Staff Presentation - COVID-19 Public Hearing Options

COVID-19 PUBLIC HEARING PROCESS

Eagles Nest Public Hearing Options

PURPOSE OF REPORT

With COVID-19, the Province has provided direction in the form of Ministerial Order M139 on May 1, 2020, enabling Council to hold an electronic public hearing.

Report outlines the details of Order M139 and options in relation to holding a Public hearing for Bylaw No. 900, 2014 Amendment Bylaw No. 1050, 2020 to rezone the Eagles Nest property.

ISSUES AND ANALYSIS

Public Hearings for the rezoning of property and/or the amendment of an Official Community Plan are central to the democratic operation of a local government. Section 464 of the Local Government Act requires that:

…all persons who believe that their interest in property is affected by the proposed bylaw must be afforded a reasonable opportunity to be heard or to present written submission respecting matters contained in the bylaw that is the subject of the hearing.

Ministerial Order M139 provides additional options for Council to afford the public a ‘reasonable opportunity’ to be heard during a public hearing.

QUESTIONS FOR COUNCIL

1. Does Council wish to waive the public hearing for this project, given the consistency with the OCP and the public input already received?
2. Does Council wish to waive the public hearing and instead substitute a non-statutory public process which makes a best effort to engage stakeholders in the confines of social distancing?
3. Does Council wish to suspend all public hearings until a traditional public hearing can be held?
4. Does Council wish to take the option provided by Order M139 and hold a virtual public hearing?

OTHER MUNICIPALITIES

• The City of Vancouver is using Telus moderated teleconferences to hold Public Hearings.
• The City of Victoria is using Microsoft Teams videoconferencing and the option of teleconferencing (just telephone) for participants.
• The Town of Colwood is broadcasting Council meetings online and accepting comment and request to speak via email.
• The City of Langford is waiving public hearings which do not require an OCP amendment. Where an application does require a public hearing, it is delegating a Councillor to lead that meeting over a conference call.
• The District of Saanich is following the lead from the City of Vancouver and using Telus moderated teleconferences.
• The Township of Esquimalt is taking a cautious approach, undecided thus far as to whether the process can be fairly held in an electronic format.

EQUITY AND FAIRNESS

The continuation of development activity in the Town is of great economic and social importance.

Jobs are created and maintained and housing, businesses and critical infrastructure built.

Stopping all development for an indeterminate time would be a very significant blow to View Royal and is what Order M139 is designed to prevent. The province has described it as “helping BC’s recovery efforts”.

In terms of evaluating options for Public Hearing consideration, staff used the following criteria:

• Ease of use
• Readily accessible (access to technology and equipment)
• Stability of platform (consideration of bandwidth)
• Ability for public to easily participate/communicate verbally
• All members of the public communicating in the same way (equity)
• Quality of interaction
• Visual elements to the presentation and meeting

Staff recommends that any electronic public hearing be as close as possible to a traditional public hearing in terms of the information presented to and the public input received by Council.

System which is easy and straightforward to use for the public with technology that is accessible and simple.

While new videoconferencing technologies are sophisticated tools designed for face to face meetings, staff believes that there are still limitations with the technology including:

1. A certain percentage of the public will not have the equipment or bandwidth to use a video conferencing only option
2. There are real or perceived security concerns with some consumer videoconferencing platforms, which will deter some members of the public.

There are two viable option for hosting an electronic public hearing—a teleconference or a combination teleconference/Microsoft Teams meeting.

Notification Requirements

The requirements for notification of an electronic public hearing are similar to an in-person public hearing. Like electronic hearings held by other municipalities, the process that would be followed looks like this:

1. Advertise the Public Hearing as always – mailout to 400m, posting advertisement to two consecutive newspapers, post notices on the Town’s noticeboard and Town’s website.
2. Post all the agenda items on the website as per standard statutory practises.
3. Post reports, presentations, bylaws, and application materials on the Town website, both from Town staff and from the applicant. This could be PowerPoint and potentially video presentation. The Town has the application materials prepared and ready to post.
4. Consider delegating holding the public hearing to one member of Council with other members of Council having the option of listening in.
5. Members of the public wishing to participate in an electronic public hearing be given detailed instructions on how to access the hearing through pre-registration. The participants would be able to hear the meeting but only speak when the moderator allows.

RECOMMENDATION

THAT Council follow the recommendation of the Provincial Ministerial Order M139 and hold an electronic public hearing as described within the report from the Community Planner entitled “COVID-19 PUBLIC HEARING PROCESS OPTIONS 1449 Burnside Rd – Eagles Nest” dated May 12, 2020.

Council will note that under the Bylaws section of the May 19, 2020 Agenda staff are recommending 1st and 2nd reading of the Zoning Bylaw amendment pertaining to Eagle’s Nest development, and that we schedule an electronic public hearing for June 16, 2020.