JBNA Report: April

James Bay Neighbourhood Association

The James Bay of Tomorrow

An on-going Beacon feature on land use & planning - to alert, inform, and prompt community action - and to celebrate success!

Several major planning exercises, all of which may have a dramatic impact on James Bay residents, are now in process. Your feedback on these local and regional projects, as a resident of James Bay, could be important to the future of our community.

Official Community Plan

The City of Victoria is updating the Official Community Plan (OCP) last updated in 1995. The OCP is a plan to guide growth, urban form, transportation, housing services and infrastructure in Victoria in a sustainable method over the next 30 years.

Short term and more action-oriented, the 30-year OCP will be strongly influenced by the Victoria Sustainability Framework (VSF) which sets out a 50-100 year long term vision for the City.

The OCP will compliment other City and regional initiatives such as the Downtown Plan, the Parks Master Plan, the Urban Forest Master Plan, the CRD Regional Growth Strategy, the Regional Pedestrian and Cycling Master Plan, and Victoria Regional Rapid Transit Planning.

*Information is available at www.shapeyourfuturevictoria.ca/.

Research in the form of discussion papers, topic sheets, community profiles and statistics are available on the website and will also be available at public forums. Information on Demographics, Climate Change & Energy, and Food systems were posted to the website in March.

Keynote speaker, Mark Holland, one of BC's leading sustainability planners, defined the parameters and set the pace at a Community Forum on March 26^th. An interactive panel discussion on the challenges and opportunities facing Victoria over the next 30 years followed.

Community Circles

Victorians have been invited to inform the values of the OCP through participation in Community Circles. These circles will be citizen-led discussions on topics such as climate change, affordable housing or food security. Training sessions, workbooks and exercises for groups to work through are designed so that discussion can be translated into policies or actions. The Community Circles are seen as a way to introduce new topics and to respond in more detail to established topics. Circles are to take place between March 27th & June 6th.

The final public forum of this phase, Options for the Future, is scheduled for June 25 & 26. 

The draft OCP is to go to Council in January 2011 following a period of review and refinement. Following adoption of the OCP, planners will begin working on neighbourhood plans, based upon a neighbourhood planning approach defined within the OCP.

Cameron Scott, Senior City Planner for the City of Victoria discussed the process of updating Victoria's OCP at the March 10th, 2010, meeting of the James Bay Neighbourhood Association (JBNA). His question & answer period was followed by Mayor Dean Fortin who offered additional clarification and details of the planning process and made some observations on Victoria's position within the CRD and our federal provincial system of government.

Fortin noted that many local issues must be vigourously championed by local government to get the attention of the responsible senior level of government. He identified Victoria's greatest challenge as getting other members of the CRD to recognize and contribute towards their share of the core costs of Greater Victoria. Within the CRD, Victoria taxpayers pay higher taxes, although average income is significantly lower than any of the neighbouring municipalities including Esquimalt.

Regional Growth Strategy

The Capital Regional District (CRD) addresses regional issues such as transportation, long term livability and growth.  The regional growth strategy (RGS) (adopted in 2003) is now in the preliminary phase of a 5-year review and update.  Upcoming workshops and the interactive website are important components to facilitate dialogue on regional issues.

*Information is available at www.crd.bc.ca/regionalplanning/growth/index.htm.

Next Month - Wednesday, April 14, 2010

6:30 pm - ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

James Bay Neighbourhood Association

James Bay New Horizons - 234 Menzies St.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010 - 6:30 P.M. 

(Meeting registration begins at 6:15 P.M.)

Members who wish to stand for a position or who wish to nominate a member for an available position on the Board may submit a notice to Brian Scarfe at brianscarfe@shaw.ca or c/o JBNA, New Horizons, 234 Menzies St., V8V 2G7.

Nominations from the floor at the AGM are acceptable.

Board positions to be filled include positions vacated due to mid-term resignations in 2009. Positions available and length of term are:

Chair - 2 years; Vice-Chair - 1 year; Treasurer - 2 years; Secretary - 1 year; Membership - 2 years; Two Directors-at-large positions are available for 1 year terms.

7pm Following the AGM, a presentation by Royal British Columbia Museum (RBCM) is scheduled to begin at 7pm. In February, the RBCM presented the City with a long-term vision for the two-hectare museum and archives property on the Harbour, requesting rezoning as a comprehensive development zone.

The museum held an open house in March and received feedback from about 200 people. Additional dialogue and feedback is now being solicited from community groups as part of the city's CALAC process for developers. Consultations with the Downtown Residents Association and the Fairfield Gonzales Community Association are also scheduled. 

*If you cannot make a meeting, opportunities for dialogue are available at www.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/zoning

A second presentation, the Initial Consultation of a revised proposal for the Admirals Inn site at 257 Belleville Street is also scheduled.

Tentatively scheduled for the May JBNA meeting are the development application for 257 Belleville and a presentation of the Ogden Point Master Plan (OPMP) by the Greater Victoria Harbour Authourity (GVHA). The GVHA is commited to provide a comprehensive plan to the City of Victoria by Dec 2010.