Attachment 1: Letter from Minister Claire Trevena to Mayor Screech

Re: handyDART Facility

As you are aware, the current Victoria Regional Transit System handyDART Operations & Maintenance (“O&M”) facility (located at 4206 Commerce Circle in Saanich) has exceeded operational capacity. In accordance with the overall transit facility master plan for the Victoria region, the land on which the current handyDART facility is located is planned to be repurposed to support a third conventional facility (with construction planned to commence in 2022). As such, the relocation and expansion of Victoria’s handyDART facility is an integral and critical step in supporting transit growth in the region. With the announced funding support of the federal and provincial governments for transit infrastructure, this is an opportune time to build these essential facilities, which will support thousands of handyDART riders and millions of conventional transit trips per year.

As part of the expansion process, the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure has recently acquired the property at 2401 Burnside Road (which was owned by the Ministry of Citizens’ Services) and will be designating this property as arterial highway. Section 14(2) of the Interpretation Act would then apply, exempting provincial use of the land from municipal zoning and processes. As a Crown corporation, BC Transit activities are eligible under this designation.

This is a critical project that will ensure the Victoria Regional Transit System continues to be an effective tool in our work to reduce congestion, greenhouse gas emissions, and improve the accessibility of the region for those who rely on handyDART services and I trust that View Royal Council and BC Transit will be effective partners in this work. As the arterial highway designation exempts BC Transit facilities from municipal property taxes, ministry and BC Transit staff are committed to work towards finding ways to ensure View Royal directly benefits from its partnership.

In addition to the significant benefits to all those who live in the region due to improvements in the Victoria Regional Transit System, the ministry and BC Transit have identified a number of possible improvements that could be undertaken to ensure that View Royal directly benefits from this partnership, including improvements to the alignment and wayfinding for the Galloping Goose Trail, building to a LEED Gold or equivalent standard and undertaking other improvements such as planting more trees and clearing invasive foliage on the site. Construction of the facility will be undertaken in accordance with the original proposed project development plan, which includes an overarching commitment to environment protection and improvement of the public realm, consistent with the design and character of View Royal. While BC Transit is now exempt from View Royal’s permitting and zoning process, you have my commitment that BC Transit will still comply with the BC Building Code and the high standards of BC Transit’s infrastructure program.

BC Transit takes community engagement very seriously. You may recall that BC Transit has already undertaken public engagement with regards to this project, and I can assure you that they will restart this engagement with View Royal and the broader community as they continue with pre-implementation planning. BC Transit staff will be in touch shortly to discuss next steps.

Thank you again for your support and willingness to work with BC Transit and this ministry on the construction of a handyDART operations and maintenance facility in the Town of View Royal.

Yours sincerely,

Claire Trevena Minister