MINUTES
of a regular meeting of COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE of the Municipal
|
PRESENT: |
Councillor H.
Braithwaite Councillor P. Copley Councillor
J. D. Herbert Councillor
N. B. Jensen |
|
STAFF: |
Municipal
Administrator, W. E. Cochrane Director
of Building and Planning, N. Beattie Director
of Engineering Services, D. Marshall Recording
Secretary, D. Beesley |
FINANCE
SECTION: (Chairman – Councillor Braithwaite)
|
1. |
2007-190 |
MUNICIPAL
ADMINISTRATOR, July 10, 2007 Re Grant to Capital Regional District Housing Trust |
(Dean Fortin, Chairman,
CRD Housing Trust, and Henry Kamphof, CRD Housing Trust Fund Administrator, in
attendance for this item)
The Municipal
Administrator explained that Oak Bay was not actually a participant in the
Capital Regional District’s Housing Trust service and therefore did not make a
contribution towards the Trust through the annual CRD property tax
requisition. From its own tax base,
however, Oak Bay had been making a grant to the CRD in aid of this
service. The amount of the grant was
lower than the amount that would have been requisitioned had
Mr. Cochrane explained
that Council had budgeted a grant of $25,000 for 2007. In so doing, however, it had directed staff
not to release the funds until Housing Trust representatives had reported to
Council on achievements over the past two years. He said that Messrs. Fortin and Kamphof were
in attendance for this purpose.
Mr. Fortin said that
allocations from the Housing Trust in 2005 and 2006 totalled approximately $1.1
million, leveraging close to 15 times that amount in additional funding and
assisting with the creation of 86 affordable housing units for various
categories of need. For 2007, the amount
of $495,000 had already been allocated, and other projects were planned for the
rest of the year as well.
Responding to a question
from the Committee, Mr. Fortin said that approximately 80% of the leveraged
funding was from non-profit societies as opposed to senior governments.
Addressing the question
of target groups for Housing Trust projects, Mr. Kamphof explained that there
was a wide variety in this regard, which could conceivably include short term
transitional shelter for a hard-to-house core group as long as it did not cross
the boundary into the “care” category, which would fall under the jurisdiction
of the Vancouver Island Health Authority.
MOVED
by Councillor Jensen
Seconded by Councillor Copley,
That it be recommended to Council that staff be authorized to release the
budgeted $25,000 grant to the CRD Housing Trust, and further that it be
conveyed to the Capital Regional District that Oak Bay would be prepared to
consent to an amendment to the Housing Trust Service Establishment Bylaw
whereby Oak Bay would become a participant in the Service for 2008.
CARRIED
RECREATION SECTION: (Acting Chairman
–
|
2. |
2007-191 |
PARKS AND
RECREATION COMMISSION FINANCE AND PERSONNEL SUB-COMMITTEE, June 28, 2007 Re Report
of Meeting |
MOVED
by Councillor Jensen
Seconded by Councillor Braithwaite,
That the report of the meeting of the
CARRIED
LAND USE SECTION: (Acing
Chairman –
|
3. |
2007-192 |
DIRECTOR OF
BUILDING AND PLANNING, June 22, 2007 Re
Development Variance Permit Application – 1852 Hampshire Road |
Ian Swift,
1852 Hampshire Road, said that he would like to erect a rose arbour
landscape feature on the south side of his property. He said that he had talked to the neighbour most
affected, who supported his plans.
MOVED
by Councillor Jensen
Seconded by Councillor Copley,
That a form of resolution authorizing the issuance of a development variance permit
for
CARRIED
|
4. |
2007-193 |
DIRECTOR OF
BUILDING AND PLANNING, July 4, 2007 Re
Development Variance Permit Application – 2861 Eastdowne Road |
Ted Pobran,
2861 Eastdowne Road, said that he was applying for a development
variance permit in order to build an attached garage at the front of his property,
which would provide the required off-street parking if his plans to convert his
existing basement level garage to living space went ahead.
Mr. Pobran
said that it was his desire, since he would have to go through the development
variance permit process in any event, to build a double garage rather than a
single car garage. Mr. Pobran said that
he felt a double car garage would be more symmetrically in keeping with the
size of his house.
Responding to
a question from a member of the Committee about alternative locations, Mr.
Pobran said that his lot narrowed towards the rear, and that a garage in the
back yard would detract from his use and enjoyment of that area.
Discussing
the application, the Committee noted that the front setback variance was major,
and that the proposed siting seemed out of context compared to the
neighbourhood norm. It also appeared
that there would be an adverse impact on the neighbour to the north.
Noting that
some members of the Committee had not yet been able to visit the site,
MOVED
by Councillor Herbert
Seconded by Councillor Braithwaite,
That a form of resolution authorizing the issuance of a development variance
permit for
CARRIED
|
5. |
2007-194 |
DIRECTOR OF
BUILDING AND PLANNING, July 4, 2007 Re Development
Variance Permit Application – 880 St. Patrick Street |
Gary Streight, 880 St.
Patrick Street, said that he had developed living space in his attic area
pursuant to a building permit that required the filing in of his basement in
order to bring the total floor area back to the maximum allowable amount.
Mr. Streight noted that his
basement, with only six feet of head room, was not considered liveable space,
but it was still regarded as floor area for the purpose of applying the bylaw
limits.
Mr. Streight explained
that after consulting with
MOVED
by Councillor Herbert
Seconded by Councillor Braithwaite,
That a form of resolution authorizing the issuance of a development variance
permit for
CARRIED
PUBLIC WORKS SECTION: (Chairman –
Councillor Herbert)
|
6. |
2007-195 -- 2007-88 |
DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING SERVICES, July 11, 2007 EXCERPT FROM REPORT OF COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE, March 19, 2007 RONALD A. JONES
ET AL, February 27, 2007 Re
Recommendations for Allocation of 2007 Sidewalk Capital Budget |
The Director
of Engineering Services updated the Committee on progress with the development
of a systematic sidewalk evaluation model, which however, was not quite ready
for use in allocating the 2007 sidewalk capital budget.
Accordingly,
his budget allocation recommendations were based on more subjective criteria as
in the past. These were: (1) Carnarvon
Street, north side, Foul Bay to Henderson; (2) McNeill Avenue, south side,
Falkland to Victoria; and (3) Beach Drive, north side, municipal boundary to
Mountjoy. The latter, Mr. Marshall
noted, would be part of a walking route for Margaret Jenkins Elementary School
students and had been recommended by the “Safer School Travel” task force.
MOVED
by Councillor Braithwaite
Seconded by Councillor Copley,
That it be recommended to Council that it endorse the allocation of the 2007
sidewalk capital budget as recommended in the memorandum from the Director of Engineering
Services (Item No. 2007-195).
The question was then
called.
CARRIED
TRAFFIC SECTION: (Chairman – Councillor Copley)
|
7. |
2007-196 -- 2007-196-1 2007-196-2 2007-196-3 2007-196-4 2007-196-5 2007-196-6 2007-167 |
DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING SERVICES, July 11, 2007 EXCERPT FROM REPORT OF COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE, June 4, 2007 J. W. MACONACHIE, June 5, 2007 SAFER CYCLING OAK BAY, June 9, 2007 JIM GRIER, June 11, 2007 CECILIA BENOIT, July 4, 2007 LUCIANO AND JOAN LUCHIN, July 13, 2007 DAVID LEACH, July 13, 2007 MUNICIPAL CLERK, May 29, 2007 Re Traffic and Cycling Design Concepts – North Henderson Road |
The Director of
Engineering Services explained that when the matter of North Henderson traffic
and cycling lane concepts had last been considered by the Committee, he had
been asked to expand his analysis to include an investigation of alternative
designs for the intersections at (1) Lansdowne and Foul Bay and (2) Henderson,
Gibbs and Foul Bay.
With respect to the
Henderson/Gibbs/Foul Bay “Y” intersection, Mr. Marshall said that any blocking
of traffic southbound or northbound on Henderson would, in his view, create
congestion at Gibbs Road and represent a retrograde step from a safety and
traffic engineering point of view.
MOVED by Councillor
Herbert,
Seconded by Councillor
Braithwaite, That no change be made to the physical design or traffic flows at
the Henderson/Gibbs/Foul Bay intersection.
CARRIED
Turning to the
Lansdowne/Foul Bay intersection, Mr. Marshall said that a re-alignment of lanes
to accommodate northbound bicyclists more comfortably could not be safely achieved
without major physical changes, the cost of which would be significantly increased
by the amount of buried infrastructure in this area, including the vault for
the main regional water supply connection.
In the course of
discussion, however, it was noted that there was a considerable amount of
boulevard on the east side of the existing sidewalk, where it might be possible
to create another dedicated path, separate from the sidewalk, that would allow
northbound cyclists to proceed safely past the “jog” at this intersection
before angling back to the roadway a short distance further north.
MOVED by Councillor
Herbert,
Seconded by Councillor
Braithwaite, That the Director of Engineering Services be asked to investigate
the design feasibility and cost of providing an off-roadway path for northbound
bicyclists parallel to the sidewalk on
CARRIED
Discussion then returned
to the topic of cycling lanes on Henderson Road north of Gibbs Road, which had
been the subject of considerable public input at the meeting of June 4, 2007,
and prior to that time as well.
MOVED by Councillor
Jensen,
Seconded by Councillor
Copley, That it be recommended to Council that cycling lanes be created on both
sides of Henderson Road between Gibbs Road and Cedar Hill X Road, with street
parking to be eliminated in this area.
It was clarified that
the motion was intended to address cycling lanes only and not the other
physical work, such as the installation of traffic islands, described in the
plan attached to Item No. 2007-196.
Councillor Herbert said
that the corridor at present was not unsafe for bicyclists, so that in his
assessment there was no justification for eliminating street parking in this
residential area from a safety point of view.
He said that the current regulatory scheme, prohibiting parking on the
east and west sides of the road during the peak bicycle commuting times of the
day, worked well and should be maintained.
Councillor Jensen
expressed the view that the issue went beyond safety. He said that bicycling would be seen to be
encouraged as a viable alternative form of transportation if it was readily apparent
that special provision had been made for cyclists on municipal roads.
Councillor Braithwaite
said that although she supported the concept of cycling lanes where the
situation warranted, she felt that this was not the case on North Henderson
Road. The wide roadway, with only one
lane of traffic in each direction, provided a safe cycling environment. She felt that no significant benefit would be
conferred by the demarcation of cycling lanes, while local residents would
unnecessarily suffer the inconvenience of a complete parking prohibition.
Councillor Copley said
that she agreed with the philosophy of taking a pro-active measure to encourage
cycling and would therefore support the motion.
The question on the
motion was then called.
CARRIED
(Councillors Herbert and Braithwaite
against the motion)
|
8. |
2007-197 |
MUNICIPAL ADMINISTRATOR, July 10, 2007 Re
Municipal Parking Lot at Cadboro Bay and Cranmore Road |
Speaking to
his memorandum before the Committee, the Municipal Administrator provided
background information regarding the Municipality’s acquisition of the property,
a brief summary of the history of the lot’s parking regulations to date, and the
reasoning for the proposed increase to the current two-hour time limit.
MOVED by Councillor Herbert
Seconded by Councillor
Braithwaite, That it be recommended to Council that the time limit for parking
in the municipal lot at the intersection of
CARRIED
ADJOURNMENT:
MOVED by
Councillor Braithwaite,
Seconded by Councillor Jensen,
That the open portion of the meeting of Committee of the Whole be
adjourned and that a closed session be convened to discuss labour relations and
the acquisition of property where disclosure might reasonably be expected to
harm the interests of the Municipality.
CARRIED
The open portion of the meeting
adjourned at 9:27 p.m.
Certified Correct:
|
D/Municipal
Clerk |
|
Acting
Chairman, Recreation Section |
|
Chairman,
Finance Section |
|
Acting
Chairman, Land Use Section |
|
Chairman,
Public Works Section |
|
Chairman,
Traffic Section |