Brian Wilkes and Associates Ltd.: Biological Site Assessment - 2601 Herbate Rd

Regarding: Residential development at 2601 Herbate Rd.

You are applying for a building permit to construct a single family dwelling on your property at 2601 Herbate Rd, View Royal. This property is within the Sensitive Terrestrial Ecosystems Development Permit Area designated under the 2012 Official Community Plan. As such, in order to decide on your application, the Town must receive a report form a professional biologist confirming the absence of a sensitive ecosystem within the area that would be affected by the development. You engaged Brian Wilkes and Associates Ltd. to conduct a site assessment and submit this report to you.

The site was visited May 3, 2013, accompanied by you. Lot 2601 lies east of Herbate Rd just opposite the north end of McKenzie Lake, and just north of Thetis Lake Park. The lot is narrower than long, oriented north to south; about 40m wide and 150m long along the eastern property line. Total area is approximately 0.46ha. A pre-existing garage and workshop building, with a small parking area was found near the north boundary of the lot (Fig. 1). An additional driveway off Herbate Rd onto the lot was found approximately 80m south of the garage/shop building. This driveway leads up to a small parking area adjacent to a previously installed and approved septic tank and tile field.

From the garage building on the north end of the lot, the land rises steeply approximately 15m to a rock promontory or hill top (photo 1). This rock hill top is partially bare, and partially covered with a thin layer of moss. There is no vegetation on the bare rock, and the moss supports a sparse ground cover of typical spring flowers, plus invasive broom. Much of the broom reaches a height of about 1.5m but is standing dead and brown. From the hilltop, the land slopes gradually toward the south to the south property line.

It is on top of this rock promontory that you propose to develop the dwelling, having a minimal footprint and rising to three storeys. Your intent is to extend the driveway past the septic field up towards the bare rock hill top (photo 3), and there build the house. The plan involves limited further disturbance of the site, although there will have to be a tree or two removed, and some local blasting of rock at the hill top to make a building grade. The rock removed would be crushed and used on the driveway.

Off the rock hill top, the land descends to the west in a series of rock steps (Photo 2). Where some soil has accumulated, the vegetation supported includes Douglas fir, a few small grand fir, several mid-sized arbutus trees and several small Garry oaks. The ground flora consists of mostly broom, but there are also bushes of ocean spray. The mossy ground cover supports native flora such as camas, chocolate lily, bedstraw, pacific sanicle, white avalanche lily, shooting star, and other spring flowers. The orientation of the west facing steps suggests that they are severely desiccated in the summer dry period. Toward the south end of the property, there is Douglas fir of various sizes, but mostly 30-40 cm in diameter, with some very large trees just to the south of the property. Again, the shrub layer is dominated by broom and the ground flora consists of both mosses and grasses. The area is too small to consider that there are distinct plant communities present; all observations were consistent with the Douglas fir – dull Oregon grape community. While there are several small Garry oaks present, we would not characterize the site as a Garry oak ecosystem; it is too small a fragment, and the community is driven more by the thin soils that by the presence of certain species.

In terms of environmental sensitivities, the land is contained within the Douglas fir-dull Oregon grape plant community of the Coastal Douglas fir BEC Zone (CDFmm). This community is red listed, meaning that it has a high conservation value. The community is extensive in this vicinity, while it is being reduced in size elsewhere on southern Vancouver Island. A check of the Conservation Data Centre (CDC) revealed that there are three records of masked occurrences in the vicinity. Information was sought from the CDC on what these masked occurrences are. This information has been received and must remain confidential. It has been determined and confirmed by the CDC that the occurrences can be disregarded, as they are not relevant to this property.

The development will remove a small area of the moss layer on the hill top, and will cover a small portion of the distance between the driveway and septic field and the proposed house location. These impacts will not produce significant adverse residual environmental effects on the property. We do not see the need for specific timing windows or restrictions on construction. Some enhancement of the vegetation on the property could be achieved through the gradual removal of the invasive broom that dominates the ground cover. This could be replaced with native currant and huckleberry. There are no plans to remove trees or develop the remainder of the property.

We have determined that carrying out the proposed development by you would not unduly impinge upon sensitive ecosystems. The location of the proposed house and driveway is largely on bare rock, the least sensitive area on the lot, and the area to be developed is minimized. There is no need for additional disturbance since the approved septic system is already installed. Your approach to minimize tree removal on the lot is supported.

We trust this letter report will satisfy the requirements of the Town of View Royal.

Yours truly, Brian Wilkes and Associates Ltd.

Brian Wilkes, M.E.S., R.P.Bio Principal

Attachments: Figure 1 Photos