James Bay Neighbourhood Association

The Good, the Bad, and the Absurd

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

Following last months Annual General Meeting, members of the James Bay Neighbourhood Association (JBNA) refocused on developments of importance to our community.

Development / Rezoning Proposals
- The Royal British Columbia Museum (RBCM) presented its long-term vision for the museum and archives property, part of their request to the City for rezoning of the site as a comprehensive development zone. While speakers recognized the exciting opportunities for the museum, there was some concern regarding overall height. General issues of traffic and parking were well handled, but public transportation and tourbus issues need more thought. The importance and the future of the Carillon Tower was also discussed.  
Opportunities for dialogue are available at .
- A presentation of a revised proposal for the Admirals Inn site - 257 Belleville Street was well received. Of the three alternatives, the proposal with a tower, stepped back from the harbour, aligned to permit better sightlines to the adjacent greenspace, seemed most favoured. Comments regarding wind on above-ground patios in that area were noted.
- Significant changes have been made to the rezoning application for 337 St. James Street.  Comments for the consideration of City Council are due by May 11th.
- The Redevelopment Proposal for rezoning for Laren House - 138 Dallas Road from R-2 (to a new zoning to increase floor area - legal non-conforming) is on hold while the applicant and architect consult with the adjacent neighbours in the James Bay Housing Co-op.

Aerodrome
A letter from the JBNA regarding the Harbour Aerodrome has requested immediate action by the City.
While the report presented at the Victoria Harbour Aerodrome meeting on December 2, 2009, recognized the need to do something about noise and air pollution, ... the report did not present new information or recommend any mitigation; nor do they address the now. Instead, they request "ongoing discussion".  
We ask the city to act now.
Canadians do not expect to have to do primary research to gather information which bears directly on their quality of life in a community. They expect governments to safeguard their interests. The City needs to support citizens and to make information available. The City of Victoria needs to forward its stated vision for a viable and sustainable harbour by putting resources behind the verbiage. Pressing Transport Canada to "begin" is not good enough.
Given the noise and air quality issues and to provide residents and potential residents with the knowledge they need to make lifestyle and residential location decisions, we request that the City of Victoria
1)     install permanent noise recording systems to capture impulse-type noises near residences. Monitoring must be real time and synchronized with Transport Canada camera operations.
2)     commission a full air quality examination of the aerodrome, with particular attention to Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), during the 2010 summer season.
3)      request that Transportation Minister Baird:
~ create the regulatory framework to ensure that WHO and CHMC guidelines for noise are met,
~ order the cessation of non-scheduled commercial or "tourist" flights as has been done in other municipal jurisdictions, and
~ create a water airport operational requirement staging flight take-offs such that there are 7.5 minutes between take-offs to provide a safer harbour for all.

The Good, the Bad, and the Absurd
The April 16 meeting of the Board of the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority Society (GVHAS) brought news of additional ship-based activity at Ogden Point this summer.  
San Francisco based Princess Line cruise ships will be provisioned at Ogden Point on 13 occasions in 2010. Approximately every 10 days, twelve bonded refrigeration (reefer) trucks will travel from the US to Victoria with 300 pallets of supplies. (Milk and ice provisioning will be done by local suppliers.)  
These provisioning arrangements were presented as a positive development by GVHAS. Although the GVHA Society purports to have a triple bottom line approach, environmental and social impacts of this arrangement were not provided.
The Good: increased revenue for GVHA Society operations (8 hour shifts for 10 workers) and for BC Ferries.
The Bad: lines of reefer trucks moving through James Bay, and more crowded ferries which may result in travel delays for residents and visitors.
The Absurd: the reefer trucks will be bringing fresh produce and other food goods from the United States. The initiative is to mitigate loading problems at San Francisco piers; meanwhile, the GVHA Society has not implemented any 2010 initiatives to mitigate the traffic, noise, and emissions cast over James Bay.
And let's hope we do not have any big wind storms.
Four of the thirteen member GVHA Society Board are appointed by public bodies. Currently, elected officials hold three of these positions.  
Comments concerning the GVHA Society may be sent to
    Barb Desjardins, Mayor of Esquimalt:   bdesjardins@shaw.ca
    Chris Causten, Mayor of Oak Bay:   mayor@oakbay.ca
    Sonya Chandler, Victoria Councillor:   schandler@victoria.ca

GVHA Society as Landlord
Concerns regarding the GVHAS as a landlord have also been expressed. After an initial increase of up to 45% three years ago, moorage rates continue to increase.  Rates of 30% and 80% over Vancouver float home communities, and 30% more than float homes in San Francisco Bay, are being reported, with fewer services and amenities offered by GVHAS.

Volunteer needed
Although most available Board positions were filled at the Annual General Meeting in April 2010, a volunteer (or volunteers) is required.
Recording Secretary
The JBNA is without a secretary. As the role of secretary can be too large for one person to handle, the Board has divided day-to-day responsibilities related to correspondence, the web-site and other meetings. We are seeking community volunteers to share monthly meeting recording secretary duties. If three or four people were to volunteer to produce minutes, on a shared basis, for the general meetings held on the second Wednesday of each month, then the task of minute taking would not be onerous for any one individual.
Please consider volunteering a couple of days a year.

Next Month - Wednesday May 12, 2010
James Bay Neighbourhood Association
7 P.M., James Bay New Horizons - 234 Menzies St.

Privacy Policy:
The JBNA, as a society, is obliged under the BC Personal Information and Privacy Act to have a privacy policy. A proposed policy was made available at the regular March and April meetings. Ratification of the policy will be sought in May.

St. Lawrence and Dock Streets:
Barry Norman, Senior Technician, City Engineering will present:
- The Dock Street project involves the reconstruction of the curb/gutter on both sides of the street, reconstruction of sidewalk and road surfaces.
- The St. Lawrence Street project involves the realignment of St. Lawrence from Simcoe through to Ontario Street, with resurfaced roads and sidewalks.  
- There may be an opportunity to reclaim land for other purposes.  Residents interested in the current and alternate use of this land area are encouraged to attend this meeting.

Community Circles:
As part of the City's Official Community Plan process, small groups of residents are encouraged to create Community Circles to discuss and report on a number of topics. Community Circles are seen as a way to introduce new topics and to respond in more detail to established topics. During the second half of the May meeting, the JBNA will break into 4 to 6 Community Circles, each to discuss a separate topic. The number of topics discussed will depend on the number of residents present at the meeting and their interests. Possible topics include Neighbourhood Planning, Parks & Recreation, Transportation, Environment, Housing and Homelessness, and Climate Change and Energy.  
Research in the form of discussion papers, topic sheets, community profiles and statistics are available on the website .

Tentatively scheduled for the June 9th JBNA meeting are a presentation of options for Ogden Point.  The proposal for the Admiral Inn site will also be on the agenda.

Coming Soon - bicycle rental at Ogden Point - Daniel Sunter, Harbour Bikes