Minutes of a Special Council Meeting Held on Monday, July 17, 2023

TOWN OF VIEW ROYAL MINUTES OF A SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING

HELD ON MONDAY, JULY 17, 2023 VIEW ROYAL MUNICIPAL OFFICE – COUNCIL CHAMBERS

PRESENT WERE:

Mayor Tobias Councillor Brown Councillor Kowalewich Councillor Lemon Councillor MacKenzie Councillor Mattson Councillor Rogers

REGRETS:

K. Anema, Chief Administrative Officer

PRESENT ALSO:

S. Jones, Director of Corporate Administration/Acting CAO D. Christenson, Director of Finance L. Taylor, Director of Development Services J. Chow, Senior Planner S. Scory, Community Planner

8 members of the public 0 members of the press

1. CALL TO ORDER – Mayor Tobias called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m.

2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA

MOVED BY: Councillor Lemon SECONDED: Councillor Brown THAT agenda be approved as presented. CARRIED

3. MAYOR’S REPORT

The Mayor provided opening remarks, summarizing that the June 28, 2023 workshop style meeting was to review the goals of engagement. He noted that this evening’s meeting would highlight next steps for the community and provide clear direction from which staff can proceed.

4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION PERIOD

5. BUSINESS ARISING FROM PREVIOUS MINUTES

6. REPORTS

   6.1 STAFF REPORTS

   a) OCP Strategic Planning Council Workshop – What We Heard Report

   1. Report dated July 6, 2023 from the Director of Development Services

   The Director of Development Services reviewed the June 28 meeting, including pre-survey results, and asked Council members to provide their reflections. Elected officials stated their desire to see a public engagement approach for the Official Community Plan (OCP) that is broad-based and data-driven; clearly shows what various future scenarios would look like; and builds on the Town’s strengths while retaining its charm.

   It was discussed that it will be useful to engage with the public when the OCP is approximately fifty per cent drafted and, once the OCP is completed, people should be able to identify how the Plan was revised based on input received. It was noted that the 2022 draft OCP followed a Council-approved engagement strategy.

   K. Hamilton provided an overview of the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) values, spectrum of public participation, as well as tools and techniques, including the roles of elected officials.

   Council discussed the following engagement objectives and principles:

   • level of financial commitment required;
   • use of a phased approach to ensure an easy-to-understand process;
   • non-leading engagement;
   • description of the impacts of choices (for example, if parking requirements are reduced in multi-family developments, what would neighbourhoods look like);
   • broad participation to avoid engagement being dominated by one group;
   • one member noted a desire to see the source of feedback recognized to assist in determining weighting of the input provided;
   • wide range of engagement tools and techniques; and
   • the use of data to identify themes for the OCP.

   The Director of Development Services described the Local Government Act requirements for OCPs, the receipt of housing needs reports every five years, and the relationship between land use and transportation planning. Minimum updates to the current OCP bylaw are required, including revisions to some terminology, identification of new development permit areas, Natural Hazard Wildfire design guidelines, and reference to tasks identified and subsequently accomplished since adoption. Council and staff discussed the Town’s first housing needs report and its incorporation into the 2022 draft OCP.

   In response to the questions of “top-of-mind” issues to be addressed in an OCP review and what elected officials feel they need to hear from the community to inform the review, Council provided the following feedback:

   • inclusive participation on broad topics;
   • effectiveness of the 2011 OCP – why projects envisioned in 2011 may not have come to fruition and what did get built that was not anticipated;
   • how to pay for the needs associated with an increasing population;
   • what people like about the Town currently and what they would change;
   • relevance and level of confidence in information provided; and
   • how people want to be engaged.

   Council deliberated whether to engage the public in a more open-ended, “blue sky” approach or around specific OCP topic areas.

   Council and staff discussed next steps. It was determined that with the development of a community engagement strategy approved in the 2023-2027 Financial Plan (N-036), a two-tiered approach would be beneficial. This approach can see an engagement strategy developed for the Town that is suitable for most, if not all, projects and that can be used for an OCP-specific engagement plan. In response to a question concerning the urgency of updating the current OCP, the Director of Development Services indicated that the required changes could wait at this time.

   Council members expressed interest in the IAP2 engagement values and agreed that further refinement will be necessary on the specific techniques to be used for the OCP engagement plan. It was noted that the OCP engagement plan can occur concurrently with the overall community engagement strategy, though both initiatives will need to be scheduled into the departmental workplan. The Director of Development Services stated that due to the number of competing projects and limited staff resources, staff cannot commit to a timeline at this point.

   MOVED BY: Councillor Mattson SECONDED: Councillor Brown THAT the Town of View Royal adopt the International Association of Public Participation’s core values as a general framework upon which to build its community engagement strategy. CARRIED

   Council and staff then discussed specific OCP engagement.

   MOVED BY: Councillor Lemon SECONDED: Councillor Mattson THAT an engagement tool be developed to seek feedback on the public’s preferred Official Community Plan engagement strategies. CARRIED

   MOVED BY: Councillor Lemon SECONDED: Councillor Mattson THAT the report dated July 6, 2023 from the Director of Development Services titled “OCP Strategic Planning Council Workshop – What We Heard Report” be received for information. CARRIED

   6.2 COMMITTEE REPORTS

   6.3 OTHER REPORTS

7. CORRESPONDENCE

   7.1 FOR ACTION

   7.2 FOR INFORMATION

8. BYLAWS

9. NEW BUSINESS

10. RISING REPORT

11. QUESTION PERIOD

    a) M. Lloyd, Werra Road, clarified earlier statements in the meeting, noting that residents can become informed of what is happening in the municipality, such as this special Council meeting, by subscribing to the Town’s RSS feeds.

    He asked if the 2022 draft OCP will be used in the upcoming engagement to take advantage of citizens’ time already invested and funds expended to date on that initiative. Mr. Lloyd encouraged two-way communication.

    b) D. Wilson, View Royal Avenue, wondered if the IAP2 approach would be beneficial for documents like the OCP and the asset management plan to ensure they remain dynamic.

12. MOTIONS & NOTICES OF MOTION

13. CLOSED MEETING RESOLUTION

14. TERMINATION

MOVED BY: Councillor Brown SECONDED: Councillor Rogers THAT this meeting terminate. Time: 8:15 p.m. CARRIED

MAYOR

CORPORATE OFFICER