188 replies to this topic

[CarlonCouncil]

Looking for something to do on a Tuesday night between 7:30-8:30 pm? Why not check out #yyjchat on Twitter. It is a real time discussion focused on the Victoria area and each week it features a guest speaker who answers questions on a wide variety of topics such as politics, business, policing, the environment, etc. Past guests have included Ryder Hesjedal, Elizabeth May, Janni Aragon, and Schachi Kurl. The discussions are always fast paced, engaging and very entertaining! Check it out next time you are free on a Tuesday night between 7:30-8:30 pm and search out the hashtag #yyjchat and be part of the discussion.

Check out details on #yyjchat as well as a summary of the guests to date:
http://victoriawave.ca/category/yyjchat/

Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

September may mean the end of summer for some people, while for others, it means that Central Saanich Council is getting back to work for the fall! The next meeting is Monday night at 7:00 pm at the Municipal Hall.

Agenda: http://www.centralsaanich.ca/Assets/Central+Saanich/Agendas/Special+Council/2012/12Sep04+Special+(Open)+Council+Agenda.pdf

Background Materials: http://www.centralsaanich.ca/Assets/Central+Saanich/Agendas/Special+Council/2012/12Sep04+Special+(Open)+Council+Agenda+Background+Materials.pdf

Correspondence for General Info: http://www.centralsaanich.ca/Assets/Central+Saanich/Agendas/Special+Council/2012/12Sep04+Correspondence+for+General+Information.pdf

Carl

[Mike K.]

As always, thanks for keeping us connected and up-to-date, Carl! If only more local politicians would see the value in doing the same.

[CarlonCouncil]

North Saanich Middle School Neighbourhood of Learning’s Opening Ceremony this morning, September 8, at 10:00 am. Come and check out this brand new facility which has been built out of a partnership between the School District, Panorama Recreation and the Province of BC. Public tours and activities today between 10:00 – 2:00.

http://www.crd.bc.ca/panorama/NorthSaanich.htm

Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

I wanted to follow up on the Grand Opening of the North Saanich Middle School’s Neighbourhood of Learning from yesterday. The A/Program Manager from Panorama Recreation, Dustin Ray-Wilks, provided me with a list of some of the new programming that will be offered by Panorama Recreation out of the new facility:

a. Badminton – Permanent home
b. Cooking Courses – for adult and children – NEW PROGRAMS
c. Ballroom Dancing - Permanent home
d. Okinawan Weaponry - Permanent home
e. Fitness programs – New and expanded programs
f. Painting Programs – NEW HOME
g. Basketball – NEW program
h. Many more programs staff are working on for the New Year!

I wanted to pass on a huge Thank-you to the Panorama Recreation staff for everything they have done up until now to help get the project started and now to help with exciting new programming that will meet the evolving need of our residents on the Saanich Peninsula.

Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

The next major project being considered in Central Saanich will be the Town Hall replacement. The Central Saanich Communications Sub-Committee has branded the project, Your Town Hall. The September 2012 edition of Central Saanich’s quarterly newsletter, Community Focus, is a special Collector’s Edition, as the whole newsletter is focused on the Your Town Hall project as it provides articles such as the business case for a new Town Hall, Project Planning 2009-2012, background work to date as well as a proposed drawing of how the new Town Hall might fit on the existing site.

A public community meeting will be held on the Your Town Hall project on Saturday October 13 at the Municipal Hall Fire Training Centre from 10:00am – 2:00pm. There will be presentations at 11:00am and 1:00pm and there will be facility tours available to help residents learn more about the existing facilities.

For more details on the project, as well as background information, you can visit the project site on the District site:

http://www.centralsaanich.ca/hall/Departments/Administration/Town_Hall_Project.htm

Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

I wanted to provide a very brief update on a couple of items from last Monday night’s Committees meetings.

Parks & Rec Committee
We had a presentation from two members of Parks Canada regarding the proposed National Marine Conservation Area (NMCA) being proposed for the Southern Strait of Georgia. The area being proposed would be approximately 1,400 sq. km Cordova Bay to southern Gabriola Island including Saanich Inlet. The purpose of the NMCA is to create an area that will continue to allow uses such as recreational and commercial fishing, marine transportation, utility corridors, and a variety of tourism and recreational activities. What would be prohibited in a NMCA would be oil/gas exploration and development and underwater mining. There will be public open house held in the near future and I will be representing Central Saanich at one of these open houses as the Chair of the Parks & Recreation Committee. For more details: www.parkscanada.ca/straitofgeorgia

Community, Protective Services & Facilities Committee
We received an update from the consultant hired to assist with the communications plan for the Your Town Hall project. She spoke of outreach initiatives aimed at sharing project details with the public and also in seeking avenues for public input. We discussed a display board that will be placed at Municipal Hall as well as other public locations such as the Central Saanich Cultural Centre in Brentwood Bay. There will be an opportunity on Saturday Oct 13 to come out and learn more about the project while providing input and receiving tours of the current facility.

Planning & Development Committee
We were presented with details on a multi-family townhouse project being proposed for the property behind Sassy’s in Brentwood Bay. Realizing that corner has presented some zoning challenges with the recent announcement of the Central Saanich/CRD arbitration, it was proposed that we as a District might be better served to review that whole corridor from the Keating Business Park right up to West Saanich and over to Brentwood Bay in terms of the non-ALR properties and their relationship to the Regional Growth Strategy, Urban Containment Boundary and the OCP. Decisions on the Artisan proposal were deferred until we can get some clarity on the future implications of the whole area.

Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

Central Saanich Council meeting Monday night at the Municipal Hall at 7pm. Here is your pre-reading for the meeting:

Agenda:
http://www.centralsaanich.ca/Assets/Central+Saanich/Agendas/Regular+Council/2012/12Sep17+Regular+Council+Agenda.pdf

Background Materials:
http://www.centralsaanich.ca/Assets/Central+Saanich/Agendas/Regular+Council/2012/12Sep17+Regular+Council+Agenda+Background+Materials.pdf

Correspondence:
http://www.centralsaanich.ca/Assets/Central+Saanich/Agendas/Regular+Council/2012/12Sep17+Regular+Council+-+General+Information+Correspondence.pdf

Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

Your Town Hall – Communications Update

The Central Saanich Communications Sub-Committee met last night to discuss the communication strategies leading up to the upcoming public Town Hall/Open House on Saturday October 13. The session will be held in the Fire Training Centre within the Municipal Hall from 10:00-2:00 with presentations at 11:00 am and 1:00 pm.

The project is being branded under the name, Your Town Hall. The sub-committee has two goals for the session, first, to ensure that adequate information on the project is made available to the public to enable them the opportunity to give the project some thought before the event so that they might arrive armed with comments, questions or observations. The second goal is to reach as broad of a Central Saanich public as possible by ensuring the projects gets sufficient promotion through the Peninsula News Review, standing displays that will be featured around CS, social media, etc.

The event will feature a number of stations in the process such as: Project Overview, Project Background, Conceptual Building Design, Funding and Phasing, Next Steps and Comments. There will be district staff, project staff and elected officials on hand to discuss the project with the residents and business of Central Saanich.

For those unable to attend, the project site on the Central Saanich site will feature project documents and details, online survey and we are hoping to facilitate a tweet meeting during the Open House from 10:00am – 2:00pm similar to what has been seen on Tuesday nights under the #yyjchat hashtag. Two of the hashtags that will be used leading up to the event and during that tweet meeting will be: #csaan and #yourtownhall .

We hope that you will be able to join us in person, online through the project site of twitter. As this is Your Town Hall, we look forward to your comments, input and feedback going forward on this project as we as a district want to engage you as part of the process. Stay tuned for more details under the hashtags above.

Town Hall Project

Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

I am almost finished Day 1 of UBCM. It has been a great day of presentations on topics such as Social Media in Local Government, Rules of Power for Mayor and Council and a Mid-Sized Community Forum featuring stories from communities across BC. There has been two Minister Meetings today for Central Saanich speaking with Minister Chong of MARR and Minister Polak of MoTI. It has been a great experience for me as a UBCM rookie to take part in all of the networking and learning. Back I go for the Welcome Reception and a Live visit with the #yyjchat crew between 6:30-7:30p on site at the VCC.

Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

Central Saanich Council – Materials for Tonight’s Meeting:

Agenda:
http://www.centralsaanich.ca/Assets/Central+Saanich/Agendas/Regular+Council/2012/12OCt01+Regular+Council+Agenda.pdf

Background Materials:
http://www.centralsaanich.ca/Assets/Central+Saanich/Agendas/Regular+Council/2012/12Oct01+Regular+Council+Agenda+Background+Materials.pdf

Correspondence:
http://www.centralsaanich.ca/Assets/Central+Saanich/Agendas/Regular+Council/2012/12Oct01+Regular+Council+Corr+for+General+Information.pdf

Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

Carl, what is your take on the Woodwynn farm situation?

@LJ - I have an update I can provide on Woodwyn Farm. In last night's Central Saanich Council meeting, the CAO, Patrick Robins informed Council and the Gallery that representatives from Woodwyn Farms had been in to the District that morning to discuss the process to apply for a Temporary Use Permit for "Farmworker Housing".

I will keep you posted as I can going forward.

Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

I have sat on the Peninsula Recreation Commission for the last 5 years. I began as a Central Saanich Citizen Representative and once elected to Central Saanich in December 2011, I became the Central Saanich Council Rep. This past summer has been very successful for Panorama and the Peninsula Recreation Commission and I would like to share some of the highlights:

May-August Program Highlights
1. After last year’s drop in summer camp registrations, staff spent last fall researching in the overall trends with our own day camps. The surge in half day camp registrations increased significantly resulted in a decrease in full day camp registrations last year. Parents were looking for half day programs for their
children. As a result, our Swing into Summer Camps were completely restructured. Many camps were offered as a half day rather than a full day. It allowed children to attend only a half day camp or two different camps within the same day. Year over year revenue increased by $15,713.
2. Opening the Greenglade Community Centre Weight Room and Pottery Studio for almost 12 hours every day during the summer offered great flexibility for patrons wishing to access the facility at a time convenient for them.
3. Two large community events were offered in the Arena’s this past spring and summer. These events were jointly offered with Panorama. The May Rotary Swap and Shop was a community fundraiser for Panorama Teen programs over the next year. The Vancouver Island Makers Faire was the first Makers Faire offered on Vancouver Island. Both Events plan to return in 2013 as larger events.
4. Rally for the Kids a fundraiser for Power To Be is in its second year. The event raised $11,400 and attracted over 320 people.
5. The closure of Commonwealth Place created immense opportunity to capture swim lane rentals groups as well as patrons for drop-ins and swim lesson programs. Our year over year rental revenue from May to August increased 170 % to $19,886. It was by far one of the busiest summers ever in the pool.

Panorama also received some great exposure through a recent feature on The Daily, check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxF9Vk67UwA&feature=youtu.be

Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

Your Town Hall
District of Central Saanich Town Hall Project

Community Meeting
Saturday October 13, 2012
Open House 10am - 2pm
Presentation 11am & 1pm

Municipal Hall - Fire Training Room
1903 Mt. Newton Cross Rd.

For more information, please visit project website at:
www.centralsaanich.ca

#yourtownhall #csaan

Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

Central Saanich Committees Meetings – October 9, 2012
Agenda: http://www.centralsaanich.ca/Assets/Central+Saanich/Agendas/Committee/2012/12Oct09+Special+Committees+Agenda.pdf
Background Materials:
http://www.centralsaanich.ca/Assets/Central+Saanich/Agendas/Committee/2012/12Oct09+Special+Committees+Agenda+Background+Materials.pdf
Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

Central Saanich Council Update – Committees Meeting Oct 9/12
There are a couple of issues I would like to touch upon at the completion of tonight’s Committees meetings: Grant in Aid and Composting in Central Saanich (how’s that for a diverse couple of topics).
Beginning with the Grant in Aid process, where tonight we reviewed applications from 34 organizations requesting approximately $168K in grant funding. For a full list of the groups and their respective requests, you can review the online background materials for tonight’s meeting: http://www.centralsaanich.ca/Assets/Central+Saanich/Agendas/Committee/2012/12Oct09+Special+Committees+Agenda+Background+Materials.pdf. The challenge we as Councillors now face is making recommendations as to how we shave down the total ask to 1% of our 2012 Property Taxes which is typically what is granted, which for 2012 was approximately $124K. The task is difficult because we all believe in maintaining fiscal austerity while at the same time recognizing the increased challenges faced by these community-focused groups that are themselves facing reduced funding options. I want to echo Councillor Ounstead’s comments acknowledging the efforts of ALL of the groups making applications as we acknowledge that they all make a significant contribution to our community both in Central Saanich, but also on the Peninsula and in the Victoria area. The requests will be re-visited at a November Committee meeting once all of the Councillors and the Mayor have made their recommendations to the Chair of the Finance Committee, Councillor Ounstead.
In terms of the composting in Central Saanich, the Mayor and Council had a great debate this evening looking at making a bylaw amendment to allow the offsite sale of compost materials by Central Saanich to support their farm operations. At present, the Central Saanich bylaws do allow for composting on local farms providing the final product is utilized on the farm properties. What is being proposed is an amendment to that bylaw that would see farmers being allowed to sell a yet undetermined % of their compost materials offsite. In the end, after a lengthy debate, the decision was made to prepare a land use bylaw amendment that would designate the A-1 zone as a Temporary Use Permit (TUP) area that would permit agricultural compost operations to sell a percentage of up to 50% of their compost for application on land outside the ALR. Also that the municipal solicitor investigate the legal avenues available to the District to monitor and enforce composting permits, that would be brought forward to Council with the draft bylaw. This will enable the issue to be brought forward as well to a Public Hearing so that Council might get a better sense of what the community as a whole has to say about the subject. I spoke and voted in support of this motion.
Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

I want to congratulate Panorama Recreation for their win at the Peninsula Chamber of Commerce’s Crystal Awards banquet held this evening. They were the winners in the “Contribution to the Community” category which I think was the most appropriate award they could have won. I have sat on the Peninsula Recreation Commission for the last 7 years starting first as the Central Saanich Citizen Rep and most recently as the Council Rep. During that time I have come to appreciate the fantastic work being done by the staff at Panorama in terms of managing a great number of facilities and ensuring that their programming is constantly evolving to meet the ever changing needs of the residents on the Saanich Peninsula. A huge toast to all of the Panorama staff for the great job they do every day!!
Carl

[Mike K.]

Thanks for the updates, Carl.

[CarlonCouncil]

On today, the Community Meeting for the Central Saanich Your Town Hall project at the Municipal Hall Fire Training Centre from 10:00a-2:00p. There will be presentations at 11:00a and 1:00p, and there will be tours of the present Municipal Hall. Meet the project team, municipal staff and members of Council that will be in attendance. If you cannot attend in person, join the chat via twitter under the #yourtownhall hashtag. Be part of the dialogue!
http://www.centralsaanich.ca/hall/Departments/Administration/Town_Hall_Project.htm

Carl

[CarlonCouncil]

Central Saanich Council meeting Monday Oct 15/12
Agenda: http://www.centralsaanich.ca/Assets/Central+Saanich/Agendas/Regular+Council/2012/12Oct15+Regular+Council+Agenda.pdf
Background Materials: http://www.centralsaanich.ca/Assets/Central+Saanich/Agendas/Regular+Council/2012/12Oct15+Regular+Council+Agenda+Background+Materials.pdf
Correspondence: http://www.centralsaanich.ca/Assets/Central+Saanich/Agendas/Regular+Council/2012/12Oct15+Regular+Council+Correspondence+for+General+Information.pdf
Carl