Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee special meeting, January 20, 2026

[0:00:01] Voice 7: And Morgana as well.

[0:00:03] Voice 2: Do we have regrets from Jamie or Jamie's coming or no?

[0:00:06] Voice 7: I've heard nothing.

[0:00:09] Voice 7: I

[0:00:10] Voice 1: have no word on Trustee Harris.

[0:00:16] Voice 1: All right.

[0:00:18] Voice 7: Okay, well, let's get started.

[0:00:22] Voice 7: I'd like to welcome everybody to this special meeting of the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee today for January 20th, 2026.

[0:00:33] Voice 7: I want to start by acknowledging that we're fortunate to be able to gather

[0:00:39] Voice 7: in locations across the Islands Trust area

[0:00:43] Voice 7: and the territories of many Coast Salish peoples

[0:00:48] Voice 7: and we're respectful of the fact that they

[0:00:52] Voice 7: have been the stewards of these lands and waters

[0:00:56] Voice 7: since time immemorial and working

[0:00:59] Voice 7: towards building relationships and meaningful recognition

[0:01:03] Voice 7: recognition of reconciliation is an important part of the work we do here at Islands Trust

[0:01:10] Voice 7: and personally as well. So my name is Tim Peterson. I'm elected on Laskete Island and

[0:01:16] Voice 7: I am the chair of the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee. Joining me today is the chair

[0:01:23] Voice 7: of Trust Council and Salt Spring Island Local Trustee, Laura Patrick, and our regional planning

[0:01:30] Voice 7: manager Chris Hutton. And Chris, I'll turn it over to you to make some further introductions.

[0:01:35] Voice 7: Thank

[0:01:37] Voice 1: you, Chair Peterson. Joining us here is another staff member, our communications

[0:01:45] Voice 1: specialist, Morgana Van Nykerk. And we have from McElhaney Consulting is Sandra Borton,

[0:01:55] Voice 1: who's the engagement specialist for the OCPLAB project, and Kevin Brooks, the project manager

[0:02:00] Voice 1: for the OCP IAB project.

[0:02:02] Voice 1: I will additionally just be remiss

[0:02:04] Voice 1: if I did not mention that Lisa Millard

[0:02:07] Voice 1: is coordinating our meeting

[0:02:08] Voice 1: and taking notes in the background today.

[0:02:13] Voice 7: Great, thank you for that.

[0:02:14] Voice 7: And welcome everyone.

[0:02:17] Voice 7: So we do have an agenda before us.

[0:02:19] Voice 7: I'll look to Trustee Patrick,

[0:02:21] Voice 7: any amendments to the agenda today?

[0:02:26] Voice 7: No, I'm seeing a head.

[0:02:30] Voice 7: So our first business item

[0:02:35] Voice 7: item is the ocplub project update we have the gap analysis technical review summary

[0:02:42] Voice 7: and an update on the project abc presentation and then we have the business case coming up

[0:02:50] Voice 7: after that so who's gonna lead us off here on the project mr

[0:02:59] Voice 1: chair i think uh mr brooks uh

[0:03:00] Voice 1: We'll start us off, if I'm not mistaken, I will.

[0:03:11] Voice 3: Thank you, Chris.

[0:03:12] Voice 3: Can everybody see my screen?

[0:03:15] Voice 3: And plastic.

[0:03:16] Voice 3: So we have a brief presentation.

[0:03:18] Voice 3: Is the present, is it screen sharing?

[0:03:23] Voice 3: Can you see the slides now?

[0:03:26] Voice 3: Perfect, thank you.

[0:03:27] Voice 3: It's like, I looked over, I was sharing the wrong screen.

[0:03:30] Voice 3: That's what happens with technology, right?

[0:03:32] Voice 3: So we have a brief presentation.

[0:03:34] Voice 3: It's the same presentation that we provided

[0:03:36] Voice 3: provided to the PAPC back in December. We've updated a little bit based on some of the

[0:03:41] Voice 3: feedback we received from the PAPC and working with staff over the last little bit to provide

[0:03:46] Voice 3: an update. I'll go through the brief presentation. Some of the stuff is things that you've already

[0:03:51] Voice 3: seen, but some of it's just content that we generally provide just for consistency of our

[0:03:57] Voice 3: message when we're speaking to the team in regards to this project. So basically a little bit of an

[0:04:04] Voice 3: outline. We're going to touch base on the overall purpose of an OCP, a little bit of quick update on

[0:04:11] Voice 3: the scope process update, but the bulk of the presentation really is regards to the

[0:04:16] Voice 3: review findings that we have. And then we'll touch a little bit on next steps and have time for

[0:04:22] Voice 3: some questions and discussions in regards to what we found so far. So when we talk about a purpose

[0:04:28] Voice 3: of an OCP, I just like having this conversation as much as possible and the fact that an OCP is

[0:04:33] Voice 3: not fundamentally a regulatory document. It's really provides those bookends or those sort of

[0:04:40] Voice 3: direction or a framework for decision making by yourselves, the decision makers, and basically

[0:04:47] Voice 3: provides sort of that overall sort of vision and that framework around decisions, specifically

[0:04:53] Voice 3: around sort of land use decisions is one of the main components or the purposes of an OCP,

[0:04:58] Voice 3: but also helps to provide direction around other decisions within the community, such as

[0:05:02] Voice 3: infrastructure community well-being and facilities and of course environmental protection measures

[0:05:11] Voice 3: our project scope are sort of three key areas and sort of another area that we're just generally

[0:05:18] Voice 3: looking at just because of comments one is sort of the housing needs stuff and the requirements

[0:05:23] Voice 3: to look at housing for the for the community itself now there is the climate change adaptation

[0:05:29] Voice 3: adaptation, climate change and greenhouse projections, one is sort of the environmental

[0:05:35] Voice 3: measures that are in the existing OCP and the relevance and updates in regards to that,

[0:05:40] Voice 3: and also looking at the infrastructure.

[0:05:45] Voice 3: As for a process update, the initial engagement was completed back in the early fall, late

[0:05:54] Voice 3: summer.

[0:05:55] Voice 3: summer. With that, we've done this background review, the gap analysis, and the technical

[0:06:00] Voice 3: review that we're presenting today. With that, we've done some GIS mapping and some general

[0:06:06] Voice 3: sort of buffering GIS mapping that I'll touch base on. And then one of the things that we're

[0:06:10] Voice 3: working with, ongoing with staff, is the OCP matrix, which is a tracking matrix to allow us

[0:06:16] Voice 3: to look at the existing sort of structure and framework of the OCP, and will allow us to track

[0:06:21] Voice 3: proposed recommended amendments to the OCP in a manner that we can easily communicate back

[0:06:28] Voice 3: to the PAPC, the community, and the trust. So like I said, today, we're really going to be

[0:06:34] Voice 3: focusing on the background review and gap analysis piece. But like I said, we'll have

[0:06:38] Voice 3: an opportunity for conversation at the end. So when we look at the purpose of the background

[0:06:44] Voice 3: review, it's really to create, I'm not going to go through these five points, but it's really to

[0:06:48] Voice 3: create that foundational piece to allow us to have more informed conversation with the community

[0:06:56] Voice 3: around the key issues and key topics within the community itself. So it gives us

[0:07:01] Voice 3: that knowledge but also allows us to identify where we see sort of gaps within the documents

[0:07:06] Voice 3: themselves where we can help staff identify some gaps and I'll touch base on that a little bit

[0:07:13] Voice 3: during the review itself. So for the PAPC, we asked actually three fundamental questions

[0:07:22] Voice 3: just to get a little bit of direction in regards to the information we provided. These are the

[0:07:27] Voice 3: three questions that we asked of them, and they did provide us with a little bit of input in that

[0:07:33] Voice 3: regard. So as I'd mentioned, we had sort of three areas of review. We'll start with the technical,

[0:07:42] Voice 3: then we'll move on to the gap analysis that we looked at, and I'll touch base briefly on

[0:07:47] Voice 3: on the GIS spatial review work that we've completed.

[0:07:53] Voice 3: So for the technical review,

[0:07:55] Voice 3: we reviewed these six documents.

[0:07:57] Voice 3: We reviewed these six documents

[0:07:58] Voice 3: in light of sort of those four key focus areas

[0:08:02] Voice 3: that I spoke to.

[0:08:04] Voice 3: With that, when we look at sort of the documents as a whole,

[0:08:08] Voice 3: and we look at sort of that environmental policy bucket,

[0:08:11] Voice 3: we've sort of four key things sort of fell out of that.

[0:08:15] Voice 3: One of the main ones was really with regards

[0:08:17] Voice 3: to groundwater protection and looking at the opportunity to provide some more detailed

[0:08:25] Voice 3: framework around groundwater protection as part of the policy framework. There's also aspects of

[0:08:31] Voice 3: the ALR and non-ALR land and protection and the idea of food security in general came out of the

[0:08:38] Voice 3: actual review itself. And then more aspects with regards to sort of the ecotourism, that economic

[0:08:45] Voice 3: economic aspect of ecotourism and opportunities that may lie around that, but making sure that

[0:08:51] Voice 3: if that is going to occur, it occurs in a manner that is environmentally conscientious.

[0:08:59] Voice 3: With the housing piece, and again, this is generally consistent with, you know, a lot of

[0:09:05] Voice 3: the dialogue that we've had with staff. It's really about when we're looking at, right, if we're going

[0:09:10] Voice 3: to be looking at the land uses is where that housing should go. And, you know, what we heard

[0:09:15] Voice 3: from these reports is that that housing should be located in proximity to existing amenities,

[0:09:21] Voice 3: in proximity to existing infrastructure, in a manner that basically reduces the impact

[0:09:27] Voice 3: on surrounding environmental assets on the island. Looking at supporting diversity of

[0:09:35] Voice 3: housing options and what that might look like, which is like the support and refine. Also

[0:09:40] Voice 3: Also coordinating with the CRD in the province with regards to underhoused population on the island, which we've, you know, there's been a lot of dialogue about over the last few months.

[0:09:49] Voice 3: And then, of course, if we're going to be proposing any additional residential development or housing, ensuring that we integrate the environmental aspects and the environmental policy in a manner that when new development is going to be developed, that the environmental protection aspects of both the OCP and the mandate for the trust are addressed.

[0:10:17] Voice 3: rest. The technical review piece, one of the things that came out of the review is when we're

[0:10:26] Voice 3: looking at the land use perspective of it, ensuring that we try to tie in the aspects of climate

[0:10:31] Voice 3: change and climate resilience into land use decisions. There's multiple ways of doing that

[0:10:36] Voice 3: and we'll be exploring that over the coming months. The GIS map analysis work we did, we did

[0:10:42] Voice 3: sort of three key analysis, although we've done a bit more than that too, more in depth. But we

[0:10:47] Voice 3: We looked at parks and looked at proximity of parks to where the key residential areas are,

[0:10:54] Voice 3: looked at bus routes and the buffering of those bus routes, and then we also looked at the parcel

[0:11:01] Voice 3: density map. And what the parcel density map is, is looking where existing densification has occurred

[0:11:06] Voice 3: on the island and where that proximity of those housing and that densification is in regards to

[0:11:13] Voice 3: those key amenities. As for the gap analysis, the gap analysis basically was a review specifically

[0:11:24] Voice 3: of the OCP and looking at different strengths and opportunities within the OCP and areas where we

[0:11:29] Voice 3: can make recommendations on how to strengthen the document that you currently have. And so

[0:11:35] Voice 3: we've identified sort of these five key opportunities for improvement which I'll touch

[0:11:41] Voice 3: a base on as I roll through these slides. As for the environment, one of the things

[0:11:47] Voice 3: that we did identify is that there's a lot of really great policy around the environment,

[0:11:52] Voice 3: but it's actually in multiple different sections throughout the OCP. There's some redundancy

[0:11:57] Voice 3: between the sections, things of that nature. We are recommending looking at having a single

[0:12:04] Voice 3: section with regards to the environment, so to consolidate that to provide a greater highlight

[0:12:08] Voice 3: in greater ease of administration of that and looking at beginning to strengthen some of the

[0:12:13] Voice 3: ambiguous language in the environmental language of the policy that currently exists.

[0:12:21] Voice 3: With regards to housing, there's a lot of really actually great language within the actual

[0:12:27] Voice 3: official community plan with regards to housing. A lot of the housing specific policy is actually

[0:12:31] Voice 3: kind of buried in the land use section, even though it's not specifically the land use.

[0:12:35] Voice 3: And there's some really good language there as a foundation for the housing piece.

[0:12:39] Voice 3: What we're recommending is that again,

[0:12:41] Voice 3: we have a housing specific section

[0:12:43] Voice 3: that actually really highlights these really great policies,

[0:12:45] Voice 3: but then allows us to look at those policies

[0:12:47] Voice 3: and actually start asking some key questions

[0:12:49] Voice 3: about those policies of the type of housing,

[0:12:52] Voice 3: where that housing should be located

[0:12:53] Voice 3: and also reflect the Local Government Act requirement

[0:12:56] Voice 3: for that residential requirement of us

[0:12:59] Voice 3: showing where 20 years of housing

[0:13:01] Voice 3: could be located on the island,

[0:13:05] Voice 3: just ensure we're compliant with the Local Government Act.

[0:13:08] Voice 3: And also understanding that the housing needs work has been done and looking at that to ensure that it helps at least inform any discussions that we have around the housing piece.

[0:13:23] Voice 3: With regards to climate, you know, this is one of those things that is a requirement under the Local Government Act.

[0:13:27] Voice 3: We're just recommending looking at the existing greenhouse gas projections and ensuring that we're updating those to reflect the best available information.

[0:13:37] Voice 3: information. And also, as I mentioned, there's some ability to look at how to integrate the idea

[0:13:44] Voice 3: of climate resiliency into sort of other policy frameworks, such as the land use aspects of the

[0:13:50] Voice 3: official community plan. I touched base on this. The structure and length of the document we looked

[0:13:57] Voice 3: at, it currently is in two parts, as you all know. There's an opportunity to try to consolidate these

[0:14:03] Voice 3: into one to allow for, again, that clear piece of administration. There's some really, really

[0:14:07] Voice 3: really amazing policy work that had been done in a lot of the appendices that could be called out

[0:14:12] Voice 3: specifically one one example is the parkland acquisition policy framework really really

[0:14:18] Voice 3: great policy but it's buried in an appendice so we're recommending that there are suggesting

[0:14:23] Voice 3: there is an opportunity that that could be actually pulled into potentially a recreation

[0:14:27] Voice 3: and park section to highlight some of that really great policy work that has been done in the past

[0:14:31] Voice 3: and allow for that easier administration of finding that policy that's not buried in an

[0:14:36] Voice 3: appendices in the volume two of the document. So that just provides a bit of an example.

[0:14:41] Voice 3: There's also an opportunity for adding visual aids and things like that throughout the document.

[0:14:48] Voice 3: The clarity piece, and I've touched base on this, there's opportunity for

[0:14:52] Voice 3: streamlining. There's a lot of redundancy. There's a lot of repeated policies in regards to

[0:14:58] Voice 3: ensuring that water availability, things of that nature, that can be consolidated.

[0:15:03] Voice 3: consolidated. There's lots of redundant policies in regards to the environment that could actually

[0:15:08] Voice 3: be consolidated and highlighted and actually clarified by creating a specific section.

[0:15:15] Voice 3: And then relevance. This is really just making sure that the document is updated to, you know,

[0:15:22] Voice 3: best practice and the best available information we have. Is there some of the things that we

[0:15:27] Voice 3: identified, like the multiple marine land use destinations and things like that? Is it necessary

[0:15:34] Voice 3: And, you know, those are some of the questions and dialogue that we can have with staff in

[0:15:38] Voice 3: the community as we move forward.

[0:15:41] Voice 3: When we talk to next steps, this is where we're at now.

[0:15:45] Voice 3: Really, the next step is to begin our supplementary engagement piece, which we're finalizing that

[0:15:52] Voice 3: detailed information with regards to the updated communications and engagement plan.

[0:15:57] Voice 3: With that, we'll be developing educational materials and marketing materials actively

[0:16:05] Voice 3: actively right now with staff.

[0:16:07] Voice 3: The intent is that we'll be presenting that initial draft

[0:16:11] Voice 3: to PAPC next week.

[0:16:13] Voice 3: And then we'll be coming back to yourselves

[0:16:15] Voice 3: to go over that communications and engagement plan

[0:16:18] Voice 3: with the proposal that then we'll be hitting February

[0:16:22] Voice 3: really hard with a lot of marketing and development

[0:16:25] Voice 3: and detailed work with regards

[0:16:26] Voice 3: to the actual different engagement pieces or elements

[0:16:32] Voice 3: that we hope to then roll out

[0:16:34] Voice 3: and uh through march uh with that with some detailed engagement through march uh with the

[0:16:40] Voice 3: idea that uh we'll have the engagement wrapped up by the end of march uh with all the uh updated

[0:16:46] Voice 3: sort of feedback that we receive from that um and then from there then we'll be working with uh the

[0:16:53] Voice 3: the staff and that uh to then detail out uh what the next steps would be starting in quarter two

[0:17:00] Voice 3: in April with starting the detailed work on the Legis by-law review, and then also then

[0:17:09] Voice 3: taking a draft OCP and start working with yourselves and the community to start refinement

[0:17:14] Voice 3: of the draft OCP policy work. That was very, very quick, but I'll just give you a high

[0:17:23] Voice 3: overview of the presentation, and we're happy to take any questions you might have.

[0:17:32] Voice 7: Let's see your hand up, Laura, or are you just thinking?

[0:17:38] Voice 2: No, no, my hand's up, sir.

[0:17:41] Voice 7: Go ahead.

[0:17:44] Voice 2: Thank you, Kevin.

[0:17:46] Voice 2: I know there's been a lot of work in here,

[0:17:49] Voice 2: and I do have a fair bit of questions, as you can anticipate.

[0:17:54] Voice 2: I don't even know where to begin.

[0:17:55] Voice 2: Probably the first thing, and just a reminder,

[0:17:58] Voice 2: and I think that's both to our staff and to you,

[0:18:01] Voice 2: is whenever we produce a public piece of information,

[0:18:05] Voice 2: which I consider a staff report, a public piece of information,

[0:18:08] Voice 2: or an agenda package is we should always have sort of the overall project you know map of you are

[0:18:16] Voice 2: here um it's because i think it it it just reminds people that you know where we are in the process

[0:18:23] Voice 2: that we are a long ways away from the end and and i think we should always be orienting the public

[0:18:29] Voice 2: to kind of where we are right now and tim might remember i'm sorry chair peterson might remember

[0:18:35] Voice 2: that we actually imposed that requirement back last term

[0:18:38] Voice 2: on all staff reports that there'd be a UR here.

[0:18:43] Voice 2: It was a practice that just sort of disappeared.

[0:18:45] Voice 2: But for this one, I think it's important that we see it go.

[0:18:50] Voice 2: And that's not in relation to you, R.P.M. Hutton.

[0:18:53] Voice 2: I think overall in the entire organization, it disappeared.

[0:18:56] Voice 2: I think Chair Peterson would agree.

[0:18:58] Voice 2: I agree. I'm glad you're looking at this in a very comprehensive way. And some of my questions and concerns are, one is, from the beginning, we made it very clear we wanted this project to be about helping to build relationships with First Nations and making sure we're embedding the work that they're doing.

[0:19:34] Voice 2: I mean, I know that's not your responsibility, but again, I think pictorially that you are here and where we are, information needs to show that at all times.

[0:19:45] Voice 2: And we've always got like two tracks of engagement that's going on so that we are being transparent and open, that we are speaking with First Nations.

[0:19:54] Voice 2: And, you know, that work is going to come together at some point and we need to be able to be, like I said, transparent with the public on that.

[0:20:06] Voice 2: i i see you know i'm like there's a lot here and i i guess as you move toward the engagement which

[0:20:13] Voice 2: we haven't seen is that you know the old hopper thing there's a lot in here and we're narrowing

[0:20:20] Voice 2: down and i just want to be careful that we have that narrowing down process that we don't go out

[0:20:25] Voice 2: to the public with a whole huge range of things that we've done that work to sort of narrow that

[0:20:30] Voice 2: that down um i you know i think i've heard talk about some either focus groups or smaller groups

[0:20:37] Voice 2: or i don't know what the word is that you'd be using to to take all this information and narrow

[0:20:42] Voice 2: it down to you know do you want this or this or which direction we're going because there's there's

[0:20:46] Voice 2: an awful lot here um i think one of the pieces and i and i was very pleased because i was suffering

[0:21:01] Voice 2: about what the wording were, and you guys, I think, did a very good job. I'm glad you moved

[0:21:06] Voice 2: the table from the first draft I saw of this to the front, that affordable housing is generally

[0:21:11] Voice 2: treated as an exception to the density limits rather than a central planning. And I think that

[0:21:16] Voice 2: is so important, and it really helped explain a lot of issues. But there's the flip side of that.

[0:21:23] Voice 2: It also says that the status quo is a whole bunch more density that's only going to create

[0:21:30] Voice 2: even more pressure and worse conditions in regard to affordable housing. So I think

[0:21:35] Voice 2: we need to say that more clearly as we go forward, that the document as is, is envisioning

[0:21:43] Voice 2: a lot of growth, not on transportation routes, not in more dense areas. It's ongoing development

[0:21:53] Voice 2: that's anticipated and allowed for through the official community plan. And I think people need

[0:22:00] Voice 2: to understand that that are we asking the public um that you know we we are are we looking for

[0:22:11] Voice 2: uh permission i guess to do some corrections i guess is the word too that you know do we want

[0:22:17] Voice 2: all of that growth that's anticipated in the current plan to continue happening

[0:22:22] Voice 2: or not those are really important questions as we go out there um i think you're kind of hinting to

[0:22:29] Voice 2: it in here but I think that's where some of this value is going to come out of some of these very

[0:22:37] Voice 2: hard conversations and I'm going to say it just because I was going through here

[0:22:52] Voice 2: regional planning manager Chris is we have in this local trust area

[0:23:03] Voice 2: area, another OCP for Piers Island. And then we have land use bylaws for Piers Island and the

[0:23:13] Voice 2: Prevost and associated islands. I know that's beyond the scope of where we are today, but if

[0:23:19] Voice 2: we're building a better OCP or we're going to end up with a clearer, cleaner OCP at the end of the

[0:23:26] Voice 2: the day, do we think about whether we're creating one good OCP for the Salt Spring local trust area

[0:23:38] Voice 2: that these other ones could be brought into in time or something of that nature? So I'm not

[0:23:44] Voice 2: asking that we expand scope and let's include Piers, Prevost and all the associated islands

[0:23:49] Voice 2: right now. But I think as we're building a new version of this document, it's something we

[0:23:56] Voice 2: should be thinking about is decreasing the complexity of all these documents rather than

[0:24:02] Voice 2: increasing you know so um so i'm not asking me add it but i think as you guys are designing

[0:24:08] Voice 2: and moving forward we should kind of have that thought in our mind are we are we creating a

[0:24:15] Voice 2: document that could also solve that problem not problem but improve um how we plan as an overall

[0:24:25] Voice 2: all trust area rather than keep these old old old documents and the associated island

[0:24:31] Voice 2: prevo and the associated islands are 1982 vintage land use bylaws under the under the regional

[0:24:39] Voice 2: district so yeah that's really old i know chris wants to say something well

[0:24:48] Voice 1: i i think that's a

[0:24:49] Voice 1: a reasonable question it might be as simple as a you know it looking at what the policy set ends

[0:24:58] Voice 1: up being um and i think those those islands probably need to be engaged maybe i think it's

[0:25:05] Voice 1: always possible to append it you know to bring bring those islands in at some point um and it

[0:25:10] Voice 1: might involve some amendment to the ocp um and i think there's been additional study around

[0:25:17] Voice 1: around governance and the number of OCPs

[0:25:19] Voice 1: in the Island Trust more broadly,

[0:25:21] Voice 1: and there seems to be some notional support for it.

[0:25:24] Voice 1: It may mean, it may be,

[0:25:25] Voice 1: and I think that the new policy statement

[0:25:27] Voice 1: starts to address that as well,

[0:25:28] Voice 1: that there's a need for fewer OCPs.

[0:25:31] Voice 1: So I think as a part of that implementation,

[0:25:34] Voice 1: the implementation of that new policy statement,

[0:25:37] Voice 1: it's something that can be contemplated

[0:25:39] Voice 1: without taking up too much space in this current project

[0:25:45] Voice 1: in terms of a policy or something yeah

[0:25:49] Voice 2: i think it's just being aware that's what i'm just trying

[0:25:52] Voice 1: to say being

[0:25:52] Voice 2: cognizant of it as we're we're you know that that that is it lends us to an

[0:25:57] Voice 2: opportunity to uh improve these other things and i think that would be um something just to

[0:26:05] Voice 2: have in our mind um the and i guess sort of related to my other question regarding you know

[0:26:18] Voice 2: the adjustments so to speak of development potential um that that doesn't currently show

[0:26:26] Voice 2: up in any of the gis maps unless it maybe does um i don't know if that's the intent of

[0:26:32] Voice 2: one of the maps um the parcel density map so sort of highlights where development already

[0:26:41] Voice 2: is concentrated but it doesn't address where it could be

[0:26:44] Voice 3: that's correct it doesn't address where

[0:26:46] Voice 3: it could be yet that's part of our next phase is taking that and looking at sort of the sort of the

[0:26:52] Voice 3: land use framework that exists is existing and going okay based on this where is the potential

[0:26:59] Voice 3: for the future stuff that's going to be part of the

[0:27:01] Voice 3: dialogue coming up too i'm

[0:27:04] Voice 2: talking about where

[0:27:05] Voice 2: the potential already exists in the current land use bylaw in the

[0:27:08] Voice 2: ocp so that's different

[0:27:11] Voice 2: but to me

[0:27:12] Voice 2: that's not different because we might have potential where it conflicts with what we know

[0:27:19] Voice 2: today um and where we want to go so that's to me then a missing piece of how do we you know how can

[0:27:29] Voice 2: we have those conversations with our community because like i said the status quo is a lot more

[0:27:37] Voice 2: more single family homes, nowhere near transportation routes, sprawl, environmental

[0:27:43] Voice 2: damage, on and on and on and on, is the community really want more of that? And as you have

[0:27:51] Voice 2: rightfully identified, affordable housing is considered an exception to all of that continuing

[0:27:57] Voice 2: to be built. And we already have workers living in trailers, tents, boats. I can't imagine what

[0:28:06] Voice 2: it would be with 50 percent more population in single-family homes we won't have any institutions

[0:28:14] Voice 2: operating on this island because there will not be workers to fill the job so i think we have a

[0:28:20] Voice 2: significant issue and i think to me that's part of the work that we're doing is to be able to

[0:28:25] Voice 2: identify those um opportunities to correct where they sit um sorry so many comments but um

[0:28:43] Voice 3: No, these are great comments. I very much appreciate them.

[0:28:48] Voice 2: So thank you. But I guess back to the GIS mapping one, the development permit areas map.

[0:28:57] Voice 2: If you're doing a map of sort of our current maps, are we making sure we're identifying that some of those maps are out of date?

[0:29:03] Voice 2: You know, the steep slope areas were not done on LIDAR or anything.

[0:29:08] Voice 2: They're just somebody's eyeballs on that looks steep.

[0:29:11] Voice 2: And, you know, so we may have development permit area maps that are not up to date.

[0:29:18] Voice 2: So sort of how I vision this is, you know, I know we're doing, you're doing the best with what we have as we're going forward, but we should be identifying where we've got things that, you know, maybe are out of scope of this project, but we want to capture and be prepared to fix, you know, next steps or in the future.

[0:29:41] Voice 2: you're nice yeah i got chris's attention again yeah

[0:29:45] Voice 7: and and of course on the the long list of

[0:29:48] Voice 7: the parking lot as you often refer to it but uh over to you rpm hutton

[0:29:51] Voice 1: i'm happy to uh see you

[0:29:54] Voice 1: if that's all right um mr mr chair but i can would you like me to go ahead

[0:30:00] Voice 1: Um, just on the, on, on geohazard data and some of our, our more out of date data sets, I think, um, you know, there's, there's a lot of work that's been done of late, uh, across the trust, uh, in terms of the development of DPAs or a handful of, of tasks.

[0:30:17] Voice 1: There are, there are data investments that we're, I think our new policy statement is starting the process of daylighting. And that may be, you know, things like geohazard and wider data sets, the gathering of them is likely to be a bit of a more protracted process than this project allows.

[0:30:36] Voice 1: Certainly updating any guidelines to best practices so that when somebody wants to build housing, the complication isn't that any of our qualified professionals should have some degree of applying their best practice to our standards.

[0:30:58] Voice 1: And part of that is on us to remain current to best practices.

[0:31:03] Voice 1: There are a few areas, I think, where qualified professionals have struggled to meet RDP guidelines because of the fact that it doesn't fit with professional practice anymore, and that's just part of the evolution of practice in all of those areas.

[0:31:20] Voice 1: So I know that GeoHazard, you know, has the focus on the measure of life safety risks has changed over time.

[0:31:32] Voice 1: So it's something we've sort of had to adapt to informally.

[0:31:35] Voice 1: And the same goes for, I think, certain areas of the riparian regulation that we have, even our, you know.

[0:31:41] Voice 1: So there are aspects that we're going to have to consider.

[0:31:46] Voice 1: But we're lucky in that I think we have some resources internally that we can pass on to McElhaney as well as McElhaney's breadth of experience in developing these types of policy sets.

[0:31:58] Voice 1: So I think we're alive to that, but there are some aspects of it that are simply probably better done at the trust level or done that might have to wait for a future change.

[0:32:15] Voice 2: No, I am all for and I've been asking that we be more efficient over as an organization on fixing these things. And I think maybe that I didn't see it in here, but I think that's one of those opportunities as we're restructuring is the development permit objectives need to be in the OCP, but the guidelines should not.

[0:32:36] Voice 2: And then that would facilitate an easier update of those into the future as we have material rather than not having to go back and get ministerial approval to update guidelines.

[0:32:47] Voice 2: So is that caught in the structural suggestions, I guess you could say, of opportunities?

[0:32:57] Voice 3: It's something that we have identified as an opportunity, but we haven't put it in there yet because we haven't done a detailed review of the DPs.

[0:33:04] Voice 3: We've only done a preliminary review.

[0:33:06] Voice 3: And so, you know, we have identified sort of some like definitely updates that are going to make sense to the DPs, but where they lie really comes down to the desire of yourselves in administering them, because they can go on either, you know, from an administrative perspective, like just pure administration, it doesn't really matter, it really comes down to stuff.

[0:33:27] Voice 3: but like you said from that amendment perspective okay yeah maybe the zoning bylaw makes a whole

[0:33:31] Voice 3: much more sense drafting them and all that kind of stuff is fundamentally the same it's just where

[0:33:36] Voice 3: we place them in the end for that uh for that administrative piece yeah

[0:33:41] Voice 2: no i just think you

[0:33:45] Voice 2: know the public needs to be brought along on this journey and if we have all of a sudden we move

[0:33:49] Voice 2: them from the ocp to the land use bylaw i mean why are the guidelines moved you know and it's

[0:33:54] Voice 2: like well i think being able to bring them along in this story that there is there could be a

[0:33:58] Voice 2: reason. And the reason might be that, yes, the Islands Trust needs to update these. They're

[0:34:02] Voice 2: going to do them more systematically. Moving them into the land use bylaw gives you that

[0:34:07] Voice 2: chance to get in them a little easier than having to do an OCP amendment. And it also, I think,

[0:34:15] Voice 2: might answer a lot of our reasons why we have out-of-date development permit areas, because

[0:34:20] Voice 2: it is a harder thing to do. So they just sit there untouched. So I think I'll stop there,

[0:34:27] Voice 2: but I would like to hear more of your ideas as I don't know if you're going to get into that about

[0:34:32] Voice 2: your intent kind of maybe a high level intent on the next steps of engagement how we're going to

[0:34:36] Voice 2: take all of this and start to bring it down to something that we are going to go back out to

[0:34:41] Voice 2: the public and and ask more questions

[0:34:44] Voice 5: do we want to jump into that or any other questions on this

[0:34:53] Voice 5: specifically want to jump onto first go

[0:35:01] Voice 7: ahead and and get into that unless there's anything

[0:35:05] Voice 7: Anything more from Chris?

[0:35:12] Voice 5: Fantastic.

[0:35:14] Voice 3: So yeah, so Sandra has been

[0:35:18] Voice 3: and her team have been madly working,

[0:35:20] Voice 3: providing a framework

[0:35:21] Voice 3: for how we're going to tackle

[0:35:22] Voice 3: some of these big questions.

[0:35:23] Voice 3: And really one of the ways,

[0:35:25] Voice 3: one of the intents is

[0:35:26] Voice 3: with the engagement that's coming up

[0:35:28] Voice 3: in sort of the February, March timeframe

[0:35:30] Voice 3: is really beginning to focus

[0:35:32] Voice 3: on what I call the policy buckets

[0:35:34] Voice 3: because it's the way my brain works,

[0:35:36] Voice 3: but really focusing on those policy buckets.

[0:35:38] Voice 3: We have a housing policy bucket.

[0:35:39] Voice 3: We have an environmental policy bucket.

[0:35:40] Voice 3: we have a land use and actually focusing on those policy buckets but also providing a framework of

[0:35:46] Voice 3: some key questions when we go out so it's not just hey what do you think about housing it's going to

[0:35:50] Voice 3: be okay here's the housing section here's where you currently allow housing like you're mentioning

[0:35:56] Voice 3: chair patrick uh here's where the housing is currently permitted this is what it looks like

[0:36:00] Voice 3: you know what happens if we change it you know what if we do this what if we do that you know

[0:36:05] Voice 3: what do you think of this and actually start asking questions that people can answer versus

[0:36:09] Voice 3: versus just putting things out there that are just,

[0:36:12] Voice 3: just here, what do you think about housing?

[0:36:14] Voice 3: You know, that high level,

[0:36:15] Voice 3: start asking very specific questions.

[0:36:18] Voice 3: Sandra can provide some great greater detail

[0:36:20] Voice 3: on how we look at structuring those questions

[0:36:22] Voice 3: and the types of sessions we have

[0:36:24] Voice 3: to actually ask those questions.

[0:36:25] Voice 3: And she can provide the actual sort of kind of framework

[0:36:28] Voice 3: that we're looking at right now.

[0:36:30] Voice 3: But that's sort of the kind of the high level structure

[0:36:32] Voice 3: of how to, that funnel, like you said,

[0:36:35] Voice 3: how do we begin to funnel that down

[0:36:37] Voice 3: to have dialogue around some of these complex issues.

[0:36:46] Voice 5: I was handing it over to you, Sandra.

[0:36:48] Voice 4: I'm just struggling to unmute.

[0:36:50] Voice 4: I'm sorry, I'm having a few technical sound difficulties.

[0:36:52] Voice 4: So if I cut out, please let me know.

[0:36:54] Voice 4: I will go back.

[0:36:56] Voice 4: I think really, just to echo what Kevin said,

[0:37:00] Voice 4: we do focus on those policy buckets

[0:37:02] Voice 4: and those key questions.

[0:37:04] Voice 4: And some of those are informed

[0:37:05] Voice 4: by the conversations we're having with you.

[0:37:07] Voice 4: The questions that you're asking us today

[0:37:09] Voice 4: and questions that we saw

[0:37:11] Voice 4: off from our first round of public engagement. We have an outline of specific activities that are

[0:37:18] Voice 4: designed to glean the information that we need to do the update. So I often talk

[0:37:22] Voice 4: about matching the activity and the to the type of data that we need to answer questions. So we

[0:37:29] Voice 4: have to be really clear on the questions that we have. And that's part of the work that Kevin's

[0:37:34] Voice 4: team here has done around what are the gaps here, what what needs to move, what needs to stay the

[0:37:38] Voice 4: same and then we fill in what we need to know by asking very specific key questions in each of

[0:37:44] Voice 4: those policy bucket areas that also helps to reinforce to folks that this is a targeted update

[0:37:48] Voice 4: we have specific things that we are looking at in this ocp update and you'll see as the engagement

[0:37:53] Voice 4: program moves forward that those questions are really centered on those focus areas for this

[0:37:58] Voice 4: update laura

[0:38:07] Voice 2: here's one of my dilemmas is the housing needs assessment is useless it basically

[0:38:17] Voice 2: is a status quo you know to continue to feed the appetite of retirees and second homeowners you

[0:38:24] Voice 2: need 2 000 homes over the next whatever um that's not our problem on salt spring those are happening

[0:38:32] Voice 2: You've got nice steady data. There's a good, you know, 700 of them have been built since the last time we updated our OCP. So our problem is, do we know the kinds of housing that we really need to meet our workforce today?

[0:38:47] Voice 2: day. And, you know, I was speaking with the executive director of the hospital foundation

[0:38:53] Voice 2: this morning, you know, it's what do we need for housing to create a resilient housing structure

[0:39:02] Voice 2: for a healthy island going forward? It's not just about the most vulnerable people. I think,

[0:39:11] Voice 2: you know, there's always, always more on the low end of the spectrum, but we have

[0:39:15] Voice 2: We have lots and lots of agencies and government money and things that are being talked about and used in that spectrum.

[0:39:21] Voice 2: It's as we move up the spectrum where it gets, you know, the needs are great, it's harder.

[0:39:27] Voice 2: And that, to me, is the work that we're trying to do is create housing that will create that resilience so that people can come and have jobs or leave or retire and new jobs get filled.

[0:39:46] Voice 3: That's not

[0:39:47] Voice 2: a public question. That's really getting into the hospital HR people and the

[0:39:55] Voice 2: school district and the ferry and the employers that probably have a better idea of those

[0:40:00] Voice 2: answers. So are we going to have groups that we're going to go spend some time with those

[0:40:05] Voice 2: that kind of have a good idea of what we don't have?

[0:40:09] Voice 3: I'm going to make a comment and then I'm going to hand it over to Sandra because I know she

[0:40:12] Voice 3: she has some some good some good answers for you thank you for the comment and it's actually a

[0:40:16] Voice 3: conversation that we've been having internally is sure you have a housing needs but what what

[0:40:23] Voice 3: you know based on what i'm hearing and what i'm seeing just based on the reading i'm doing that

[0:40:27] Voice 3: it's it's i'm calling it underhoused and i don't mean like people that are unhoused i'm calling it

[0:40:35] Voice 3: underhoused we've heard time and time again over just even the last couple months that we have

[0:40:40] Voice 3: have a lot of the employee sector living in RVs and things like that. Those are underhoused

[0:40:46] Voice 3: individuals. So what is that? I'll call it salt spring missing middle, right? And we've all heard

[0:40:53] Voice 3: the term missing middle, but that's really where my head starts going to when I start reading this

[0:40:57] Voice 3: stuff and looking at it, looking at the housing typology that likely is necessary to create that,

[0:41:03] Voice 3: I call it a housing ecosystem, that resilience in housing. And that's sort of where I've gotten to

[0:41:09] Voice 3: right now thinking through this and analyzing it so I really appreciate those comments it's

[0:41:14] Voice 3: very and

[0:41:18] Voice 4: I'll add to that that um the folks that who are on the island uh who are have housing

[0:41:27] Voice 4: vulnerability or housing instability uh we also make sure that we try to engage them as part of

[0:41:32] Voice 4: this process that's when I talk about equity in the process and making sure that we hear all voices

[0:41:37] Voice 4: It's really because we want to hear from the folks who are in trades, the folks who are working to keep services running on the island, whether that's retail or hospitality or health care.

[0:41:49] Voice 4: You know, those are the folks that we want actually in the engagement process.

[0:41:54] Voice 4: We really need to hear their perspectives.

[0:41:56] Voice 4: And that's part of why we design those questions quite carefully to make sure that we don't just ask a general question like Kevin mentioned, but that we're actually asking very specific questions about what types of housing needs they have and what that looks like in the context of their day-to-day life. That's where that qualitative information really helps us out.

[0:42:16] Voice 5: and one of the things we are

[0:42:27] Voice 3: we are proposing like some very specific

[0:42:31] Voice 3: type conversations as part of the uh as part of the engagement process and we're just finalizing

[0:42:37] Voice 3: that we're going to do our final review with staff tomorrow um and so there is there is some of those

[0:42:43] Voice 3: opportunities that were what we proposed as part of as part of the actual process that we'll be

[0:42:48] Voice 5: rolling out here right thank you for that

[0:42:58] Voice 7: um i think further on the engagement plans at this

[0:43:05] Voice 7: point i'm

[0:43:09] Voice 2: sure i never i never stop um it's another kind of fundamental structural thing

[0:43:16] Voice 2: i know it relates to engagement and i mean you raised it as a project scope issue for

[0:43:21] Voice 2: you you list infrastructure which find a community official community plan in bc that doesn't address

[0:43:30] Voice 2: those things. I think we sometimes try to pin ourselves in the Islands Trust. I think it's not

[0:43:38] Voice 2: in our jurisdiction. So we like to make ourselves very narrow sometimes. But our mandate makes it

[0:43:43] Voice 2: very clear we're supposed to be preserving and protecting in cooperation with the regional

[0:43:47] Voice 2: districts and the improvement districts. And I was talking to Regional Planning Manager Hutton

[0:43:52] Voice 2: on Friday. And I said, so their legislation doesn't impose them to have to work with us,

[0:44:02] Voice 2: but we don't, I think we've been overlooking opportunities. I think we should be asking

[0:44:10] Voice 2: and engaging with those other, you know, with the regional district and the improvement districts

[0:44:15] Voice 2: and saying, are there other ways we could reach that? What if they were to have a bylaw that

[0:44:20] Voice 2: that recognizes either the entire OCP or portions of it.

[0:44:26] Voice 2: I think there could be other ways around it

[0:44:28] Voice 2: that we don't need legislative change

[0:44:31] Voice 2: to have them stand up or say that they'll meet the OCP.

[0:44:37] Voice 2: So, you know, cause I think of the challenges

[0:44:40] Voice 2: with North Salt Spring Water,

[0:44:42] Voice 2: and we're trying to work on how we can,

[0:44:44] Voice 2: what we can do to prioritize connections for,

[0:44:50] Voice 2: or additional water through North Salt Spring.

[0:44:59] Voice 2: So we should have policies

[0:45:01] Voice 2: that are infrastructure oriented.

[0:45:04] Voice 2: How do we wanna drive those connections?

[0:45:06] Voice 2: So I think there's an opportunity for them,

[0:45:10] Voice 2: instead of maybe going in and changing their letters patent

[0:45:13] Voice 2: like we'd like to, that's complex like legislation,

[0:45:16] Voice 2: that perhaps a bylaw of recognizing these policies

[0:45:19] Voice 2: is something that we can look at.

[0:45:22] Voice 2: So I think I'm kind of encouraging, again,

[0:45:24] Voice 2: through the engagement piece

[0:45:25] Voice 2: as we're with these other organizations

[0:45:27] Voice 2: to be looking at creative ways

[0:45:30] Voice 2: to really make this an official community plan

[0:45:34] Voice 2: within the governance structure that we have.

[0:45:37] Voice 2: And I think we, you know, I've always been like,

[0:45:40] Voice 2: oh, we don't have the legislation, so we're hampered.

[0:45:42] Voice 2: I think there's ways around that.

[0:45:46] Voice 1: So I can speak to this a little bit,

[0:45:48] Voice 1: and i um i would say that you're right we don't need legislative change you probably need to use

[0:45:54] Voice 1: use the legislation we have which is probably focusing more on a collaborative approach to

[0:46:00] Voice 1: um to managing ultimately i do think that um you know as a as the land authority on salt

[0:46:08] Voice 1: spring um ldc wields a large hammer um in terms of determining where where the development that

[0:46:17] Voice 1: that would take that, that would require that service can go, right. And that's kind of what

[0:46:23] Voice 1: we're in the middle of right now. So, and partly that's optimizing and saying, let's, let's ensure

[0:46:30] Voice 1: that these services are sustainable into the future by, by ensuring that warehousing is built

[0:46:37] Voice 1: aligns with, you know, not only where service areas are, which are much larger than their actual

[0:46:43] Voice 1: serviceable area at this point in time or in the in the near to moderate term so to that end where

[0:46:49] Voice 1: i've had one of my planners running over next door to get some sewer data just to understand more

[0:46:54] Voice 1: where the where the pipes are because if you're in the sewer area and you're you're 100 you're

[0:46:59] Voice 1: three lots down the road then you're building pipe that you know i think every every planner

[0:47:05] Voice 1: in the room has seen a proposal sync for that that three lot line extension um at the scale

[0:47:11] Voice 1: that we develop at so um there's ways that we can work with those service providers and

[0:47:16] Voice 1: um you know it's um it's something that we had wanted to do early on in this process that that

[0:47:23] Voice 1: staff had committed to i think i can i can own that for for islands trust that we wanted to

[0:47:29] Voice 1: to reach out um and we still do uh want to reach out to um our governance partners to talk about

[0:47:36] Voice 1: um what they can do um to support the the objectives of this plan uh and and where they

[0:47:44] Voice 1: can support it um and that's you know primarily you know um where can we develop that that um

[0:47:54] Voice 1: that housing um in ways that don't you know um have minimal impact on on the land but also on

[0:48:03] Voice 1: those service levels right we need to make sure that these things can be upheld so that's a

[0:48:07] Voice 1: i think there's there's goodwill and there's an ongoing need for us you know we have a legislative

[0:48:12] Voice 1: obligation to coordinate amongst these different groups and we can we can keep that work going

[0:48:17] Voice 1: uh and we do have ways that we are um we're doing that ongoing so i think that's something we

[0:48:24] Voice 1: we can we can certainly see the need for um continued collaboration with those governance

[0:48:30] Voice 1: and screws but throughout this project um that's that's definitely a factor that mr brooks and i

[0:48:37] Voice 1: have discussed recently the need for for better servicing data and that's that's our primary

[0:48:40] Voice 1: push right now is to get that more detailed servicing data for them to to help inform that

[0:48:46] Voice 1: that growth plan laura one

[0:48:58] Voice 2: more engagement related question i guess i've asked a couple of times and

[0:49:01] Voice 2: i don't really have the short-term rental um opportunity to either have a working group to

[0:49:08] Voice 2: look at that um i know i shared with you the information that we got last week at a round

[0:49:12] Voice 2: table with the local community commission and the work that they've done some really outstanding

[0:49:18] Voice 2: recommendations of you know sort of policy direction and things that we should be considering

[0:49:23] Voice 2: um so i encourage you to link up with the authors of that work um this is our window if we're going

[0:49:32] Voice 2: going to talk to the short-term rental accommodators in any form or way, or commercial

[0:49:40] Voice 2: operators for that factor. This is the season. If we wait much longer, it'll be a year from now

[0:49:47] Voice 2: before we talk to them again. So that window is going to close. And I think, I hope that we're

[0:49:55] Voice 2: planning to have some dialogue with those groups as part of this work. And that was always envisioned.

[0:50:03] Voice 2: And I don't, you know, time is slipping away from us here pretty quickly and we're going to be in busy season and the whole island shuts down.

[0:50:12] Voice 2: Well, it's talking to us anyway.

[0:50:19] Voice 4: I'll jump in first and then I'll hand it to Kevin to follow up.

[0:50:23] Voice 4: um so in the engagement plan we have um space for six uh what i would call like

[0:50:31] Voice 4: dialogue sessions or interviews um with groups or organizations uh there's always more that we want

[0:50:40] Voice 4: to include um but but we are we do have to fit within the budget that's in front of us uh so we

[0:50:47] Voice 4: have six one-hour sessions the participants of those sections has not yet been defined and we

[0:50:52] Voice 4: We look to staff to define that list, working with, you know, yourselves and other folks

[0:50:58] Voice 4: to decide which conversations are most important.

[0:51:03] Voice 4: There are other conversations you mentioned earlier, other government agencies, the commission.

[0:51:10] Voice 4: So this sort of extends beyond engagement.

[0:51:13] Voice 4: This is where the edges of engagement meet the question of how are we informing the process

[0:51:17] Voice 4: and the work that we're doing here.

[0:51:18] Voice 4: And engagement is very much focused on tapping into knowledge that's held by the public or advocacy groups or subject matter experts that could include, say, business associations, tourism associations.

[0:51:34] Voice 4: So we would look to develop that participant list to include the folks that you feel are most important to inform this OCP process.

[0:51:42] Voice 4: In terms of other governmental agencies, I think we would move that out of that engagement process. If that's additional consultation that you would like, then that actually goes to Kevin to fit into the broader process. But we don't necessarily consider that as part of engagement. We do consider that as informing the OCP and the policy direction.

[0:52:01] Voice 4: But in those six sessions that we have reserved, we really would like to focus that on public groups or like you mentioned, tourism associations, business association, those who can provide that insight.

[0:52:14] Voice 4: site um and if it's specific questions around housing you know the questions we ask there are

[0:52:18] Voice 4: who is currently not able to secure housing on the island but could secure jobs um who is already on

[0:52:27] Voice 4: the island but doesn't have stable you know we would have very specific questions around specific

[0:52:30] Voice 4: policy areas in those interviews um and then there's other ways that those that folks from

[0:52:36] Voice 4: organizations uh such as business associations who may not be one of the six groups that we do have

[0:52:42] Voice 4: have the opportunity to interview can make submissions. And we've outlined that and we

[0:52:47] Voice 4: will outline that in the marketing and communications material that goes out. So

[0:52:51] Voice 4: there's lots of opportunity for those folks to make submissions to the process.

[0:52:55] Voice 4: And I'll hand it to Kevin to speak to the government engagement side of things and the

[0:52:59] Voice 4: interagency work.

[0:53:03] Voice 3: Yes, that's my answer. So it's something that I've started making a list of sort

[0:53:10] Voice 3: of the key groups that I really want to talk to that are sort of those government agencies like

[0:53:14] Voice 3: the CRD, the local improvement areas and things like that. And so that is something that I'm

[0:53:19] Voice 3: hoping Chris and I can work on to set up some meetings where Chris and I can actually sit down

[0:53:23] Voice 3: with them and have some of those conversations sort of outside of that key engagement process

[0:53:27] Voice 3: like Sandra has mentioned. And so it's one of those ongoing things, but it's key information

[0:53:33] Voice 3: that we need for a lot of various things. Chris had mentioned the servicing one that we were

[0:53:39] Voice 3: already talking about that's going to be key for us to help inform the exact pipe locations

[0:53:45] Voice 3: you know we have sort of the broad service areas but we don't actually have pipe location mapping

[0:53:49] Voice 3: if we can get that pipe location mapping and use that as part of our gis and then overlay some of

[0:53:54] Voice 3: that information you're talking about uh uh trustee patrick with regards to the existing land use map

[0:54:00] Voice 3: and like the different densities that could be on you know what's that proximity to the existing

[0:54:06] Voice 3: amenities and so we have to have conversations with a lot of these groups because they have

[0:54:10] Voice 3: some key information that is going to inform like this next round of ocp sort of assessment type

[0:54:17] Voice 3: work so like the answer is yes we definitely need to meet with a lot of those other sort of

[0:54:23] Voice 3: governmental agencies to help inform go

[0:54:28] Voice 2: ahead just like the short-term rental aid is definitely in

[0:54:32] Voice 2: the engagement side for a chunk of it but um i think getting some daylighting this and getting

[0:54:41] Voice 2: this out will help i mean there's a lot of people saying when am i going to be talked to you know

[0:54:45] Voice 2: and um and i think that's that's a missing piece and i'm i'm in a kind of a in a in a black box i'm

[0:54:52] Voice 2: like we intended for them to talk to you but i don't know when they're going to talk you know

[0:54:56] Voice 2: so i don't want to be like that be nice be able to point to a map and say you know you're you're

[0:55:00] Voice 2: on it, you will be contacted. And, you know, so I think we need to get some of this out there a bit

[0:55:07] Voice 2: more detailed so that organizations can see themselves showing up and not start losing hope

[0:55:15] Voice 2: that they're going to be missed.

[0:55:20] Voice 7: Yeah, thanks for that. I just sort of, you know, one of the

[0:55:23] Voice 7: pieces I think reinforced for me is when we're talking in our joint meetings with the local

[0:55:30] Voice 7: local community commission, them directly asking us, the local trust committee, so

[0:55:39] Voice 7: when is our formal engagement with you on this project starting? And we're really only able to

[0:55:47] Voice 7: say it's coming. It's definitely going to happen. Well, we didn't have a date for you. So I just

[0:55:53] Voice 7: want to be conscious of our time. We're already, believe it or not, at four minutes to four.

[0:56:02] Voice 7: and um i'm not entirely sure what other uh obligations uh anyone on the call has today

[0:56:09] Voice 7: but we do have another piece of work that we need to address um today before we conclude so

[0:56:19] Voice 7: um i'll look to you trustee patrick and see if there's any anything else you really want

[0:56:28] Voice 7: Sandra and Kevin to hear and Chris for that matter too before we conclude today and get into our

[0:56:35] Voice 7: our business case review here the

[0:56:41] Voice 2: only thing I'd like to add is as you go to the project advisory

[0:56:44] Voice 2: planning commission I did listen to that last meeting I won't be able to listen to your one

[0:56:49] Voice 2: next time because I have conflict is they really need to have clarity as to what they're being

[0:56:54] Voice 2: asked and uh you know and really line that up black and white i think will help get good feedback

[0:57:00] Voice 2: back i

[0:57:10] Voice 1: think that's good direction yeah for us yeah

[0:57:12] Voice 6: thank you checking my calendar so that's the

[0:57:16] Voice 6: january 29th one right oh i

[0:57:23] Voice 7: see right that's gotcha i have i thought i didn't have a conflict

[0:57:29] Voice 7: but i have probably the same conflict you have yeah so mr chargers to clarify the i had it on

[0:57:35] Voice 7: my calendar is going but go ahead just

[0:57:39] Voice 1: to clarify the um the papc meetings are not live streamed

[0:57:42] Voice 1: however they are um public is welcome to observe committee meetings uh it is

[0:57:48] Voice 1: um not encouraged that input is received obviously um the ltc is is um where where input ought to go

[0:57:57] Voice 1: because where the decision lies um however um where we are making greater effort to um to publish

[0:58:05] Voice 1: to promote those meetings

[0:58:07] Voice 1: and encourage members of the public to attend

[0:58:11] Voice 1: so that they can be informed about what is happening

[0:58:14] Voice 1: with this project.

[0:58:17] Voice 1: So it

[0:58:18] Voice 1: helps us to be

[0:58:18] Voice 7: a little bit proactive as well.

[0:58:20] Voice 7: Yeah, and the one late next week there,

[0:58:25] Voice 7: I had gotten information that it was going to be available

[0:58:29] Voice 7: to at least observe online.

[0:58:34] Voice 7: online but uh as i say i i look again at my calendar i've got a direct contact so okay

[0:58:41] Voice 7: yeah streaming yeah this is different than interacting but it's an opportunity for me

[0:58:46] Voice 7: to listen but um so is there anything else that we need to identify before we move on to the

[0:58:52] Voice 7: business case piece here not seeing anyone waving hands or jumping up and down so um thank you

[0:59:04] Voice 7: thank you kevin and sandra and look forward to the next update so we're going to see you at our

[0:59:11] Voice 7: we're going to hear from you at our um february 12th meeting or is that going to be in a as a

[0:59:17] Voice 7: report i noticed was we're going through that sorry

[0:59:32] Voice 1: mr chair yes um

[0:59:33] Voice 1: mr brooks is uh the

[0:59:35] Voice 1: macklehaney is planned to be at the february 12th um ocp lub ltc meeting to discuss the ocp

[0:59:44] Voice 1: project um okay they will be sort of going more into depth the engagement but i think we've kind

[0:59:50] Voice 1: of had that conversation preliminarily and so i think they'll be i i don't want to speak for

[0:59:55] Voice 1: maclehaney but i assume they'll be taking away what they've heard today and um reflecting on that

[1:00:01] Voice 1: back uh with a bit more detail in february okay

[1:00:05] Voice 7: great yeah i just wanted to confirm that that was

[1:00:09] Voice 7: what i saw in this report was exactly we're gonna we'll see you again on uh on the 12th of february

[1:00:14] Voice 7: then um so thank you for that and then i'll move us on to um we have a staff report and

[1:00:22] Voice 7: recommendation uh to approve the um the project business case update here so i over to you uh

[1:00:32] Voice 7: rpm hutton thank

[1:00:34] Voice 1: you mr chair uh well it's it's actually this is kind of a call it a uh

[1:00:40] Voice 1: a post-october uh situation um ltc previously in november uh received a

[1:00:47] Voice 1: a memo from mcelhaney that outlined some of the challenges with our first round of engagement and

[1:00:55] Voice 1: um proposed this um phase to be um adding some this supplemental engagement that we just discussed

[1:01:02] Voice 1: So as a result of that, there are some changes now to the work that will be on this year.

[1:01:11] Voice 1: As a result of this extra phase and some of the delays we had early on in the year, even starting from the timing of the contract, it's shifted out a little bit.

[1:01:24] Voice 1: And we've added a bit of work on the tail end of this.

[1:01:26] Voice 1: And there's a little bit of that we're still trying to maintain a timeline that will keep us, you know, generally on track without going too far over.

[1:01:39] Voice 1: So as a result of that, LTC had authorized, had said, add $40,000 to the business case.

[1:01:48] Voice 1: That request was carried forward.

[1:01:50] Voice 1: By all accounts, it's been discussed in, that information has been brought forward in your discussions around the budget back in December.

[1:01:58] Voice 1: But the actual business case outlining what, you know, what is requested and just having a cleaned up business case has not.

[1:02:07] Voice 1: So that's what this is today.

[1:02:09] Voice 1: So to some extent, you've already said add $40,000.

[1:02:13] Voice 1: This is just sort of laying out in the typical fashion what we're asking for.

[1:02:20] Voice 1: We can ensure that we have that all ready for budget.

[1:02:27] Voice 7: Right, yes.

[1:02:28] Voice 7: So that it's all the trust council will be looking at a committee of a whole

[1:02:37] Voice 7: and then the March trust council meeting.

[1:02:39] Voice 7: So this will be the updated version we'll get there then.

[1:02:42] Voice 7: yeah it's

[1:02:44] Voice 1: essentially a beefed up phase two uh phase four into next fiscal um was the way we

[1:02:50] Voice 1: kind of um we'll have phases um one through three complete this fiscal um or one and two

[1:02:57] Voice 1: i can't recall the exact phase phase numbers get foggy for me but however this is the um

[1:03:03] Voice 1: it's just basically yeah um the extra work we're doing this year uh will be a bit of a change on

[1:03:09] Voice 1: the project uh but it'd be made up in the following fiscal right

[1:03:14] Voice 7: yeah no i understand that

[1:03:15] Voice 7: just just getting the getting the document back to address trust council uh updated uh trustee

[1:03:22] Voice 7: patrick did you have something um

[1:03:24] Voice 2: yeah i guess more of a question for rpm putton and for

[1:03:30] Voice 2: i look at the budget and we've got you know early and ongoing consultation with 13 first nations we

[1:03:37] Voice 2: we have zero dollars spent in this fiscal which creates a tad bit of heartburn for me um i was

[1:03:44] Voice 2: wondering if we could get an update on kind of where things are um and going at either our next

[1:03:51] Voice 2: meeting if that's possible uh

[1:03:54] Voice 1: yeah certainly um i can i can provide a bit of an update at the next

[1:03:58] Voice 1: one i think it's worth uh going into it more deeply i will say that we've had a flurry of new

[1:04:03] Voice 1: contacts cropping up across the organization First Nations I think there was um partly as

[1:04:09] Voice 1: you know despite our outreach we weren't getting a lot of response and I think there was a bit of

[1:04:14] Voice 1: overwhelm um given the the wider political context we've been going through as of late but

[1:04:19] Voice 1: um it does seem like our our like we our our staff are the staff across various First Nations seem

[1:04:26] Voice 1: to be more available and there seems to be more um interest in in response and some staff changes

[1:04:33] Voice 1: that have happened at various nations so um and that's happening here as well i think we're we're

[1:04:38] Voice 1: staffing up a bit more so we'll have more capacity to really tend to those relationships but um

[1:04:43] Voice 1: by and large we have and i can go go into this more deeply with a report but uh by and large we

[1:04:49] Voice 1: have a good relationship um you know that's that's really positive and progressive with one nation

[1:04:53] Voice 1: but the other 12 we're we're conscious of the fact that we need to work with all nations um

[1:04:59] Voice 1: you know, provide equality of opportunity, that's the area where we have not had as much

[1:05:07] Voice 1: success as we'd like. And we need to demonstrate a greater degree of outreach and willingness to

[1:05:15] Voice 1: collaborate with, well, just get a greater degree of successful outcomes with territorial first

[1:05:24] Voice 1: nations.

[1:05:28] Voice 7: Okay. So I think I hear you saying that you're going to give us a more in-depth

[1:05:32] Voice 7: reporting at our February meeting on that.

[1:05:35] Voice 7: Yes, sir.

[1:05:37] Voice 7: Okay, and I mean, I understand,

[1:05:39] Voice 7: I think I can speak for Trustee Patrick

[1:05:43] Voice 7: that we understand the implications

[1:05:46] Voice 7: of the budgetary piece there,

[1:05:49] Voice 7: but I do appreciate that you bring up

[1:05:52] Voice 7: the First Nations engagement piece there

[1:05:54] Voice 7: because that was something that both you and I mentioned

[1:05:58] Voice 7: back in October or November or whenever it was

[1:06:01] Voice 7: when when we saw the the numbers when we went hey so appreciate that um anything further before we

[1:06:10] Voice 7: look at uh advancing the resolution here no

[1:06:16] Voice 2: i'm happy to advance the resolution and we can discuss

[1:06:19] Voice 2: it um i move that the salt spring island local trust committee approved the major project business

[1:06:26] Voice 2: case for the ocp land use bylaw project attached to the january 2020 26 special meeting agenda for

[1:06:33] Voice 2: consideration of the fiscal 2026-2027 budget year so

[1:06:40] Voice 7: moved and i will second the motion and

[1:06:43] Voice 7: discussion well

[1:06:45] Voice 2: i think that's um i am concerned in many ways with the budget moving where it where

[1:06:52] Voice 2: it is and i mean i think this number was already calculated into it i hope if it wasn't i'm concerned

[1:06:57] Voice 2: concern a bit more but um um we have to salt spring is a major island and this work is of

[1:07:06] Voice 2: significance so um you know i think we have to do what we can to uh carry this forward in the budget

[1:07:14] Voice 2: so understood

[1:07:23] Voice 5: all

[1:07:27] Voice 7: right um anything further nope and then i will call the question off and that

[1:07:39] Voice 7: carries thank you and uh any other anything else either of you would like to address before we

[1:07:46] Voice 7: wrap it up for today i

[1:07:52] Voice 2: guess just a quick do we need a resolution for requesting a report on the

[1:07:55] Voice 2: update on the engagement first nations or will that just happen i

[1:07:59] Voice 1: do owe you a quarterly report

[1:08:00] Voice 1: i know i missed one back in november there so um i'll be i'll work to um incorporate that into a

[1:08:07] Voice 1: an update on our wider workload and provide some additional background on that and hope to have

[1:08:15] Voice 1: more news for you on the on the staff in front as well to support that great

[1:08:23] Voice 7: all right then

[1:08:25] Voice 7: thank you everyone and nothing further I'll call for adjournment I so move

[1:08:34] Voice 2: and

[1:08:36] Voice 7: we shall see you on Salt Spring on February 12th bye

[1:08:46] Voice 7: Thank you.

ADOPTED 
Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee ADOPTED 1 of  3 
Special Meeting Minutes  
January 20, 2026  
     Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee 
 Minutes of Special Meeting 
 
Date: Tuesday, January 20, 2026 
Location: Electronic Meeting 
  
Members Present: 
 
 
Timothy Peterson, Chair 
Laura Patrick, Local Trustee   
Members Absent: 
 
Staff Present: 
 
 
 
Others Present: 
Jamie Harris, Local Trustee 
 
Chris Hutton, Regional Planning Manager  
Morgana van Niekerk, Communications Specialist 
Lisa Millard, Meeting Administrator/Recorder  
 
There was one member of the public present 
 
1. CALL TO ORDER 
Chair Peterson called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. Chair Peterson acknowledged that 
the Local Trust Committee is meeting in the territory of the Coast Salish First Nations. 
2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA 
By general consent the agenda was adopted as presented. 
3. BUSINESS ITEMS 
3.1 Official Community Plan/Land Use Bylaw Project Update 
The project consultants provided an update on the recent work done on the Official 
Community Plan/Land Use Bylaw project and highlighted the following: 
•  A background review was undertaken to establish context and a baseline for 
the Official Community Plan (OCP) update, identify strengths and gaps, ensure 
alignment with current regulations and needs, and to ensure consolidation of 
language, objectives, and strategies across all sections; 
• A technical review looked at six key documents including the Salt Spring Island 
Watershed Protection Plan, Salt Spring Island Area Farm Plan Renewal, Islands 
Trust Housing Need Assessment, Homes for Islanders; An Integrated Housing 
Solutions Framework, Islands Trust Housing Options Toolkit, and the Salt Spring 
Climate Action Plan 2.0 and identified key focus areas including groundwater 
protections, Agricultural Land Reserve and non-Agricultural Land Reserve land 
protections related to food security and eco tourism, housing diversity, and 
where housing should be located in proximity to existing infrastructure while 
ensuring integration of environmental protections and climate resilience; 

 
 
ADOPTED 
Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee ADOPTED 2 of  3 
Special Meeting Minutes  
January 20, 2026  
• The gap analysis identifies opportunities and strengths of the existing OCP with 
recommendations for updates including a dedicated housing section and 
consolidation into a single document; 
• A review of next steps was provided with the second phase of engagement 
identified as the next area of focus. 
 
Discussion ensued and the following comments and clarifications were noted: 
• All public facing information should include a project map showing where the 
Local Trust Committee is at in the process related to the overall project 
timelines; 
• The project needs to be immersed in First Nations relationship building; 
• It is important the public understands the project outcome is not to add more 
density and the question to be put to the public is if the community wants the 
growth to continue at the current level or not; 
• There is a separate Official Community Plan for Piers Island and Land Use 
Bylaws for Piers Island and Prevost and associated islands and these 
documents might need to be brought into the primary Salt Spring Island OCP at 
some point; 
• The parcel density map addresses where density for development already exists  
but does not identify areas of where density should or could be in the context of 
moving away from the current practice of single-family dwellings built away 
from amenities resulting in urban sprawl; 
• Some of the current Geographic Information System (GIS) maps are out of date 
including some Development Permit Area maps and there is need to track 
topics that might be out of scope for the OCP/LUB project but captured for 
future consideration; 
• Development Permit Area objectives need to be in the Official Community Plan 
but the guidelines should not be included in order to facilitate updating the 
guidelines when necessary; 
 
Discussion focused on the next stage of engagement and the following comments 
were noted: 
• There will be an emphasis on housing and environmental policies with key 
questions developed based on Trustee feedback and information received from 
the first stage of engagement; 
• The Housing Needs Assessment is not relevant to Salt Spring and it is necessary 
to determine the types of housing needed in order to create a resilient housing 
structure; 
• Discussions with groups such as employers, the hospital, and other key 
organizations will be undertaken to determine what type of housing is needed; 
• Under-housing has been identified as a problem and the consultants will be 
attempting to engage relevant groups to provide input in this area; 
• Six dialogue sessions with groups or organizations will be planned and the 
participants will be defined through input from staff and the Local Trust 
Committee; 
• Groups that are not included in the dialogue sessions will be invited to make 
written submissions. 

 
 
ADOPTED 
Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee ADOPTED 3 of  3 
Special Meeting Minutes  
January 20, 2026  
 
3.2 Official Community Plan/Land use Bylaw Project Business Case – Staff Report 
The Regional Planning Manager summarized the staff report which presented a 
revised business case for the allocation of funding and staff resources for the 
continuation of the Official Community Plan / Land Use Bylaw Project for the next 
fiscal period. 
A Trustee requested an update on First Nations engagement be provided at the next 
meeting and the Regional Planning Manager noted an update will be incorporated 
into the quarterly report.  
 
   SS-2026-001 
   It was MOVED and SECONDED 
that the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee approve the Major Project 
Business Case for the OCP-LUB Project attached to the January 20, 2026 
Special Meeting Agenda for consideration of the fiscal 2026-2027 year 
budget. 
CARRIED 
4. ADJOURNMENT 
By general consent the meeting was adjourned at 4:08 p.m. 
 
 
 
_________________________ 
Timothy Peterson, Chair 
 
 
Certified Correct: 
_________________________ 
Lisa Millard, Meeting Administrator/Recorder