Voice 5: while very excited yeah call for adjournment thanks everyone bye thank you