Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee community information meeting, November 6, 2025

[0:00:00] I want to begin the meeting today by acknowledging that we're fortunate to be able to gather here in the territories of many Coast Salish peoples, including the St. Chauvin and Bukhami Dimsky peoples, the stewards

[0:00:12] Voice 4: of these lands and waters since time immemorial.

[0:00:15] Voice 4: We all know that reconciliation is a big issue, especially in British Columbia with so few treaties and so many First Nations.

[0:00:28] Voice 4: and so my own personal journey one thing that i've learned is there is a lot to learn that i don't

[0:00:38] Voice 4: even know yet and uh so i think keeping an open mind and an open heart is uh for me the middle

[0:00:45] Voice 4: watchword of my own journey forward um okay so for introductions my name is tim peterson i'm

[0:00:55] Voice 4: with me today is Salt Spring local trustee Laura Patrick and I think that our other Salt

[0:01:11] Spring trustee Paris is going to join us online

[0:01:14] Voice 4: but I don't see him on the fence yet so hopefully

[0:01:16] Voice 4: he'll join us sooner than later and together we are the local trust committee with us they

[0:01:26] They are online as our meeting administrator, Lisa Millard, and Carly Linney, our minute

[0:01:31] taker.

[0:01:32] And I'm going to turn it over to Region

[0:01:36] Voice 4: Planning Manager Hutton to introduce the staff.

[0:01:39] Voice 4: With

[0:01:40] Voice 3: us today is Oluwesha Rukaruba, the planning chief, and Kalyan Selmakumar is our planning

[0:01:47] Voice 3: team assistant.

[0:01:48] Voice 3: Thank you.

[0:01:49] Voice 3: And

[0:01:49] Voice 4: also joining us is the CRV director, Gary Holman.

[0:01:54] Voice 4: um this meeting is an official forum for the local trust committee to make decisions about

[0:01:59] Voice 4: land use planning matters and to discuss relevant business this is also a place when women and our

[0:02:06] Voice 4: staff have the right to a safe and respectful workplace there are times on the agenda when

[0:02:11] Voice 4: public can speak on an issue and we have a town hall coming up a little later on

[0:02:17] Voice 4: um but first we will um go to our agenda and i'll look to see if there's any amendments desired um

[0:02:31] i have a question about um the policy statement referral and when that is coming to

[0:02:40] Voice 4: this committee

[0:02:42] Voice 4: mostly just about timing because we also haven't seen our um uh media schedule yet so

[0:02:50] Voice 3: mr chair the

[0:02:51] Voice 3: The, with regard to the policy statement,

[0:02:57] my discussions with Director Prater

[0:02:59] are

[0:03:00] Voice 3: that they are restarting that process

[0:03:02] Voice 3: and

[0:03:03] Voice 4: they, I believe they said

[0:03:04] Voice 4: they were anticipating this kind of policy

[0:03:06] Voice 4: happening sometime either the month of December or January.

[0:03:10] Voice 3: So I think if we have any note of the follow-up actions

[0:03:13] Voice 3: that will follow up, that will be coming later on,

[0:03:17] Voice 3: but we don't really have a,

[0:03:18] Voice 3: I think there's still work to be done at this time.

[0:03:20] Voice 3: We expect

[0:03:21] Voice 4: it to be back to the director

[0:03:22] Voice 4: for Mr.

[0:03:23] Voice 4: Gomez on those

[0:03:25] Voice 4: updates. Those dates are

[0:03:28] Voice 4: with

[0:03:29] Voice 3: regards to next year's

[0:03:31] Voice 3: schedule. So far, I have seen

[0:03:33] Voice 3: a request for

[0:03:36] Voice 4: basically

[0:03:37] Voice 4: a resolution to address the

[0:03:39] Voice 4: Chelsea Trust Area, which the Salt Spring

[0:03:41] Voice 4: Office administered. However, I have not

[0:03:43] Voice 4: heard about the Salt Spring Office

[0:03:45] Voice 4: like that, so I'm going to

[0:03:47] Voice 4: follow up on that. But

[0:03:49] Voice 4: I would probably have to guess

[0:03:51] Voice 4: that that would be something that by a

[0:03:53] Voice 4: resolution that we sometimes okay thank you yeah i guess the the main issue there being the um

[0:04:02] the timing of the january uh policy statement um community information meeting

[0:04:09] um and then the uh deadline for uh

[0:04:14] Voice 4: referral response but i guess that's i think that's

[0:04:18] because of the

[0:04:19] Voice 4: some cancellations that might be living target the press service

[0:04:22] Voice 4: service so i'll talk to that today so

[0:04:24] Voice 3: it's a reasonable aspect

[0:04:26] Voice 4: i think well i would hope that

[0:04:29] Voice 4: given the uh the various delays we've had across the organization

[0:04:33] Voice 4: that deadline for response um typically our schedule is followed at february meeting

[0:04:41] um typically not a local trust in june or sorry in january um so those are um

[0:04:48] Voice 4: hopefully that will

[0:04:49] Voice 4: will work and they can certainly reach um discuss that with uh director sure yeah because i know we

[0:04:56] Voice 4: have a february 12th meeting and if that was the date we gave a referral response scheduled meeting

[0:05:01] Voice 4: that one's on their end and just something um so nothing else so i'll take it by

[0:05:08] Voice 4: consent that we will approve the agenda as uh presented um and so

[0:05:17] So the next section is town hall and questions.

[0:05:22] I want to remind members of the public that we've had

[0:05:24] Voice 4: public hearings

[0:05:26] Voice 4: for proposed bylaws 543, 544, and 545.

[0:05:32] Voice 4: And so we are not permitted to hear from the public further on those bylaws.

[0:05:43] Voice 4: But other than that, the town hall is your opportunity to speak,

[0:05:48] Voice 4: and we want to hear your questions and comments.

[0:05:52] Voice 4: And when we come to applications,

[0:05:57] applicants will be permitted to speak,

[0:05:59] but if you have any interest in speaking

[0:06:01] Voice 4: to any applications, this is your time.

[0:06:06] Voice 4: When addressing the Local Trust Committee,

[0:06:08] Voice 4: we request that you direct your comments to the elected,

[0:06:12] Voice 4: not to other members of the public or staff.

[0:06:15] Voice 4: Speak about the issues, not other individuals.

[0:06:18] Voice 4: individuals be clear, concise, and respectful. And in terms of concise, I just maybe get a show

[0:06:27] Voice 4: of hands of how many people are wanting to address local trust today. Okay, so not a ton. So I'll ask

[0:06:36] Voice 4: you to be concise and brief, but I won't pull out the timer just yet. So I'm going to start right

[0:06:42] Voice 4: right here and uh please go ahead is

[0:06:46] Voice 1: there a mic you

[0:06:48] Voice 4: are sitting right next to the mic which is the

[0:06:50] Voice 4: the camera right there yeah

[0:06:51] Voice 15: i'll just stand a little bit so everyone can hear me um so my name

[0:06:56] Voice 15: is cecile petra uh good afternoon mr holman and peterson and patrick um i would like to bring up

[0:07:03] Voice 15: my concerns with respect to the cell tower application for not placed um i'm not going

[0:07:10] Voice 15: going to launch into the hundreds of studies showing both environmental and health harm related

[0:07:17] Voice 15: to microwaves because there is a ton of research which I'm happy to furnish you with later but I

[0:07:24] Voice 15: just want to draw your attention to a few things that I think perhaps in the past have been

[0:07:30] Voice 15: neglected somewhat by the Islands Trust my apologies for that criticism but that's the

[0:07:35] Voice 15: precautionary principle which is to mitigate risk and evaluate potential environmental impacts

[0:07:42] Voice 15: impacts on public health exposures to toxins and hazardous materials and frequencies

[0:07:49] Voice 15: and stakeholder engagement to foster transparency and public trust and i really feel that that has

[0:07:57] Voice 15: been lacking we didn't this agenda item was a surprise to many um and i think that needed to

[0:08:03] Voice 15: to be publicized because it's a potentially

[0:08:05] Voice 15: very contentious issue.

[0:08:07] Voice 15: So the transparency in public trust for me

[0:08:10] Voice 1: and many

[0:08:10] Voice 15: others is really, really important.

[0:08:13] Voice 15: So I want to bring that reminder

[0:08:16] Voice 15: about the precautionary principle,

[0:08:17] Voice 15: which is really a guiding principle

[0:08:19] Voice 15: for all municipal planning and the expanded mandate

[0:08:24] Voice 15: as of 2007 of the Islands Trust,

[0:08:27] Voice 15: which is beyond just preserving

[0:08:28] Voice 15: and protecting the environment,

[0:08:30] Voice 15: but in engaging the community to foster island character

[0:08:33] Voice 15: and healthy communities.

[0:08:35] Voice 15: As well as the 2020 legal statement put forth by the trust,

[0:08:40] Voice 15: affirming the importance of consulting and cooperating

[0:08:42] Voice 15: in good faith with the indigenous peoples concerned

[0:08:45] Voice 15: prior to the approval of any project affecting their lands

[0:08:48] Voice 1: and

[0:08:48] Voice 15: territories and other resources.

[0:08:50] Voice 15: This affirms the LTC's commitment to reconciliation efforts.

[0:08:54] Voice 15: So I would like to ask that the LTC

[0:08:57] Voice 15: see um engage the liaxin and halal nations on this as these are in their traditional lands

[0:09:04] Voice 15: and uh to consider uh leading with an open mind and open heart all of the research that i and many

[0:09:14] Voice 15: others will be sending in due course reminding us of the risks of this kind of these kinds of

[0:09:20] Voice 15: frequencies in a community inhabited by hospitals schools residents moat park with some old growth

[0:09:28] Voice 15: and all of that is at potential risk from this application so that is what i would like to say

[0:09:34] Voice 15: thank you very much

[0:09:36] Voice 4: thank you and i'll keep moving along the

[0:09:39] Voice 4: front here did you have there's one more

[0:09:41] Voice 4: hand up in the front yes sir go ahead oh i'm just going by my hands but uh i'll just kind of work

[0:09:54] Voice 4: through this side of the room and then i'll come to the other side go ahead thank

[0:09:58] Voice 14: you for coming

[0:09:59] Voice 14: out on this rainy day um just earlier today i found out about the meeting and i just wanted

[0:10:06] Voice 14: to have my voice be heard and i appreciate you doing that my name is joseph roberts i left

[0:10:12] Voice 14: Vancouver to get away from the pollution, the smog, the traffic, and other forms of pollution,

[0:10:21] Voice 14: such as microwaves, radiation, sound. I've been studying the whole issue,

[0:10:32] Voice 14: going back to university many years ago, of the consequences of EMFs on our health.

[0:10:41] Voice 14: The spike in cancer that you see rampant in seniors, and unfortunately, younger people as well, is caused by many things, particulate plastic, pesticides, herbicides, unhealthy food, etc.

[0:11:00] Voice 14: I moved to Salt Stream to have a healthier life.

[0:11:06] Voice 14: If there's a self-tower put up, it will be counterindicated to why I'm here.

[0:11:12] Voice 14: here. I'm happy to have coffee with any of you and go into much greater depth. I've studied

[0:11:23] Voice 14: this for decades. My name is Joseph Roberts. I am totally opposed to a cell phone tower

[0:11:30] Voice 14: going up in Ganges. We have enough already. We don't want to make it worse. We need to

[0:11:37] Voice 14: protect the nature and the culture of this beautiful island we all live on. We don't

[0:11:43] Voice 14: need to be invaded by 4G or 5G or large corporate interests that really pretend to listen to us

[0:11:53] Voice 14: but don't give a rat's ass about our lives thank you

[0:11:59] Voice 4: is there anyone else in the front row uh you

[0:12:03] Voice 4: sir hello

[0:12:10] Voice 12: my name is John Davies I just became aware of this a few minutes ago I'm just going

[0:12:15] Voice 12: going to give a historical perspective. My children are now 37, 38, but as preschoolers

[0:12:23] Voice 12: in daycare at UBC, we parents took on the University of British Columbia at that time

[0:12:31] Voice 12: based on Swedish research to have a power line rerouted. They were going to put like

[0:12:37] Voice 12: like right across the daycares.

[0:12:41] Voice 12: So here we are, 35 years plus later.

[0:12:46] Voice 12: And I think, you know, some of us actually read science

[0:12:50] Voice 12: and we read science from all sides.

[0:12:52] Voice 12: And I would just encourage everybody involved in this decision

[0:12:57] Voice 12: to look beyond the policy agendas, which are pretty clear.

[0:13:01] Voice 12: You know, industry has developed the technology

[0:13:03] Voice 12: and some public policy officials think that's great.

[0:13:08] Voice 12: and just don't look into it any further.

[0:13:11] Voice 12: So I just want to encourage you to go a little deeper

[0:13:15] Voice 12: and don't get caught up in the dog whistle politics

[0:13:18] Voice 12: of misinformation and conspiracy theorists

[0:13:21] Voice 12: and all those labels that are going around these days.

[0:13:23] Voice 12: And there's tons of actual scientific information out there.

[0:13:29] Voice 12: And it does take a bit of critical thinking

[0:13:31] Voice 12: to sort out a good study from a bad study.

[0:13:34] Voice 12: And if it's industry funded,

[0:13:36] Voice 12: it was quite going to be questionable because there's an agenda behind it so finding impartial

[0:13:42] Voice 12: research is not easy these days but anyway thanks for your time okay

[0:13:48] Voice 4: thank you just just quickly

[0:13:52] Voice 4: to say i can't get it and i am going to listen i just found out i'm going to be sending you the

[0:13:58] Voice 4: letter and i'm sorry okay thank you and so next throwback anyone there view in the back row on

[0:14:07] Voice 4: on this side, sir.

[0:14:08] Voice 4: Go ahead.

[0:14:08] Voice 4: Right here.

[0:14:14] Voice 4: Submit.

[0:14:16] Voice 4: Just a moment.

[0:14:17] Voice 4: What was that?

[0:14:18] Voice 4: Can people just speak up, please?

[0:14:20] Voice 4: Yeah.

[0:14:20] Voice 3: I can't hear them right now.

[0:14:21] Voice 4: What they're saying, please?

[0:14:24] Voice 3: What is this?

[0:14:26] Voice 4: That's camera, but it's also the microphone.

[0:14:29] Voice 4: So if you're near it,

[0:14:29] Voice 4: then people that are listening online can hear that.

[0:14:32] Voice 6: Chris Anderson for Ma?

[0:14:35] Voice 4: We can't hear you.

[0:14:37] Voice 6: I couldn't hear you.

[0:14:38] Voice 4: thing back there

[0:14:39] Voice 6: um it's all muffled

[0:14:40] Voice 4: terrible

[0:14:41] Voice 6: it's acoustic chris anderson

[0:14:43] Voice 6: for gulf islanders

[0:14:44] Voice 6: for safe technology um we absolutely oppose this ridiculous plan i mean how

[0:14:49] Voice 6: silly can we be

[0:14:50] Voice 6: why would it have even reached this stage of discussion whereby um somebody is trying to pull

[0:14:59] Voice 6: uh wool over our eyes we've got a 500 meter setback this is all oh we've got schools we've

[0:15:05] We've

[0:15:05] Voice 6: got daycares, we've got a swimming pool,

[0:15:08] Voice 6: we've got constant traffic of children back and forth along the Rainbow Road.

[0:15:13] Voice 6: This will impact us very, very seriously in terms of health.

[0:15:20] Voice 6: We've plowed this field before.

[0:15:22] Voice 6: You've heard all these arguments before.

[0:15:25] Voice 6: You've already got the information.

[0:15:28] Voice 6: EMR, electromagnetic radiation, is hazardous to human health

[0:15:32] Voice 6: at the levels that we're talking about here.

[0:15:35] Voice 6: It's well established.

[0:15:38] Voice 6: Little did I know when I was doing some reading on this last night that in 1920, a poplar tree was used as an antenna.

[0:15:49] Voice 6: It was found that they could get 300 kilometers away and pick up the signal from London or wherever it was from a poplar tree being an antenna.

[0:16:02] Voice 6: In other words, you plug in the bottom of this wire coming down from the tree, and you've

[0:16:07] Voice 6: got an antenna.

[0:16:08] Voice 6: You've got an actual antenna system.

[0:16:10] Voice 6: Now, trees are uniquely susceptible to damage here.

[0:16:14] Voice 6: You can see the evidence, scientists for safe technology, for one thing, if you look that

[0:16:21] Voice 6: up, you'll find picture after picture after picture of forest decimation and basically

[0:16:30] Voice 6: weakening.

[0:16:31] Voice 6: You can see it on the side of the transmission. You've got dieback on the other side where it's not so affected because leaves do attenuate this stuff.

[0:16:42] Voice 6: The damage is not seen as clearly.

[0:16:45] Voice 6: Clearly, you can see that forest, Professor Volkroyd, a former Siemens executive, did some studies back in the 60s showing forest dieback as a result solely of electromagnetic radiation.

[0:17:02] Voice 6: You can read the signal coming down from the tree, which is an antenna, in effect. We're antennas, too.

[0:17:08] Voice 6: And basically, how did it ever get to this level?

[0:17:11] Voice 6: and where we're actually seriously people are seriously considering such a thing it's a

[0:17:16] Voice 6: ridiculous proposal it should be rejected outright it's far too damaging and we can we can pretend

[0:17:23] Voice 6: that it's not not dangerous all we want but just look at the scientific information thousands of

[0:17:29] Voice 6: studies show that this is dangerous what are we doing here what we're ignoring the science well

[0:17:34] Voice 6: let's look at it you know that you've got the sources we've given you the sources time and time

[0:17:40] Voice 6: again with this and just please do not defer to the government on this because the government

[0:17:47] Voice 6: doesn't doesn't take into account the non-thermal levels of effect that uh radiation has they

[0:17:53] Voice 6: consider that it's dangerous only if if we're talking about heating of body tissues uh which

[0:18:00] Voice 6: is a scientific fraud because non-thermal levels of of exposure at lower lower intensities are

[0:18:07] Voice 6: are still very, very damaging.

[0:18:08] Voice 6: Thousands of studies show this.

[0:18:10] Voice 6: Look it up, let's be responsible here

[0:18:13] Voice 6: and defend our, especially our young generation.

[0:18:16] Voice 6: The children are just going to be saturated by this thing.

[0:18:20] Voice 6: No, no, no to this application.

[0:18:23] Voice 6: Thank you.

[0:18:25] Voice 4: And now we just go to the side of the room.

[0:18:28] Voice 4: I know I saw some hands here earlier.

[0:18:30] Voice 4: No clapping and obviously also no booing.

[0:18:35] Voice 4: So I'm gonna start in the front row here again.

[0:18:37] Voice 4: Hi,

[0:18:43] Voice 7: my name is Dennis Barry, and my background is in electronics engineering technology.

[0:18:49] Voice 7: It's my first career, my second career since somatic therapy.

[0:18:54] Voice 7: So as an electronics engineering technologist, I used to think that these kind of waves,

[0:19:04] Voice 7: we're not talking microwaves here, we're talking the RF, non-ionizing waves,

[0:19:09] Voice 7: because some people don't make the distinction and there's a big difference.

[0:19:11] Voice 7: i used to think that they were harmless because i was immersed in this technology

[0:19:18] Voice 7: and when i changed to somatic therapist then i learned much differently that these waves actually

[0:19:27] Voice 7: do keep the body tissue and i will provide information not just talk about you know

[0:19:35] Voice 7: go look it up yourself because that doesn't do any good we gotta we gotta share the information

[0:19:40] Voice 7: information and then with the information we make a decision and I sent the organizers of

[0:19:49] Voice 7: this meeting a video which is a TED talk and anyone is can sign up for that I can email it to

[0:19:57] Voice 7: you about not just antennas from these telephone and telecommunications providers but even the

[0:20:09] Voice 7: wi-fi in our own homes the wi-fi in our schools and the wi-fi in our daycares is cooking us

[0:20:18] Voice 7: to the fact that there are actually daycares in europe france is one of the countries that come

[0:20:24] Voice 7: to mind that have prevented prohibited wi-fi at the daycares why because it's cooking our children's

[0:20:33] Voice 7: tissue and nervous system if you if you take a copper wire that's got no electricity flowing

[0:20:47] Voice 7: through it and you apply a electromagnetic field that causes that causes electrical current to

[0:20:56] Voice 7: flow when there was nothing happening so our nervous system is full of electrons and when you

[0:21:05] Voice 7: have a device that's creating EMF, it will interfere with our nervous system. And there's

[0:21:13] Voice 7: been profound links and let's say point out to how things like people who have worked

[0:21:24] Voice 7: on these antennas, people who have worked on the high voltage power lines. I know it's

[0:21:32] Voice 7: It's not EMF.

[0:21:33] Voice 7: It's a lower frequency EMF.

[0:21:36] Voice 7: But we're talking about neurological disorders that have been very closely linked to these devices.

[0:21:48] Voice 7: Kind of like, you know, 60 years ago, 70 years ago, how we were surmising about how tobacco affects our health and well-being.

[0:21:59] Voice 7: So I've got a couple of questions to ask.

[0:22:01] Voice 7: And I'm neither pro or against this, because we've got to gather information and then make a decision.

[0:22:08] Voice 7: Number one, what is the basis?

[0:22:11] Voice 7: Why do we need another tower on the island?

[0:22:17] Voice 7: Then number two, if we do need a tower, where can we put it?

[0:22:23] Voice 7: Where can we put it?

[0:22:24] Voice 7: So there was little or, let's say, a lesser influence to the surroundings.

[0:22:32] Voice 7: And in my expertise, there has been how we are affected by these antennas is number one, the proximity to us, and that effect decreases logarithmically from the source.

[0:22:55] Voice 7: But then is the exposure time. Are we in proximity for a couple minutes or an hour per day? Are we there for eight hours a day? The longer we're exposed to it, the longer it has an effect.

[0:23:16] Voice 7: and no research has been done by these companies to examine that there has been independent research

[0:23:25] Voice 7: where they take waves they got a petri dish of cells and stuff like that and they see what's

[0:23:30] Voice 7: happening and i have some of that information with me i was very immersed in this about five

[0:23:38] Voice 7: or six years ago in my practicum as a somatic therapist it was one of my thesis and so there's

[0:23:49] Voice 7: There's the duration of how long we're exposed to this.

[0:23:53] Voice 7: So if we're putting it next to buildings where there's schools and our kids,

[0:23:58] Voice 7: how long are they there for?

[0:24:00] Voice 7: They're there for most of the day, right?

[0:24:03] Voice 7: Eight hours, seven hours.

[0:24:05] Voice 7: I forget what it is.

[0:24:06] Voice 7: The swimming pool, there's a daycare in there.

[0:24:10] Voice 7: There's a reason why we got the antennas up in the mountain,

[0:24:14] Voice 7: because there's lesser people there, right?

[0:24:17] Voice 7: there's lesser people

[0:24:19] Voice 7: I'm

[0:24:20] Voice 3: going to ask you to wrap up

[0:24:21] Voice 3: you've been over five minutes

[0:24:22] Voice 7: so there's the exposure time

[0:24:26] Voice 7: and then the

[0:24:28] Voice 7: intensity of the antennas

[0:24:31] Voice 7: what's the intensity

[0:24:32] Voice 7: the amplitude and frequency

[0:24:35] Voice 7: all that

[0:24:37] Voice 7: has an effect

[0:24:38] Voice 7: so basically if we are going to put it

[0:24:41] Voice 7: there

[0:24:41] Voice 7: if we are going to put one on the island

[0:24:44] Voice 7: an alternate source needs to be found

[0:24:46] Voice 7: and usually

[0:24:48] Voice 7: these companies they don't look for public health they look to make the cost less for them and the

[0:25:00] Voice 7: more further away that's got to put it usually costs more and then their power source they

[0:25:06] Voice 7: probably have to tap into the uh the grid over here and the transformers and so forth and so on

[0:25:12] Voice 7: no one's to blame here we just have to do our due diligence and investigate why do we really need

[0:25:18] Voice 7: this and if so have them propose alternate locations that yeah and that's that thank you

[0:25:29] Voice 7: okay

[0:25:32] Voice 4: is there someone else in the front row that wanted to speak

[0:25:34] Voice 4: go ahead i'm

[0:25:47] Voice 13: just against it i don't need to repeat what everyone else has said and the

[0:25:51] Voice 13: information it's pitiful nobody cares about the children never mind the trees and everybody else

[0:25:59] Voice 13: birds insects but the children are the proposal is to put this right around the young children

[0:26:07] Voice 13: and babies i'm completely against it uh

[0:26:16] Voice 4: second row my

[0:26:20] Voice 11: name is marcel roy and i'm wondering why

[0:26:25] Voice 11: we're here again because like the previous gentleman said why do we need another tower

[0:26:32] Voice 11: And I think everyone remembers how much kapapa was created by the first approval of these other two towers that are real eyesore on Channel Ridge.

[0:26:42] Voice 11: Not only an eyesore, but a danger to our health, as other people have spoken before.

[0:26:48] Voice 11: And there's lots of proof online.

[0:26:51] Voice 11: And I believe Westlady already provided you with links or proof that it is harmful to our health.

[0:26:59] Voice 11: why is this even being considered i realize that a person on their private land has certain rights

[0:27:07] Voice 11: fine this person is applying for this but i hope they dig it that the community is opposed to that

[0:27:15] Voice 11: because whatever they're going to be if this is ever approved heaven forbid this will affect the

[0:27:20] Voice 11: health of the whole community so no one on their private land should be allowed in my view to do

[0:27:28] Voice 11: something that will affect the health of the whole community in a very negative way thank you

[0:27:39] Voice 4: um is there's anyone else in the second row or anyone on this side

[0:27:45] Voice 4: no no one else at all okay then we're going to move on and appreciate all of your comments

[0:27:51] Voice 4: um we're going to be uh looking at our staff report on that issue that everyone's up to uh

[0:27:58] Voice 4: they grow. So that brings us up to the trustee report section and I'm going to turn it over to trustee Cochran.

[0:28:10] Voice 4: Good afternoon. It looks like it's not raining as hard as it was and I just want to say welcome back to our staff sitting at the far end of the table following the

[0:28:21] Voice 4: DCTU actions. We're happy to have you back. It was a very sad last time for the MD chair so welcome back.

[0:28:31] Voice 4: um before i report on sort of all the various things and so forth there's time i'm always happy

[0:28:37] Voice 4: to see conversations on this island people here and seats in particular talking about

[0:28:44] Voice 4: who we are as a community how we look after each other how we house our fellow islanders

[0:28:51] Voice 4: and i know there's a lot of conversations out there um i'm asking that you participate that

[0:28:59] Voice 4: you listen that you read and understand and come to your own decisions um this is not about growth

[0:29:09] Voice 4: or no growth our official community plan does anticipate growth it always has i've gone back

[0:29:17] Voice 4: in 1972 what was the date the headline of the driftwood on september 14 1972 the first community

[0:29:27] Voice 4: was introduced to the island, the whole paper is about it.

[0:29:32] Voice 4: And they anticipated a population of 18,000 people

[0:29:36] Voice 4: back in 1972.

[0:29:39] Voice 4: In 1998, when our first official community plan came out,

[0:29:43] Voice 4: again, they estimated 18,000 people,

[0:29:47] Voice 4: but they said that the rate of population growth,

[0:29:51] Voice 4: they expected us to reach that population in 2020.

[0:29:54] Voice 4: Thank goodness we did not.

[0:30:00] Voice 4: The 2008 OCP somehow increased the number of potential development that we were going to have, but decreased the expected population to be 17,000.

[0:30:13] Voice 4: We know that growth is happening. We've all seen it. We've all been stuck in traffic on this island.

[0:30:19] Voice 4: Growth will continue. The questions we have is what do we want it to be like?

[0:30:24] Voice 4: Do we want more single-family homes, or would we like to direct that growth into a different type of housing?

[0:30:31] Voice 4: And so I really encourage you to come out, participate, to talk, to make your ideas be heard on what kind of housing do we want on this island.

[0:30:44] Voice 4: And your feedback is really important, so please continue to participate.

[0:30:50] Voice 4: We'll talk a little bit later about the next phases of the engagement,

[0:30:53] Voice 5: and I look

[0:30:55] Voice 4: forward to hearing your thoughts.

[0:30:57] Voice 4: All right, we've got all the things. I was very proud to have been one of the instigators and planners behind the Cross-Border Forum that we had on October 17th.

[0:31:07] Voice 4: Really enjoy working with our San Juan County counterparts. It was a fantastic meeting. We had elected officials from all levels on both sides of the border.

[0:31:19] Voice 4: And we are all so committed to this region, are the San Juan Islands, the Gulf Islands

[0:31:26] Voice 4: are really one set of islands, the artificial border between them, the whales do not stop

[0:31:32] Voice 4: at the border, they swim right on through.

[0:31:35] Voice 4: So looking forward to more future official meetings between this region.

[0:31:42] Voice 4: Locally, I participated in the local trust committee and LCC joint meeting, I was a little

[0:31:48] Voice 4: I'm a little disappointed with the Driftwood's headline about our conversation on the OCP project, we weren't trying to discourage the LCC at all, we were trying to encourage them just as we were with you, but our message is, we're not quite ready yet, there's no proposals, we have no proposals to update the OCP, and as I said, we'll be talking about it later, we're absolutely wanting recommendation or to hear from our staff and so forth to have some ideas.

[0:32:19] Voice 4: discuss and we look forward to working with the LCC at the trust council or federation level

[0:32:25] Voice 4: participated in our financial planning our executive committee and our governance committee

[0:32:32] Voice 4: it's important to understand you'll see a lot about budgets budgets are out there

[0:32:36] Voice 4: the CRD and the Islands Trust have different calendar years so the CRD is out ahead of us

[0:32:42] Voice 4: on their budget conversations and I'm sure Director Holmes is going to talk about that

[0:32:47] Voice 4: they have i think a calendar year start we are april 1st so the the budget that's uh

[0:32:54] Voice 4: you'll see in the paper being talked about we only saw that for the very first time

[0:32:59] Voice 4: the first cuts of the budget are always big and we haven't even begun to uh to look at

[0:33:06] Voice 4: opportunities to trim that um and lots of conversations coming from the budget um

[0:33:14] Voice 4: I also participated in some chair training, and I attended a recent roundtable of elected officials from the North

[0:33:25] Voice 4: Island and the island communities who are working

[0:33:29] Voice 4: to identify specific requests they can make of the province to support the rural housing, particularly rural housing in our island.

[0:33:40] Voice 4: And that's my report.

[0:33:41] Voice 4: Thank you for that report. Trustee Patrick, I'm just going to check in and see if Trustee Harris is online with us today.

[0:33:50] Voice 4: Can you cut, please?

[0:33:52] Voice 4: Yeah.

[0:33:52] Voice 4: Can you please enunciate and speak up?

[0:33:55] Voice 4: Sorry, I'm just checking to see if Trustee Harris is with us online, and I don't see him online.

[0:34:00] Voice 4: So I'm going to move on with the agenda then to the chair's report.

[0:34:08] Voice 4: a number of items um that uh chair patrick uh mentioned i won't repeat um um i wanted to let

[0:34:18] Voice 4: everyone know that new dates are going to be announced uh for the policy statement uh community

[0:34:23] Voice 4: information meetings here on salt spring uh most likely a date in december and a date of january

[0:34:30] Voice 4: and that information is coming out that's an opportunity for uh q a uh here on salt spring

[0:34:37] Voice 4: bring in person. I'm not sure what the locations of the events are, but one's going to be sort of

[0:34:44] more early evening and one

[0:34:46] Voice 4: sort of more midday. Also welcoming back the staff, noting that across

[0:34:53] Voice 4: Islands Trust, we have experienced that there was a number of cancellation of meetings,

[0:35:00] Voice 4: and so we're hoping to get everything sort of back rolling again, but

[0:35:06] Voice 4: but with the strike action,

[0:35:08] Voice 4: the number of things are a little bit behind

[0:35:11] Voice 4: with those cancellations catching up.

[0:35:14] Voice 4: But we also are happy that there's a four-year

[0:35:18] Voice 4: and we'll spend science work.

[0:35:20] Voice 4: We've got some continuity coming there.

[0:35:24] Just to mention a bunch of...

[0:35:28] Voice 4: Oh, yeah, we had a meeting of the Governments Committee

[0:35:33] Voice 4: on Monday.

[0:35:36] Voice 4: A lot of discussion about setting up the new trust council next year in the best way we

[0:35:44] Voice 4: can for the election next October.

[0:35:50] Voice 4: BC ferries, I think we're going to have an opportunity to get an update from them on

[0:35:55] Voice 4: their Sue is cropped and plans later this month.

[0:36:00] Voice 4: The thing I was going to mention, oh yes, I've been attending the series of Transport

[0:36:10] Voice 4: Canada Ocean Protection Plan meetings online, the Pacific version, so that's various levels

[0:36:22] Voice 4: of government, including First Nations, and hearing about where the partnerships are going

[0:36:30] Voice 4: there in terms of various assets like towing and that sort of sort of stuff

[0:36:37] planning it's all slow quite as much as I would like but that's how these things

[0:36:46] often go

[0:36:46] Voice 4: and yesterday also attended the annual oil spill task force meeting

[0:36:54] which is a group of folks

[0:36:58] Voice 4: both in government and in science, all the way down the coast,

[0:37:03] Voice 4: including Alaska, BC, Washington, Oregon, California, and Hawaii.

[0:37:09] Voice 4: All people very much concerned with the effects of oil spills on our environments.

[0:37:15] Voice 4: Some really, really inspiring, dedicated people in that group.

[0:37:21] Voice 4: and i think i will leave that there for today for my chair's report and i'm going to pass it

[0:37:28] Voice 4: over to director holman four years report

[0:37:30] Voice 16: yeah thanks chair uh crd attendance at these meetings

[0:37:36] Voice 16: have been a little spotty lately we've had conflicting schedules uh lcc chair rooks off

[0:37:43] Voice 16: island today so i'll report on a few sec matters and other security matters um before i forget

[0:37:51] Voice 16: at uh there is a crde item on the agenda today the um uh the consideration of further readings

[0:37:58] Voice 16: of the connect road on the park makings facility and the location of bus storage and

[0:38:06] a charging station and uh uh

[0:38:10] Voice 16: staff are here to answer any questions or make any comments

[0:38:13] Voice 16: if that's necessary i do hope the trust committee which has given the proposal two readings thus

[0:38:20] Voice 16: far i believe both the agricultural advisory committee and the advisory planning committee

[0:38:26] Voice 16: have all supported the application this is the the best and in fact the only location

[0:38:32] Voice 16: uh for this kind of facilities uh on connecticut roads sorry i'm speaking

[0:38:49] Voice 16: So on a few LCC matters, there has been good news recently about a Waterford Park donation

[0:38:59] Voice 16: in Fulford Harbour.

[0:39:00] Voice 16: That's a million dollar donation, that's about I think an acre in size.

[0:39:05] size. That's an incredible legacy provided to the community. Of course, the next step

[0:39:13] will be, now that it's a public park and open to the public, the next step will be how to

[0:39:18] manage the use of the park. It's fairly constricted down there and already the neighbours are

[0:39:23] a little concerned about their favourite spot being overused, but that's the nature of the

[0:39:31] Voice 16: beast um the lcc has been considering uh ways to reduce costs of dealing with our liquid waste and

[0:39:41] Voice 16: we have looked in detail at dewatering options uh thinking and hoping that by dewatering the

[0:39:49] Voice 16: waste shipped off island so 99 water being shipped off island but it turns out um with further

[0:39:59] Voice 16: further detailed study. In fact, what we're doing now is about the most cost effective thing that we can do at this point. So that's still counterintuitive to me, but staff will get into the costs in detail. The LCC hasn't necessarily given up on the notion of asking staff to come back in a year and see if there's any change in circumstance or cost to reconsider the idea. But for now, it seems what we're doing now is cost effective.

[0:40:29] approaches we can take um in uh

[0:40:33] Voice 16: the spring of next year this year we will be taking over the

[0:40:37] Voice 16: ganges fire hall um and that that was part of our arrangement with the fire district

[0:40:44] who are building the the new hall now which is uh taking

[0:40:51] Voice 16: shape so in a few months crd will be

[0:40:54] Voice 16: taking over that uh that facility downtown kanji's this is a good thing it's a key property uh but

[0:41:02] Voice 16: the repurposing of the building we're getting a i believe an architect uh looking at the repurposing

[0:41:09] Voice 16: of the building and the and the costs associated with that if you repurpose a building like that

[0:41:15] Voice 16: you trigger the building vote which means cost and in this case probably a pretty high cost so

[0:41:22] Voice 16: LCC will be considering that report in the new year there'll be public consultation about what

[0:41:28] Voice 16: other uses we could use the property for it's still a good thing even without the fire hall

[0:41:36] Voice 16: and I know I think I can say with confidence the LCC would like to be able to repurpose the

[0:41:45] Voice 16: building we just have to see what the architect says but even without the building it's very

[0:41:49] Voice 16: very valuable site and it's going to be beneficial to the community um trustee patrick is uh talking

[0:41:56] Voice 16: about housing there's actually a number of very encouraging things happening on the housing front

[0:42:03] Voice 16: um i don't know if many people got a chance to see the the drake road supported housing facility

[0:42:11] Voice 16: facility, 36 units of supported and worker housing on Great Road, fully funded by BC

[0:42:18] Voice 16: Housing. That's a $15 million investment here. It's going to be a great benefit to our community.

[0:42:24] Voice 16: So that facility has been recently opened. The Lookout Society, which is one of the largest

[0:42:30] Voice 16: social service providers in British Columbia, they have 1,600 employees, well-versed in

[0:42:37] Voice 16: in dealings with BC Housing, with Island Health.

[0:42:40] Voice 16: They are now more firmly located on Island

[0:42:45] Voice 16: and already are working with Gitzer on the Kings Lane project.

[0:42:50] Voice 16: Their capacity, their expertise,

[0:42:52] Voice 16: I think is going to bode well

[0:42:53] Voice 16: for future possible housing projects on Salt Spring Island.

[0:42:59] Voice 16: The other recent opening, or at least the ribbon cutting,

[0:43:03] Voice 16: I don't think the facility will be open for occupation

[0:43:06] Voice 16: for a month or two, and that's the former Seabreeze Inn, now called Hartwood, and that's

[0:43:14] Voice 16: being renovated for 18 health worker units in Salisbury, folks working in our hospitals,

[0:43:22] Voice 16: but other health facilities and professions as well would be eligible.

[0:43:27] Voice 16: The trust actually provided the resumption on that property, so we're actually making

[0:43:35] Voice 16: some progress.

[0:43:35] Voice 16: us there's much more to do but salt spring commons uh crofton brook uh over the past uh four or five

[0:43:43] Voice 16: years uh we've built about 140 units of affordable housing truly affordable housing on salt spring

[0:43:51] Voice 16: and there's more opportunities on drake road as a five acre parcel there's still room for more

[0:43:56] Voice 16: development there uh syria has leased that site to bc housing for 60 years uh with lookout managing

[0:44:04] Voice 16: in the supported housing facility that may be some opportunities for partnerships there of course is

[0:44:09] Voice 16: king's lane uh um uh the gizra king's lane uh 50 unit project uh the trust is expediting resulting

[0:44:18] Voice 16: for that property it was already zoned for units of seniors housing uh gizra is now broadening

[0:44:25] Voice 16: uh the the scope of that uh so it won't just be uh seniors and they've applied to

[0:44:32] Voice 16: bc housing for funding and then finally uh norton road iowa has just announced that they have an

[0:44:39] Voice 16: accepted offer for norton road which is already rezoned by the trust for 26 units and uh they're

[0:44:45] Voice 16: fundraising now uh and they're they've got a deadline i believe in december but are already

[0:44:52] Voice 16: making good progress on the fundraising so there's another 26 units there so there are some good um

[0:44:58] Voice 16: Um, uh, that's going forward, uh, share for, uh, affordable housing on Salisbury and the

[0:45:05] Voice 16: trust I know, and always has played its role in terms of providing and use approvals.

[0:45:11] Voice 16: Uh, the local community commission is undertaking a housing strategy and we'll be working with

[0:45:17] Voice 16: the trust on that.

[0:45:18] Voice 16: The consultant has been hired.

[0:45:20] Voice 16: I believe that later in November, there's going to be a series of, uh, stakeholder meetings

[0:45:26] Voice 16: And the LCC will be working closely with the local trust committee on, in particular, the land use components of that integrated housing strategy.

[0:45:39] Voice 16: We have been honored by visits from two ministers, Minister of Housing and Minister of Health.

[0:45:48] Voice 16: minister of housing was uh touring some of the successful projects and there were there were

[0:45:54] Voice 16: asks for the minister like around the king's lane getting the king's lane project uh approved um

[0:46:02] Voice 16: trustee patrick attended that meeting we also had the minister of health come over

[0:46:07] Voice 16: with a particular focus on health clinic which is another announcement made by the hospital

[0:46:13] Voice 16: Foundation. They have announced that they are proceeding with fundraising to establish

[0:46:19] Voice 16: an integrated health clinic on Salt Spring. That dovetails with Ministry of Health Primary

[0:46:26] Voice 16: Care Network funding, which is funding 11 full-time professionals, health professionals,

[0:46:32] Voice 16: doctors, nurses. So that also is very welcome that we're still going to have to compete with

[0:46:41] Voice 16: those positions um and the two questions that are begged are where they're going to work and where

[0:46:46] Voice 16: they're going to live and uh the sea breeze may provide a temporary option king's lane may provide

[0:46:53] Voice 16: an option but my understanding is that fundraising is also well on the way and dovetails nicely with

[0:47:02] Voice 16: the PCM funding provided by Ministry of Health and I think that's just just on housing chair did want

[0:47:12] Voice 16: to say and suggest that land use is an important element to achieving affordable housing but there

[0:47:22] Voice 16: are other resources and tools as well that need to come to bear and we need to be working on those

[0:47:27] Voice 16: So the CRD is establishing a $5 million housing fund, our two Salisbury Foundation, the Hospital Foundation for one, also the Salisbury Foundation.

[0:47:40] Voice 16: Both are investing dollars in affordable housing, Hartwood's an example.

[0:47:46] Voice 16: The Salisbury Foundation has already made substantial commitments of several hundred thousand dollars each, assuming those projects go ahead to both.

[0:47:57] Voice 16: King's Lane and to Northern Road.

[0:48:00] Voice 16: The dollars that those foundations are bringing to bear,

[0:48:03] Voice 16: the Salisbury Foundation,

[0:48:05] Voice 16: that cost a $21 million endowment,

[0:48:07] Voice 16: we have never had that kind of funding

[0:48:10] Voice 16: available on Salisbury before.

[0:48:12] Voice 16: And the good news as well

[0:48:13] Voice 16: is that these organizations are working together

[0:48:15] Voice 16: for partnering.

[0:48:17] Voice 16: So there are other tools that we can bring to bear primarily

[0:48:20] Voice 16: and in particular funding, Chair,

[0:48:22] Voice 16: it's not just land use that can,

[0:48:24] Voice 16: And land use is an important, increasing density on a property is an important element of affordability, but so is funding.

[0:48:32] And we've never had the capacity or the funding

[0:48:36] Voice 16: available to us ever on Salisbury that we do today.

[0:48:40] Voice 16: So there's a lot of very good opportunities there, Chair.

[0:48:44] Voice 16: I think, oh, just sort of one last comment.

[0:48:47] Voice 16: Trustee Patrick mentioned the budget.

[0:48:49] Voice 16: So the CRD approved its provisional budget.

[0:48:52] Voice 16: uh it's october 29th meeting that includes the local community commission budget overall crd

[0:49:00] Voice 16: uh requisition increase uh is in the order of just a little over eight percent uh the lcc increase

[0:49:07] Voice 16: came in close to ten percent this year the increase around six and the average of the two

[0:49:13] Voice 16: was around eight percent that's not insignificant that's higher than the inflation rate but um

[0:49:20] Voice 16: both staff and elected officials have poured through the budget and a lot of local governments

[0:49:26] Voice 16: are facing real challenges in terms of meeting existing needs and making important investments

[0:49:33] Voice 16: so it'll be about eight percent provisionally the final budget for the CRD gets approved in March

[0:49:40] Voice 16: actually there will be one addition locally we were informed by dc transit rather late in the

[0:49:49] Voice 16: day it will be increasing bus leasing and related costs by 20 and they're also in part because of

[0:49:57] Voice 16: disruption on our full for danji's route which is the core of the service 50 of the ridership is on

[0:50:03] on the Colford-Dantzschi's route,

[0:50:05] but we're also projecting a reduction

[0:50:08] Voice 16: in revenue.

[0:50:10] Voice 16: The result of that is that we are bumping into

[0:50:14] Voice 16: and in fact exceeding the maximum

[0:50:16] Voice 16: that we allow for in the transit service.

[0:50:20] Voice 16: Unlike municipalities,

[0:50:22] Voice 16: regional district services have a maximum levy.

[0:50:25] Voice 16: In many cases, it doesn't really,

[0:50:27] Voice 16: it's not really a binding factor,

[0:50:31] Voice 16: but in the case of transit,

[0:50:32] Voice 16: that we are bumping into that levy so um i will be supporting a 25 increase in the maximum levy

[0:50:39] Voice 16: just to keep our existing service level whole for next year because of the easy transit uh

[0:50:46] Voice 16: downloading of costs and our estimated reduction in revenues the lcc and i i support this do have

[0:50:57] Voice 16: have hope to increase the level of service

[0:51:00] Voice 16: on the Fulford Ganges route.

[0:51:02] Voice 16: That will cost additional dollars.

[0:51:04] Voice 16: The way it's looking now, we're probably

[0:51:07] Voice 16: going to have to go to voters to approve

[0:51:08] Voice 16: that enhanced level of service.

[0:51:10] Voice 16: So if voters want improved service on that Fulford Ganges

[0:51:14] Voice 16: route, the only way I can see going forward

[0:51:19] Voice 16: is for voters to actually explicitly approve

[0:51:22] Voice 16: the position of the priest chair director

[0:51:26] Voice 4: okay so moving along um next we have the draft minutes of

[0:51:36] the

[0:51:36] Voice 4: october 16th ringer meeting i don't know what to do just a couple of minor corrections on page

[0:51:45] Voice 4: five of the agenda package in uh item three it's town hall questions one two third bullet

[0:51:55] Voice 4: about a member of the public expressing

[0:51:58] Voice 4: objections and comments.

[0:51:59] Voice 4: But the final statement said, that the chair had said,

[0:52:02] Voice 4: and the concerns could be raised through the trust counsel.

[0:52:05] Voice 4: The chair had said that the concerns could be raised

[0:52:08] Voice 4: directly with the trustee, so not the trust counsel.

[0:52:14] Voice 4: And then on page eight, item 14.1 of the agenda,

[0:52:24] Voice 4: final bullet there in that first section.

[0:52:30] Voice 8: sorry that section oh

[0:52:33] Voice 4: it's a 14.1 yeah there's a series of bullets at the top the final bullet

[0:52:38] Voice 4: yeah um so it apparently says uh that will come later in the process the local trust committee

[0:52:45] Voice 4: should encourage projects to be connected to the water service i i think it was that we said that

[0:52:51] Voice 4: that project should be prioritized for connection to the water service

[0:52:55] Voice 4: Not that

[0:52:56] Voice 4: we're going to be required to be connected to the water service, but prioritized to be connected to the water service.

[0:53:05] Voice 4: Okay.

[0:53:07] Voice 4: If I may, Mr. Chair, I believe I missed the first point.

[0:53:12] Voice 4: Oh, sure.

[0:53:15] Voice 4: That was on page 5.

[0:53:18] Voice 4: Item 3, the third bullet.

[0:53:23] Voice 4: that the concern should be raised with the trustee it says with trust counsel

[0:53:29] Voice 4: with the trustee yes second bullet on page five oh

[0:53:34] Voice 1: yeah second third bullet of the item

[0:53:45] Voice 4: okay all right can i take it by consent that we will adopt the minutes as amended then

[0:53:54] Voice 4: I'm moving right along here. At 8.4, sorry, at page 17, we have a public hearing record.

[0:54:05] Voice 4: These are for information, I believe. So this is a public hearing record for bylaw 543.

[0:54:18] Voice 3: And then on page

[0:54:19] Voice 4: 14, we have the

[0:54:20] Voice 4: public hearing record for both bylaws 544 and 555. Action on

[0:54:28] Voice 4: on either of those um and next we have correspondence we have one piece of correspondence at page 17.

[0:54:38] Voice 4: and i'll just look to see if there's any interest okay so we will take that item of correspondence

[0:54:44] for information that brings us up to the

[0:54:47] Voice 4: follow-up actualist on page 19 and i'll go over to staff

[0:54:52] Voice 4: for any updates um mr chair i'd like to give you a little bit of an update on the um the question

[0:55:03] Voice 4: yes at the start of the meeting uh regarding the um the uh policy statement engagement process

[0:55:11] Voice 4: um speaking with planner yeomans uh the deadline is not intended to change however the intent

[0:55:17] Voice 3: really is to just get uh the

[0:55:19] Voice 4: all local trust committees provide their comments prior

[0:55:23] in time to publish the march uh trust council agenda so our plan at this time is we do have a

[0:55:32] Voice 3: an engagement that we will be promoting uh for december 6th there's another one planned in

[0:55:36] Voice 3: january but that date is not yet finalized um however we should have those invaders wrapped

[0:55:41] Voice 3: up sometime by uh early to mid-january uh and then we should be able to bring uh those back

[0:55:47] to you for comments at the february 12th lpc meeting uh likely will be providing the comments

[0:55:53] that day to support uh

[0:55:55] Voice 4: trust area services and bring that report to uh trust counseling

[0:55:59] Voice 4: okay great thank you for that that's helpful um is there anything else on the fall back she wants

[0:56:05] Voice 4: to do today well there was one um actually there was one outstanding question from

[0:56:13] Voice 4: the uh the last meeting mr chair we

[0:56:16] Voice 3: received a piece of correspondence

[0:56:19] from mr roe regarding the oil disposal on

[0:56:24] Voice 4: salt spring island and the challenges associated with

[0:56:26] Voice 4: that and i will paraphrase it because i don't have it right in front of me but it was essentially

[0:56:30] Voice 4: that um trust

[0:56:32] Voice 3: council on that um there was it was simply a note of conversation but

[0:56:37] Voice 3: um it sounded a bit directional so i just wanted to know if there was any desire to follow up on

[0:56:41] Voice 3: that directly at this time um or if there's another avenue that proceeds pursuing with

[0:56:49] Voice 3: regard to that question dr

[0:56:52] Voice 4: patrick well i know we had raised a specific question i noticed director

[0:56:56] Voice 4: director holman that had asked about our solid waste and the library landfill and other issues

[0:57:01] Voice 4: and i know we have requested a report on that i think some of the strike action that's gotten

[0:57:07] Voice 4: delayed so um i think there's some general overall questions about our solid waste facilities on the

[0:57:16] Voice 1: island in

[0:57:16] Voice 4: the in the dovetailing with the crd and solid waste management planning about what

[0:57:22] Voice 4: services that are available i think it's that's likely the case i think what maybe

[0:57:34] Voice 4: why i'm asking the question there was no resolution requested with that action so i

[0:57:38] just wanted to make sure that there wasn't any like follow-up report or anything

[0:57:43] Voice 4: i don't see

[0:57:44] Voice 4: no i think it was just you know i think we were looking for a conversation with bylaw enforcement

[0:57:52] Voice 4: to like the in-camera recording yeah possibly okay that's just that worked for me thank you

[0:58:01] Voice 4: for the clarity okay and uh just got to visit you if you have anything you want to raise on

[0:58:07] Voice 4: the phone back to the study okay so that moves

[0:58:13] Voice 3: us along on

[0:58:14] Voice 4: page uh 24 of the delegation of

[0:58:18] Voice 4: development permits um a report from december of 2022 and i believe this

[0:58:33] Voice 4: this was trustee harris okay trustee harris has joined us today um

[0:58:42] Voice 4: so i'm just going to double check here

[0:58:48] Voice 4: Mr. Chair, the planning team has indicated

[0:58:58] Voice 3: that he has forwarded the Zoom link along

[0:59:00] Voice 3: to Mr. Trustee Harris in case he's having trouble logging in as well.

[0:59:07] Voice 3: We've made the option available.

[0:59:09] Okay, I appreciate that.

[0:59:14] And our Trustee Harris is not here today.

[0:59:17] So then

[0:59:21] Voice 4: I take it there's no need to get into that.

[0:59:26] Voice 4: at this time, yes?

[0:59:28] Voice 4: Can I suggest that possibly if Mr. Harris

[0:59:30] Voice 4: would wish to discuss this at another meeting,

[0:59:33] Voice 4: where he's willing to attend,

[0:59:35] Voice 4: understand that he's willing to attend

[0:59:36] Voice 4: due to the human circumstances today,

[0:59:40] Voice 3: if he'd like to bring it back to another agenda.

[0:59:43] Voice 3: We've republished it now.

[0:59:45] Voice 3: We can certainly, if the chair agrees,

[0:59:49] Voice 3: at some point in the future,

[0:59:50] Voice 3: if Trustee Harris requests it from you,

[0:59:52] Voice 3: we can certainly add it back

[0:59:54] Voice 4: at a future meeting

[0:59:57] Voice 4: Okay, thank you.

[1:00:00] Voice 4: And we'll get there in due course.

[1:00:04] Voice 4: That then brings us to the active projects list on page 28.

[1:00:09] Voice 4: And over to you, Mr. Harlan.

[1:00:16] Voice 3: Nothing significant to report, Mr. Chair.

[1:00:18] Voice 3: We continue to catch up.

[1:00:20] Voice 3: And I think our planners have been very anxious to catch up on this work.

[1:00:26] Voice 3: We're working away at the backlog.

[1:00:28] Voice 3: We do have quite a high volume of applications coming in at the moment as well.

[1:00:33] Voice 3: also the staff is moving up hard to make much progress

[1:00:37] Voice 4: on that front yeah and just gotcha

[1:00:46] Voice 4: my only comment was i had uh i had hoped that there was a possibility that we could apply for

[1:00:52] Voice 4: some grant funding to support the watershed um unfortunately we're

[1:01:00] Voice 9: not able to

[1:01:01] Voice 4: help with that

[1:01:02] Voice 4: grant funding so it's a short-lived segment yeah and then on the notes you know just know that i

[1:01:13] Voice 4: did get uh some information the uh private ground has moved on from the consults again so we have

[1:01:21] Voice 4: new project leads there who reached out so we have a chance to uh meet with them and get some

[1:01:31] Voice 4: reporting soon and that then will bring us to future projects listed on page 32 anyone there

[1:01:43] Voice 4: and uh on to applications on page 35 out the road and working planning thank you mr chair

[1:02:06] Voice 4: this type of work presents application to remain the software gallery for subject property located

[1:02:12] Voice 4: at 210 and 220 connector which proposes to bring into compliance the proposed upgrades

[1:02:17] Voice 4: rates to the maintenance

[1:02:18] Voice 4: facility on the subject property and this report is presented following

[1:02:23] Voice 4: September 11th and 25th of this year where the proposed bylaw was read first and second time

[1:02:29] Voice 4: and a community information meeting on public hearing was directed to the state point there's

[1:02:35] Voice 5: a

[1:02:35] Voice 4: public a community commission meeting and a public hearing was kept was held October 15 and

[1:02:42] Voice 4: october 16 respectively and no concerns originally expressed so that therefore recommends that the

[1:02:50] Voice 4: salt spring island local trust committee has reviewed the island's trust policy statement

[1:02:55] Voice 4: directives on the checklist and the timing that proposed by the number 5.3 cited that

[1:03:01] Voice 4: salt spring island

[1:03:01] Voice 4: land is valid on 3.5 1999 amendment 225 is not contrary to what the

[1:03:08] Voice 4: variance with the island's trust policy statements and also it is recommended that the proposed pilot

[1:03:14] Voice 4: will be read a third time according to the executive executive committee for approval

[1:03:19] Voice 4: if the recommended resolutions are accepted the proposed by the law 543 will be read a third time

[1:03:24] Voice 4: according to the ec from people other alternative

[1:03:29] Voice 4: resolutions is positive might be one to amend the

[1:03:33] Voice 4: dropped by a local student denied the application thank

[1:03:36] Voice 9: you okay

[1:03:38] Voice 4: mr ovington did you have anything

[1:03:40] Voice 4: for us today thank you uh through the

[1:03:42] Voice 3: chair daniel we've seen your answers

[1:03:44] Voice 3: i have uh spoken in front of the the trustees a number of times on this application as well as

[1:03:53] Voice 3: uh was referred to your advisory committees uh where i answered a number of questions and

[1:03:59] Voice 3: and spoke on behalf of the community lead

[1:04:02] Voice 3: and support behind this application.

[1:04:04] Voice 3: So I don't know if I can answer any questions.

[1:04:06] Voice 3: Thank you.

[1:04:07] Voice 3: Sure.

[1:04:08] Voice 4: Sure.

[1:04:08] Voice 4: Patrick.

[1:04:10] Voice 4: I don't have any questions.

[1:04:12] Voice 4: I'd like to thank you.

[1:04:13] Voice 4: The CRD has been quite helpful.

[1:04:16] Voice 4: We had to visit the site

[1:04:19] Voice 4: and had to take the time

[1:04:20] Voice 4: to really make sure that we were well informed

[1:04:23] Voice 4: on the application and I hope it's worth it.

[1:04:26] Voice 4: Uh, would you like to proceed? I move that the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee

[1:04:34] Voice 4: bylaw number 543 cited as Salt Spring Island land use bylaw number 355-1999 and then number

[1:04:41] Voice 4: 2-2025 be read a third time. Second the motion. Any discussion on the motion? I'm not seeing

[1:04:50] Voice 4: any. I'll call the question. All those in favor? And I'm curious. I move that the Salt

[1:04:55] Voice 4: Spring Island Local Trust Committee has reviewed the Island Trust Policy Statement Directive

[1:04:59] Voice 4: only checklist and determine that the bylaw number 543 cited as salt spring island land use bylaw

[1:05:05] Voice 4: number 355 1999 amendment number 2 2025 is not contrary to or at variance with the island's

[1:05:13] Voice 4: trust policy statement second the motion any discussion not seeing anything i'll call the

[1:05:19] Voice 4: question all those in favor carries and i know that the salt spring island local trust committee

[1:05:26] Voice 4: City bylaw number 543, cited as Salt Spring Island land use bylaw number 355, 1999,

[1:05:32] Voice 4: amendment number 2, 2025, and forwarded to the Secretary of the Island's Trust for approval by the Executive Committee.

[1:05:40] Voice 4: Second the motion. Any further discussion?

[1:05:44] Voice 4: If not seeing any, I'll call the question. All those in favor?

[1:05:51] Voice 4: Okay.

[1:05:53] Voice 4: That's that for today's item, so I'll move to page 46.

[1:06:00] Voice 4: It's not deferred.

[1:06:10] Voice 4: okay i did not catch that um in which case the just two page there 91 and this is coming to us

[1:06:29] Voice 4: thank you mr chair so the island stress does receive a proposal for the installation of

[1:06:37] Voice 4: the 35 meter high slimline multiple telecommunication tower at one point please

[1:06:45] Voice 4: the property is

[1:06:46] Voice 11: currently designed

[1:06:46] Voice 4: generally by 1b and according to the

[1:06:51] Voice 4: land pilot public utilities

[1:06:52] Voice 4: is a used permittable although the lcc do not approve the installation of telephone communication

[1:06:59] Voice 4: towers and antennas they are provided with an opportunity to comment on the application

[1:07:04] Voice 4: through a request for time credits which is through a formal application and the statement

[1:07:10] Voice 4: of concurrence is meant to consider the largest compatibility of the antenna structure or the

[1:07:15] Voice 4: responses of the impacted residents and the proponents adherence to the antenna site of protocol.

[1:07:22] Voice 4: The proponent is also required to undertake public consultation in accordance with the

[1:07:27] Voice 4: Islands Trust's antenna system and site protocol, the result of which is to be provided to Islands

[1:07:33] Voice 4: Trust for consideration. So at this point, the LCC may also request that proponents provide

[1:07:39] Voice 4: provide documents and reports as deemed necessary to the application and after the initial feedback

[1:07:46] Voice 4: which is the purpose of today's report, the proponent is required to submit an application

[1:07:51] Voice 4: for the statement of concurrence along with the required documents and the report as requested

[1:07:57] Voice 4: by the LTC.

[1:07:58] Voice 4: Thank you.

[1:08:01] Voice 4: Okay, thank you.

[1:08:03] Voice 4: Dr Patrick, any questions, comments?

[1:08:07] Voice 4: We have our standing resolution. I know the last time we had a tower proposal before us,

[1:08:17] Voice 4: we hadn't officially adopted the protocol, which we did proceed with officially adopting

[1:08:25] Voice 4: protocols, that

[1:08:26] Voice 4: was done, but we noted that the reasons for a potential delay in adopting

[1:08:31] Voice 4: stopping it was that it was not up to date with First Nations engagement. So we have

[1:08:39] Voice 4: our protocol, our standing resolution created back in 2021 was requesting that they do that

[1:08:58] Voice 4: So did this get passed on to the applicant or do we need to request that the applicant

[1:09:06] Voice 4: be?

[1:09:09] I think that's a great question about that as well I note that they all of the items

[1:09:14] in the standing resolution say the proponent will so I'll look to

[1:09:21] Voice 4: that to see if you have

[1:09:22] Voice 4: I don't know if we have too much questions.

[1:09:26] Voice 4: Mr. Chair, so the proponent is required

[1:09:31] Voice 4: to carry out public consultation

[1:09:35] Voice 4: as part of the requirements for the request

[1:09:38] Voice 4: for the statement of conference

[1:09:41] Voice 4: for the proposed installation.

[1:09:49] Voice 4: Yes, but we have a standing resolution

[1:09:51] Voice 4: that says the proponent will consult

[1:09:54] Voice 4: with the trust committee area representatives

[1:09:58] Voice 4: representatives during the pre-consultation phase to determine proximity to the proposed

[1:10:03] Voice 4: attendance of known archaeology sites and areas of archaeological potential, and obtain

[1:10:08] Voice 4: a list of First Nations who have rights and title owners, and so on and on and on.

[1:10:13] Voice 4: So have these requirements been passed on since the moment?

[1:10:19] Voice 4: At this moment, no, but that's also part of the information that will be passed on to

[1:10:25] Voice 4: the Corp of Names after this meeting.

[1:10:27] Voice 4: Okay.

[1:10:27] Voice 4: okay so that will happen in due course okay yeah that was

[1:10:30] Voice 4: basically my question do we need to make

[1:10:32] Voice 4: a resolution to that fact because the report the staff report doesn't talk about this standing

[1:10:39] Voice 4: resolution so that's my only concern is do we need to give direction yes yes

[1:10:49] Voice 4: yeah that was the same thing that jumped out to me because i remember

[1:10:57] I remember when I first saw the standing resolution and it

[1:11:01] Voice 4: ended up adopting a very similar one

[1:11:04] Voice 4: up on my home island.

[1:11:07] Voice 4: So I guess in terms of this issue first, I mean, would forwarding the standing resolution

[1:11:26] resolution comments constitute part of

[1:11:29] Voice 4: preliminary feedback or something to stand alone item or

[1:11:35] Voice 4: certainly

[1:11:50] Voice 5: yeah Mr

[1:12:13] Voice 4: chair I think the the question here is um your question is are the with the

[1:12:20] pre-consultation

[1:12:20] Voice 3: interior that the

[1:12:21] Voice 4: you gave the

[1:12:22] Voice 4: order that they do would they come back

[1:12:24] Voice 4: to the local trust to do the consideration that i said oh well just i think this is this is my

[1:12:36] Voice 4: my thought but uh to trustee patrick sure but right is that um has the proponent

[1:12:44] Voice 4: seen the standing resolution that he's referred to um and and are aware of those

[1:12:51] those items in the standing

[1:12:53] Voice 4: resolution that the component is to that same resolution is

[1:12:57] Voice 4: on page 186 of this agenda for reference uh but there are five items there well my intended

[1:13:05] Voice 4: chair is that would be that information that that that requirement would be shared after this meeting

[1:13:14] Okay, if there's a need to do that sooner, we can certainly incorporate that into our process, but we can, at this time, we can certainly prioritize the first nations, and

[1:13:27] Voice 3: I'll, I will assume that that means that we can get the proposal, but I will assume that the expectation that the proponent engage applies to all 13 first nations whose territory

[1:13:42] Voice 4: intersects with the trust area.

[1:13:48] Voice 4: Yeah, and I mean, I think my understanding of a resolution like this and why we have it is to encourage that consultation, which I know in this staff report that we're looking at, that consultation in general is the duty of the proponent.

[1:14:11] i think both trustee captain i just want

[1:14:14] Voice 4: to make sure that the proponent is aware

[1:14:17] Voice 4: that the salt spring local trust committee has this these series of actions that are directly

[1:14:22] Voice 4: related to uh consultation with first nations uh foreign tennis systems and i think that's

[1:14:28] Voice 4: because we didn't see it in the staff report so then we're just making wanting to make sure that

[1:14:33] Voice 4: it's it's part of the equation um going forward for the proponent and staff status that proponent

[1:14:42] is is made totally

[1:14:43] Voice 4: aware that that's an expectation by this committee

[1:14:46] Voice 3: yes i'm aware

[1:14:47] Voice 3: previously um so i think we we're seeing improvement as we go here but um

[1:14:56] we should

[1:14:56] Voice 3: our priorities to ensure that this this component police uh we appreciate the clarity

[1:15:04] Voice 3: given of the expectations of what we're just proving to follow up on that and

[1:15:10] Voice 4: then um i guess

[1:15:13] Voice 4: a sort of more open question in terms of the recommend recommendation here on the court uh

[1:15:18] in terms of providing preliminary

[1:15:20] Voice 4: feedback um what would staff uh uh expectation on what that

[1:15:28] Voice 4: preliminary feedback might look like.

[1:15:31] Voice 4: Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[1:15:33] Voice 4: In terms of the expectations regarding preliminary feedback,

[1:15:37] Voice 4: it has to do with the location because staff has been receiving

[1:15:45] Voice 4: quite a number of correspondence regarding the location

[1:15:48] Voice 4: and also regarding what might be required of the proponent

[1:15:54] Voice 4: regarding the application.

[1:15:59] Voice 4: also in terms of public consultation,

[1:16:02] Voice 4: frustrations, engagement, and other requirements.

[1:16:10] Voice 5: Okay. I'll

[1:16:18] Voice 4: just be reading this portion.

[1:16:21] Voice 4: Go ahead. I have to agree. This is, it's a bit

[1:16:29] Voice 4: sparse on information. In the past, we have

[1:16:33] Voice 4: received, you know, the applicant has usually come and told us the purpose

[1:16:37] Voice 4: they're trying to do and the reasons for the

[1:16:41] Voice 4: the tower. Quick search showed that this applicant has been putting towers and cropped in shamanists

[1:16:48] Voice 4: and other areas. So it looks like they've got a regional activity that they've been

[1:16:52] Voice 4: doing and that this tower must be a part of the regional process. So I think I'm finding

[1:17:01] Voice 4: just the letter or whatever they're asking for. It's pretty vague. That's all. And I

[1:17:14] Voice 4: think you know the experience the the last tower that we were involved in that seemed to go on for

[1:17:21] Voice 4: a very long time um one there was a pandemic period and i understand their engagement and

[1:17:27] Voice 4: communications were affected by the methods that they used to communicate so i think it's just

[1:17:33] Voice 4: making sure that you know the criticism that was from that was that the the information wasn't

[1:17:39] Voice 4: broadly sent out. And so we want to make sure that they are

[1:17:45] Voice 4: getting a good engagement that they are so that we can hear a

[1:17:54] Voice 4: good set of information that and that also the last one we did

[1:18:00] Voice 4: not have the reason for that standing resolution because that

[1:18:03] Voice 4: was missing so that there was no requirement to talk to first

[1:18:07] Voice 4: nations and there were concerns that they're actually

[1:18:09] Voice 4: archaeological site approximately as well so um just making sure that the package is complete

[1:18:16] Voice 4: is what's important to me yeah i would say that the um in the final section of the

[1:18:26] Voice 4: staff report um under consultation there's a list of um items that applicants require required to

[1:18:36] uh staff for staff reviews prior to notification and um and again that the the

[1:18:44] Voice 4: item in the standing

[1:18:45] Voice 4: resolution are there so i think the the way i i perceive it anyway is that the local trust

[1:18:52] Voice 4: committee would like to have um some reporting um you know on on those consultations of other

[1:19:00] other actions listed in the study resolution from the proponent as part of the information

[1:19:07] Voice 4: that comes to the trust committee so that we're aware of the way that the proponent

[1:19:16] has undertaken to

[1:19:19] Voice 4: achieve those requirements that are set out there.

[1:19:27] Voice 4: So in terms of the resolution in front of us, just about as well.

[1:19:35] Voice 4: I think I'd be more comfortable making a resolution in referencing the standing resolution 237.

[1:19:48] Okay.

[1:19:52] I think I would be more comfortable to have a resolution because the report does not discuss it. I think we

[1:19:59] Voice 4: should make a resolution referencing that standing resolution.

[1:20:03] Voice 4: Okay.

[1:20:03] Voice 4: Okay. I don't know if it certainly entertains that you're asking to prepare, revise, revise the report, expand, and provide that.

[1:20:13] Voice 4: I'm not asking you to revise the report. I just want to make sure that the component has been made aware of the requirements and outstanding resolution.

[1:20:20] Voice 4: So I think it's okay. So bear with me.

[1:20:28] Voice 4: i'm just going to talk it through that uh consulting on local trust committee

[1:20:33] Voice 4: request staff to inform the applicant of the requirements in standing resolution ss

[1:20:45] Voice 4: 20 21 237 does that make sense

[1:21:01] Voice 4: I'll just check with our reporter. Did you get that resolution?

[1:21:07] Voice 2: Yes, I did. Thanks, Chair.

[1:21:08] Voice 4: Okay, thank you. So let's move, and I'll second that. Any further discussion? I think

[1:21:17] Voice 4: it's this type of standing resolution to my um point of view it's um you know it's it's in many

[1:21:27] Voice 3: ways

[1:21:27] Voice 4: a sort of the bare minimum that these type of components uh uh should be required to do in

[1:21:34] Voice 4: terms of uh consultation first nations um and i think all of the to my view all of these five

[1:21:44] Voice 4: items are perfectly reasonable things to ask as a proponent to the request for concurrence.

[1:21:58] Voice 4: And then, so I will then call the question all those in favour. That motion carries.

[1:22:06] Voice 4: And then, is there other preliminary feedback that we wish to provide today? I think it's,

[1:22:20] Voice 4: that's you know certainly we need some more information but uh uh we asked a lot of staff

[1:22:32] Voice 4: advice on um certainly we've received a lot of um a lot of uh letters and we've had some

[1:22:40] Voice 4: from the public um concerns about the location um and as preliminary feedback goes i mean i think

[1:22:54] Voice 4: it's fair to say you've heard that but uh is it um in terms of the

[1:23:00] Voice 16: procedure from here

[1:23:02] Voice 16: on out to whether

[1:23:04] Voice 4: we may receive a request for conference is it necessary to provide that type

[1:23:09] Voice 4: of feedback today i think what the feedback we received is um okay we can certainly reflect that

[1:23:26] Voice 4: back and incorporate that um as we go forward um and i'm sure we'll hear more about it going forward

[1:23:32] as well um as

[1:23:34] Voice 4: long as your focus remains both uh remains on giving back to you with the expectation

[1:23:40] Voice 4: that the obligation to it's all the first nations and with all of themselves absolutely then i think

[1:23:49] Voice 4: that is uh that would be usable i'm not sure if there's much beyond um the invitation would be

[1:23:56] Voice 4: back in the negotiation process that we've got a whole project um which is somewhat uh

[1:24:08] Voice 4: for us to fit my roles yes

[1:24:11] Voice 4: process yeah and i mean and also certainly there's um you know in that final paragraph

[1:24:20] Voice 4: of the consultation that i wanted to do but most of that has actually um not necessarily to do with

[1:24:27] um to directly

[1:24:30] Voice 4: to to uh do with the local trust any actions by this committee so but the applicant

[1:24:37] Voice 4: is going to be required to provide staff for review those items that are listed and i think

[1:24:44] Voice 4: perhaps at that time is the time for us to get into um sort of more fulsome feedback that'd be

[1:24:52] Voice 4: my impression is that too miserable to the public feedback yeah okay and that will happen in due

[1:25:04] course so i don't

[1:25:07] Voice 4: believe we have any requirements to date any more on that item no correct well yeah

[1:25:18] Voice 4: it's i i think just um i i know i've spoken to a lot of people following our last power proposal

[1:25:26] Voice 4: and overall telecommunications towers these things are part of the environment that we're

[1:25:43] Voice 4: in these days but salt spring really you know we don't have an overall approach we just respond

[1:25:49] Voice 4: to a tower here tower there and um and i know the the industry itself doesn't enjoy you know

[1:25:58] Voice 4: of what it has to go through.

[1:26:04] Voice 4: So it's like, well, where are they okay?

[1:26:07] Voice 4: And do we have a strategy for them?

[1:26:11] Voice 4: So I think it's something we have to look at in the future,

[1:26:17] Voice 4: but by the time we get to it,

[1:26:19] Voice 4: there'll be a whole new type of post-flight.

[1:26:24] Voice 4: But I just think it's something that going at these things

[1:26:28] Voice 4: one at a time is always difficult for a community.

[1:26:31] Voice 4: And it's a hard thing when it's the industry itself that needs these, that who should be

[1:26:36] Voice 4: leading an activity saying where they belong rather than here or there.

[1:26:43] Voice 4: Well, yeah, certainly, I mean, we've heard from members of the public, there's proximity

[1:26:47] Voice 4: issues, health effects, but also when it comes to dealing with federal regulator to simply

[1:26:58] they state we don't want any anywhere um it's

[1:27:02] Voice 4: not well received with those federal regulators and in

[1:27:06] Voice 4: fact i think you were right there was some uh some opportunity to identify better sites um rather

[1:27:17] Voice 4: than being for components to come up with sites that that might be a positive thing if when these

[1:27:24] Voice 4: proposals come forward um the local trust committee could say well these are so these are

[1:27:31] Voice 4: a couple of sites that the committee figures are better than other sites um because in my

[1:27:39] experience with other local trust committees and

[1:27:42] Voice 4: these type of tower um propositions is that

[1:27:46] Voice 4: um the federal regulator who has the ultimate decision-making power on these questions

[1:27:55] Voice 4: might be open to another location um whereas they're less they don't tend to uh listen to

[1:28:04] Voice 4: we don't want any um uh as as being from their valid um position to take so look at you know

[1:28:17] Voice 4: potential the

[1:28:20] Voice 5: potentiality

[1:28:21] Voice 4: of inevitability and really kind of holding it on where better

[1:28:27] Voice 4: locations would be to point the federal roadway to be a positive thing but i i take your point

[1:28:33] trustee patrick that's a project unto itself um which uh this local

[1:28:39] Voice 4: trust committee does not have

[1:28:41] Voice 4: the capacity to undertake at this time and use it to use an analogy yeah so then

[1:28:53] Voice 4: we just need

[1:28:53] Voice 4: to move on we're just receiving this right we're going to receive this for information today and

[1:28:58] Voice 4: and we will expect to hear back from you, Cora.

[1:29:03] Voice 4: Do we need a motion to proceed with this recommendation?

[1:29:07] Voice 4: Yeah. I believe that if I pass the resolution

[1:29:10] Voice 4: we don't need another resolution. Alright, let's move on then.

[1:29:19] Next we have the OCP LUB project update.

[1:29:25] Voice 4: Staff report starting on page 165.

[1:29:29] Voice 4: Mr. Chair, is there anybody in the waiting room? Mr. Kevin Brooks.

[1:29:33] Voice 4: Let me have a look here, see what I can see.

[1:29:41] Voice 4: Oh,

[1:29:42] Voice 5: we do have,

[1:29:42] Voice 4: yeah, we've got-

[1:29:44] Voice 4: Can we recess for five minutes just to get everything set up?

[1:29:47] Voice 4: Sure.

[1:29:48] Voice 4: No, that's totally reasonable.

[1:29:50] Voice 4: So Mr. Brooks and Sandra, we're gonna take five here and-

[1:29:58] Voice 10: Very good.

[1:30:02] Voice 4: Okay,

[1:30:03] Voice 10: perfect. Can you actually hear me fine?

[1:30:06] Voice 4: Yeah, that's one of the things I wanted to check, Kevin.

[1:30:15] You

[1:30:18] Voice 4: can hear us okay, Kevin?

[1:30:23] Voice 4: Can you, I just wanted to sound check for you here real quick here.

[1:30:27] Voice 10: Yeah, certainly. How's that working?

[1:30:30] Voice 4: I think I'm not quite.

[1:30:32] Voice 10: Yeah.

[1:30:35] Voice 10: How's that now?

[1:30:56] Voice 4: Okay, very good.

[1:31:00] Voice 10: Yeah. And Sandra is going to do the majority of the presentation. I'll

[1:31:05] Voice 10: be here to answer questions and things like that of that nature also. So we should get

[1:31:08] Voice 10: Sandra to test her mic also. Hi Chris,

[1:31:16] Voice 2: how are you? How are you? Good, can you hear me okay?

[1:31:49] Voice 4: all right is that all right is

[1:31:51] Voice 10: this is this working better now chris yeah

[1:31:54] Voice 4: i think it's

[1:31:55] Voice 4: we're going to try this uh speaker

[1:32:12] Voice 4: So I think it should be, it should be all right.

[1:32:27] Voice 1: it's hard to tell for me right now because i think your microphone is picking up a lot

[1:32:30] Voice 1: of the background noise but once we get going it will be

[1:32:43] Voice 5: everybody that

[1:32:43] Voice 4: we're live streaming

[1:41:52] Voice 9: I can. Are you ready to go?

[1:41:55] Voice 4: Yeah, we're ready. Thank you.

[1:41:57] Voice 4: We have Mr. Charles. I'll introduce Kevin Brooks is our is the project manager now for McElhaney.

[1:42:12] Voice 4: me. The private consultant is working on this project.

[1:42:17] Voice 3: Joining him today is Sandra Borden,

[1:42:19] Voice 3: who's our agent lead for the project for a while. And I'll maybe let Mr. Brooks take

[1:42:24] Voice 3: over from here. It's important.

[1:42:28] Voice 10: Thank you very much. Can everybody hear me all right now?

[1:42:32] Voice 10: Yeah.

[1:42:33] Voice 10: Perfect. Yeah, thank you for the introduction, Chris. Just a quick introduction as I'm the

[1:42:38] Voice 10: new project manager on this. My name is Kevin Brooks. I'm actually the division manager

[1:42:43] Voice 10: manager planning for McElhinney for Vancouver Island, reside in Duncan.

[1:42:48] Voice 10: I'm still getting fully up to speed on the project, but that's quickly happening.

[1:42:52] Voice 10: I have Sandra and the team that brought me along and working with Chris really

[1:42:55] Voice 10: closely over the last week and a half to get all my ducks in a row here.

[1:43:01] Voice 10: Sandra has a presentation that can

[1:43:03] Voice 10: to review the phase one update that we've provided to staff and to the LTC.

[1:43:09] Voice 10: And then after that, of course, we're here to answer any questions that you might

[1:43:12] Voice 10: have. So I'll pass it over to Sandra. And then, like I said, if you have any questions, we'd be

[1:43:17] Voice 10: happy to have those discussions with you. Hi, everyone.

[1:43:27] Voice 2: Hello, everyone. Can you hear me? Okay.

[1:43:29] Voice 9: We can hear you well.

[1:43:32] Voice 2: Terrific. So I do have a short presentation, I think we'll walk through

[1:43:35] Voice 2: this. And then as Kevin said, we'll do questions at the end. I'm happy to answer questions in the

[1:43:41] Voice 2: middle. If that's a better fit, just let me know. So as mentioned, this is really an overview of

[1:43:48] Voice 2: this phase one. And phase one was intended to do targeted visioning and initial OCP development.

[1:43:54] Voice 2: So this is really the foundational building blocks. So three core work streams, comprehensive

[1:44:00] Voice 2: technical review, the policy gap analysis, and the facilitated targeted community visioning

[1:44:06] Voice 2: through engagement. So we did a 40-day engagement campaign. We had 468 online surveys submitted,

[1:44:16] Voice 2: and that includes a couple of paper copies that have been input by hand.

[1:44:21] Voice 2: We engaged approximately 600 people through that process.

[1:44:26] Voice 2: We did four in-person pop-up events on the island,

[1:44:30] Voice 2: and the survey had around a 91% completion rate,

[1:44:33] Voice 2: which means that 91% of people that started the survey actually finished it.

[1:44:39] Voice 2: Engagement did have a couple of challenges.

[1:44:41] Voice 2: challenges. We definitely feel that there's more that could be done. The challenges were really a

[1:44:50] Voice 2: range of things. And I think the ultimate outcome of that is that we don't feel that the data likely

[1:44:58] Voice 2: reflects the full breadth and diversity of the perspectives from community members. So we are

[1:45:03] Voice 2: recommending an additional supplemental round of engagement to build on what was received,

[1:45:08] Voice 2: and deepen the exploration of a few of the emergent themes

[1:45:12] Voice 2: and really enhance effort to bring

[1:45:14] Voice 2: those less represented community members into the process

[1:45:17] Voice 2: and to make sure that their voices are in engagement.

[1:45:23] Voice 2: The photos that you're seeing on the screen

[1:45:25] Voice 2: are from the in-person on-island engagement

[1:45:28] Voice 2: that was done in September.

[1:45:29] Voice 2: So you can see there's quite a variety of activities.

[1:45:32] Voice 2: The boards on the right are the post-it notes

[1:45:34] Voice 2: are input from individuals that came by the booth.

[1:45:37] Voice 2: And then the activities on the table in the left

[1:45:39] Voice 2: or simply answering other questions other other ways to capture that input so we have the

[1:45:47] Voice 2: recommended activities that we that we think would fit a supplemental engagement period

[1:45:54] Voice 2: communications and marketing is really key here so these aren't necessarily things that will gather

[1:45:58] Voice 2: information but there will help to mobilize knowledge of the process more broadly into the

[1:46:04] Voice 2: community so expanding the information on the website and using a story map which is a special

[1:46:10] Voice 2: kind of website that's very interactive. They're really interesting to look at. They help to tell

[1:46:13] Voice 2: the story of a place and really regionalize web-based information. So expanding the use of

[1:46:20] Voice 2: those tools to share information about the process itself really help to support community understanding

[1:46:25] Voice 2: of what the current OCP is, what it contains, what it does, and the areas that they will have

[1:46:32] Voice 2: an opportunity to provide input on. We'd also like to see enhanced social media and articles

[1:46:39] Voice 2: and advertisements in local print media or online media in community posters and flyers and we have

[1:46:45] Voice 2: tyvek versions of those that can be used in the wintertime so the idea here is that we're really

[1:46:49] Voice 2: getting in situ in the community um trying to put project information and opportunities to engage

[1:46:55] Voice 2: right in front of people where they are in the community uh island wide mail out which

[1:46:59] Voice 2: unfortunately was planned for phase one and unfortunately didn't happen because of the

[1:47:03] Voice 2: Canada post-labor action. So of course, this is dependent on the conclusion of that labor action.

[1:47:09] Voice 2: And then mobilizing community champions and on-island networks. So really using the folks

[1:47:14] Voice 2: that we know are interested and keen in the process and helping them to mobilize the right

[1:47:20] Voice 2: messages out into the community to help folks understand where they can engage, when they can

[1:47:24] Voice 2: engage, and what that looks like. So marketing and communications are a big part of what we're

[1:47:30] Voice 2: recommending in terms of activities so these are the activities that actually gather information

[1:47:35] Voice 2: from community members the story map as i mentioned earlier the interactive website is a

[1:47:41] Voice 2: great way to do that it's a digital tool that can be easily shared by community networks additional

[1:47:48] Voice 2: staff-led in-person engagement activities with targeted to reach underrepresented community

[1:47:53] Voice 2: members in ways that promote very safe dialogic participation i'd love to see some additional

[1:47:59] Voice 2: passive in community engagements this is like activities like posters where they can scan QR

[1:48:04] Voice 2: codes do quick polls not necessarily big long surveys but shorter capture type questions

[1:48:09] Voice 2: we have activities called like a walking wall which is a long corridor type wall

[1:48:17] Voice 2: where specific questions are asked and as the participant walks down the wall and reads all

[1:48:22] Voice 2: of the different components they have an opportunity to provide input at each stage

[1:48:25] Voice 2: and then a verticy mapping tool which is a geospatial way of capturing data so again this

[1:48:31] Voice 2: is something that's easily shared through online communities folks can share it with their neighbors

[1:48:35] Voice 2: send it out via email they click on the link and it brings them to a map of a community they can

[1:48:40] Voice 2: drop a pin on a specific place and either respond to questions that that we have put into the system

[1:48:46] Voice 2: asking maybe about particular land uses or feelings about certain areas or they can just

[1:48:52] Voice 2: provide general information that they feel should be part of the process or something that the team

[1:48:58] Voice 2: should know and it's geo-referenced to that specific location and it's a very neat tool we find that we

[1:49:04] Voice 2: get some very informative responses when we use this in community engagement so those are just

[1:49:08] Voice 2: some of the things that that we could do and certainly things that we're recommending would

[1:49:13] Voice 2: be a good fit based on what we learned in phase one also in our recommendations we think that a

[1:49:22] Voice 2: a series of workshops with the APC group would really help to support a shared understanding of

[1:49:29] Voice 2: roles, process, and collaboration. I think really to ensure that the committee's efforts are aligned

[1:49:35] Voice 2: with the project goals and that we're tapping into the collective knowledge that's in that group

[1:49:40] Voice 2: to help inform that engagement program and also to inform the general direction of the

[1:49:44] Voice 2: the project. There is First Nations engagement happening concurrent to this engagement that is

[1:49:56] Voice 2: run by McElhinney that is staff-led. So we want to make sure that additional time we can support

[1:50:02] Voice 2: the coordination effort there and make sure that the insights from that engagement fit properly

[1:50:07] Voice 2: into the process and the timeline here so that there's meaningful engagement and that outcomes

[1:50:11] Voice 2: outcomes of those meetings and those sessions can be included in the project and I think the

[1:50:18] Voice 2: important piece here is to also make sure that there's an opportunity to fit those timelines to

[1:50:22] Voice 2: the approaches and timelines that fit for the First Nations groups. So the recommended project

[1:50:29] Voice 2: timeline to add the supplemental phase of engagement really is looking at this November

[1:50:36] Voice 2: December continuing on producing potentially a light report or a summary report and then looking

[1:50:43] Voice 2: it late January to March for that supplemental phase of engagement I recommend four weeks

[1:50:49] Voice 2: that would take us into May where we would review the engagement feedback and prepare

[1:50:54] Voice 2: that full what we heard report and then deliver workshops with the APC through that period and

[1:51:01] Voice 2: then a workshop with the LTC to develop a draft OCP outline in the early part of the spring.

[1:51:07] Voice 2: So what that looks like in terms of the big context of the project you can see here that

[1:51:12] Voice 2: we're just adding that supplemental engagement and then that phase two which is drafting those

[1:51:17] Voice 2: core ocp elements is still starting in december and running through may but we have an opportunity

[1:51:21] Voice 2: to inform and deepen what we have learned in engagement while that draft ocp is being written

[1:51:26] Voice 2: and

[1:51:32] Voice 9: that's it for me questions are there questions questions yeah questions and

[1:51:48] Voice 5: i do have comments

[1:51:50] Voice 4: as well.

[1:51:52] Voice 4: Like any good

[1:51:54] Voice 4: planned event,

[1:51:55] Voice 4: Canada post-strike,

[1:51:57] Voice 4: strike, anything else,

[1:52:00] Voice 4: but I do have

[1:52:03] Voice 4: a number of comments.

[1:52:04] Voice 4: I know

[1:52:07] Voice 4: we do have

[1:52:09] Voice 4: several island

[1:52:11] Voice 4: and regional organizations that are

[1:52:13] Voice 4: participating

[1:52:14] Voice 4: and I did talk

[1:52:17] Voice 4: last month about

[1:52:19] Voice 4: of the Positively Forward petition that said that we're currently considering major changes

[1:52:26] Voice 4: to the OCP and land use of the bylaws that are unnecessary and unsustainable, and we

[1:52:31] Voice 4: aren't considering any.

[1:52:33] Voice 4: But today, I really wanted to focus on some of the activities or the engagement activities,

[1:52:40] Voice 4: particularly with the transition to Salt Spring, and really talk about what we know and how

[1:52:49] Voice 4: and how we could be better in that community place.

[1:52:58] Voice 4: I want to acknowledge that the effort

[1:53:04] Voice 4: that went into their process,

[1:53:06] Voice 4: it's a positive sign that people really care, we know that.

[1:53:17] Voice 4: This is an island community, people really care

[1:53:20] Voice 4: about the island and its culture

[1:53:23] Voice 4: and we

[1:53:24] Voice 4: value that

[1:53:27] Voice 4: but

[1:53:29] Voice 4: there have been some

[1:53:30] Voice 4: two words I hate most

[1:53:33] Voice 4: in local government

[1:53:35] Voice 4: unintended consequences

[1:53:38] Voice 4: I know that

[1:53:42] Voice 4: the transition process

[1:53:44] Voice 4: that they undertook themselves

[1:53:46] Voice 4: that's being called common ground

[1:53:48] Voice 4: or consensus

[1:53:48] Voice 4: they took a number of key issues

[1:53:51] Voice 4: off the table

[1:53:52] Voice 4: they didn't even bring them to the table

[1:53:54] Voice 4: talked about. And I think avoiding these issues means that the public perception of this consensus

[1:54:12] Voice 4: isn't there when we've had particular issues that people do feel strongly about.

[1:54:21] Voice 4: Suites and cottages are an example. And then the transition, the common ground part, went

[1:54:30] Voice 4: and into other matters that are not within our jurisdiction,

[1:54:34] Voice 4: such as incorporation and speculation of vacancy tax.

[1:54:37] Voice 4: So their issue, I think, frustrated or confuses

[1:54:44] Voice 4: what this project is about and what we can influence.

[1:54:50] Voice 4: So I think this leads to some of the questions

[1:54:52] Voice 4: as we're gonna talk about what's the information,

[1:54:54] Voice 4: what are we informing?

[1:54:56] Voice 4: What is our market campaign that we have?

[1:55:10] Voice 4: They've also been presenting their findings

[1:55:12] Voice 4: to other senior levels of government,

[1:55:15] Voice 4: which we are going to be pursuing approvals from.

[1:55:21] Voice 4: So I'm just concerned that we have our own engagement

[1:55:27] Voice 4: process and our process is vitally important

[1:55:32] Voice 4: important that it's transparent, inclusive, and formal.

[1:55:49] Voice 4: But I do have some concerns and I'll be frank

[1:55:52] Voice 4: that there's room for us to approve.

[1:55:58] Voice 4: The initial survey, for example,

[1:56:02] Voice 4: the advisory planning commission didn't see it.

[1:56:05] Voice 4: We didn't see it.

[1:56:09] Voice 4: And yes, there was a mail strike.

[1:56:12] Voice 4: Our staff were on strike.

[1:56:13] Voice 4: but there we had very little presence in the community there was no we weren't presenting

[1:56:20] Voice 4: our material uh transition salt spray really outshined us they had great coverage out there

[1:56:29] Voice 4: and we had very little so we really really have to do better and i'm i'm glad we're taking the

[1:56:41] Voice 4: step to sort of reset and learn. And I think we need to, you know, we really want to keep

[1:56:49] Voice 4: community groups engaged. And I know they're going to stay engaged.

[1:56:58] Voice 4: But we need to make

[1:57:00] Voice 4: sure it's coordinated in line with our work. And so I try to put a lot of thought into

[1:57:06] Voice 4: to what it is that we need to do.

[1:57:09] Voice 4: And I think the things that we need to do are we really

[1:57:15] Voice 4: need to establish clear communication channels

[1:57:18] Voice 4: between ourselves and the community-led groups.

[1:57:21] Voice 4: I think you kind of alluded to that.

[1:57:25] Voice 4: But we need to do that before the next phase begins.

[1:57:28] Voice 4: We really need to go out and talk to folks and help them.

[1:57:35] Voice 4: You know, if they're going to be out there collecting information, let's help them, give them, you know, not just an unscripted conversation, but I think we've got to get some conversations out there.

[1:57:49] Voice 4: I think we need to provide some guidance. I know you talked before about some sort of a toolkit or kitchen toolkit or something that you were talking about.

[1:57:58] Voice 4: I don't know if that's the right tool, but we need to explain our jurisdiction and scope

[1:58:06] Voice 4: and be able to give that to the community groups that are wanting to be in the process

[1:58:13] Voice 4: so that they understand who we are, what we are, what's the scope of this project.

[1:58:23] Voice 4: And we need to, you know, I know you will be integrating what people are collecting

[1:58:32] Voice 4: out there, but I think if we're clear as to what our expectations are for transparency

[1:58:40] Voice 4: and representation, representativeness, then it, you know, helps them

[1:58:44] Voice 4: that when they hand

[1:58:46] Voice 4: us material, they understand that we'll be able to use it or not.

[1:58:51] Voice 4: So I think laying out those expectations on how we can use information, what is our expectations

[1:58:59] Voice 4: on it.

[1:59:01] Voice 4: The advisory planning, I think we need to clarify and support them, clarify their role

[1:59:08] Voice 4: and support them because that is their job.

[1:59:14] Voice 4: I really saw that that was our expectation was we set out saying we wanted to make sure that we are being inclusive and that we're hearing from a wide voice of the island.

[1:59:27] Voice 4: And we know we're pushing the bounds, that we can historically just talk to who shows up, and that we know we've got to go out and talk to others, that there's a huge, silent majority on this island that we need to tap into and hear from.

[1:59:52] Voice 4: and to me the advisory planning commission's job that was one of their jobs was to say

[1:59:57] Voice 4: you went out

[2:00:00] Voice 4: did this type of engagement which they need to give you you know feedback as well as we need

[2:00:04] Voice 4: feedback we expect to hear from these people did we hear from them and if we didn't you know where

[2:00:12] Voice 4: can we make corrections so i we need to make we need

[2:00:17] Voice 5: to give them

[2:00:17] Voice 4: something to do and talk to

[2:00:20] Voice 4: them specifically and i i know i think i only got to see one of the meetings but you know the work

[2:00:26] Voice 4: plan was just put

[2:00:27] Voice 4: out there were no directions or questions i think we need to be specific what do

[2:00:31] Voice 4: we need to hear from the advisory planning commission let's ask them questions let's say

[2:00:36] Voice 4: you

[2:00:36] Voice 12: know i i want this

[2:00:37] Voice 4: specific feedback you know that is having having a booth in front of the

[2:00:43] Voice 4: grocery store is that the right thing to do is that or somewhere else you know or have those

[2:00:47] Voice 4: conversations because that's that's how we try to populate that group with a broad range of people

[2:00:54] Voice 4: people. So we should be getting some broad range of feedback that public materials and

[2:01:06] Voice 4: engagement plans. Yes, we need we need to see the material as well where they get out

[2:01:12] Voice 4: tonight. So our timeline

[2:01:16] Voice 1: so tight that

[2:01:17] Voice 4: we can't see it, but maybe our timelines. Let's

[2:01:29] Voice 4: you talk about the marketing campaign, but it's really

[2:01:32] Voice 4: part of it. It's about

[2:01:33] Voice 4: its communications

[2:01:36] Voice 4: capacity. It's how

[2:01:37] Voice 4: we communicate, what we communicate.

[2:01:41] Voice 4: But it's

[2:01:41] Voice 4: communications, and it's hard.

[2:01:44] Voice 4: I'm not going to say it's easy on this island.

[2:01:46] Voice 4: There are multiple sources.

[2:01:48] Voice 4: Nobody goes to the same place.

[2:01:49] Voice 4: We're not

[2:01:50] Voice 11: an easy island.

[2:01:53] Voice 4: So it is a challenge to get the

[2:01:55] Voice 4: communications out, but

[2:01:57] Voice 4: but we've got to invest in that.

[2:02:02] Voice 4: And I also want to ask the project team,

[2:02:05] Voice 4: I know we've got a lot on our plate,

[2:02:07] Voice 4: we're out there doing things,

[2:02:08] Voice 4: but we need to at least have a virtual meeting

[2:02:13] Voice 4: with our MLA, MLA Botterell,

[2:02:16] Voice 4: and bring them up to date on what the project is,

[2:02:20] Voice 1: introduce

[2:02:20] Voice 4: the team, the plans, who we are, where we're going,

[2:02:26] Voice 4: because he's an important voice.

[2:02:28] Voice 4: The community talks to him,

[2:02:30] Voice 4: so we need to be taking time to talk to him too.

[2:02:36] Voice 4: And we can talk,

[2:02:39] Voice 4: I'll talk more about a couple of things,

[2:02:40] Voice 4: but I think that's generally some of my initial feedback.

[2:02:46] Voice 5: Anything

[2:02:59] Voice 4: in this moment?

[2:03:04] Voice 10: Yeah, thank you very much for those comments.

[2:03:06] Voice 10: I think they're quite consistent

[2:03:07] Voice 10: with where our heads are at also.

[2:03:09] Voice 10: Also, I don't think that you've you've stated anything there that that that we're not in

[2:03:16] Voice 10: agreeance with.

[2:03:17] Voice 10: So I think what it what it will be is Sandra and I working with Chris and coming together

[2:03:23] Voice 10: with a really key plan to make sure that we do capture that and what that might look like.

[2:03:27] Voice 10: So, you know, that's Chris and I are hoping to meet early next week to actually start

[2:03:31] Voice 10: having some of those conversations about how do we go from where we're at now, capture

[2:03:35] Voice 10: some of these key strategies that we want to begin to implement and how that looks with regards to

[2:03:42] Voice 10: how we you know amend our work plan to make sure that you know we're not extending this

[2:03:47] Voice 10: project out significant amount of time we still hit some of our key deadlines but also capture

[2:03:52] Voice 10: some of these key items that we both or we've all sort of identified that we need to address so

[2:04:00] Voice 10: So thank you very much for the comments.

[2:04:07] Voice 4: Yeah.

[2:04:08] Voice 4: I know you've got more.

[2:04:09] Voice 5: Well, no, that's all right.

[2:04:10] Voice 5: I

[2:04:10] Voice 4: know we've got the observations, too.

[2:04:13] Voice 4: I'm not sure.

[2:04:15] Voice 4: I just think we don't have to reinvent some things.

[2:04:21] Voice 4: There are other community events going on.

[2:04:25] Voice 4: I know there's a group of seniors right now that are meeting and talking about co-housing.

[2:04:29] Voice 4: I reached out to their head person and said, hey, can we invite the OCP team to one of your meetings?

[2:04:37] Voice 4: you know so they already have a group of seniors they're talking about co-housing so you know these

[2:04:41] Voice 4: are the type of things i think we need to be out there catching um and if they're already

[2:04:48] Voice 4: assembling let's take take advantage of um so i think that i think we need to people are going to

[2:04:55] Voice 4: be imagining all things you know the it's the the two extremes are being imagined we're out there

[2:05:04] Voice 4: trying to double the population of the island, you know, where the other voices out there say,

[2:05:09] Voice 4: oh no, we're doing this because we're shutting down all development, you know. So you've got

[2:05:13] Voice 4: both stories around the community rotating, you know, that's like that has nothing to do with it.

[2:05:19] Voice 4: It's about, you know, are there things we could do better? There are, you know. And for example,

[2:05:27] Voice 4: this, you know, the opportunity right now in North Salt Spring and the potential to direct

[2:05:32] Voice 4: some of that uh addition the new water that's been a new water from the water that's been

[2:05:38] Voice 4: available um and i think that's of critical importance uh and we know time is of the

[2:05:48] Voice 4: essence in this case as well those connections could drip away from us if we don't get working

[2:05:57] Voice 4: So, you know, we've always talked about off ramps to go off

[2:06:01] Voice 4: ramps being a possibility and I think that's something we want to be kind of making sure that conversation isn't getting lost in our overall conversation that people are thinking about that.

[2:06:16] Voice 4: I'm hearing from the community that they will see those connections directed to

[2:06:24] Voice 4: the kind of housing that we want to hear, but you need to hear that in the engagement

[2:06:29] Voice 4: so we can be recording that and seeing that and capturing that so that it doesn't go unmentioned.

[2:06:35] Voice 4: So I think some of that we're going to have to prompt when the communications will be

[2:06:40] Voice 4: looking for feedback on that so that you're collecting that record.

[2:06:47] Voice 4: When we were designing this whole thing, it seems like a very long time ago, we also talked

[2:06:55] Voice 4: about potential working groups.

[2:06:57] Voice 4: And I know that we're, you know, our dreams are always bigger than our abilities to get

[2:07:04] Voice 4: them done.

[2:07:05] Voice 4: But, you know, the short, we talked about the short term rental and the accommodation

[2:07:11] Voice 4: groups and getting their feedback.

[2:07:13] Voice 4: Well, winter is the time to get their feedback.

[2:07:15] Voice 4: If we intended to get a group of short-term rental providers

[2:07:23] Voice 4: giving us feedback, this is it.

[2:07:26] Voice 4: If we don't talk to them in the next few months,

[2:07:29] Voice 4: they're going to be busy, and we're not

[2:07:31] Voice 4: going to talk to them again for another year.

[2:07:34] Voice 4: So I am concerned about that they exist.

[2:07:38] Voice 4: They're, again, they're groups that exist.

[2:07:41] Voice 4: You don't have to go create or advertise for working groups.

[2:07:44] Voice 4: They don't really exist.

[2:07:46] Voice 4: You just have to invite them to a meeting.

[2:07:49] Voice 4: And I don't think it'll be a very lengthy meeting.

[2:07:52] Voice 4: I know it's being done on goal.

[2:07:56] Voice 4: So, you know, I don't think these things need to be big time consuming.

[2:08:01] Voice 4: We just need to take the effort to invite these existing groups in and reach out to them.

[2:08:08] Voice 4: I did have, there's a couple of things in the report that I would just say,

[2:08:28] Voice 4: in a general sense, the notion of a supplementary engagement period. I think that's fine. It's

[2:08:41] Voice 4: reasonable. It's probably a good idea. I had some notes here. I know the project APC had

[2:08:55] they would have liked to have had some

[2:08:57] Voice 4: input into survey questions specifically.

[2:09:05] Voice 4: So if there was to be more, any type of further survey questions, that type of input, that's

[2:09:12] Voice 4: what we have in the project agency for.

[2:09:17] Voice 4: And then the other thing from the report is there's a bullet on page 8 of the report that says respond to community calls for townhall-style gatherings by developing more robust project FAQs and more marketing efforts to direct engagement opportunities.

[2:09:42] Voice 4: And I'm going to assume that I'm reading that wrong in that that's not saying that that is instead of having town hall type opportunities.

[2:10:00] Voice 4: But it kind of reads that way.

[2:10:05] Voice 10: I can comment on the town hall approach in regards to engagement.

[2:10:13] Voice 10: I generally don't support town halls as part of the engagement process.

[2:10:16] Voice 10: process. There's lots of different reasons for that. There's ways of effective engagement and

[2:10:21] Voice 10: engagement that allows for what I call low barrier participation. Town halls tend to, and we've heard

[2:10:30] Voice 10: this from part of our conversations on the island, tend to create a very conflict and aggressive

[2:10:37] Voice 10: approach to conversations that can often deter participation. Our goal with the way that we

[2:10:44] Voice 10: we do engagement is to actually create low barrier forms of participation that allow anybody that

[2:10:50] Voice 10: wishes to participate to participate and so we want to avoid those situations that create those

[2:10:55] Voice 10: types of those types of environments and there's lots of different tools that we have to do so

[2:10:59] Voice 10: secondly town halls often are more excuse the terminology but it's more of a talking head we

[2:11:06] Voice 10: give information out but we don't generally get really quality information back in a town hall

[2:11:11] Voice 10: environment. And so there's, like I said, we have a lot of different tools to ensure that we create

[2:11:20] Voice 10: an engagement environment that is open and comfortable for people to participate. And so

[2:11:27] Voice 10: we recommend against actually using town halls as one of our key strategies for communication

[2:11:32] Voice 10: and consultation with the community.

[2:11:35] Voice 4: I think part of the issue is communications.

[2:11:40] Voice 4: communications. We will have a public hearing at the end of this, and I think some people may be

[2:11:46] Voice 4: thinking that. I think our job is to tell them, if you do the engagement right, as you're describing,

[2:11:52] Voice 4: and as I expect us to be doing, then we're getting the feedback, the opinions of what we're going to

[2:12:01] Voice 4: be off, you know, that there will be draft policy out there, and you're going to be collecting

[2:12:06] Voice 4: and opinions on it. If we do our job right, that's what we're trying to say, if we do our job right,

[2:12:12] Voice 4: when we get to the public hearing, there should be crickets in the audience.

[2:12:18] Voice 4: We should have been anticipating and responding to what we were expecting to hear from the community.

[2:12:24] Voice 4: So we need to somehow get that across. We're not trying to remove you from

[2:12:34] Voice 4: your favorite town hall, but you're going to, we're getting your feedback, you're going to see your feedback, and if we listen to your feedback properly, we're going to see that in, you know, whatever the official request to change something at the end of the day.

[2:12:53] Voice 4: there is mistrust we'll call it that people don't trust us you know they think we've got an ulterior

[2:13:01] Voice 4: motive we've been secretly talking in the back room about our plan to triple the population on

[2:13:08] Voice 4: the island not um you know so you know we're trying to be transparent this process is transparent i

[2:13:15] Voice 4: think we just need to be clear on that there are no proposal we don't have proposed plans yet and

[2:13:22] Voice 4: that when we come out seeking that feedback um you know do we do this or this

[2:13:28] Voice 4: so the process

[2:13:29] Voice 4: is informing the next step which will inform the next step which will inform the next step

[2:13:39] Voice 4: yeah i guess from my perspective um i mean i hear what you're saying about you know the

[2:13:47] Voice 4: relative value of town hall um style sessions but i guess it's just the way this is written

[2:13:59] because i don't i think when you say you know respond to

[2:14:04] Voice 4: community calls for town hall by

[2:14:07] doing some something different um i know if i were a member of the public

[2:14:13] really wanting town halls and i read this part of the report um i i would take kindly to

[2:14:22] in to it because it looks like

[2:14:25] Voice 4: um uh diversion or or you know distraction rather than responding to

[2:14:30] Voice 4: now um explaining that there's going to be town hall opportunities through

[2:14:38] Voice 4: other portions of the process that'd be perhaps another approach or getting into um how

[2:14:46] how the type of engagement

[2:14:50] Voice 4: that is more valuable

[2:14:54] Voice 4: or really trying to get at

[2:14:56] Voice 4: is not easily gone through town hall.

[2:14:59] Voice 4: I just, this line of this report jumped out at me

[2:15:05] Voice 4: because of the way Hinsprenas is responding

[2:15:09] Voice 4: to the calls for this

[2:15:11] Voice 4: by doing something entirely different.

[2:15:13] Voice 4: So I don't know.

[2:15:14] Voice 4: it's i just i couldn't pass that by without mentioning that i'm not um i'm not uh advocating

[2:15:27] Voice 4: that we need to uh um

[2:15:29] Voice 3: go

[2:15:31] Voice 4: a different direction or anything but just that reads awkwardly i i think

[2:15:36] Voice 4: um to my eye when i see that so that that was one of the things that jumped out and then i i did

[2:15:44] Voice 4: mentioned about the project you see i think already in the notes um yeah and in general

[2:15:52] Voice 4: i think there's i think there's some value in that in a

[2:15:57] Voice 3: supplementary

[2:15:58] Voice 4: engagement period

[2:16:06] Voice 4: do you have thoughts on on the notion of the supplementary engagement period oh i

[2:16:15] Voice 4: I think I already talked about that. As long as we start to shape, not just do more of what we just did, but actually communicate some things out there, I think that'll help.

[2:16:29] Voice 4: So as far as, as far as goes today, we're being asked to endorse the project change for the, for the enhanced, and there's also a budgetary request here.

[2:17:05] Voice 3: is

[2:17:05] Voice 4: are there other things that you'd like to see the local trust committee take in terms of

[2:17:15] Voice 4: direction on um do we need great sort of other approaches that haven't been done or

[2:17:22] Voice 4: should be looked at um very much like my only question is you know we've identified a subject

[2:17:32] Voice 4: about a phase identified a bit more budget so what we've talked about is that expected to happen

[2:17:39] Voice 4: is this is this budget sufficient is the timeline sufficient you know

[2:17:46] Voice 4: i don't want to be told something that's not realistic i'd rather hear very bluntly um

[2:17:53] Voice 4: it is very important that you know we haven't even seen the gap assessment and the opportunities that

[2:18:05] Voice 4: are going to be coming from the analysis that's been done on the ocp

[2:18:12] Voice 4: And so I just, I just want to make sure that we're allowing enough time, but we also have some urgency in some aspects of it, like these opportunities to direct the connections.

[2:18:29] Voice 4: connections. So I guess, are you satisfied this budget is going to do it for what you've heard

[2:18:37] Voice 4: so far? We've only heard from 600 people, but you haven't shared with us what you heard from

[2:18:43] Voice 4: those 600 people. Do you think this is doable with what you're asking?

[2:18:48] Voice 10: Yeah, thank you very

[2:18:50] Voice 10: much for the question. We do appreciate that. We have reviewed this as a team and we do believe

[2:18:55] Voice 10: I believe it's it's definitely adequate. We are completing right now a very detailed work plan and Mr. Hutton and I myself are actually going to be sitting down and doing a very, very detailed work plan with actual dates that actually tie our key deliverables to LTC meeting dates and things like that.

[2:19:13] Voice 10: So that's hoping we're going to have that fleshed out here in the next week, week and a half.

[2:19:18] Voice 10: And it's going to be a much more detailed work plan with key deadlines tied back to key meeting dates.

[2:19:26] Voice 10: And so I think that's going to really help us hit the projected timeline that we actually provided in the report to you.

[2:19:34] Voice 10: And I think we have more than adequate time to do so, especially if we're doing that supplementary engagement component concurrent with the remaining of the technical review component also, that it will work actually quite effectively.

[2:20:11] Voice 4: No?

[2:20:17] Do you have a

[2:20:18] Voice 4: couple of people seeing with those at this time?

[2:20:22] Voice 4: Sure.

[2:20:24] Voice 4: I'll move that the South Spring Island Local Trust Committee endorse a project change.

[2:20:29] Voice 4: and option two is outlined in the report title

[2:20:32] Voice 4: of phase one update project in a random form.

[2:20:37] Voice 4: I'll second that motion and discussion of the motion.

[2:20:42] Voice 4: Seeing any, I'll call the question.

[2:20:44] Voice 4: All those in favor?

[2:20:45] Voice 4: Motion carries.

[2:20:46] Voice 4: I move that the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee

[2:20:48] Voice 4: amend the major project business space

[2:20:51] Voice 4: for the OCP land use by-law project

[2:20:53] Voice 4: for the fiscal year 2026-27 year budget

[2:20:56] Voice 4: by increasing the budget by 40,000

[2:20:58] Voice 4: in order to address the recommended actions

[2:21:01] Voice 4: Actions and timelines outlined in the phase one update project memorandum.

[2:21:08] Voice 4: Second that.

[2:21:09] Voice 4: And any further discussion on that motion?

[2:21:12] Voice 4: Call the question.

[2:21:13] Voice 4: All those in favor?

[2:21:15] Voice 4: That motion carries.

[2:21:16] Voice 4: And that's it for the comments.

[2:21:18] Voice 4: Well, I really wanted to make sure, I really thank everyone.

[2:21:22] Voice 4: And I mean everyone in the community, not just in the room here today,

[2:21:26] Voice 4: but the people that are, you know, that have been engaged so far.

[2:21:30] Voice 4: are and I really look forward to working better together and to strengthen you know our quality

[2:21:38] Voice 4: and integrity as how we listen consult decide to so

[2:21:43] Voice 1: that all voices

[2:21:44] Voice 4: on all issues are heard

[2:21:46] Voice 4: fairly and fully and I think it's it's important I put an article in the paper this week this is

[2:21:51] Voice 4: not about our opinions on the side of the table here this really was always designed to get

[2:21:58] Voice 4: forward project

[2:22:02] Voice 4: I wish we could just shake

[2:22:05] Voice 4: everybody and just say

[2:22:06] Voice 4: we're here, please trust us

[2:22:08] Voice 4: that would really be a lot of us

[2:22:10] Voice 4: I think in this next phase

[2:22:12] Voice 4: we just need to be smarter

[2:22:14] Voice 4: and get out there

[2:22:16] Voice 4: and work with

[2:22:19] Voice 4: these groups,

[2:22:21] Voice 1: they are good

[2:22:21] Voice 4: intentions

[2:22:23] Voice 4: everyone cares so deeply

[2:22:25] Voice 4: about you

[2:22:26] Voice 4: thank you

[2:22:28] Voice 4: Thank you, Patrick. Kevin or Zandra, anything further from you before we move on, or from staff?

[2:22:43] Voice 10: No, I don't have anything particular. I appreciate your time today.

[2:22:48] Voice 4: Thank you for joining us. And so next up, we have the report section. It's policy and standing resolutions at page 179.

[2:23:04] Voice 4: and then the application support is at page 187 on the stuff there's any updates you want to

[2:23:11] Voice 4: find anything there for our attention to substantial mr chair um

[2:23:26] Voice 3: it's all there there was an update we really wanted to make clear for

[2:23:29] Voice 3: for ltc but it's escaping me right now but if you're not having that question

[2:23:33] Voice 3: I hope that the answer question was answered.

[2:23:36] We really are making sure to attend to

[2:23:41] being very clear about what's going on with open application,

[2:23:44] how they're progressing,

[2:23:45] Voice 4: and why they're not progressing in some cases.

[2:23:59] Voice 4: There are a lot of rezones.

[2:24:05] Voice 4: Anyway, there are a lot of rezones.

[2:24:16] Voice 4: um i guess my question is is that work assessment too that there's a lot of rezoning there does seem

[2:24:26] Voice 3: to be a lot of them um and they seem to range quite a bit and there certainly are a number of

[2:24:32] Voice 3: affordable housing applications that were not there previously like that seems to increase

[2:24:37] over the past six to eight months um it doesn't make up for a large proportion of them

[2:24:44] But frankly, there are quite a few that are, like they

[2:24:47] Voice 3: just seem, it seems to be an

[2:24:49] Voice 4: oddity that we're in students, sort of.

[2:24:55] Voice 4: I count 19.

[2:25:02] Voice 4: So are applicants being made aware of timelines?

[2:25:10] Voice 4: I've

[2:25:10] Voice 3: certainly, I can certainly report that both the period of junior planners and the bulk of our applications have been quite cognitive.

[2:25:18] Voice 3: I think it's reflected in things about like, you know,

[2:25:21] Voice 3: the conversation we

[2:25:24] Voice 4: had last month really driven by just following up,

[2:25:29] Voice 4: following up with applicants and sometimes dividing some of these

[2:25:33] Voice 3: applications that frankly have stopped.

[2:25:35] Voice 3: So while staff are doing their best to stay on top of the incoming

[2:25:38] Voice 3: applications and the ones that are active,

[2:25:40] Voice 3: there are a number

[2:25:41] Voice 3: that you'll see that don't go and don't move forward as

[2:25:45] Voice 3: quickly as you'd like.

[2:25:47] Voice 3: And I know that's

[2:25:47] Voice 4: something that we believe we want to bring back, and we're kind of working towards a plan for that component to bring

[2:25:55] Voice 3: some of those back, possibly.

[2:25:59] Voice 3: Hopefully, if they're not advancing, in some cases, they are subject to file law enforcement.

[2:26:03] Voice 3: The open application is a way of reporting enforcement, but if they're not authentically advancing, it may be necessary to bring them back and consider closure of those files.

[2:26:17] Voice 3: because these these things just when they drag on like this it certainly i don't think it's good for

[2:26:22] Voice 3: anybody it's certainly not the issues that we're trying to address but

[2:26:27] Voice 4: whether by a remedy in the

[2:26:29] Voice 4: application or enforcement actions well i might also note that we have a diagram on the you know

[2:26:39] Voice 4: on our general website the process and the diagram starts with an early report to to these

[2:26:47] Voice 4: the local trust committee uh in the event of that perhaps a rezoning may not be of interest to the

[2:26:54] Voice 4: community lingering a long time and taking staff resources so i just really encourage you to use

[2:27:03] Voice 4: that early question to the preliminary reporting yeah yeah we and i know there have been some

[2:27:10] Voice 4: smaller applications recently where others have suggested like if we go ahead with the permanent

[2:27:15] I wouldn't notice that you could possibly consider

[2:27:17] Voice 3: a preliminary report to see if they just may not be

[2:27:21] Voice 3: supportable by LTC, if it's in their first form.

[2:27:26] Voice 3: So in the case of rezonings, we do tend to,

[2:27:32] Voice 3: as a standard process, we provide preliminary applications.

[2:27:37] Voice 3: One other thing to note is that what we've been seeing

[2:27:41] in the conversation with support of our students

[2:27:46] different relations advisor is that there are times with permits where we are proceeding with

[2:27:51] um with referring to first nations early rather than waiting for lpc to request that

[2:27:58] we anticipate a formal first nation referral process

[2:28:01] Voice 3: but until then i think it's there are

[2:28:04] Voice 3: times especially when we observe any type of archaeological scenario and i won't get too

[2:28:10] Voice 3: specific about those but uh when we see those things we'll confirm this year and consider a

[2:28:15] Voice 3: of first patient referral.

[2:28:17] Voice 8: We

[2:28:18] Voice 3: really hope that it's generated

[2:28:19] Voice 3: not only better outcomes

[2:28:21] Voice 4: for everyone

[2:28:22] Voice 4: and it's accelerated the process,

[2:28:24] Voice 4: but it's also hopefully building,

[2:28:26] Voice 4: helping us to build trust and relationships with area.

[2:28:31] Voice 4: I've also noticed some applicants

[2:28:33] Voice 4: are creating those relationships correctly

[2:28:35] Voice 4: before they even apply to us.

[2:28:37] Voice 4: So it's a good change to see

[2:28:40] Voice 4: that the early conversations are happening.

[2:28:48] Voice 4: Okay.

[2:28:49] Voice 4: Anything else on that?

[2:28:51] Voice 4: No, no.

[2:28:52] Voice 4: so appreciate that uh so we have no expense report for our conservancy board report today

[2:28:59] Voice 4: um and that's our next regular meeting is scheduled for 9 30 a.m

[2:29:06] Voice 4: december 11th right here at uh meeting hall and uh adjournment sure thank you everyone

Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee 
Regular Business Meeting 
November 6, 2025 ADOPTED Page 1 of 9 
 
 
   Salt Spring Local Trust Committee 
Minutes of Regular Meeting 
 
Date:  
 
Location:  
November 6, 2025 
 
Meaden Hall 
120 Blain Road, Salt Spring Island  
 
Members Present: Timothy Peterson, Chair 
Laura Patrick, Local Trustee 
 
Members Regrets: Jamie Harris, Local Trustee  
  
Staff Present: Chris Hutton, Regional Planning Manager 
 Oluwashogo Garuba, Planner 2 
Kalyaan Selvakumar, Planning Team Assistant 
 Lisa Millard, Meeting Coordinator (electronic) 
Carly Bilney, Recorder (electronic) 
  
Others Present: Kent Bittorf, Capital Regional District 
Gary Holman, Capital Regional District (CRD) Salt Spring Island 
Electoral Area Director  
Dan Ovington, Senior Manager, Capital Regional District 
 
There were 24 members of the public present. 
 
1. CALL TO ORDER 
Chair Peterson called the meeting to order at 12:35 p.m. He acknowledged that the meeting 
was being held in the territory of the Coast Salish First Nations. 
2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA 
Discussion was held about the timeline related to the Policy Statement referral and 
response deadline. Staff noted a community engagement is anticipated to take place in 
December or January, and details are to be determined. 
 By general consent, the agenda was approved as presented. 
3. TOWN HALL AND QUESTIONS 
Chair Peterson noted that the Public Hearings for the Proposed Bylaws 543, 544, & 545 had 
been held and as per Meeting Procedure Bylaw No. 391, the Local Trust Committee must 
not permit a delegation to address a meeting of the Committee regarding a bylaw in respect 
of which a public hearing has been held. 

 
 
Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee 
Regular Business Meeting 
November 6, 2025 ADOPTED Page 2 of 9 
Several members of the public expressed concern about the proposal for a 
telecommunication tower at 131 Knott Place for the following reasons: 
• Studies have been done that show negative impacts of electromagnetic fields on the 
environment and human health 
• The proposal has lacked stakeholder engagement 
• The importance of transparency, public trust and the use of the precautionary principle 
in municipal planning was emphasized 
• The Local Trust Committee was asked to engage with Lyackson and Halalt First Nations 
on the proposal 
• The island already has enough telecommunication towers and there is a need to protect 
Salt Spring’s nature and culture 
• Trustees were encouraged to seek impartial research on the science of electromagnetic 
fields 
• There is a need to defend the younger generation and the proposed tower would be too 
close to a school, daycare facility, and swimming pool  
• The negative impact of electromagnetic fields increases with exposure time and 
intensity  
• Alternative locations for a tower should be examined so it would have less impact on its 
surroundings 
• The proposed tower will affect the community in a very negative way 
4. DELEGATIONS – None 
5. TRUSTEE REPORTS  
Trustee Patrick commented on how the Official Community Plan has always anticipated 
growth since 1972 when a population of 18,000 was expected. She noted that growth is 
happening, and that the question is what do islanders want it to be like (what kind of 
housing is desired). She encouraged community members to provide feedback. She then 
reported the following: 
• Helped plan a Cross-Border Forum that included elected officials from all levels of 
government on both sides of the border – all of whom are committed to the region that 
encompasses the Gulf and San Juan Islands 
• Participated in a joint meeting of the Local Trust Committee and Local Community 
Commission and noted that no proposals have yet been made to update the Official 
Community Plan  
• Attended meetings with Trust Council, the Executive Committee, the Governance 
Committee, and the Financial Planning Committee 
• Noted the Capital Regional District, that has a different calendar year than Islands 
Trust, is ahead of the Islands Trust in budget conversations  
• Participated in Chair training Attended a round table of elected officials from north 
island communities who are working to identify specific requests they can make of the 
province to support rural housing in the region 
 
• 6.  CHAIR’S REPORT 
Chair Peterson reported the following: 
• Information will be coming about the Policy Statement Community Information 
Meetings that will most likely be scheduled for December and January 

 
 
Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee 
Regular Business Meeting 
November 6, 2025 ADOPTED Page 3 of 9 
• Labour actions caused a number of meeting cancellations and staff are working to get 
everything back on track 
• Recently met with the Governance Committee and discussed how to set Trust Council 
in the best way possible 
• There will be opportunity to get an update from BC Ferries on the plan for the Vesuvius-
Crofton route later in November 
• Attended a series of Transport Canada Ocean Protection Plan meetings online with 
various levels of government including First Nations 
• Attended an annual meeting of the Oil Spill Task Force that included a dedicated group 
of government and science representatives along the coast including Alaska, British 
Columbia, Washington, California and Hawaii 
7.  CRD DIRECTOR’S REPORT  
Director Holman reported the following: 
• A waterfront park donation in Fulford Harbour is now open to the public and next steps 
will focus on park management 
• The Local Community Commission has been considering ways to deal with liquid 
waste, and has found that the current approach is the most cost effective  
• Next spring, the Capital Regional District will be taking over the Ganges Fire Hall and 
there is a desire to repurpose the building; there will be public consultation about other 
uses for which the property may be used 
• There is a number of encouraging things happening on the housing front including: 
worker housing on Drake Road funded by BC Housing has opened; the Lookout Housing 
and Health Society is looking at the Kings Lane Project; the Heartwood House is being 
renovated to provide 18 units for health care workers 
• The Local Community Commission is undertaking a housing strategy and will work 
closely with the Local Trust Committee, particularly on the land use components  
• Visits from the Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs and the Minister of Health 
were positive 
• Funding is an important element of affordable housing and there has never been the 
capacity that we have today to move projects forward 
• The Capital Regional District recently approved its provisional budget which includes 
the Local Community Commission budget; a 20% increase for bus leasing from BC 
Transit will be added, and the budget will seek final approval in March  
8.  PREVIOUS MEETINGS 
8.1 Draft Minutes of the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee  
8.1.1 Draft Minutes of the October 16, 2025 Salt Spring Island Local Trust 
Committee Regular Meeting  
The following amendments to the minutes were presented for 
consideration: 
• On Page 5 of the agenda, the third bullet under Item 3: “A member of the 
public...concerns can be raised through Trust Council.” Change to: “A 
member of the public...concerns can be raised with the Trustee.” 

 
 
Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee 
Regular Business Meeting 
November 6, 2025 ADOPTED Page 4 of 9 
On page 8 of the agenda, page 5 of the minutes, item 14.1, change 
final bullet point to “A Trustee recommended that projects should 
be prioritized for connection to the water service.” By general 
consent, the minutes of the October 16, 2025 Salt Spring Island 
Local Trust Committee meeting were adopted as amended. 
8.2  Resolutions Without Meeting Report - None  
8.3  Draft Minutes of the Advisory Planning Commissions – None 
8.4  Local Trust Committee Public Hearing Record 
8.4.1 Bylaw 543 
 Received for information. 
8.4.2 Bylaws 544 and 545 
 Received for information. 
9. CORRESPONDENCE 
9.1  M. Bennett to LTC Email – Dated Oct 14 2025 regarding Groundwater in the 
Madrona Creek Watershed 
Received for information.  
10.  BUSINESS ARISING FROM MINUTES 
10.1 Follow-Up Action List  
Received for information. 
The Regional Planning Manager provided an update regarding the timeline of the 
Policy Statement referral and noted an engagement event will be planned for 
December 6, and another in January (date to be determined) so that feedback may 
return to the Local Trust Committee at the February 12th meeting. The Regional 
Planning Manager indicated that the goal is to have received comments from all 
Local Trust Committees in time to be published in the March Trust Council agenda. 
The Regional Planning Manager commented on correspondence received regarding 
challenges with oil disposal and asked how the Local Trust Committee would like to 
follow up. A Trustee responded that there are general questions about solid waste 
facilities that could be included in a conversation with bylaw enforcement. 
10.2 Delegation of Development Permits 
Staff report dated December 13, 2022 received for information. The Regional 
Planning Manager suggested the report be discussed at a future meeting when 
Trustee Harris is in attendance. 
11.  WORK PROGRAM  
11.1 Active Projects List  
Received for information.  

 
 
Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee 
Regular Business Meeting 
November 6, 2025 ADOPTED Page 5 of 9 
11.2  Future Projects List  
Received for information.  
12. COMMUNITY INFORMATION MEETING – None 
13. PUBLIC HEARING - None 
14. APPLICATIONS AND REFERRALS 
14.1 PLRZ20240188 – D. Ovington – 210/220 Kanaka Road, SSI 
The Planner summarized the staff report. The applicant indicated he was available 
for questions. A Trustee commented that they had visited the site and ensured they 
were well informed on the application. 
SS-2025-130 
It was MOVED and SECONDED  
that the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee Bylaw No. 543 cited as 
“Salt Spring Island Land Use Bylaw No. 355, 1999, Amendment No. 2, 
2025”, be read a third time (PLRZ20240188, 210 & 220 Kanaka Road). 
CARRIED 
 
SS-2025-131 
It was MOVED and SECONDED 
that the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee has reviewed the Islands 
Trust Policy Statement Directives Only Checklist and determined that Bylaw 
No. 543 cited as “Salt Spring Island Land Use Bylaw No. 355, 1999 
Amendment No. 2, 2025” (210 & 220 Kanaka Road) is not contrary to or at 
variance with the Islands Trust Policy Statement. 
CARRIED 
 
SS-2025-132 
It was MOVED and SECONDED 
that the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee Bylaw No. 543, cited as 
“Salt Spring Island Land Use Bylaw No. 355, 1999, Amendment No. 2, 
2025”, be forwarded to the Secretary of the Islands Trust for approval by the 
Executive Committee. 
CARRIED 
 
14.2 PLRZ20250001 – N. Mullins – 120 Mansell Road, SSI 
This item was deferred to the December meeting. 
14.3 PLTT20240361 – D. Claros – 131 Knott Place, SSI 
The Planner summarized the staff report. Discussion ensued regarding the standing 
resolution that relates to First Nations consultation for proposed antenna systems 
(Resolution No. SS-2021-237). In response to a question from a Trustee, the Planner 
indicated that the requirements in the standing resolution would be passed onto 
the proponent in due course. 

 
 
Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee 
Regular Business Meeting 
November 6, 2025 ADOPTED Page 6 of 9 
The Planner indicated that several pieces of correspondence has been received 
regarding the location of the proposed tower, public consultation including First 
Nations engagement, and other requirements. 
Trustees made the following comments: 
• The applicant’s letter outlining the request is vague and sparse on information 
• Public engagement was affected due to the pandemic when the last request for 
a tower was made, and there is need to ensure the proponent will be conducting 
a good engagement process so the Local Trust Committee will receive good 
information  
• The staff report does not include the standing resolution related to proposed 
antennae systems and it is important the information package is complete 
• The staff report includes a section titled Consultation with a list of items the 
applicant will be required to provide for staff review; the Trustees would like to 
have some reporting on those consultative actions as part of the information 
that comes to the Local Trust Committee 
SS-2025-133 
It was MOVED and SECONDED  
that the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee requests that staff inform 
the applicant (File No.: PLTT20240361) of the requirements of Standing 
Resolution SS-2021-237. 
CARRIED 
Discussion continued and the following comments were made 
• Concerns from several members of the public have been raised about the 
location of the proposed tower 
• The applicant is being required to provide a list of items for staff review prior to 
notification, after which more fulsome discussion can occur  
• Telecommunication towers are part of the environment we are now in, and Salt 
Spring Island does not have an overall approach to address them 
• Identifying potential sites for towers rather than waiting for proponents to bring 
them forward would be beneficial, and more favourable to federal regulators 
who hold the ultimate decision-making power  
 
The staff report was received for information.  
The meeting was recessed at 2:05 p.m. and reconvened at 2:17 p.m. 
15.  LOCAL TRUST COMMITTEE PROJECTS  
15.1 OCP – LUB Project Update 
 
Representatives of McElhanney Consulting – Kevin Brooks and Sandra Borton – 
introduced themselves and presented an overview of Phase 1. Ms. Borton reviewed 
proposed supplement engagement activities recommended to be carried out 
between late January and March. The following comments were made:  
• A supplemental engagement period is recommended because:  

 
 
Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee 
Regular Business Meeting 
November 6, 2025 ADOPTED Page 7 of 9 
o Consultants do not feel the data collected thus far fully reflects the 
breadth of community members 
o There is need to enhance efforts to bring the voices of less 
representative members of the community into the process 
o It would help support community understanding of the current Official 
Community Plan 
• Recommendations includes marketing and communications 
• There is desire to see an expanded website and enhanced social media 
Discussion ensued and Trustees made the following comments: 
• There are several island and regional organizations that are participating in 
engagement activities, and the efforts made are a positive sign that people 
really care 
• Outreach efforts have created some confusion (e.g. Positively Forward’s 
petition noted the Local Trust Committee has currently proposed major 
changes to the Official Community Plan though none have been proposed; 
Transition Salt Spring’s process left a number of important issues off the table 
and dealt with matters that are outside the jurisdiction of the Trust) 
• The Local Trust Committee has its own engagement process and it is vitally 
important that it is transparent, inclusive. and formal 
• There is room for improvement (e.g. the initial survey was not seen by the 
Trustees or Advisory Planning Commission; the Local Trust Committee has very 
little presence in the community) 
• We want to keep community groups engaged and we need to make sure their 
work is coordinated and aligned with the work of the Local Trust Committee 
• Clear communication channels need to be established between the Local Trust 
Committee and community-led groups before the next phase begins 
• The Local Trust Committee needs to talk to groups and provide them with 
guidance if they are collecting feedback 
• The Local Trust Committee needs to explain its jurisdiction and scope to 
community groups so they understand the project 
• The role of the Advisory Planning Commission needs to be clarified and 
supported 
• Trustees and Advisory Planning Commission members need to see public 
materials and engagement plans before they are sent 
• We need to meet with Member of Legislative Assembly Rob Botterell to bring 
him up to date on the project, introduce him to the team, and outline the plan 
• Historically, the Trustees talk to those who show up; there is a huge silent 
majority on the island that needs to be heard in order to garner a broad range of 
feedback 
• There needs to be an effort made to reach out to existing groups to solicit 
feedback (e.g. there is an upcoming event with seniors discussing housing that 
the Official Community Plan team could speak at; short-term rental providers 
could be contacted during the winter season when they have more availability) 
• A supplemental engagement period is reasonable and a good idea 
• We should be anticipating and responding to what we are expecting to hear 
from the community 

 
 
Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee 
Regular Business Meeting 
November 6, 2025 ADOPTED Page 8 of 9 
• It needs to be clear that Trustees are trying to get feedback from community 
members and apply that feedback to the changes that will be made 
• There are no proposed plans as of yet, and when they are developed Trustees 
will seek feedback; each step of the process will inform the next 
A question was raised seeking clarification of Section 2.3 of the report that states 
consideration will be given to “respond to community calls for town hall-style 
gatherings by developing more robust project FAQs and more marketing effort to 
direct people to engagement opportunities.” The Consultant commented that there 
are more effective ways to create an environment that is open and comfortable for 
people to participate than through town halls. A Trustee suggested that it be 
explained that either there will be town hall opportunities through other parts of the 
process, or that the type of engagement that is more valuable is not easily achieved 
through a town hall. 
The Consultants noted that next steps will include working with the Planner to 
develop an amended workplan that captures the comments that have been made. 
They suggested that the supplementary engagement phase and additional budget 
should be adequate to provide deliverables to the Local Trust Committee within the 
projected timeline.  
SS-2025-134 
It was MOVED and SECONDED 
that the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee endorse a project change 
Option 2, as outlined in the report titled Phase 1 Update Project 
Memorandum from McElhanney. 
CARRIED 
 
SS-2025-135 
It was MOVED and SECONDED 
that the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee amend the Major Project 
Business case for the OCPLUB Project for the fiscal 2026–2027 year budget 
by increasing the budget by $40,000 in order to address the recommended 
actions and timeline outlined in the Phase 1 Update Project Memorandum 
from McElhanney. 
CARRIED 
 
A Trustee thanked community members that have been engaged with the project so 
far and expressed optimism for working better together in the next phase. 
16.  NEW BUSINESS - None 
17.  REPORTS  
17.1 Policy and Standing Resolutions List  
Received for information.  
17.2 Open Applications Report 

 
 
Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee 
Regular Business Meeting 
November 6, 2025 ADOPTED Page 9 of 9 
Received for information. Discussion ensued about the large number of rezoning 
applications, that applicants are being made aware of timelines, and the steps 
being taken to accelerate the processes.  
17.3  Expense Report - None 
17.4  Islands Trust Conservancy Board Report – None 
 
18. UPCOMING MEETINGS 
The next regular meeting of the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee is scheduled for 
9:30 a.m. on December 11, 2025 at the Legion Meaden Hall, 120 Blain Road, Salt Spring 
Island. 
19. ADJOURNMENT 
By general consent the meeting was adjourned at 3:04 p.m. 
 
_________________________ 
Timothy Peterson, Chair 
 
Certified Correct: 
 
_________________________ 
Carly Bilney, Recorder