Public Hearing

Good evening, View Royal.

I'll call the um public hearing to order for Tuesday, March 17, 2026.

And that we recognize the Lekwungen speaking people known today as the Esquimalt Nation and the Songhees Nation and that their historic connections to these lands continue to this day.

Just want to break down a little bit about what you should expect from us this evening.

And we've got a uh public hearing uh that's part of the agenda.

There is an opportunity for questions, of course, within the public hearing.

And then after the public hearing uh is adjourned, we will carry on with our normal council meeting.

And then after that, we have a closed meeting.

So that is the procedure for tonight.

And here's a statement of public hearing procedure that you've been dying to hear.

Uh the proposed bylaw has been introduced and has received second reading of council.

Before the bylaw can be legally adopted by council, it must receive two more readings.

Your input via public hearing process is most important to council in making a decision.

At this public hearing, any person who believes that their interest in the property is affected by the proposed bylaw amendment shall be given an opportunity to be heard.

However, it is important that all who speak at this meeting restrict their remarks to the matters contained in the bylaw, and it is my responsibility to ensure that all remarks are so restricted.

This evening we'll hear a presentation from staff, and then we'll hear from the public during the comments from the public portion of the agenda.

Uh reminder the council is a safe, respectable, uh respectful and inclusive space.

Uh if you wish to provide comments at the podium, please begin by indicating your name and your street name for the record.

You may then give us the benefit of your views.

If you wish to provide comments virtually, the chat feature will be open for you to submit comments.

Again, we ask that you provide your name, street name to begin your comments.

Your comment will be read aloud at the appropriate time by a member of the webcast team.

Members of councils uh may, if they wish, ask questions of you.

However, the main function of council members this evening is to listen to the views of the public.

Uh it is not the function of council at this public hearing to debate the merits of the proposed bylaw amendment with individual citizens.

Meeting will be recorded by participating in the webcast.

You are consenting to being recorded, and the recording will be available on the town's website for future access.

After this public hearing has concluded, the council may, without further notice, give whatever the council believes proper to the representation made at this public hearing.

The public is reminded that the public hearing, that after the public hearing, council cannot hear any new information until a decision about the application has been made.

Moved by Councillor MacKenzie, seconded by Councillor Lemon.

All those in favor.

Any opposed? Seeing none opposed motion carries.

That brings us into the statement of public hearing, which I skipped over and did out of order.

So I've already read that statement.

I think I can pass the baton over to you, Sterling, to read the statement of public hearing.

Yeah, the statement of public hearing for tonight.

Um we're considering uh Official Community Plan Bylaw Amendment uh number 1163, 2026.

And the uh notice was prepared in the um uh on the notice board at municipal office on the 9th of March.

The notice was advertised on the website uh on the 9th of March, and the notice was also published on the town's social media platforms on the uh ninth day of March.

Uh I do have a very brief PowerPoint presentation and um just to overview what the uh the changes are.

Please. Next slide, please, Carl.

So purpose of tonight is uh just to remind council what the uh the proposed amendments are.

Uh on screen are two um sections that were uh omitted from the uh amendment bylaw 1156 in 2025, and what the proposed amendment bylaw that uh council is considering is to add these back in.

Uh these were omitted by uh administrative error, and um the by adding them back in, they'll they will cover uh existing land use designations that are already shown on the land use map in the official community plan.

Next slide, please, Carl.

So this is the existing official community plan that council had adopted in December of 2025.

On this plan, there's the residential and large lot residential land use designations.

So nothing's changing on the map.

All that's changing is the content within land use policy 1.5 land use designations, and that contains those two uh uh rows that will be added to that uh that table.

Next slide, please.

This was just uh uh for information.

Uh following uh this will be uh the the public hearing and uh on the agenda will be consideration for readings of the bylaw.

Thank you, Stirling.

I'm gonna ask you to break it down for folks that probably aren't as familiar with bylaws and and whatnot, and it's directly pertaining to this bylaw.

So if I was a new uh person coming into View Royal and I bought a piece of land that's either designated uh residential large lot or uh what we've now had to zone as small-scale multi-unit housing.

I could choose on any one of those lots, large or whatever, with the proper permits to build a single dwelling, right?

A single dwelling residence on any of those, if I so choose, right?

To the mayor, yes.

So the the residential and large lot residential land use designations permit single family dwellings.

And uh by the same token on the small-scale multi-unit housing zoned areas, I could build up to four units on on most of those lots, correct?

To the mayor, so the the the small-scale multi-unit housing land use designation can permit three up to three or up to six units, depending on location.

Okay, thank you.

I just wanted to clear that up for everybody so we're uh kind of adding something for an administrative error.

I didn't want to get lost in the shuffle, that that's where we're kind of sitting right now.

I just had a quick question really.

Absolutely. For the large lot, uh what can be built on that?

Just one house, uh four houses.

Through the mayor.

Uh yeah, it it depends on the the property.

One house, though, is what's permitted, as well as a um uh secondary suite, and I think uh garden suite uh are permitted as well.

Thank you, Councillor Mattson.

Is there any other questions for our senior planner?

Well, he's up here.

It's uh primarily an administrative um thing.

So we do have um uh opportunities for comments from staff.

Was there anything else that you wanted to add, Sterling?

No merit to pass.

And I think we're at a space where it's comments from the public.

Does anybody want to talk uh about the bylaw amendment in chambers?

No, going once, twice, three times.

Carl, do we have receive anything on our web news?

Mayor Tobias, I'm just reviewing. Um Mayor Tobias, we have no comments.

And you're sure you cleared the cash, Carl.

There's absolutely nothing out there. Um just our test uh question.

Okay, thank you. Uh and uh just uh for uh Sterling, do we get any correspondence at all about this?

No, uh no mayor to my house, we didn't.

Okay, I think seeing how it's an administrative um uh fix, then I wouldn't expect too much interest.

Are we okay to adjourn, Elena?

Did I miss anything?

We're okay to adjourn.

Okay, thank you.

Uh can I get a motion to adjourn if as long as there's no other questions for Sterling or anybody else because we can't discuss this after we adjourn.

Motion to adjourn.

Second. Uh moved by Councilor Lemon and second by Councilor Matson.

All those in favor?

Any opposed seeing none opposed motion carries.