COUNCIL SUPPORT FOR BYLAW 4093

RE: COUNCIL SUPPORT FOR BYLAW 4093

As you know, transportation is a growing issue in our communities. Residents are fed up with congestion and limited transportation choices and are calling on government to take action.

While much is being done by municipalities, the region and the Province, in the absence of a unified and coordinated approach, significant issues remain unaddressed, actions remain untaken, and funding remains unavailable. It is clear that the status quo is not fully addressing matters and frustration is mounting. We have an opportunity to do something about that.

In 2011, the Board agreed that the CRD would move to take on a significant transportation role, including requisitioning for capital projects and pursuing a role in transit. Changes in grant funding allocations and provincial approaches subsequently rendered those roles less feasible. In response to these changes, in 2016 the CRD Board unanimously directed staff to draft a Transportation Service Bylaw reflecting the new landscape. The draft was reviewed with municipalities and electoral areas and adjusted in response to their feedback. The bylaw resulting from that feedback was given third reading on January 10, 2018. The Board is now seeking your Council's support for the revised bylaw (Bylaw 4093).

Bylaw 4093 encompasses transportation services not being undertaken at a regional scale by either municipalities or the Province. The services included are those that can be most cost-effectively delivered at a regional scale – namely data collection, programming and lobbying for funding of regional priorities.

Service enhancements require adoption of Bylaw 4093. The proposed bylaw provides for municipal requisitioning to cover the costs of expanded services. Any increases beyond current spending ($1.5 million) would have to be approved by a majority of the Board. Any increases beyond the requisition cap of $2.5 million would have to be approved by a majority of the Board and 2/3 of municipal Councils or whatever approval process was used to adopt the bylaw.

A Transportation Service would give the region a voice and a presence with senior governments that we do not currently have. This voice need not replace any other strategies for advocating solutions, such as greater membership on Victoria Regional Transit Commission, individual municipal lobbying etc., but would rather complement other initiatives and enhance the profile of the region's needs – including those in your municipality.

Our regional voice and impact becomes most powerful if ALL municipalities and EAs are part of the new Service. We will only be able to address the region's transportation challenges if we are ALL part of the solution.

For the benefit of your municipality, your constituents and the region as a whole, I hope that you will join with others to move the region forward by supporting adoption of Bylaw 4093.

Sincerely,

Steve Price Board Chair, Capital Regional District

cc:

• Patrick Robins, CAO, Central Saanich
• Ian Howat, CAO, Colwood
• Laurie Hurst, CAO, Esquimalt
• Loranne Hilton, CAO, Highlands
• Darren Kiedyk, CAO, Langford
• Lisa Urlacher, CAO, Metchosin
• Rob Buchan, CAO, North Saanich
• Helen Koning, CAO, Oak Bay
• Paul Thorkelsson, CAO, Saanich
• Randy Humble, CAO, Sidney
• Teresa Sullivan, CAO, Sooke
• Jocelyn Jenkyns, A/CAO, Victoria
• Robert Lapham, CAO, Capital Regional District
• Capital Regional District Board Members