Gabriola Island Local Trust Committee special meeting, March 28, 2025

[0:00:00] Trustee Patrick (probable): special meeting of the gabriela island a local trust committee to order uh we are uh this is uh

[0:00:07] Trustee Patrick (probable): this meeting is also being recorded and will be available uh soon i would respect i respectfully

[0:00:14] Trustee Patrick (probable): acknowledge that uh the islands of the gabriela local trust committee are located in the uh

[0:00:20] Trustee Patrick (probable): unseated ancestral lands of the snamuck first nation i respectfully acknowledge that the lands

[0:00:26] Trustee Patrick (probable): and waters that encompass the Gabriela Local Trust area have been home to Indigenous people

[0:00:31] Trustee Patrick (probable): since time immemorial. As trustees, we're committed to reconciliation and to working

[0:00:36] Trustee Patrick (probable): together to preserve and protect this ecologically and culturally, spiritually and significant region

[0:00:41] Trustee Patrick (probable): of the Salish Sea. This Local Trust Committee is committed to establishing and maintaining

[0:00:47] Trustee Patrick (probable): mutually respectful relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples,

[0:00:50] Trustee Patrick (probable): and we have made a commitment to reconciliation and with the understanding that this commitment

[0:00:56] Trustee Patrick (probable): is a long-term relationship building and healing process. I would like to make some introductions.

[0:01:03] Trustee Patrick (probable): I'm Laura Patrick. I'm elected on Salt Spring Island and I'm the new chair of this local

[0:01:09] Trustee Patrick (probable): trust committee and excited to be here. I'd like to introduce Trustee Susan Yates and Trustee

[0:01:17] Trustee Patrick (probable): Toby Elliott. Together, we make up your local trust committee. We have a number of staff with

[0:01:24] Trustee Patrick (probable): us today on this phone call. We have planner, nurse Chadwick, and we have Stephen Ma, and

[0:01:32] Trustee Patrick (probable): Catherine Vogt is going to be our minute taker. Did I miss anybody else that's hiding in the

[0:01:36] Trustee Patrick (probable): background? There we go. Thank you so much for joining us today. So this meeting is an official

[0:01:42] Trustee Patrick (probable): forum for your local trust committee to make decisions about land use planning matters and

[0:01:47] Trustee Patrick (probable): discuss relevant business and it's also a place of employment when our staff have a right to a

[0:01:53] Trustee Patrick (probable): safe and respectful workplace so trustees we have an agenda before us are there any changes that

[0:01:59] Trustee Patrick (probable): need to be made to the agenda sorry yes trustee elliott

[0:02:06] Voice 6: no no changes um no it's nothing sorry

[0:02:11] Trustee Patrick (probable): no changes to the

[0:02:11] Voice 6: agenda i just realized it's within the scope of the one work item that we

[0:02:15] Voice 6: We have to

[0:02:15] Trustee Patrick (probable): talk about this.

[0:02:16] Trustee Patrick (probable): That's all right.

[0:02:17] Trustee Patrick (probable): It's already been a busy day.

[0:02:18] Trustee Patrick (probable): I know you've been in other meetings today already.

[0:02:21] Trustee Patrick (probable): So if there's no changes to the agenda, can we approve the agenda through general consent?

[0:02:27] Trustee Patrick (probable): Excellent.

[0:02:28] Trustee Patrick (probable): So we do have one business item here.

[0:02:30] Trustee Patrick (probable): It's to get an update on the major plan, the official community plan, and talk about some of the initial work.

[0:02:39] Trustee Patrick (probable): And I'm going to turn that over to, I believe, staff member, Narissa Chadwick.

[0:02:45] Planner Chadwick (probable): Thank you, Chair.

[0:02:46] Planner Chadwick (probable): chair and welcome to um gabriela thank you um yeah so i'll just go through um very briefly here

[0:02:56] Planner Chadwick (probable): um the overview and um i'm thinking what we can do is we can um we can just discuss the there's

[0:03:06] Planner Chadwick (probable): sort of three pieces. One is the discussion of the policies related to connectivity, and then the

[0:03:19] Planner Chadwick (probable): policies related to economy, and then the next steps. So whatever input you might have, and you

[0:03:27] Planner Chadwick (probable): may also have other things you want to talk about the process, and all of that will be great. So

[0:03:33] Planner Chadwick (probable): So what we're looking at right now is the overview of discussions that were had with the for the connectivity and economy focus groups.

[0:03:47] Planner Chadwick (probable): And just for a quick refresh for Chair Patrick, we have done a full Gabriel revision process, which was last year.

[0:03:56] Planner Chadwick (probable): Out of that, we came up, there was a number of goals and priorities that emerged.

[0:04:04] Planner Chadwick (probable): And we are sort of moving through a variety of topics in the OCP.

[0:04:12] Planner Chadwick (probable): We are doing focused engagement groups, up to 12 participants.

[0:04:20] Planner Chadwick (probable): There's been a very keen interest by the LTC to have a diversity of folks join these groups.

[0:04:29] Planner Chadwick (probable): So the focus groups have been collected based on the participants, based on those that, you know, we collected names over the summer of people that were expressing interest in particular topics when we did our engagement sessions at Market.

[0:04:46] Planner Chadwick (probable): market. The Trustee Yates and Trustee Elliott have provided contacts and names of organizations

[0:04:57] Planner Chadwick (probable): and people to reach out to for each topic area. And so in a way, so it's been limited

[0:05:04] Planner Chadwick (probable): to 12 participants, so it's basically the first ones that connect are the ones that

[0:05:09] Planner Chadwick (probable): get the spot. We've had waiting lists for each topic in the cases where they've been

[0:05:15] Planner Chadwick (probable): full which was actually for um connectivity and and economy were both full up to what were uh

[0:05:22] Planner Chadwick (probable): i guess we lost one person on economy there were 11 participants but um we've been very um

[0:05:28] Planner Chadwick (probable): successful in all so we've done three so far uh housing connectivity and economy for each

[0:05:37] Planner Chadwick (probable): Following each focus group, we have meetings organized with the LTC to discuss the policies and the feedback that we received.

[0:05:48] Planner Chadwick (probable): So in addition to this, we also have a survey that's out right now, and we've just extended the deadline from March 31st, I think to the middle of April, because we've had the great opportunity to coordinate with the RDN on sending out, they wanted to send some information out on ahead of World Water Day on water and environmental things that they're doing.

[0:06:16] Planner Chadwick (probable): and they invited us to to see if we want to contribute anything and so that provided a really

[0:06:21] Planner Chadwick (probable): great opportunity for us to talk about the water balance work that's going on and invite people to

[0:06:29] Planner Chadwick (probable): take the surveys so I imagine we'll have a so we're so each household will be receiving

[0:06:37] Planner Chadwick (probable): this information to their mailbox so we'll have a nice uptake in the survey responses I'm sure

[0:06:45] Planner Chadwick (probable): following that so um in my report i provided a little bit of a of a summary of what's already

[0:06:53] Planner Chadwick (probable): been uh provide uh identified to the survey um so you know just knowing that um um we'll have more

[0:07:02] Planner Chadwick (probable): so we have done our we did do our um focused ltc discussion on housing in february at the

[0:07:12] Planner Chadwick (probable): the end of february and that was um that was great and uh and so this is our focus discussion on on

[0:07:20] Planner Chadwick (probable): the connectivity related and economy related policies now i mean it's interesting to point

[0:07:26] Planner Chadwick (probable): out that um you know it is very hard to um uh kind of isolate these things that everything is

[0:07:32] Planner Chadwick (probable): integrated but it's a really good i found this has been a very good opportunity to engage those

[0:07:38] Planner Chadwick (probable): community members that are really very very interested in particular areas and

[0:07:46] Planner Chadwick (probable): it's been really valuable in in getting a sense of some of the things that

[0:07:50] Planner Chadwick (probable): haven't emerged through the the other engagement processes so with respect to

[0:07:58] Planner Chadwick (probable): the connectivity focus group you know we had there was a lot of discussion that

[0:08:05] Planner Chadwick (probable): that emerged around the need for more playing fields,

[0:08:12] Planner Chadwick (probable): soccer, et cetera.

[0:08:15] Planner Chadwick (probable): So we had somebody from the Youth Soccer Association

[0:08:19] Planner Chadwick (probable): or something like that.

[0:08:21] Planner Chadwick (probable): And it was something that a number of the participants

[0:08:25] Planner Chadwick (probable): agreed was really important.

[0:08:27] Planner Chadwick (probable): And that was something that hadn't come up

[0:08:29] Planner Chadwick (probable): in the general engagement.

[0:08:35] Planner Chadwick (probable): Links to health and well-being were really emphasized by this group, with a really keen interest in that being reflected as part of the overall vision for Gabriola.

[0:08:52] Planner Chadwick (probable): We were really fortunate to have the parks planner for the RDN join us.

[0:09:02] Planner Chadwick (probable): uh the RDN is currently working on their parks and um their their is it what's the name is there

[0:09:12] Planner Chadwick (probable): is it the parks and uh the recreation and

[0:09:15] Planner Chadwick (probable): parks master plan yeah master plan for Gabriela yeah

[0:09:18] Planner Chadwick (probable): yeah and so having Elaine there was really great because she uh was able to identify to us

[0:09:26] Planner Chadwick (probable): that there are some very specific ways that we need to word the policies in the OCP to

[0:09:32] Planner Chadwick (probable): to ensure that they get the support that they need to implement,

[0:09:40] Planner Chadwick (probable): so being able to get funding and so forth.

[0:09:43] Planner Chadwick (probable): So we'll be working very closely with Elaine on those pieces.

[0:09:48] Planner Chadwick (probable): We had some very enthusiastic members of the Transportation Committee on Gabriela,

[0:10:02] Planner Chadwick (probable): And they've done some very, Gabriela's Transportation Society, so they've done a lot of engagement and they've done a lot of work on really identifying some critical needs in the community in terms of slowing traffic in certain areas.

[0:10:22] Planner Chadwick (probable): and they've got a clear list of things that they've been focusing on.

[0:10:30] Planner Chadwick (probable): And so we're going to find a way to have a more focused conversation

[0:10:34] Planner Chadwick (probable): with that group and encourage them to develop a plan

[0:10:41] Planner Chadwick (probable): which would include all of the things that they've identified

[0:10:46] Planner Chadwick (probable): so that we can make reference to that in the OCP

[0:10:51] Planner Chadwick (probable): and we can also play a role in helping to facilitate a discussion

[0:10:56] Planner Chadwick (probable): with the society and the Ministry of Transportation.

[0:11:00] Planner Chadwick (probable): So there were some really great things that came out of that meeting.

[0:11:06] Planner Chadwick (probable): So I'll just leave my description of that there

[0:11:12] Planner Chadwick (probable): and see if you have any questions about conversation

[0:11:16] Planner Chadwick (probable): or if you had some specific concerns or interests around the draft policies for connectivity.

[0:11:30] Trustee Patrick (probable): Thank you very much.

[0:11:32] Trustee Patrick (probable): So, Trustees, I see Trustee Yates.

[0:11:34] Voice 2: Please go ahead.

[0:11:35] Voice 2: Yeah, thanks so much for that overview, Nerissa.

[0:11:39] Voice 2: And we're still getting recommendations for people to join the next three focus groups too.

[0:11:46] Voice 2: So we we just hand those over to the staff and they put them on the list or they invite them, depending on the room.

[0:11:54] Voice 2: So that's great. And I'm sure Toby will mention the fact that we've had a couple of open houses already where people can just bring any questions or concerns they have and talk about the work we've done so far and the work that we're continuing to do.

[0:12:12] Voice 2: and the other thing I thought I would mention is that the the regional district has a kind of a

[0:12:18] Voice 2: final master plan meeting on Monday April 7th which I'll be attending and that's to review their

[0:12:25] Voice 2: kind of the final first draft so the fact that they're working on this large plan for recreation

[0:12:33] Voice 2: and parks at the same time as we're doing our OCP review is actually quite helpful thanks thank you

[0:12:43] Trustee Patrick (probable): very much Mr. Elliott any questions or I guess my only question would I agree and I know the work

[0:12:54] Trustee Patrick (probable): you know here on Salt Spring we've been working as a large trail that we've been trying to work

[0:13:00] Trustee Patrick (probable): on that's going to be multi-year very expensive and having it incorporated into the OCP is helping

[0:13:08] Trustee Patrick (probable): to bring you know for grant funding as they apply and so forth to show the supporting of it so I

[0:13:13] Trustee Patrick (probable): I think there is that link is critically important that it's at least supported by language somewhere in the OCP.

[0:13:21] Trustee Patrick (probable): Trustee Elliott.

[0:13:24] Voice 6: Thanks.

[0:13:25] Voice 6: Thanks and great for this work.

[0:13:28] Voice 6: Sorry.

[0:13:29] Voice 6: Thank you.

[0:13:30] Voice 6: Great work.

[0:13:31] Voice 6: That's what I meant to say.

[0:13:33] Voice 6: So getting more specifically into the discussion on the connectivity related actions.

[0:13:40] Voice 6: I was struck by how much discussion there was about housing being closer to services and

[0:13:47] Voice 6: amenities and there is a really natural and important link for the discussion around where

[0:13:57] Voice 6: to put increased intensity or densities for housing and addressing the need to put housing

[0:14:07] Voice 6: closing close to amenities versus, so to be, you know, walking distance and, and, and all of that

[0:14:15] Voice 6: for, for climate change related issues, but where to identify other nodes or, um, whether they be

[0:14:24] Voice 6: commercial or, or some other kind of amenities, like the community hall is not a commercial node,

[0:14:31] Voice 6: but it's a hub where people gather and has is there more work to identify different hubs or

[0:14:42] Voice 6: areas where people naturally gather where housing might also be appropriate and the reason I bring

[0:14:48] Voice 6: you know we have to have the conversation about water and this is I can see where this is all

[0:14:54] Voice 6: going to come together one big OCP where everything is connected and right now we're trying to

[0:15:00] Voice 6: of separate the conversation into distinct uh focus areas which is super important so

[0:15:05] Voice 6: that the path that the previous ocp took or the the tactic was to concentrate development in the

[0:15:13] Voice 6: village core and the i think the gabriel village vision plan and really did envision a different

[0:15:22] Voice 6: way of developing the village and the core there and that hasn't really materialized so pulling out

[0:15:29] Voice 6: what would be useful from there and and seeing if we can adapt some of those strategies to other

[0:15:37] Voice 6: nodes well if there's an appetite first for that and then pulling out some of those village vision

[0:15:43] Voice 6: strategies for the village into other areas to make them nodes that are walkable that

[0:15:52] Voice 6: you know have clustered development where it makes sense instead of spreading it out so

[0:15:59] Voice 6: to prevent sprawl might be a key sort of goal or something to explore in further conversations

[0:16:08] Voice 6: with community. Because the water availability in the village, and this will depend on what

[0:16:16] Voice 6: comes out of the water study, the water availability is limited compared to other

[0:16:21] Voice 6: areas. And there has already been great concern that intensifying development in the village

[0:16:27] Voice 6: core area or those designated zones or adding housing there is not feasible if we're going to

[0:16:34] Voice 6: depend on groundwater. So balancing the need to put development or direct development where it's

[0:16:41] Voice 6: close to amenities and balance the need to ensure there's available groundwater for that development

[0:16:48] Voice 6: may mean that we explore different village nodes. And this was something that was surfaced and it's

[0:16:54] Voice 6: It's kind of in a few different locations.

[0:16:57] Voice 6: You've got it on page four or five for the report, community hubs, the commons, the community hall, Rolo Center, and local businesses.

[0:17:07] Voice 6: So I think if we're going to look at further, you know, engagement with community, that would be a key thing.

[0:17:17] Voice 6: Where does it make sense to have other village or community hubs?

[0:17:20] Voice 6: Do we need to have some different kind of zoning based on maybe the village vision parameters, which were visionary actually, which were really, but not really adaptable to the village core that we have right now.

[0:17:39] Voice 6: So where can they be used elsewhere?

[0:17:40] Voice 6: So those are my thoughts just on the connectivity piece, really bouncing off the comments about having a lot more housing closer to services and amenities. Where is that appropriate? And I'll leave it there for now. Thanks.

[0:18:00] Trustee Patrick (probable): Go ahead, Marissa.

[0:18:02] Trustee Patrick (probable): Yeah,

[0:18:02] Planner Chadwick (probable): thanks. Thanks for those reflections, Trustee Elliott. And it was a very significant thing that came up in the economy discussion as well, was this interest in expanding commercial nodes.

[0:18:21] Planner Chadwick (probable): boats um and um you know i'm also hearing what you're saying around um just general access to

[0:18:28] Planner Chadwick (probable): areas where people gather um and one of the things that i did that that i didn't um mention in my

[0:18:36] Planner Chadwick (probable): summary there was that uh there was a huge discussion and very like large concern around

[0:18:43] Planner Chadwick (probable): around how people get around and that it's very, very unsafe to bike and to walk between places.

[0:18:52] Planner Chadwick (probable): And so this interest in nodes, I think, you know, potentially in the future helps to facilitate

[0:19:01] Planner Chadwick (probable): easier access using alternative forms of, you know, human forms of transportation as well.

[0:19:08] Planner Chadwick (probable): So that's another consideration. But certainly, it can be a discussion. And, you know, this is an opportunity. This is definitely the opportunity to see whether some of these land designations need to shift to make it facilitate easier access.

[0:19:30] Voice 2: Trustee Yates.

[0:19:31] Voice 2: Yeah, just to follow up on what both Toby and Nerissa said, on page 34 of the staff report, the economy discussion had a lot of talk about sort of other nodes for commercial activity.

[0:19:54] Voice 2: and that that's been a thought on this island for more than 40 years because a long time ago

[0:20:03] Voice 2: silva bay was a very active sort of mini commercial node that had a laundromat and a grocery store

[0:20:09] Voice 2: and of course the marina and then you know a few decades ago we also had twin beaches as a pretty

[0:20:17] Voice 2: big commercial space it had hardware and the credit union and a general store and a little

[0:20:23] Voice 2: deli so people people who've lived here for a while of course including myself talked about

[0:20:30] Voice 2: that it's interesting because silva bay i would not at first glance think of silva bay as being

[0:20:36] Voice 2: a really good commercial note simply because of saltwater intrusion and lack of groundwater

[0:20:44] Voice 2: water. However, there are other areas like the whalebone area, for example, has lots of water

[0:20:54] Voice 2: and doesn't have saltwater intrusion. And that too came up in discussions about 30 years ago as

[0:21:01] Voice 2: having possibilities for a small commercial node. And all of these places are certainly on the bus

[0:21:07] Voice 2: route. And the bus route will only get better. It's somewhat limited right now, but it's bound

[0:21:14] Voice 2: bound to improve so I'm glad that I'm glad that there's quite a bit of that on page 34 of the

[0:21:20] Voice 2: economy staff report and I'm looks great to me thank you yeah

[0:21:28] Planner Chadwick (probable): and I I um I would just add that

[0:21:31] Planner Chadwick (probable): um yeah there was quite a bit of conversation around that uh in the economy group and um

[0:21:38] Planner Chadwick (probable): I was happy to hear it because I'm like it's nice to be focusing it's nice for the conversation to

[0:21:44] Planner Chadwick (probable): to be focusing on things that are actually possible for the LTC to facilitate. So yeah,

[0:21:52] Planner Chadwick (probable): that's definitely something that I feel like there'll need to be a bit more focused conversation

[0:21:57] Planner Chadwick (probable): around exactly where we'll have to pull out some maps at some point and have a look at the land

[0:22:04] Planner Chadwick (probable): designations and see how those might need to change to facilitate that more, to encourage

[0:22:10] Planner Chadwick (probable): more commercial development and as Toby was indicating, you know, the potential of more

[0:22:17] Planner Chadwick (probable): housing around some of these other nodes that aren't necessarily commercial.

[0:22:21] Trustee Patrick (probable): Yeah. So what do you, do you need any specific comments on this section to be helpful?

[0:22:32] Trustee Patrick (probable): Well, I

[0:22:33] Planner Chadwick (probable): feel like we're, I feel like we're also, we're sort of going into the economy

[0:22:36] Planner Chadwick (probable): piece too, and I think what's useful is

[0:22:40] Planner Chadwick (probable): really to get trustees' reflections

[0:22:44] Planner Chadwick (probable): generally on some of the things they're hearing, if those

[0:22:48] Planner Chadwick (probable): things are ringing true for you, because essentially

[0:22:53] Planner Chadwick (probable): we didn't have enough time to integrate it into

[0:22:56] Planner Chadwick (probable): the draft policies yet, but if there's anything that you see

[0:22:59] Planner Chadwick (probable): in the feedback that you're not interested in seeing in those

[0:23:04] Planner Chadwick (probable): those draft policies, like this would be the time to identify that because essentially,

[0:23:09] Planner Chadwick (probable): you know, our next step is to take the feedback, integrate those into the draft policies. Those

[0:23:18] Planner Chadwick (probable): draft policies are going to come back to you before we go out again to the public with a full

[0:23:24] Planner Chadwick (probable): full set of um of draft policies for for review for a longer period um of of your review time

[0:23:32] Planner Chadwick (probable): so um yeah so if there are any other things that are sort of jumping out for you that you're

[0:23:40] Planner Chadwick (probable): curious about um i didn't go into detail yet about the um the economic uh group but um i think

[0:23:49] Planner Chadwick (probable): much of much of their discussion did did focus on this um interest in nodes and um um they were

[0:23:58] Planner Chadwick (probable): also very very happy to be invited to have a discussion because they feel like there's like a

[0:24:05] Planner Chadwick (probable): there's a there's a bit of a um a gap between islands trust and um and the business community

[0:24:11] Planner Chadwick (probable): so um they really appreciated the opportunity of the the the conversation um they were very

[0:24:19] Planner Chadwick (probable): uh the the one of the key things that that that that they had some substantial conversation

[0:24:27] Planner Chadwick (probable): um around was um you know they talked about the safety elements as well to access services and

[0:24:34] Planner Chadwick (probable): um the commercial areas there was a little bit of discussion about light industry and some tweaks

[0:24:40] Planner Chadwick (probable): that could be made to bylaws to to facilitate um um more flexibility there but the there was a lot

[0:24:48] Planner Chadwick (probable): of discussion about how it's the affordability of housing that that uh that has been the biggest

[0:24:54] Planner Chadwick (probable): impediment to business apparently they've they did a recent um survey the chamber of commerce did and

[0:25:00] Planner Chadwick (probable): that was one of the things that that that came out on top as being one of the the biggest challenges

[0:25:05] Planner Chadwick (probable): so um you know the everything's inter interwoven and and and and housing he comes came up in

[0:25:15] Planner Chadwick (probable): connectivity and it and it was a real focus of the uh of the economic discussion too so

[0:25:25] Voice 2: trustee yates i think trustee elliott was before me oops

[0:25:32] Trustee Patrick (probable): uh sorry i always have the two two things

[0:25:36] Trustee Patrick (probable): to look at go ahead then trustee elliott no

[0:25:38] Voice 6: worries it's just because my video is off um

[0:25:40] Voice 6: for connectivity um so yes there's you know maybe some feedback on on policies but i hesitate to

[0:25:49] Voice 6: to give that now without further community input.

[0:25:55] Voice 6: I think, so looking at next steps on page 13 there,

[0:26:00] Voice 6: so a survey will be sent out

[0:26:02] Voice 6: to gather further community input.

[0:26:05] Voice 6: That's not referring to the current OCP survey.

[0:26:08] Voice 6: Are we talking a different survey?

[0:26:16] Planner Chadwick (probable): So there's the current survey.

[0:26:18] Voice 4: Yeah.

[0:26:19] Planner Chadwick (probable): And so then in terms of next steps,

[0:26:22] Planner Chadwick (probable): So we've got the survey that's out there, and we'll be getting all the feedback mid-April.

[0:26:28] Planner Chadwick (probable): So then we will summarize all that feedback, and we will use that feedback as well as the focus group feedback to update the draft policies that have been already presented.

[0:26:42] Planner Chadwick (probable): And the plan is that Stephen and I will develop essentially a, I'm hesitant to call it a draft OCP, but it'll be close to that.

[0:26:56] Planner Chadwick (probable): It'll be the policies within each area.

[0:27:00] Planner Chadwick (probable): We'll prepare them in a way that they can be easily commented on.

[0:27:06] Planner Chadwick (probable): And so the thoughts for the process right now are that once we've reviewed all of these different areas, we'll bring that completed package together and those will then be available for further engagement with the community through the summer.

[0:27:33] Planner Chadwick (probable): So our intention is to have updated these policies based on the focus group feedback, based on the survey feedback, and based on whatever other feedback we may be receiving from the public, as well as trustees, into the next drafts for comment through the summer.

[0:28:00] Planner Chadwick (probable): And at that, we will bring forward, planning to bring forward prior to the June LTC meeting for the LTC to review.

[0:28:12] Planner Chadwick (probable): And then once we've got your endorsement of those to go forward to the next phase of engagement, we will move forward.

[0:28:21] Planner Chadwick (probable): And at the June meeting, or prior to that, hang on, yeah, prior to the June meeting, we'll provide some options for community engagement.

[0:28:47] Planner Chadwick (probable): So this would be also an opportunity if there are ideas and interests you have related to how we engage the community in that next phase.

[0:29:01] Planner Chadwick (probable): This would be an opportunity to share your thoughts.

[0:29:05] Voice 6: So I do have thoughts on that. If we could stay on that topic. Sorry, I know Trustee Yates, we're going to you.

[0:29:11] Voice 6: um i just don't want to lose it um so the village vision group that had you know put for put a lot

[0:29:18] Voice 6: of work into thinking this through could they be invited or mobilized to convene with say the

[0:29:26] Voice 6: transportation society um some community-led discussions in between now and and june

[0:29:36] Voice 6: and the reason I ask is we need to find a way to bridge I think between the focus groups which are

[0:29:47] Voice 6: really good at providing specialized focused information and then the drafting of new

[0:29:53] Voice 6: policies I want the community to have a chance other you know sort of a wider ring of community

[0:29:59] Voice 6: dream

[0:30:00] Voice 6: members who've already been working on this to have a chance to engage in the conversation as

[0:30:06] Voice 6: it's developing maybe not for more specific feedback and that's why I asked is there going

[0:30:11] Voice 6: to be another survey but what is the method that we're going to keep developing these policies

[0:30:15] Voice 6: so that we don't end up at a set of draft policies that people are looking at for the first time

[0:30:23] Voice 6: So what is that sort of bridge between now and June that those already active interest groups who are now like excited about this and they can spread the word of, oh, this OCP process really could affect how we live and move, which will spur further conversation, interest and engagement.

[0:30:44] Voice 6: So, yeah, I do want to talk about what is a way to engage stakeholder groups and invite the community to be more part of the process. And I'll flip it to you, Trustee Yates, but both of us have heard quite a bit of concern, criticism even, not understanding why the focus groups are so small.

[0:31:06] Voice 6: people are feeling excluded or not included um and they have um they definitely have

[0:31:14] Voice 6: perspectives they want to contribute so let's figure out a way to bring them into the conversation

[0:31:20] Voice 6: um as we're developing and drafting those policies and yeah thanks thank

[0:31:30] Trustee Patrick (probable): you and uh trusty

[0:31:31] Trustee Patrick (probable): yeah good

[0:31:33] Voice 2: idea um good idea toby i was thinking the same thing what i was asking myself is

[0:31:38] Voice 2: do we have enough in the budget to pay just for an inexpensive venue for example the commons

[0:31:46] Voice 2: that would fit more than just one focus group that would fit maybe half of this focus group

[0:31:52] Voice 2: half of that focus group some of the gabriel transportation members some of the village

[0:31:58] Voice 2: vision members and some of those are crossover people because they're active in more than one

[0:32:03] Voice 2: group um you know like say would we have money to say rent the upstairs of the commons which is

[0:32:10] Voice 2: like 20 bucks for half a day um for maybe 25 people to get together i wouldn't want more than

[0:32:19] Voice 2: that because you know it just it's really hard to have a good focus discussion basically with

[0:32:25] Voice 2: more than 10 or 12 people which is why we you know limited the focus groups to to 12 but i'm

[0:32:32] Voice 2: just wondering if that's a possibility and the other thing the only other thing I wanted to say

[0:32:37] Voice 2: is that what I really like about these staff reports that come after each focus group I find

[0:32:43] Voice 2: them really helpful because of course we don't attend the focus groups or I know we probably

[0:32:48] Voice 2: could but mostly mostly I can't and so I really appreciate the staff reports and one of the things

[0:32:54] Voice 2: that I find really useful is the sort of chart that you do where you say where does this section

[0:33:01] Voice 2: differ from the existing ocp i find that really helpful so please continue and the layout of the

[0:33:08] Voice 2: staff reports is just super helpful so really appreciate that i

[0:33:17] Trustee Patrick (probable): see you got trusty ellie is

[0:33:18] Trustee Patrick (probable): your hand back up

[0:33:18] Voice 6: again thanks so some of the sorry further exploration i think um is needed

[0:33:26] Voice 6: as to how policies like um so i'm looking at three on page 19 a transportation network which

[0:33:39] Voice 6: reduces dependency on private automobile route use so roads where possible the natural vegetation

[0:33:45] Voice 6: alongside of the road shall be retained and then active transportation below provisions be made for

[0:33:51] Voice 6: for bicycle paths and pedestrian paths and new developments, off-road bicycle and pedestrian

[0:33:57] Voice 6: trails. So, you know, Narissa, you and I are both familiar with Maine and the development of that

[0:34:03] Voice 6: cycle path going from the ferry, you know, highly engineered, a lot of work from the CRD,

[0:34:09] Voice 6: but it's set aside from the road. And so to address the safety of, you know, a cycling route

[0:34:17] Voice 6: that would go around the island, in addition to Gertie, love Gertie, and that we have a

[0:34:22] Voice 6: community bus network, but that active transportation piece and the safety, as well as the need

[0:34:28] Voice 6: to, you know, ensure vegetation is kept where possible and scenic, beautiful trees are not

[0:34:34] Voice 6: cut down.

[0:34:35] Voice 6: That would be something, you know, we really want to bring those two pieces together to

[0:34:40] Voice 6: community and go, okay, let's work this through.

[0:34:43] Voice 6: How, you know, is it really, is it important that we actually direct policies to develop a cycle path around the island? Like, how can that be achieved? What's the appetite for village nodes in other areas?

[0:34:59] Voice 6: So I hear you, Susan, on bringing together the two focus groups or members of the two focus groups, but I still think that's a little bit narrow.

[0:35:10] Voice 6: We now need to move into the phase of hearing from more general community member, like people who are not engaged in this over the long term.

[0:35:18] Voice 6: And so is another survey possible with some of these key questions we need to hear from the greater community about?

[0:35:25] Voice 6: um so maybe getting together in the room you know and having that being hosted by

[0:35:32] Voice 6: say members of the village vision group and the transportation society and then people get some

[0:35:37] Voice 6: interface you get the dialogue going but also uh do we have budget for um a deeper dive into some

[0:35:45] Voice 6: of these topics that we need to hear from the greater community about so that's just a question

[0:35:50] Voice 6: of probably budget and resourcing thanks yeah

[0:35:55] Planner Chadwick (probable): i would say it's totally budget and resourcing

[0:35:58] Voice 4: um

[0:35:58] Planner Chadwick (probable): and and and so i think uh so i noticed that so there's an april 17th meeting and what we can do

[0:36:04] Planner Chadwick (probable): is we can put together some options um like we did like we have done in the past for engagement

[0:36:11] Planner Chadwick (probable): what i'm hearing from um the two of you right now is that one of you know there's interest in have

[0:36:18] Planner Chadwick (probable): in having the the opportunity for very specific focus very specific groups in

[0:36:24] Planner Chadwick (probable): the community to provide their input on on areas of that are particular to their

[0:36:30] Planner Chadwick (probable): interest as well as like more broader community engagement so I would like I

[0:36:37] Planner Chadwick (probable): would suggest that there's an opportunity for that within the process

[0:36:44] Planner Chadwick (probable): that we're already considering so if if we want to be so in terms of the broader

[0:36:56] Planner Chadwick (probable): community input we're looking you know again I can drop some options for you

[0:37:03] Planner Chadwick (probable): and I can note the options but I'll just let you know what what I'm considering

[0:37:08] Planner Chadwick (probable): and then and then I'll also identify some of the other things that you might

[0:37:13] Planner Chadwick (probable): might want to focus on.

[0:37:16] Planner Chadwick (probable): So if, for example, we do sort of drop the policies

[0:37:22] Planner Chadwick (probable): based on the feedback that we've received so far,

[0:37:27] Planner Chadwick (probable): the intention is that those will all go forward

[0:37:29] Planner Chadwick (probable): out to the public.

[0:37:31] Planner Chadwick (probable): Public can organize themselves around each one

[0:37:35] Planner Chadwick (probable): of those themes however they'd like to.

[0:37:39] Planner Chadwick (probable): So there's the opportunity just for broad public feedback, individuals, and then there's the opportunity for groups to come together and focus very specifically on the policies that they're interested in and provide their submissions in that way.

[0:37:56] Planner Chadwick (probable): I would suggest that more surveys is perhaps not the way to go at this point in time, because there is, and Morgana, our communications person, who also happens to be a survey expert and has some history in that, talks to us a lot about survey fatigue.

[0:38:16] Planner Chadwick (probable): fatigue we have another survey out there right right now uh that's just being launched around

[0:38:22] Planner Chadwick (probable): the for the water budget work so um um i think if you want to put another survey out i would

[0:38:29] Planner Chadwick (probable): suggest you do it later in the process when you have some very very very specific questions that

[0:38:35] Planner Chadwick (probable): you want to um address and those questions will emerge i think as as we integrate the feedback as

[0:38:43] Planner Chadwick (probable): there are competing interests i mean right now um there's a uh you know a lot of what we've we've

[0:38:52] Planner Chadwick (probable): heard in these past focus groups there there there's a seems to be a fair amount of consensus

[0:38:57] Planner Chadwick (probable): around things but that's this is the groups that were engaging in the comments we're receiving

[0:39:03] Planner Chadwick (probable): you may find that there there isn't once you get put in the broader uh thing but i would i mean i

[0:39:10] Planner Chadwick (probable): I would caution against, um, organizing another, um, sort of specifically focused round of,

[0:39:18] Planner Chadwick (probable): of engagement, um, because it may just be duplicating in a way. Um, um, I, I, I do hear

[0:39:26] Planner Chadwick (probable): where, um, Susan is coming from and there, there could be the opportunity to, uh, do like a day,

[0:39:33] Planner Chadwick (probable): day a public outreach day where maybe uh we do meet with groups um that are interested uh during

[0:39:41] Planner Chadwick (probable): specific time periods so that they may want to meet with staff and and trustees specifically so

[0:39:47] Planner Chadwick (probable): um um i mean at this point in time these are all ideas and they're all good ideas and um i think we

[0:39:55] Planner Chadwick (probable): can have a more fulsome conversation if if if um you know once we provide kind of a list of options

[0:40:01] Planner Chadwick (probable): for you but keep keep the ideas going and i can make sure that that list of options includes some

[0:40:08] Planner Chadwick (probable): of those ideas

[0:40:12] Voice 2: trusty yates thank you um i was just going to mention that the um the regional

[0:40:19] Voice 2: district master plan for parks and rec also talks about um an island-wide safe cycling pedestrian

[0:40:28] Voice 2: trail similar to what maine galliano salt spring hornby already have so we're i think we'll just

[0:40:36] Voice 2: we're just going to be working on that for the next couple of decades probably until we get

[0:40:41] Voice 2: something like that trail that doesn't you know it goes from the ferry goes to the village

[0:40:47] Voice 2: and it provides transportation safe transportation around the island um it's kind of it's kind of

[0:40:55] Voice 2: painful to me to see that we're the kind of the last island to have such a beautiful trail um

[0:41:01] Voice 2: And anyway, the other thing I was going to mention is I think we've probably got enough

[0:41:06] Voice 2: surveys happening right now because I'm even starting to get confused with the surveys.

[0:41:11] Voice 2: But I like the idea of groups possibly organizing themselves because there are venues on the

[0:41:22] Voice 2: island that are pretty cheap to rent and groups on Gabriela are pretty good at organizing

[0:41:28] Voice 2: themselves.

[0:41:29] Voice 2: So I like that idea of some cross-pollination of groups that, you know, might want to work together without us necessarily doing that for them.

[0:41:40] Voice 2: But if there is some money available for them to do that, that might be what they will ask us.

[0:41:47] Voice 2: Okay, thanks.

[0:41:49] Voice 2: All right, Planner Chadwick.

[0:41:51] Planner Chadwick (probable): Yeah, I was just going to remind us, and also for the benefit of Chair Patrick, you'll remember we did do that. We did support groups in the last process, in our visioning process.

[0:42:15] Planner Chadwick (probable): So we have a process to facilitate that, and we're now going to be entering the new budget, so we will have some money.

[0:42:27] Planner Chadwick (probable): And so that's something I can look at as an option for consideration.

[0:42:34] Trustee Patrick (probable): I know we've jumped ahead kind of in the process, and before I go back to Trustee Elliott, I did have a comment on the economic section, and I didn't want to get too far down into finalizing.

[0:42:45] Trustee Patrick (probable): there one of the objectives that was put forward was encourage sustainable small-scale tourism

[0:42:52] Trustee Patrick (probable): activities um that just says it's compatible with island character i and i know here on

[0:42:58] Trustee Patrick (probable): salisbury i've been doing quite a bit of work prepping the word over tourism that's kind of

[0:43:02] Trustee Patrick (probable): popped up throughout the world has has grown and is reaching you know even our island people are

[0:43:07] Trustee Patrick (probable): using those words instead of just tourism. And so I look at the word encourage to

[0:43:15] Trustee Patrick (probable): the solutions to most of this is about managing and making sure that we stay consistent and focus

[0:43:24] Trustee Patrick (probable): that well-being of the community is our primary focus and that tourism. So I guess the community

[0:43:31] Trustee Patrick (probable): character sort of indicates that you're being consistent is community character, the well-being

[0:43:36] Trustee Patrick (probable): of the residents that live here

[0:43:38] Trustee Patrick (probable): and the environment of the island

[0:43:41] Trustee Patrick (probable): is sort of the priority

[0:43:42] Trustee Patrick (probable): and tourism has to be compatible with that.

[0:43:48] Trustee Patrick (probable): So I was just looking for whether the word encourage

[0:43:51] Trustee Patrick (probable): is the right word.

[0:43:52] Trustee Patrick (probable): Is that a word that I guess I look at

[0:43:54] Trustee Patrick (probable): my fellow local trustees here,

[0:43:55] Trustee Patrick (probable): is that a word that you're content with

[0:43:59] Trustee Patrick (probable): or is there more work that needs to be looked at

[0:44:01] Trustee Patrick (probable): for kind of an objective on that area?

[0:44:08] Trustee Patrick (probable): Oh, okay. I don't know if Toby Elliott, you had your hand already up, but I'm going to go with

[0:44:12] Trustee Patrick (probable): Trustee Yates. Okay.

[0:44:15] Voice 2: Well, just very, very quickly, we have a very good relationship

[0:44:18] Voice 2: with the Chamber of Commerce on Gabriela. And in fact, I just had a meeting with the ED

[0:44:25] Voice 2: accidentally yesterday. And what she was talking about is, and I'm sure you've heard this too,

[0:44:30] Voice 2: Chair Patrick, is that because of what's happening below the border, we're going to be expecting

[0:44:36] Voice 2: quite a bit more um tourism over this next year and we have to prepare for that but we also have

[0:44:44] Voice 2: to exactly as you've just said it really has to be appropriate tourism suited to this island

[0:44:52] Voice 2: to all of the trust area islands i think encourage is okay because you know you can support and

[0:45:00] Voice 2: and encourage only the kind of tourism that you really want to see on in the island so i think

[0:45:06] Voice 2: it's probably an okay term with the understanding that people generally people i think on gabriela

[0:45:13] Voice 2: really do understand that term and that also connects with this idea of having you know an

[0:45:20] Voice 2: around the island or at least from the village to the ferry a safe walking and cycling trail

[0:45:28] Voice 2: because of course that's the kind of tourism you would just love to have on your island so that's

[0:45:34] Voice 2: all i'll say i think it's okay to leave that term in there but we'll who knows maybe maybe we'll get

[0:45:39] Voice 2: different comments from from uh the gabrielans you

[0:45:45] Trustee Patrick (probable): know that's good good to hear i know like

[0:45:47] Trustee Patrick (probable): last year when you had three sailing weights to get to fulford suddenly uh y came up and

[0:45:53] Trustee Patrick (probable): And tourists, you know, take the blame, but may not be, but that's just what happens.

[0:45:58] Trustee Patrick (probable): All right. Well, I just thought I'd toss it out there.

[0:46:01] Trustee Patrick (probable): Trustee Elliott, you had your hand raised before. I guess we're on the conversation next step. So carry on.

[0:46:06] Voice 6: Yeah, I'm all about process.

[0:46:09] Voice 6: Frankly, it's just because we're fresh out of some good feedback from our two OCP drop-in sessions.

[0:46:16] Voice 6: So I just, I apologize. I'm going to come back to that for a bit, but I was just thinking a bit about it.

[0:46:23] Voice 6: How can we promote education and awareness of these policies and agency for groups to get together and discuss and then submit their feedback and review in a more focused or concentrated way?

[0:46:44] Voice 6: um so one example that that we could explore that maybe doesn't require extra budget

[0:46:52] Voice 6: people wanted to see articles in the sounder which trustee yates and i could write potentially

[0:47:00] Voice 6: with help from staff on each topic area the sounder is great resource we've got some ads

[0:47:08] Voice 6: in there about meetings and maybe the survey but the word isn't getting out enough about the

[0:47:13] Voice 6: this ocp review and the importance of the topic areas for residents so um if we could say write

[0:47:20] Voice 6: an article on each of the topic areas link it to the findings of the survey groups

[0:47:27] Voice 6: and invite the community to gather talk about the draft policies direct them to where it's

[0:47:33] Voice 6: found on the website and then where they can contribute their ideas so could it be something

[0:47:38] Voice 6: Something like, would we set up, could we set up different emails like resources, OCP review at, you know, islandstrust.bc.ca and, or, you know, that they articulate it in the subject line.

[0:47:55] Voice 6: It's about those policies and here's what our group came back with rather than just, you know, the generic email.

[0:48:02] Voice 6: Or could there be a collective drop box with, you know, I know we've got the correspondence and the folders on the webpage.

[0:48:10] Voice 6: But how can community groups see each other's discussions on it? It's not like it will have to go through the filter of staff and drafting policies. We're not going to get community to draft policies. I'm not looking for that.

[0:48:25] Voice 6: But it's about that education engagement piece so that people feel they own the document and they understand and were part of the development of those policies. So how can we do that? The articles would be quite a bit of work for us, but I will say it was super successful in the Gabriel Housing Matters outreach that we did.

[0:48:51] Voice 6: worked with staff on um i think three significant articles for a two-page spread uh with real you

[0:49:00] Voice 6: know some of the demographics and facts which we've already got in the discussion guides those

[0:49:04] Voice 6: could be brought forward and um if it's online links to where people can find those reports and

[0:49:11] Voice 6: stuff because i just think the information is great the discussions are incredible the broader

[0:49:18] Voice 6: broader community is not understanding yet how to engage. And we heard that loud and clear

[0:49:24] Voice 6: in our OCP drop-ins. They were just like, this is the first I'm hearing about it

[0:49:29] Voice 6: and weren't necessarily connecting it to the visioning process last year. So more surveys

[0:49:35] Voice 6: is maybe not needed, definitely more engagement. And I think Trustee Yates and I can,

[0:49:41] Voice 6: oh, well, if you want to, we could hopefully work on that. It doesn't have to be long articles,

[0:49:46] Voice 6: but some of the information we've already got and where people can get more and how they can submit

[0:49:52] Voice 6: their feedback would be really helpful so i'll get off that soapbox oh and sorry the team term

[0:49:58] Voice 6: competing interests um i didn't want to forget that so narissa you mentioned um and i just put

[0:50:04] Voice 6: it in the chat this is this is the really interesting juicy parts right where you've got

[0:50:09] Voice 6: transportation interests or sustainability interests at odds or commerce, residential

[0:50:15] Voice 6: housing. And those nexuses of potential conflict are really the part where solutions can arise

[0:50:24] Voice 6: from community. Those would be the pieces that I want to see if we do another survey and we need

[0:50:31] Voice 6: to dive down into further analysis. I think that would be key things. And finally, and I'll stop

[0:50:39] Voice 6: a parking lot for big ideas so um trustee yates you and i heard from a constituent about

[0:50:48] Voice 6: some of the promises that were made maybe in the visioning part of this project where we said we

[0:50:57] Voice 6: want to hear everything whether it is related to land use planning or not and then we further

[0:51:02] Voice 6: categorized where we have jurisdiction and can create policy around that where we've got to work

[0:51:09] Voice 6: with other agencies. So that was really great work. But some of the aspirational visions for

[0:51:14] Voice 6: our community that we cannot necessarily address through our, you know, policy and bylaws,

[0:51:22] Voice 6: where do they go? And the example was given for someone who said, you know, vacant commercial

[0:51:32] Voice 6: lots, and I think this was brought up in the economy group, you know, a land holder who's not

[0:51:39] Voice 6: um using that lease space for a business um how can we advocate or put pressure for

[0:51:47] Voice 6: you know much use much needed uh services here um so turning an idea of this is what we need

[0:51:56] Voice 6: into an advocacy piece and capturing it not letting that drop just because we can't work it

[0:52:02] Voice 6: into um policy development and so that becomes the the roadmap for for change you know what do

[0:52:12] Voice 6: we need to change maybe in other legislation or or something susan maybe you could pick up on this

[0:52:19] Voice 6: because you're part of that convo thanks yeah

[0:52:22] Voice 2: for sure and and you know i think it can be part of

[0:52:25] Voice 2: policy development and it is certainly part of advocacy because when you look at your village

[0:52:32] Voice 2: core and you see you know two or three empty spaces sitting there for years not just months

[0:52:40] Voice 2: we need a statement in our official community plan that says how we feel about that and you

[0:52:47] Voice 2: know we're not going to make it up right now but we certainly know how our community members feel

[0:52:52] Voice 2: about that and we do we do need an advocacy statement under economy or wherever about

[0:52:59] Voice 2: about you know vacant spaces in commercial areas that should be filled by local businesses

[0:53:07] Voice 2: and it's not like part of the reason we need that statement in there as advocacy is because that's

[0:53:13] Voice 2: where we have to work with provincial and sometimes federal certainly for housing federal

[0:53:18] Voice 2: but for business provincial levels of government are allowing landlords to purchase these spaces

[0:53:28] Voice 2: And, you know, they probably get some kind of big tax write off or whatever. They're allowing landlords to do this in small communities where every space that's empty is wasted because either that should be turned into some kind of maybe housing for people who work in the village area, or maybe that should be used for a business that would just love to move in there.

[0:53:56] Voice 2: but they can't possibly afford the lease or the rent cost because it's not based on an island

[0:54:04] Voice 2: economy it's based somewhere else and you know so some kind of statement is really important so that

[0:54:11] Voice 2: when it does come to lobbying appropriate levels of government we have something in our OCP that

[0:54:18] Voice 2: that says, this is what our community thinks

[0:54:21] Voice 2: about those empty spaces.

[0:54:27] Voice 2: Lander Chadwick.

[0:54:29] Planner Chadwick (probable): Yeah, I would suggest that you want to,

[0:54:31] Planner Chadwick (probable): so it's an interesting conundrum

[0:54:37] Planner Chadwick (probable): that the Islands Trust as an organization

[0:54:40] Planner Chadwick (probable): finds itself in.

[0:54:41] Planner Chadwick (probable): And so the OCP is essentially a legal,

[0:54:48] Planner Chadwick (probable): it's a legal document related to land use.

[0:54:51] Planner Chadwick (probable): And because the OCP, well, in the context of the Islands Trust, OCPs for other municipalities speak to a whole number of things because they have the ability to provide services, policing, all of those sorts of things.

[0:55:10] Planner Chadwick (probable): So we find ourselves in this place where we're creating a policy document that's very specific to land use.

[0:55:16] Planner Chadwick (probable): And I see that there is a gap for the Islands Trust in general. And that gap is with respect to these other things. And so I think there's a decision to be made about whether, and the other thing I'll say is that I think you want to be careful that we're not getting caught up in discussions that are beyond the jurisdiction of the LTC.

[0:55:46] Planner Chadwick (probable): purpose of an OCP. Because that's very, very easy to do. I think, Trustee Elliott, you make a good

[0:55:53] Planner Chadwick (probable): point about the need to have a parking lot. And there was a lot that came out of the visioning

[0:56:01] Planner Chadwick (probable): conversation that you don't want to lose. And I feel like there's potentially an opportunity for

[0:56:09] Planner Chadwick (probable): like another process, and maybe it's a community driven process to bring together all of those

[0:56:15] Planner Chadwick (probable): all of those pieces and bring the community together to address those very,

[0:56:21] Planner Chadwick (probable): like, there's so many different things, right?

[0:56:28] Planner Chadwick (probable): And so I think that's really a question.

[0:56:31] Planner Chadwick (probable): I mean, again, it's like, do you want this OCP to be what it's supposed to be?

[0:56:37] Planner Chadwick (probable): Or if you want it to be something bigger,

[0:56:40] Planner Chadwick (probable): then it's going to potentially complicate it a bit.

[0:56:45] Planner Chadwick (probable): But I don't, but I also want to find a way to support all of this good work that's happening in the community and all of the conversations. So, and I mean, maybe you have some thoughts and maybe it'll evolve as we move through this process and how to effectively support that other work that needs to happen.

[0:57:08] Trustee Patrick (probable): Oh, complication is a good thing, though. That's what we are. And I know I did send you a comment earlier because that did stick out to me, the comments of what's in our jurisdiction, what's not in our jurisdiction.

[0:57:21] Trustee Patrick (probable): And this is a tough one, because an official community plan is a legislative document by the Local Government Act, and it says it's supposed to be guiding decisions on planning and land use management.

[0:57:34] Trustee Patrick (probable): And land use, to me, is sort of an outcome.

[0:57:37] Trustee Patrick (probable): It's the outcome of all that good input that comes into it, and that we make sure we have the land in a way that serves us into the future.

[0:57:47] Trustee Patrick (probable): So we can't get there without working with all the other jurisdictions. And our mandate also requires that we do work in cooperation with all those other jurisdictions. So it is hard work. It is very hard work. But I think we always have to have our mind of what is appropriate for an official community plan.

[0:58:08] Trustee Patrick (probable): All right, trustees. So I guess, Trustee Elliott?

[0:58:12] Trustee Patrick (probable): One

[0:58:14] Voice 6: more question on the economy side. I was just scanning it again. I thought the current OCP had a prohibition of setting up commercial enterprises. Susan, can you refresh my memory?

[0:58:35] Voice 6: did we not have a provision that forbids um chains like oh

[0:58:45] Voice 2: yeah yeah like mcdonald's or whatever

[0:58:47] Voice 2: um yeah

[0:58:48] Voice 6: and there's no real uh i can't really see any exploration of that of what kinds of

[0:58:58] Voice 6: commercial activities well i mean of course it does state what kind of commercial activities

[0:59:05] Voice 6: a variety of commercial uses, but restrictions on what kinds of...

[0:59:14] Voice 6: You

[0:59:14] Voice 2: know what, I think that might be, and maybe Chair Patrick,

[0:59:19] Voice 2: you can remember, is there something like that in the trust policy statement?

[0:59:25] Voice 2: About, you know, well, no, there couldn't be,

[0:59:29] Voice 2: because there was a Tim Hortons on Salt Spring, right?

[0:59:32] Planner Chadwick (probable): Yeah, well, so from a legal perspective, you can't...

[0:59:37] Planner Chadwick (probable): this is the unfortunate thing you you you you you can you can only identify what the space can

[0:59:42] Planner Chadwick (probable): be used for right the use you can only you can only um you only have jurisdiction over the use

[0:59:48] Planner Chadwick (probable): but not the user

[0:59:49] Voice 2: right right

[0:59:51] Planner Chadwick (probable): and that's why you see you know you know like we see in victoria

[0:59:54] Planner Chadwick (probable): burger king's like popping up along government street in these beautiful buildings yeah

[1:00:00] Voice 2: Of course. Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And you know what, I suspect what will happen is the community would let any potential chain operator know in no uncertain terms that they probably won't get a lot of business. And that would, that would probably be the only way to control that. I don't know.

[1:00:22] Planner Chadwick (probable): Yes. Yeah, potentially. But again, it's not, you can't, you don't have the ability to do that, unfortunately.

[1:00:28] Planner Chadwick (probable): do

[1:00:34] Voice 2: we have the ability to say we discourage that sort of thing

[1:00:40] Planner Chadwick (probable): yeah you can say you can

[1:00:42] Planner Chadwick (probable): definitely say you discourage it doesn't hold any legal weight but right

[1:00:46] Voice 2: i know i think it is

[1:00:48] Voice 2: somewhere in our old ocp because i'm sure i've spoken to this before i'm getting this deja vu

[1:00:54] Voice 2: thing from 30 years ago i think there is something in there about discouraging such things which

[1:01:01] Voice 2: which is fine and you know what if the public says no we don't want to have that in there fine

[1:01:06] Voice 2: that's fine too steven

[1:01:08] Planner Chadwick (probable): can you speak to that because you are quite intimate with those policies

[1:01:16] Voice 1: i'm just looking through now it's not ringing a bell for me actually um so i know i guess i don't

[1:01:23] Voice 1: i'm not aware of it but i'm looking through to see if there might be an advocacy policy related

[1:01:27] Voice 1: to that should

[1:01:29] Voice 6: have looked it up i apologize gabriel a legend it's it's just lodged in my

[1:01:33] Voice 6: my head from as soon as I moved to Gabriola I somehow had a conversation sorry for jumping in

[1:01:39] Voice 6: there but that we don't allow chain stores here and and then we've had a few that are popping up

[1:01:46] Voice 6: you know home hardware being an example where it started as a you know a local homeowner operated

[1:01:53] Voice 6: building store and then was turned into a home hardware so it's an interesting conversation but

[1:02:01] Voice 6: it thanks for that reminder that yeah we regulate the use not the user and

[1:02:06] Voice 2: you know what it won't

[1:02:07] Voice 2: hurt maybe i'll send a quick email to the chamber later today and say hey do you remember anything

[1:02:12] Voice 2: like this what do you think about this all

[1:02:21] Trustee Patrick (probable): right i'm sorry i was just looking through your ocp i'm

[1:02:23] Trustee Patrick (probable): not seeing anything jump up either um i think i've heard the same legend on salt spring so i have to

[1:02:28] Trustee Patrick (probable): dig through see how that uh all right so how do we wish to proceed or so i i don't hear any specific

[1:02:38] Trustee Patrick (probable): specific comments coming back on what was heard um we've

[1:02:43] Planner Chadwick (probable): just had a um it looks like um uh our

[1:02:47] Planner Chadwick (probable): bylaw manager um warren dingman is listening in and he said that there there there was there is

[1:02:53] Planner Chadwick (probable): prohibitation uh the the land use bylaw drive-thrus are

[1:02:57] Planner Chadwick (probable): prohibited drive-thrus prohibited

[1:03:00] Planner Chadwick (probable): the land use bylaw and

[1:03:04] Voice 2: if that's the case then there needs to be some kind of statement

[1:03:07] Voice 2: in the ocp not a land use bylaw statement but you know a general ocp statement because otherwise

[1:03:14] Voice 2: how could we how is it supported in the land use bylaw if there isn't something in the ocp so we

[1:03:20] Voice 2: should look at that yeah

[1:03:23] Planner Chadwick (probable): and i think drive-throughs is a particular type of use um so i imagine that's

[1:03:30] Planner Chadwick (probable): why you could say that you can you can actually regulate drive drive-throughs is my assumption

[1:03:35] Planner Chadwick (probable): trustee

[1:03:40] Trustee Patrick (probable): elliott uh

[1:03:41] Voice 6: i have a question about the number of uh tourist accommodation beds allowed

[1:03:47] Voice 6: per acre and i scrolled away from it so somebody can recall the page well there we are page 35

[1:03:57] Voice 6: tourist accommodation so the maximum density uh shall not exceed 13 per hectare and 30 tourist

[1:04:04] Voice 6: accommodation units where did we arrive at those numbers and was there discussion on it

[1:04:13] Voice 6: because i'm missing it yeah

[1:04:17] Planner Chadwick (probable): i think stephen can probably speak to that i'm assuming it came from

[1:04:21] Planner Chadwick (probable): the the existing ocp

[1:04:23] Voice 1: yeah that's right yeah yeah i i that is just an existing policy that that

[1:04:28] Voice 1: wasn't changed for that um the density i don't i um have to bring up the table to see what what

[1:04:37] Voice 1: the discussion was but maybe nurse remembers that discussion from the group if there was any about

[1:04:42] Voice 1: that specifically yeah

[1:04:46] Planner Chadwick (probable): there wasn't any discussion about that specifically but i i would say that

[1:04:51] Planner Chadwick (probable): like just around vacation rentals generally like so not the larger vacation rentals but um there

[1:04:56] Planner Chadwick (probable): was some um discussion in in um i think in both groups actually i mean maybe it was just the

[1:05:04] Planner Chadwick (probable): economy group around interest in the um rentals only being within the home like bed and breakfast

[1:05:11] Planner Chadwick (probable): type rentals that

[1:05:17] Voice 6: would be one of those sorry to jump in questions the community um because that

[1:05:24] Voice 6: does we may want to look at all you know sorry different zoning designations if we end up with

[1:05:34] Voice 6: with, say, multiple buildings clustered on a certain zone, if they're under a total square

[1:05:43] Voice 6: footage, you know, we may end up with tourist accommodation can be accommodated in, you know,

[1:05:49] Voice 6: two or three units, let's say like farm, seasonal farmhouse, farm worker units are on ALR land.

[1:05:58] Voice 6: So I think that is a question to flag for the community, because if it's, it's a, if it's a

[1:06:03] Voice 6: strict policy that accommodations only in the principal residence but principal residence

[1:06:10] Voice 6: definition might be expanded to you know more residences per lot or more buildings

[1:06:16] Voice 6: and the density controlled through other means like floor area

[1:06:22] Voice 6: limits then you know those two have to work together but i do i do want to flag that that

[1:06:29] Voice 6: 13 unit accommodation units per hectare and 30 tourist accommodation units in the development

[1:06:35] Voice 6: we probably need to do some i would say planner analysis on this and it's because i've just come

[1:06:43] Voice 6: from south pender and we were talking about poets cove uh and i think what happened there is the

[1:06:49] Voice 6: zoning allowed for eight units or 12 units but they they um they um the developer made two

[1:07:01] Voice 6: entryways into each units and then split them so that there's double the number or something so how

[1:07:06] Voice 6: accommodation unit is defined you know is it beds is it um a unit that has its own you know doorway

[1:07:16] Voice 6: way or something that so that you're limiting the the size in a more um in a careful way thanks

[1:07:37] Voice 4: you're muted

[1:07:37] Voice 1: chair patrick i'm

[1:07:40] Trustee Patrick (probable): gonna say go ahead steve well

[1:07:41] Voice 1: thanks um i just yeah just one comment

[1:07:44] Voice 1: i guess about the that policy in particular too is it is very prescriptive as well and and many

[1:07:50] Voice 1: of those kinds of policies that um you know might might be more appropriate in your land use

[1:07:56] Voice 1: bylaw really and to have something more um that speaks to the values and and the general kind of

[1:08:02] Voice 1: concerns about having you know an intensity of tourist accommodation units in a particular

[1:08:07] Voice 1: location would be appropriate but that's another thing another way we could look at that as well

[1:08:16] Voice 2: trustee oh i was just thinking back to the the drive-through and and of course that would

[1:08:21] Voice 2: completely fit in with some of our discussions on connectivity and vehicle use too because

[1:08:29] Voice 2: the main reason you want to never mind the fact that it might be a chain store or a chain

[1:08:34] Voice 2: restaurant you don't want to be encouraging people to be driving to get their burgers or whatever

[1:08:41] Voice 2: just encourages more traffic so that's good that's it that the drive-thrus are are in there

[1:08:47] Voice 2: Thank you. All

[1:08:52] Trustee Patrick (probable): right. Well, we're kind of back to next steps here, I guess. So I guess I'll look to staff for what you want to hear specifically.

[1:09:04] Trustee Patrick (probable): quickly um

[1:09:12] Planner Chadwick (probable): yeah so i think uh it sounds like it will be important for us like i've mentioned

[1:09:22] Planner Chadwick (probable): before to bring back some options for in for next steps for engagement um so i'm thinking we should

[1:09:30] Planner Chadwick (probable): add we should add another resolution related to that for the um the april 17th meeting so the

[1:09:36] Planner Chadwick (probable): April 17th um we have a there is a meeting scheduled I've been looking here in the calendar

[1:09:45] Planner Chadwick (probable): for April 17th and that is um I think it's a special meeting but

[1:09:53] Voice 1: it's a regular regular

[1:09:54] Voice 1: oh

[1:09:55] Planner Chadwick (probable): yeah it's a regular LTC meeting yeah so um we can bring back some options at the April 7th

[1:10:00] Planner Chadwick (probable): for engagement at the April 17th meeting so we can add that maybe as an additional

[1:10:07] Planner Chadwick (probable): resolution.

[1:10:14] Voice 2: So, yeah, I was just going to ask if we wanted

[1:10:17] Voice 2: to make those two other

[1:10:20] Voice 2: recommendations, which are great. So let's

[1:10:23] Voice 2: maybe do that first one for the April

[1:10:26] Voice 2: 17th meeting. Maybe we should do that one first.

[1:10:29] Voice 2: And I'm happy to make that motion if

[1:10:32] Voice 2: that's okay. If

[1:10:34] Voice 2: you're ready, go ahead

[1:10:35] Voice 2: and proceed. Okay. I move that the

[1:10:38] Voice 2: the gabriola island local trust committee requests staff to prepare options for public engagement

[1:10:47] Voice 2: for the ltc meeting of april 17th i think it's the 17th

[1:10:56] Voice 4: yeah all

[1:11:01] Trustee Patrick (probable): right before we second does that sound is that what you need to hear planner chadwick

[1:11:06] Trustee Patrick (probable): does that help yeah yeah that's great great is there a second seconded by trustee elliott

[1:11:12] Trustee Patrick (probable): any discussion i

[1:11:16] Voice 6: will be prepared to oh sorry i didn't i'm so not used to my god

[1:11:25] Trustee Patrick (probable): that's okay sorry

[1:11:26] Trustee Patrick (probable): continue just

[1:11:30] Voice 6: jumping in um i'm super happy to to also work with staff on

[1:11:34] Voice 6: some ideas and and trustee yates i can connect with you maybe we can um work out some ways that

[1:11:41] Voice 6: we can promote engagement and stuff as well sort of our trustee responsibilities lay heavily on me

[1:11:47] Voice 6: with this project uh really want to get the word out so i don't necessarily need only staff

[1:11:53] Voice 6: supported um engagement methods how can we work together um i think the ocp drop-ins were really

[1:11:59] Voice 6: helpful people needed the face-to-face um meetings and i i i would like to do more of those and have

[1:12:06] Voice 6: Yeah,

[1:12:07] Voice 2: I'm good. I'd be good for that too. Yeah.

[1:12:10] Planner Chadwick (probable): Yeah. I just wanted to add to the, the resolution, um,

[1:12:15] Planner Chadwick (probable): that it's engagement on the OCP, um, right. Review. Yeah.

[1:12:20] Voice 2: I missed that. Thank you.

[1:12:22] Trustee Patrick (probable): I think we could, uh, yes, we should agree that.

[1:12:24] Trustee Patrick (probable): I think that was our understanding. All of us were talking.

[1:12:27] Planner Chadwick (probable): Yeah. It's just

[1:12:27] Planner Chadwick (probable): good to have it. Good to have it. Uh, good catch in the,

[1:12:30] Planner Chadwick (probable): in the resolution. Yeah.

[1:12:31] Trustee Patrick (probable): Catherine, I guess you caught that. I think that we all agree that, that,

[1:12:35] Trustee Patrick (probable): that is yes i i did that was the intent so thanks all right if there's no further discussion then

[1:12:42] Trustee Patrick (probable): i will call the vote all those in favor and that carries so uh all right so what's the next

[1:12:50] Trustee Patrick (probable): resolution that we need to proceed with i'm

[1:12:54] Voice 2: happy to make that one and maybe trustee elliott can

[1:12:57] Voice 2: make the next one so i move that the gabriel island local trust committee request staff

[1:13:03] Voice 2: draft-prepared draft policy language as discussed at the March 28, 2025 LTC meeting

[1:13:10] Voice 2: for broader public review for the connectivity and economy-related content of the OCP.

[1:13:18] Trustee Patrick (probable): Excellent. I'm glad you caught that LTC.

[1:13:21] Trustee Patrick (probable): It was seconded

[1:13:21] Trustee Patrick (probable): by Trustee Elliott, I see.

[1:13:23] Trustee Patrick (probable): Any discussion?

[1:13:27] Trustee Patrick (probable): I'll call the vote then, all those in favor.

[1:13:30] Trustee Patrick (probable): And that carries, too.

[1:13:32] Trustee Patrick (probable): There's one more.

[1:13:36] Voice 6: Trustee Elliott.

[1:13:36] Voice 6: you. Sure. I move that the Gabriel Island Local Trust Committee request staff to schedule a

[1:13:42] Voice 6: special meeting prior to the May LTC meeting to review policy language and the input of focus

[1:13:47] Voice 6: groups related to resource stewardship, freshwater, and environment. Is there a second? Second by

[1:13:54] Trustee Patrick (probable): Trustee Yates? Yes. And any discussion? If not, I'll call the vote. Then all those in favor?

[1:14:02] Trustee Patrick (probable): and that too carries so any other business that we have on this item then no look to staff last

[1:14:18] Trustee Patrick (probable): chance no no further input necessary all right well then oh trustee elliott yeah

[1:14:25] Voice 6: one uh sorry

[1:14:26] Voice 6: one other just a interesting fact that came forward uh in our ocp drop-in a resident um

[1:14:33] Voice 6: I don't know if you've already given that to staff, Burt Fidler's record of rainfall over the last 25 years on a specific property.

[1:14:45] Voice 6: I do rainwater collection, and it was really interesting to note the seasonal changes, and yet the overall change has not, there hasn't been a large overall change in the rainfall.

[1:14:58] Voice 6: fall so um it's really interesting to note there are lots of community members who um i believe had

[1:15:05] Voice 6: there was a well monitoring program through the rate payers association um and people may still

[1:15:12] Voice 6: have data from that uh from the well water loggers i guess it was called and so some thought going

[1:15:20] Voice 6: into the freshwater focus group and i know they're going to be talking about the water

[1:15:25] Voice 6: Water Balance Project and sort of not overseeing, but offering feedback and maybe next steps for

[1:15:35] Voice 6: community engagement. I wonder if we could, Susan, work on actually an article reviewing

[1:15:45] Voice 6: that work and talking about the Water Balance Project, as well as soliciting community

[1:15:52] Voice 6: community information that they might have? And if so, where does that information go? Like,

[1:15:59] Voice 6: would that be useful? Are we jumping the gun, Nerissa? How can we get members data that they

[1:16:07] Voice 6: might have already collected?

[1:16:10] Planner Chadwick (probable): No, you're not jumping the gun. But, well, you're jumping the

[1:16:18] Planner Chadwick (probable): gun if you do it tomorrow. But I would say it needs to be coordinated with the project. And

[1:16:23] Planner Chadwick (probable): to happen is um um so i've connected with uh the consultant that's doing the the engagement work

[1:16:31] Planner Chadwick (probable): and that's where we've um effectively like coordinated that process with integrated into

[1:16:40] Planner Chadwick (probable): the ocp process so it's not just kind of coming out of left field that's why we've created this

[1:16:45] Planner Chadwick (probable): focus group and this focus group is going to be different than the other ones in the sense that

[1:16:50] Planner Chadwick (probable): What that project is needing is a group of community members to help to identify exactly what you're saying, Trustee Elliott, like some of the work that's been done in the community before, people that are monitoring, people that are willing to participate in monitoring and other aspects of that project.

[1:17:14] Planner Chadwick (probable): project and essentially to create a group that can help to identify ways to engage more of the

[1:17:21] Planner Chadwick (probable): community in that work. So I think what you're suggesting would be a really great part of that

[1:17:28] Planner Chadwick (probable): whole process. And yeah, like I said, I think we have an opportunity to connect with the consultant

[1:17:41] Planner Chadwick (probable): and sort of where things are at the process

[1:17:43] Planner Chadwick (probable): and what is needed for that work.

[1:17:46] Planner Chadwick (probable): Because I think what you're talking about

[1:17:48] Planner Chadwick (probable): is as far as what I understand,

[1:17:50] Planner Chadwick (probable): the kind of work,

[1:17:51] Planner Chadwick (probable): the kind of information that they need.

[1:17:53] Planner Chadwick (probable): So I think that would be great.

[1:17:56] Planner Chadwick (probable): We'll just have to figure out the timing.

[1:17:58] Planner Chadwick (probable): That's all.

[1:18:02] Voice 2: Trustee Yates.

[1:18:03] Voice 2: Yeah.

[1:18:03] Voice 2: And just to follow up on that,

[1:18:05] Voice 2: I did give Burt Fidler's well log to staff here

[1:18:09] Voice 2: to put into the file, which is great.

[1:18:12] Voice 2: And I've also sent messages out to a number of people that I remember from 30, 40 years ago who were monitoring their wells and had well logs to see what information they might be able to offer.

[1:18:26] Voice 2: And, of course, I'll just copy that to everybody when I get their replies.

[1:18:30] Voice 2: Thanks.

[1:18:32] Voice 2: All right.

[1:18:34] Trustee Patrick (probable): So with that, there's no other business, I suppose.

[1:18:38] Trustee Patrick (probable): We need a motion to adjourn.

[1:18:41] Trustee Patrick (probable): So move.

[1:18:42] Trustee Patrick (probable): All right.

[1:18:44] Trustee Patrick (probable): Yes, trustee Elliot, I guess all those in favor.

[1:18:47] Trustee Patrick (probable): We usually don't argue that.

[1:18:48] Trustee Patrick (probable): So that carries.

[1:18:50] Trustee Patrick (probable): Thanks for your great work, everyone.

[1:18:52] Trustee Patrick (probable): So with that, thank you, everyone.

[1:18:53] Trustee Patrick (probable): Thank you to staff for participating today

[1:18:55] Trustee Patrick (probable): and helping us and look forward to next steps.

[1:18:59] Trustee Patrick (probable): You bet.

[1:19:01] Trustee Patrick (probable): Have a nice afternoon.

ADOPTED 
 
Gabriola Island ADOPTED   
Local Trust Committee Special Meeting Minutes 
March 28, 2025 
 1 
 
 
Gabriola Island Local Trust Committee 
Minutes of Special Meeting 
 
Date:  
Location:  
March 28, 2025 
Electronic Meeting 
 
Members Present: Laura Patrick, Chair 
 Tobi Elliott, Trustee 
 Susan Yates, Trustee 
  
Staff Present: Narissa Chadwick, Island Planner 
Stephen Baugh, Island Planner 
 Katherine Vogt, Recorder  
 
1. CALL TO ORDER 
Chair Patrick called the special meeting to order at 10:01 am. She announced that she 
had recently become the new Chair of the Gabriola Local Trust Committee (LTC), and 
introduced herself, trustees, staff, and recorder. 
2. TERRITORIAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 
Chair Patrick acknowledged that the meeting was held on the territory of the Coast 
Salish First Nations. She spoke on trustee commitment to long-term relationship building 
and reconciliation with First Nations. 
3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA 
By general consent the agenda was approved as presented. 
4. BUSINESS ITEMS 
4.1 Major Project: Gabriola Island Official Community Plan Review - 
Connectivity and Economy Discussion - Staff Report  
Planner Chadwick presented the staff report, dated March 28, 2025, which 
reviews policy options regarding connectivity and economy for inclusion in the 
draft Official Community Plan (OCP), noting the following: 
 Focused engagement groups of up to 12 invited participants have been held 
for the OCP topic areas of housing, connectivity, and economy. 
 A survey on connectivity and economy is out right now, and its deadline has 
been extended to the middle of April to align with a recent invitation from the 
Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) to coordinate with their send out of 
information on water budget work.  

ADOPTED 
 
Gabriola Island ADOPTED   
Local Trust Committee Special Meeting Minutes 
March 28, 2025 
 2 
 Senior RDN Parks Planner Elaine McCulloch, who is currently working on the 
RDN Parks and Trails Plan for Gabriola, joined the connectivity focus group 
and has advised on policy language for the OCP to support RDN receiving 
funding for parks projects on Gabriola. 
 A highlight of the connectivity focus group was their support for more sports 
playing fields to enhance health and wellness. 
 The Gabriola Transportation Society has been invited to outline a plan of the 
critical community needs they have identified for inclusion in the OCP.  
 The economy focus group highlighted that housing affordability has 
significantly restricted business opportunities on Gabriola. 
 Many responses have been received by the planner regarding unsafe road 
conditions for pedestrians and cyclists traveling between hubs.  
 
Trustees responded to the staff report and the following questions and comments 
were noted: 
 Recommendations are still coming in for participants for the next 3 focus 
groups. 
 Two open houses, at which participants could discuss any OCP topic, have 
been held.  
 The RDN will have a meeting on Monday April 7, 2025 to review their final 
first draft on a recreation and parks plan. 
 There has been extensive discussion on housing being closer to services and 
amenities which aligns to discussions on where to put increased housing 
densities. Commercial nodes and community hub nodes such as the 
Community Hall could be identified through public engagement for increased 
housing density possibilities.  
 The groundwater availability in the Village Core and Silva Bay is limited, 
whereas the Whalebone Area has a lot more water and is a good possibility 
for a smaller commercial node.  
 A bridge of engagement is needed between the focus groups and the wider 
community between now and June. Trustees have received some feedback 
that the focus groups are too small and that some people have felt excluded. 
 A cycle path around the island is a key topic for wider public engagement. 
 Articles in the Sounder on each topic area written by trustees could provide 
broader public outreach and engagement. 
 Areas of competing interests are where targeted surveys would be valuable 
for precise analysis. 
 It would be valuable to turn the big ideas and issues that emerged from the 
visioning process, such as vacant lots, not able to be addressed by the LTC, 
into advocacy statements; and to have a place where these ideas could be 
gathered. 
 Can commercial chain stores be restricted on Gabriola? 
o Planner Chadwick advised that the LTC has legal jurisdiction over 
commercial land use but not the user; and that drive-throughs, which are 
a particular kind of land use, are prohibited.  
 Regarding Tourist Accommodation Item c) In no case shall the maximum 
density for a tourist accommodation use exceed 13 tourist accommodation 

ADOPTED 
 
Gabriola Island ADOPTED   
Local Trust Committee Special Meeting Minutes 
March 28, 2025 
 3 
units per hectare or a maximum 30 tourist accommodation units in the 
development; how were these numbers arrived at? 
o Planner Baugh noted that these numbers had come from an existing 
policy; and suggested that precise prescriptions for accommodations 
could be better placed in the land use bylaw. 
 OCP drop-ins with trustees have been very valuable and trustees are happy 
to continue with these. 
 
GB-2025-015 
It was Moved and Seconded, 
that the Gabriola Island Local Trust Committee request staff to prepare options 
for public engagement on the Official Community Plan Review for the Local Trust 
Committee meeting of April 17, 2025. 
CARRIED 
GB-2025-016 
It was Moved and Seconded, 
that the Gabriola Island Local Trust Committee request staff prepare draft policy, 
as discussed at the March 28, 2025 Local Trust Committee meeting, for broader 
public review for the connectivity and economy related content of the Official 
Community Plan. 
CARRIED 
GB-2025-017 
It was Moved and Seconded, 
that the Gabriola Island Local Trust Committee request staff to schedule a 
special meeting prior to the May Local Trust committee meeting to review policy 
language and the input of focus groups related to resource stewardship, 
freshwater, and environment. 
CARRIED 
There was some discussion on historical local rainwater records, and their being 
included in the upcoming water focus group. 
5. ADJOURNMENT 
By general consent the meeting was adjourned at 11:20 a.m. 
 
_________________________ 
Laura Patrick, Chair 
Certified Correct: 
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Katherine Vogt, Recorder