Letter dated February 3, 2023 from J. Darby, Re: OCP Restart Plan

Correspondence Regarding February 7, 2023 Council Meeting

February 3, 2023

To: View Royal Mayor – Sid Tobias, All Council Members and Staff From: View Royal Resident, Janet Darby, 282 Pallisier Avenue Re: Agenda for Council Meeting to be held February 7, 2023

For months now, many of the residents of View Royal have been waiting patiently for the fate of the current draft OCP to pop up on the agenda in hopes all involved, from staff to council, were ready to at least try to support the referendum the new Mayor ran on because, in the end, he spoke for the majority. If anyone on staff our council thinks the draft OCP wasn’t the key issue demanding change are potentially more driven by their own self interests than the interests of the residents of View Royal.

Finally, there it was on the agenda. Our chance to finally have our say in what the vision of our community, View Royal is to look like in the future. An apparent willingness for staff and council to roll up their sleeves and tell us they heard our concerns of being unheard and are willing to put in the hard work to provide a product to its residents they can be proud of. Resigning themselves to the fact, decisions were made, and dollars spent for a product riddled with outdated information, inconsistencies in data, errors and confusion to many as to how this proposed plan effects them or solves issues faced by our community. Sorry folks NOT the case it seems!

It’s only been a few months but to remind all involved, this OCP, completely upended the View Royal election in ways no one expected. It was the primary reason the Mayor of View Royal was not re elected as well as Mayors in other municipalities. Do you think it has been long enough for us all to forget how we felt neglected in the process? We have not forgotten. We’ve heard the same justification over and over regarding all the steps that were taken to engage the public on the OCP but none of this matters if we didn’t feel engaged. Perception is reality so if we perceive it was not done correctly then it was not done correctly and needs to be done over. Do you want this to be your legacy?

If I am being presumptuous then my apologies in advance but the staff recommendation, on this agenda, to “restart the plan” and “move forward to the final phase of the project” seems clear. All efforts have fallen on deaf ears. What is the rationale for this? Maybe it’s simply human nature in times when everything just seems so difficult already. Paychecks continue to show up without adding this mess to my plate so why do anything at all? Even though this is a normal human response, it should be done correctly because it is the right thing to do! Yes money has been spent for consultants but it often happens, resources are wasted and money spent with the best of intentions but results fall short. Admitting it and starting over gains more respect in the long run then trying to put a new coat of lipstick on a failed process. A process that was voted down.

Would someone please ask us what we want. The money spent can’t be worth moving ahead with this plan. I hope this is not the case, and sometimes it’s not even obvious to oneself, but if anyone on staff or council is holding on to grievances from the election then let it go, please. You have a chance to do this right and there are people with a lot of talent within your own community wanting to help.

Proposed Steps

I would propose we take the following steps.

Archive this draft OCP and take it down from the website. All it does right now is encourage developers to buy up land and creates liability for those on council due to the assumption of false promises and precedence that has been established in the past that contradicts our active 2011 OCP. Let’s start making decisions based on our current OCP with amendments for now until the document can be cleaned up and amendments incorporated. This should have been done before a new OCP was developed anyway.

Second, a current Housing Needs Assessment needs to be done because the credibility of the data used in the draft OCP is questionable. Even if we wait until the current plan of staff to do this in 2025, this is a good plan because the time is needed anyway to develop a sound engagement plan. There is current census data available and many projects, in various stages of development already, so we need to take a breath and see how these projects ultimately meet our needs and effect our already struggling transportation issues. View Royal is in a unique position right now. We are already exceeding our required development obligations, as outlined by the Provincial Government and current Housing Needs Assessment, and I imagine we will be in this optimal position for years to come. This proposed, large “developer bait” project to further develop and destroy the charm of the Harbour area, with more of the same high-end units in an already struggling Old Island Hwy thoroughfare seems reckless to say the least until we know what is needed. I guarantee the pretty rendering in the draft will look very different in the light of day.

I encourage everyone in View Royal to take a drive to the outskirts of Langford and then return home down the Old Island Hwy. You can see View Royal in the distance with all our tree canopies acting as both the literal and figurative lungs between our shared communities of Victoria and Langford. Once this is destroyed, there is no going back.

Thank you for your time.

Janet Darby