Correspondence from C. Krusekopf re: Development Variance Permit - 81 High Street
Correspondence opposing the variance, citing environmental impacts on the Garry Oak and Camus ecosystems in Knockan Hill Park.
RE: 81 High Street
From: Charles Krusekopf
Sent: June 1, 2023 10:38 AM
Subject: RE: 81 High Street
Dear View Royal Council,
I am writing in opposition to the proposed variance at 81 High Street. I am providing both my professional opinion working as an environmental economist, and my personal opinion as a past Board member of the Friends of Knocken Hill park and resident of a property that was adjacent to the park on the Saanich side. In my role at Royal Roads University and with Friends of Knocken Hill I helped sponsor a team of BSc students who completed an extensive environmental survey and plan for the park. They noted the unique aspects of the park as one of the few remaining Garry Oak woodlands in this region, a very threatened and degraded ecosystem. Knocken Hill has special cultural significance as it was a location well known and utilized among Indigenous people and now current residents for its amazing abundance of Camus plants.
The subdivision of 81 High Street and the blasting and intrusion into the park boundary area will encroach upon the protected and special nature of the park. If approved this natural state can never be regained, and will encourage further development along the perimeter of the park. As a neighbour of the park I participated in a special project led by the Habitat Acquisition Trust (HAT) that specifically engaged neighbours of Knocken Hill park to improve the buffer areas between properties and the park to reduce the impacts of landscaping in yards and protect and enhance the park's natural features. This Habitat Steward program was recognized and reported as a model for other parks and areas of the CRD. This project highlighted that neighbouring properties have a significant impact in the park area even if they do not technically encroach on the park boundaries. Plants and animals are forced to retreat from boundary areas when significant disturbance occurs. The edges of the park are exposed in unnatural ways that change the flora and fauna of the park itself. Thus a subdivision and encroachment up to teh park boundary will have significant impacts in the park itself even if on a survey the new development does not cross the line drawn on the map.
I encourage Council to consider these significant impacts to the park and the threatened natural Garry Oak and Camus ecosystems in Knocken Hill park when considering this variance request.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Charles Krusekopf