16 replies to this topic

[Ms. B. Havin]

Announced in today's T-C:

Candidate seeks 'new way of doing business'
Carolyn Heiman, Times Colonist
Published: Saturday, August 30, 2008

An organizational consultant and neighbourhood advocate is the 12th person to say he will seek a seat on Victoria city council.

John Farquharson said he's running because "what is getting done at city hall isn't enough and it takes way too long. We need a new way of doing business."

Farquharson said council members are polarized. Better collaboration is needed to make progress on goals.

With the development boom ebbing, the city has a perfect opportunity to consult with citizens and come up with a vision for Victoria that is three generations out.

That plan should be used to guide every decision at council, Farquharson said.

"It doesn't have to move a mile. Inch by inch, it will collectively add up to make it happen."

Farquharson was chairman of the Gonzales Neighbourhood Plan Steering Committee when the area agreed to open the doors to secondary suites, an idea that seemed radical at the time but was supported by residents and ended up being the model for a citywide policy on the issue.

Neighbouring municipalities are now looking at similar policies.

He followed that with a stint as chairman of the Victoria Greenways Plan steering committee, which resulted in a planning document aimed at linking pathways throughout the city to make it more pedestrian friendly.

Farquharson worries that downtown Victoria is in peril. "If we don't do something in the next three years we will lose it. Once you lose something it takes forever to get it back. We need to do a lot more for downtown communities than we are currently doing.

He calls himself an independent candidate.

I'd like to know more about that bolded bit, above.

[Bernard]

pipped at the post again!

I would love to know more about him

[Rob Randall]

I first met him a couple of years ago when he was hired by the City to facilitate the public discussion on the Victoria Greenways plan. Quiet and likeable, he seems good at finding consensus.

http://johnfarquharson.com/

[Ms. B. Havin]

I like the "info" on what a New Independant [sic] Candidate is on his website. Extract:

They [New Independent Candidates] seek not only the common ground, but also the higher ground of bold solutions that are inclusive and work for all pragmatic stakeholders. They reject the “either-or” menu as bogus and insist on a “both-and” thinking outside of the box, thinking that goes beyond conventional wisdom and traditional choices. They understand that our children are depending on us, not just to balance the books and take care of business; but to have a clear vision and the courage to think in a way that will establish the legacies they deserve and we can be proud of.

If it goes beyond boilerplate/ motherhood statements, it's not a bad vision.

[NathanF]

from his website

About John Farquharson
John Farquharson has been a Victoria resident for over 30 years. He’s lived in Fairfield, James Bay and, for the last 24 years, in Gonzales, where John and his wife Patti raised their children. Both boys attended Margaret Jenkins Elementary and Oak Bay High School. Nathan, 20, will complete his degree at Ryerson University this coming year while Adam, 18, will begin U. Vic.

For the last 20 years John has had a consulting practice in human resource and organization development, specializing in the area of organizational culture. Prior to that, he had a successful management career in health care. His clients include firms from the wood, manufacturing, retail and high technology industries as well as the non-profit, government, education and health care sectors. John is also a part-time instructor at the University of Victoria. His volunteer involvement in the Victoria community has included:

• Chair, Gonzales Neighbourhood Plan Steering Committee, 2000-2002
• Chair, City of Victoria Greenways Plan Steering Committee, 2002-2003
• Co-chair, Gonzales Neighbourhood Plan Implementation (sub-)Committee, Planning & Zoning Committee, Fairfield Community Association, since 2003
• Member, Maddison Lane Stewardship Group, since 2001. Group secured park status for Victoria’s smallest park – Wilmer Green. Currently partnering with Parks Dept. in developing a management plan for the Maddison Lane Greenway
• Member, Friends of Gonzales Neighbourhood Greenways Initiatives, since 2008. Group is currently partnering with the Parks Dept. in converting the closed Chandler-Gonzales public pathway to a Greenway
• Member, Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce.
• Community Representative, City of Victoria Greenways Interdisciplinary Committee, since 2004
• Assistant Teacher, Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria, since 2006
• Member, Visioning sub-committee, Planning & Zoning Committee, Fairfield Community Association, 2006-2007
• Executive, Beacon Hill Little League, 1998-2000
• Mediator, Dispute Resolution Centre, Victoria, 1993-1998
• Board Member, Goosey Gander Preschool, 1995
• Past Member, Vancouver Island Association of Technology Industries

“I believe all candidates must be examined on two fronts: Their policies and responses to today’s issues and how they’ll think in addressing those that arise over the next 3 years. As a leader and decision-maker on Victoria City Council, I would continue to think as I’ve always thought -- as a new independent.”

[Caramia]

Mediator, Dispute Resolution Centre, Victoria, 1993-1998

This point alone got me interested. Dispute resolution - now there is a novel quality in a councilor, eh?

[NathanF]

Hi Caramia

To clarify on that matter.

John has been involved on many different levels of dispute resolution, from negotiating for the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs with third parties impacted by treaty settlements, to issues surrounding landlord-tenant and small business-customer disputes. He has worked to facilitate community consultation sessions with non-profit agencies adversely impacted by downsizing, as well as providing intra-group conflict resolution for health care facilitates & professional service firms.

[NathanF]

John has been updating his website with questionnaire answers (or links) as he finishes them. While not all the questionnaires have been posted in his Q&A section of his website if you've missed reading about one in a newspaper or online, or didn't even know the questions had been asked in the first place, be sure to check them out.

Link is :

http://johnfarquharson.com/q_a.asp

[Baro]

I had a nice talk with him at the meeting today and I really think I'm going to vote for him. He's a nice well spoken fellow and seems to be not just supportive, but very well read on issues of urbanism.

[Beacon Hill]

Some people have commended the Gonzales neighbourhood plan because it allows secondary suites. Most of the plan, though, is not progressive, forward-thinking or environmentally-responsible. Instead of supporting a mixed-use, vibrant neighbourhood where you can live, work and shop locally, the plan is all about the single family dwelling. What a wasted opportunity to design the type of sustainable, well-planned community that most of us want to live in.

[Baro]

Is Gonzo really suitable for that sort of development though? I cringe asking that but in this case I actually wonder. Places like James bay, parts of fairfield and rockland all have existing and logical potential places we could encourage more density and variety of use, but where exactly would we be putting all these shops and businesses in gonzo? You won't find anyone more supportive of mixing uses and adding variety in neighbourhoods, but I'm really stretching my brain thinking where we could put such things in that neighbourhood. The best I could think would be tearing down all the houses along fairfield on the block accross from the school between foul bay and richmond and replace it with a 3-4 story streetwall similar to the commercial center in fernwood, but I know that would be an absolutely hopeless battle with residents.

[Caramia]

That would be so close to Thrifty's Plaza that I don't think it would really work. Also, if I am thinking of the right spot, I think some of those houses are subdivided and rented, in which case at least one of them probably fits the anti-demolition bylaw criteria. The other possibility would be to open up a section of beach along with rezoning the area bordering it as commercial - in hopes that it might attract recreation-type businesses, coffee-shops that are also ice-cream parlours etc etc. But yeah, I can't really think of how they would do that either.

[NathanF]

From John Farquharson

Many who have given a cursory glance to the Gonzales Neighbourhood Community Plan confuse "look" (i.e, “to maintain and enhance the neighbourhood’s single family dwelling character, look and ambiance”) with function (i.e, single family dwellings). The former has to do with how buildings look in terms of scale, mass and height. The latter has to do with how they function in terms of housing for 1, 2, 3 or more families within the same building.

The plan made significant contributions to the affordable housing and/or multiple-family dwelling stock. A few examples include:

· Permit secondary suites in houses of any age, not just those built before 1970
· Consider duplex rezonings based on the City’s established criteria
· Permitting strata titling of conversions in the Queen Anne Heights/Foul Bay/Gonzales Hill area
· Amend the CR-3 zone on Oak Bay Ave. to permit an increase in density from 1:1 to 1.6:1 where non-profit residential units are provided

As for working and shopping locally, the plan called for retaining the existing commercially zoned properties in the neighbourhood, apart from Oak Bay Ave , and to permit, where appropriate, their expansion as part of a mixed use development. Given the proximity of Oak Bay Ave in the north and Fairfield Plaza on the west, there's little need for significant commercial development within the neighbourhood

As for a sustainable, demographically diverse, well-planned community that most of us want to live in, ask any of the 3,500 residents in Gonzales where else they would want to live in Victoria. As well, ask them how many times they have been asked by friends from other neighbourhoods to let them know when "anything comes up for sale in the neighbourhood". Gonzales is extremely fortunate in easily being one of the top 2 or 3, if not the, neighbouhood(s) of choice that “most of us want to live in” in Victoria.

Thanks for opportunity to respond!

[Beacon Hill]

Increased density in the Gonzales neighbourhood is by way of conversion of single family dwellings - that is so limited it is practically meaningless. To demand retention of single family dwellings on busy streets like Richmond and Fairfield is contrary to principles of modern, sustainable planning.

The Gonzales livability index suffers because it doesn't allow apartment blocks, restaurants, cafes etc. to exist anywhere in its borders. Many people who live in Gonzales realize they will most likely have to move out of the neighbourhood when they become elderly, and see little hope for their children ever being able to afford to live there, unless in a basement suite. To recently update a neighbourhood plan, and not address mixed-use concepts, affordability, and sustainability issues like viable public transportation, is a real shame.

[Beacon Hill]

Is Gonzo really suitable for that sort of development though? I cringe asking that but in this case I actually wonder. Places like James bay, parts of fairfield and rockland all have existing and logical potential places we could encourage more density and variety of use, but where exactly would we be putting all these shops and businesses in gonzo? You won't find anyone more supportive of mixing uses and adding variety in neighbourhoods, but I'm really stretching my brain thinking where we could put such things in that neighbourhood. The best I could think would be tearing down all the houses along fairfield on the block accross from the school between foul bay and richmond and replace it with a 3-4 story streetwall similar to the commercial center in fernwood, but I know that would be an absolutely hopeless battle with residents.

It seems parts of Fairfield and Richmond would be your best bet. Somehow we have find a way past the "hopeless battles" with some residents and begin creating sustainable, mixed-use neighbourhoods.

[NathanF]

From John Farquharson

The plan does not call for the retention of single-family dwellings on busy
streets like Richmond and Fairfield. Many of the single-family dwellings on
these streets and others will and are now being converted to multi-family
dwellings.
For example, a recent conversion on Chamberlain transformed a single family
dwelling into a 5 unit strata. In keeping with the plan, it maintained the
single family dwelling scape [ie., look, height, scale] while going from a 1
family dwelling to 5 units [i.e., a change in function]

To say "The Gonzales livability index suffers because it doesn't allow
apartment blocks, restaurants, cafes etc. to exist anywhere in its borders"
is incorrect.
Please see page 6 of the plan: "There is significant potential for new
apartments above shops on Oak Bay Ave. The provision of such housing would
add life to the street and be in keeping with the Regional Growth Strategy
recommendation that the majority of future population be housed in existing
urban areas".

I'm not sure who the "many people who live in Gonzales realize they will
most likely have to move out of the neighbourhood when they become elderly"
are. Please forward me their contact information, as I’d like have the opportunity to discuss the plan with them to ensure they fully understand it and help
them with any misconceptions they may have.

Thank you

[Beacon Hill]

Thanks for pointing out the opportunities on Oak Bay Avenue, at the northern border of Gonzales. Too bad busy streets in the heart of Gonzales, like Richmond and Fairfield, weren't identified as perfect candidates for mixed-use planning. Instead the Gonzales Plan calls for, as you accurately describe, the preservation of the single family scape in look, height, and scale. That's the problem.

Richmond and Fairfield are hardly quiet, residential streets. It would be great if they provided us with apartment blocks, cafes, restaurants and other small scale commercial activity. That's what makes a community interesting, livable, affordable, green, and what makes decent public transportion viable. Instead, these streets that could be neighbourhood treasures, are confined to single family dwellings and a few strata conversions.