General Meeting Minutes

April 15, 2009, 12 noon

Parksville Community & Conference Centre

In Attendance:           Bruce Cownden, Chair                Nigel Cavanagh 

                                    Shirley Wright                            Suzanne Hale

                                    Denise Sakai                              Jeff Hale

                                    Egon Kuhn                                 Rob Hoffman

Maureen Pilcher                         Maya Charneil

Duane Round                             Garry Bentham

                                    Dave Scott                                 Michelle Jones

Kim Burden                                Manley LaFoy

                                    George Hanson                         

                                    Tom Eardley

Guests:                        Honourable Ron Cantelon, MLA

                                    Caroline Waters, Constituency Assistant

                                    Clarice Coty, 1^st View.ca                        

                                    Marilyn Hayden, Recording Secretary

Invited Guests:           Councillor Mary Brouilette, Town of Qualicum Beach

                                    Councillor Al Greir, City of Parksville

Guest Speaker:           Stephen Boogaards, RDN Planner

Bruce Cownden called the meeting to order at 12:00 noon and turned the meeting over to Stephen Boogaard for his presentation on the Regional Growth Strategy Review.

Stephen Boogaard, Regional Growth Strategy Review

·            The Regional Growth Strategy is a regional vision that works much like municipal OCP’s.

·            Will be looking at the vision of sustainability

·            Community Input on:

o        Implementation

o        Designate growth areas

o        Sustainability

o        Expanded content

·            Implementation:

o        Sustainable principles – to include amendment procedure with definitions & process

o        Implementation and monitoring – to provide clear direction

o        Green house gas emission targets – to provide direction for change

o        Affordable housing – to provide clear direction

o        Food security – to provide clear direction

o        Land use and transportation – to provide clear direction

o        Servicing – to provide clear direction

o        Economy land use and transportation – to provide clear direction

o        Complete, compact communities – to include growth targets

o        Education and awareness – to provide direction

·            The survey and workbook are available on the RDN website www.shaping our future.ca.  The deadline for submissions is May 1, 2009.  Stephen encouraged individuals to make submissions and also the ODCA to make a submission on behalf of the association.  ODCA response referred to Board Meeting.

·            Public Consultation is scheduled for April 21, 2009, 7 pm at the RDN Boardroom.

Questions:

·            How is the review to be funded?  There will be no increase in staff to undertake the review.

·            Are you encouraging people on farming?  Not included in the review, but it would be beneficial to include your views in the survey.

·            The RGS has 11 initiatives, can they be completed in 5 years?  Can it be completed this year?  Projecting into the future.

·            What is the timeline? The report should be ready by the fall, then it will go through the bylaw process and completed in 2010.

·            Should municipalities wait for the RGS to be completed before working on their OCP’s?  Yes, that is a good idea.

·            The present document is very large and cumbersome, are you going to keep it to a reasonable size?  Yes, we are going to try without losing the content.

·            At what level are words like sustainability to be defined?  We will look at definitions to be included.

·            Has transportation study been undertaken?  Not sure.

·            What sort of influence will it have on the BC Land Commission?  Yes, it will have influence and we could have joint meetings to address.

·            All roads feed into the highways, would you put in small parking lots for car pooling?  This has not been considered, but it is a great idea.  This would be a good item to include in the survey.

·            Have you identified aquifers?  Yes

·            Any thoughts on green belting, so we don’t become one long string of development?  Yes, this has been taken into consideration.  We will try our best to address urban containment boundaries.

·            Is there an appeal process effecting land use?  This will be a top level item.

·            Has there been discussion on boundaries with the Regional Districts above and below the RDN?  No, but they will be consulted upon completion.

Bruce Cownden thanked Stephen Boogaard for his presentation and responses to questions.

Bruce Cownden introduced the Honourable Ron Cantelon.

·            Ron Cantelon spoke to issues to be addressed in the May 12^th Provincial Election stating that a Health Care Centre for Parksville/Qualicum is number one on the list.

Questions:

·            The BC Property Transfer Tax is unfair to the construction industry.  Has there been any discussion on eliminating it?  No, it makes too much money to give up.

·            What about eliminating ICBC?  No

·            Please be aware that 30% of costs for building are taxes and government fees.

Bruce Cownden thanked Ron Cantelon for attending the meeting and answering questions.

  21/10/2010