JBNA: Sewage sites and safety

James Bay Neighbourhood Association

Submitted by the James Bay Neighbourhood Association

Helijet

Helijet is making application to the City of Victoria for a primary liquor license for the waiting area of the Helijet terminal at 79 Dallas Road, Ogden Point. The hours of service will be restricted: 9am-9pm and the capacity is limited to 30 passengers. There will be no external advertising and no outdoor patio service. The licence will not be transferable. The service will be available to all passengers, but is primarily intended to augment the existing VIP service. The licence is for wine and beer only – so make other plans if you need a stiffener for your morning coffee.

There is no plan to expand the light refreshments service beyond the existing coffee, tea, bars, and biscuits as there are no kitchen facility. There are no plans to expand the helijet service. Helijet has a long-term presence at Ogden Point with 10 year leases. This is the 2 liquor license at Ogden Point.

Community Safety: beginning the discussion “panhandling & loitering in JB”

Wayne Shillington, JBNA, presented information from the recent Police Community Briefing. Although anecdotal comments suggested that some community members are feeling less safe, VicPD safety reports and the incident map indicate that the James Bay incident level is relatively low – similar to other residential communities in Victoria.

A 50% response rate to a recent Police survey of 1000 residents suggested that resident priorities include: criminal investigation, tactical emergency, high risk offenders, mental health and intoxication issues (70% of calls not criminal). Residents wanted to see, in order of preference, foot, cycle and vehicle patrols.

Residents must be the eyes and ears of the community as we move towards a community policing model. VicPD wants to work in partnership with those who live in the community, strengthening the role of the community liaison officer.

During the Question & Answer session the problems of the increasing number of homeless was raised, with suggestions for micro-housing (as in Eugene, Oregon) and the need for a washroom or a series of port-o-potties for all night use. The Block Watch program was mentioned, as was another program called Dog Watch which makes use of the watchful eye of residents who walk their dogs either late at night or early in the morning.

Numbers to note: Police - non-emergency 250-995-7654

Disruptive Behaviour & Sheltering/Camping: Bylaws– 250-361-0215

The recent installation of the first City bike stand at 5-Corners may be a deterrent to loitering. The bike stand was an eight-month project of the JBNA.

Sewage Treatment Update

The story so far: after 20 years of discussion, the Greater Victoria Capital Regional District (CRD) has been compelled to develop a regional sewage treatment system by the provincial and federal governments. After four years of intensive discussions, the CRD settled upon McLoughlin Point in Esquimalt for the regional facility. Esquimalt declined to rezone the site. The province also declined to be involved in a local rezoning. The province did appoint a $100,000/month independent arm's length commission of technical experts, Seaterra, to oversee expenditure of the BC contribution of $248 million to the overall budget of $788 million.

With the pressure of time and in the hope of developing smaller, regional facilities to meet the mandate for wastewater treatment, two side-by-side cooperatives were established.

Westside Solutions (Esquimalt, Colwood, View Royal, Langford and the Songhees Nation) is currently considering 20 undisclosed potential treatment sites.

Saanich, Oak Bay and Victoria, the municipalities making up Eastside, have submitted a combined list of technically potential sites – 40 in all. Oak Bay's submission shows existing parklands, while Victoria has submitted all parklands and some privately owned lots in the Upper Harbour. Saanich has submitted some public parks but mainly privately owned areas in an area south of McKenzie Ave. stretching from Tillicum South on the Gorge to Gordon Head/Cadboro Bay.

A set of principles/filters will be applied to each of the proposed sites as information about capacity and sizes are developed.

Councillor Marianne Alto, CRD Eastside representative, laid out the planned Eastside public consultation process and the Victoria stand-alone fall back Plan B.

Amanda Gibbs is the Eastside Consultant responsible for the Eastside Public Advisory Committee meetings. May 30/31 interactive events at UVic and the Conference Centre will be open to the public and provide opportunities for community input. More technical information and criteria will be available. Discussions will include factors such as trucking routes and the potential future use of different energy systems. There will be maps layering technical considerations.

By June 10 all information will be distilled into proposals and then blended with the Westside process. Following this exercise a series of recommendations will be developed and submitted to the CRD. Presumably Seaterra may be re-involved at that point.

Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps, who now chairs the CRD sewage committee, has determined that final sites must be selected, with re-zoning in place by December 2015, with final decisions by March 2016.

During the discussion period several concerns were raised: the difficulty of dealing with siting prior to choosing the technology, whether we require secondary or tertiary treatment facilities, site selection criteria used by Saanich and Oak Bay differing from that used by Victoria, rising sea levels, etc.

Strong opinions were also voiced. Over the last 160 years parts of Beacon Hill Park have been sacrificed for roadways and there have been many potential projects which could have eaten up more of the Park. But we need more public land, not less. This is an opportunity to purchase private land and to increase the public realm.

Prevailing winds from the SW and SSW would seem to dictate that NO emission producing facility should be located towards the west, as inevitable emissions would engulf the most densely populated areas in the region. James Bay has well-documented concerns about unregulated emissions causing health problems. Neither GVHA nor the City have acted to address emissions, even during a period when a Vancouver Island Health Authority study indicated increased health care concerns including premature death.

Wastewater management is an important issue. Now is the opportunity to get involved. This expedited process requires a balance of technical expertise with educated opinions and strong but informed ideas. We, as taxpayers, cannot allow the process to be overtaken by outsiders or lobby groups with conflicts of interest.

Two EastSide Sewage Treatment Consultation Siting Workshops are scheduled: May 30, 10am-4pm Cadboro Commons Dining Room, University of Victoria; and May 31, 10am-4pm Victoria, Salon A - The Victoria Conference Centre. Although the agenda is still being finalized, most of the focused workshop is scheduled to take place between 10am – 2pm each day with the remaining time in open house format. Findings will be presented at the end of the each day. Residents are invited to participate for as much or as little time as they wish. Spend the day and become very informed or come mid-afternoon and get the workshop results.

Participation is also possible through the public survey:  https://synosurvey.ca/sewagetreatmentsurvey/

Join us next month

Wednesday, June 10, 7 to 9pm, James Bay New Horizons, 234 Menzies Street.

City Engineering representatives will discuss a new sidewalk on Montreal St South, Jawl Properties representatives will provide an update on Capital Park and discuss the relocation of the two remaining Michigan St. heritage homes, Concert Properties will present their vision for the Crystal Court Transformation, a seniors complex with restaurant/retail on the lower level at 701 Belleville St.