Joint Letter from Metchosin, Langford, and Beecher Bay First Nation

PROPOSAL

The District of Metchosin and the City of Langford are jointly requesting that the CRD Board consider an amendment to Bylaw 4017, the Regional Growth Strategy (2016) to facilitate a boundary adjustment between the District and City, and to ensure the Regional Urban Containment and Servicing Policy Area (RUCSPA) remains consistent with the City of Langford's municipal boundary. The amendment to the RUCSPA boundary in the Regional Growth Strategy would result in a less than 1% increase to the land area currently within the RUCSPA.^1 The purpose of the boundary adjustment is to add approximately 380 acres (154 ha) of land to the City of Langford. A portion of the lands (143 acres) is intended for use as industrial land, combined with some Langford properties, to be developed in partnership with the Beecher Bay First Nation (Sc'ianew) as an economic development venture. Ownership in the industrial park is being offered in exchange for protection of 250 acres of provincial land within the District of Metchosin as greenspace in perpetuity. The remainder of the 380 acres includes a residential portion (the topography of this portion makes it unsuitable as industrial land), and a 100 acre-parcel whose land use has not yet been determined. A map of the lands proposed for the boundary change and the portion requested to be included within the RUCSPA is shown in Appendix A. Appendix B illustrates the intended land uses.

The partnership and joint proposal between the Beecher Bay Band, District of Metchosin and City of Langford has a number of advantages to each of these communities, as outlined below.

District of Metchosin

The proposed boundary adjustment provides the District of Metchosin with an unprecedented opportunity to protect three of the most significant tracts of greenspace within its boundaries, totaling 250 acres, and to gain 92 acres of park, while enabling Beecher Bay to pursue economic independence and prosperity on lands that are better suited to development and economic uses. The proposal involves reducing Metchosin's boundaries to enable lands that are accessed from Sooke Road and the City of Langford to be within Langford's boundaries and be serviced and designated for industrial development. The Industrial lands would be buffered from Metchosin by Metchosin Creek and 92 acres of greenspace to aid in the transition to the District's rural area. The City of Langford is also committing to buffering from the urban/rural boundary on its side of the border, consistent with the Regional Growth Strategy. In exchange for becoming 30 per cent owners in the industrial development, as well as becoming beneficiaries of a tax sharing agreement with the City of Langford, the Band has agreed to protect three provincial land parcels (Sections 25, 28 and 95, totalling approximately 250 acres) that have been offered to the Band as part of the Treaty settlement. The Beecher Bay Band would only receive those lands if the Treaty settlement package is approved by its membership. If they do not approve the treaty package those lands will remain as provincially-owned parcels, and are designated Park and Open Space in the District's OCP and zoning.

The District of Metchosin will also become part of the tax-sharing arrangement with the City of Langford. The tax sharing arrangement will enable Metchosin to receive 7% of the taxes from the 143 acres of Metchosin lands that will form part of the proposed industrial park, as well as 40% of the taxes on the parcel that has yet to be proposed for any particular land use. In 2016 Metchosin received approximately $6,000 in taxes from the 380 acres proposed to be included in Langford. Revenues received if the land was placed within Langford will depend upon industrial values, but given current industrial land values and tax rates, there is the potential to draw upon revenues of $18,000 once the land is zoned for industrial (but prior to build out), from the 143 acres alone. The District estimates that it would receive higher revenues from the tax sharing agreement than it would from taxes collected if the property remains in Metchosin.

Beecher Bay First Nation (Sc'ianew)

As noted above, the Beecher Bay Band has been offered three parcels of provincial lands, totalling 250 acres, within the District of Metchosin as part of the Treaty process. These lands are not serviced with water or sewer, and they are located within and surrounded by a rural neighbourhood. None of the three parcels is suitable for commercial or industrial development, and all three are currently designated and zoned in the District's OCP and land use bylaw as Park and Open Space. Rather than developing these parcels to generate revenues for the Band, the Band has been offered a partnership in an industrial business park. To create the business park, the developer and Beecher Bay require the boundary adjustment to enable the lands to be part of Langford, and subsequently to be serviced and zoned for industrial use. In exchange for approving the reduction of the Metchosin boundary, the Beecher Bay Band has offered to protect and transfer the three provincial parcels to the District once they have been provided to the Band. Notably the Band can only transfer the provincial lands if the Band membership accepts the Treaty package.

City of Langford

The City of Langford, as a result of the proposed boundary adjustment and RGS amendment, would have the opportunity to expand its industrial land base, providing opportunities for local jobs that can support the significant residential growth in the West Shore, and help the City achieve the West Shore's jobs/population ratio target of 0.35. Industrial lands are scarce within the Capital Region, and locating additional lands that can support job growth in the municipalities where residential growth is occurring makes sense. The site has access from a provincial highway (Highway 14), sewer and water services are available (extensions would be paid by users, and any capacity upgrades required by growth through development cost charges), and residential and rural land uses can be buffered. The area is currently serviced by four bus routes that run along Happy Valley and Sooke roads, providing transit to the area. The Galloping Goose Regional Trail is also located close by, parallel to Happy Valley Road. In addition, the location of the industrial lands is a short distance from Glenshire Business Park, creating a hub of jobs within close proximity to the City's burgeoning Westhills neighbourhood, and a short distance from the West Shore Parkway, which will connect Sooke Road with Highway No. 1, providing access to key regional and Island transportation routes.

PROPOSED AMENDMENT

The specific map amendment that is required is illustrated in Appendix A, and the following text amendment would also be needed to the 2016 Regional Growth Strategy:

Municipal Boundary Adjustment Area: Includes approximately 380 acres of land, as shown in Map 3: Growth Management Concept Plan and Map 5: Municipal Boundary Adjustment - Detail, in the northwest portion of the District of Metchosin. The land within the Municipal Boundary Adjustment Area is designated as Rural/Rural Residential Policy Area, as per the land use designation set out in Objective 1.1. The Municipal Boundary Adjustment Area land is part of a municipal boundary adjustment proposal that, if approved, would result in the land being removed from the District of Metchosin and included within the City of Langford. In the event that the Province of British Columbia amends by Letters Patent the boundaries of the District of Metchosin and the City of Langford to include all or part of the Municipal Boundary Adjustment Area within the City of Langford, the land within the City of Langford will be designated Growth Policy Area, as per the land use designation set out in Objective 1.1, within the Growth Policy Area Boundary.

PROCESS

To facilitate this opportunity for the Beecher Bay First Nation, the District of Metchosin and City of Langford, the three communities are jointly submitting this request to the CRD Board to amend the existing Regional Growth Strategy Bylaw 4017 (2016) to enable the portion of lands proposed to be within Langford's boundaries to be encompassed within the RUCSPA. The District, City and Beecher Bay Band need to demonstrate to the Province (Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development) that the CRD Board is willing to consider amendments to the Regional Growth Strategy before any boundary adjustment can be advanced and approved. Accordingly, the City and District have also applied for an amendment to the existing Regional Growth Strategy Bylaw (Bylaw 2952) to provide assurances to the Minister and the Ministry, in case the proposed Bylaw 4017 is not passed by the time a decision is made on the boundary extension by the Province.

All parties are aware of the need for broad consultation, given the complexity of not only the RUCSPA and boundary extension, but the relationship with the treaty process, and the detailed agreements in place to ensure each party is benefitting from the proposal. The City of Langford, the District of Metchosin and Beecher Bay First Nation will be providing several opportunities to learn about the proposal and will be actively seeking input from residents and the broader community, including Open House dates in Metchosin on October 26, and in Langford on November 2. We encourage all those interested in learning more to attend our open house meetings or keep apprised of the information through the City and District websites.

Thank you in advance for your consideration of our proposed amendment.

Sincerely,

John Ranns Mayor, District of Metchosin

^1 The total area of the RUSPA is currently 15,983 hectares.