James Bay Neighbourhood Association

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

Emergency Preparedness

 Rob Johns of the Victoria Emergency Management Agency (VEMA) presented a summary of the city's emergency program to the September 2011 meeting of the James Bay Neighbourhood Association (JBNA).  Although earthquake preparedness is the current planning priority, VEMA has contingency plans for other calamitous hazards such as tsunami, winter storms, fire, flood, power outages, infestations, aircraft crash, motor vehicle accidents, etc.

With the 32% probability of a damaging earthquake in Victoria within the next 50 years, it's not a matter of "if", but when.  A major quake will severely damage our aging infrastructure, but if quake-related injury and death can be minimized, recovery will be less traumatic. In referring to recent earthquake damage, Johns recognized that New Zealand 'will be in recovery for a generation'.

The recommended action during an earthquake:

- DROP to the floor (before the earthquake drops you)

- Take COVER under a sturdy piece of furniture and protect your head, and

- HOLD ON to the piece of furniture (until the shaking stops).

Practise of this exercise before an actual quake gives more chance of success, with less shock or panic when an event occurs.  ShakeOut BC, scheduled for Thursday, October 20th, is an earthquake drill designed to assist west coast residents to prepare for the 'big one'.  VEMA offers workshops and earthquake preparedness information and their website "www.prepareVictoria.ca" has useful information.

Recommendations include:

- an emergency stock of supplies (food, water, etc.) to see your family and pets through a minimum of three days in the event of a disaster.  Seven days would be better.

- an out-of-province phone contact,

- if you experience one minute or more of shaking where you cannot stand upright, take advantage of the next 90 minutes to move to higher ground to avoid being caught in a tsunami.

Recently completed soil and tsunami mapping for Victoria will be re-examined after unanticipated water levels were experienced locally, following the recent major quake in Japan.

 

Greater Victoria Harbour Authority - Strategic Directions

Curtis Grad, CEO, GVHA gave a thoughtful presentation of the harbour authority's short history (founded 2002) and talked generally about future directions. He emphasized the importance of upkeep and improvement of the working harbour infrastructure, reflecting the GVHA mandate to pursue best marine & related use and development of whole harbour, while optimizing current and future harbour assets.

Grad reflected on the steep learning curve of his first 90 days as CEO, absorbing history, collective vision and the institutional memory of the organization. His immediate focus is team building, identifying key strategies & opportunities, familiarization with business fundamentals including strategic plan, Master Plan, Business Plan and Financial Plan.

He identified the following challenges and priorities:

 - capital renewal & development with long-term financial, social, environmental sustainability of strategic harbour assets;

 - balancing/optimizing interests of both the GVHA and the community through the Authority role as a property manager;

 - enhancing GVHA leadership role and profile with key stakeholders including Federal Government, First Nations, local government, community, business and industry.

He explained that he wanted to attract quality businesses providing value to the port, not extracting value. He committed to completing the harbour pathway plan and hopes to materialize many of the valuable ideas of staff.

The Cruise Transportation Strategy for Ogden Point is seeking solutions for efficient people movement. Water shuttles and electric buses are among the options being evaluated for a new transportation contract, to be in place for 2013 cruise season. 

 

Inner Harbour Waterlots

The September 22 Council meeting included Public Hearings on two rezoning applications affecting inner harbour waterlots owned by GVHA and the City.  These rezonings, with another lease for City lots on Wharf Street, will provide Harbour Air with access to additional waterlot area zoned for floatplane use, with the use of the City waterlot for its restaurant. The rezonings and leases would facilitate the location of a new floating terminal on the City waterlots.  

JBNA Board presentations at the Public Hearings focused on (1) the City as landlord with responsibility for pollution created on City property, (2) whether the rezoning and leases for this unique City-owned prime property are in the best Public Interest, and (3) if the decision were made to proceed, whether the taxpayer would be receiving the best financial compensation for the lease of City properties (lots 950 and 1000), given lease rates elsewhere in the harbour. JBNA requested that all decisions on these matters be postponed until an independent safety case for the harbour aerodrome has been completed, along with the establishment of a safety management system.  

Council's decision to proceed with the rezonings as proposed was perhaps best reflected by  two supporters of the application: Bruce Carter of the Chamber of Commerce reflected on how the float plane noise made the City distinctive, a way "to mark ourselves", while Councillor Hunter appreciated the "vitality float planes provide".

 

James Bay Streets - Vehicles and Pedestrians

JBNA Board members met with Brad Dellebuur, City Transportation, to discuss streets and pedestrian needs. The City did a traffic numbers count in late August at several locations in James Bay. Results will be discussed in a few weeks.

Councilor Hunter reported that Mayor Fortin had met recently with Yellow Cabs to discuss the problem of speeding cabs in James Bay.  The Yellow Cabs representative agreed to monitor cab speeds at Oswego/Dallas & Oswego/Simcoe.

 

Join Us:

The October 12th general meeting will begin with a use-related rezoning to accommodate a veterinary clinic at 152 Dallas Road.

The focus of the evening will be on Fisherman's Wharf Marina and Fisherman's Wharf Park.  Doug deMarzo, Manager, Parks Planning & Design, will present the final design of the east end Fisherman's Wharf Park.  He will also present drawings of the soon-to-be-built Harbour Pathway segment on Belleville, between Pendray and Oswego.

Following the City Parks presentation, CitySpaces Consulting Ltd, on behalf of GVHA, will be seeking opinions on Fisherman's Wharf marina.  James Bay residents are being asked to participate in this visioning exercise: to identify what works at Fisherman's Wharf, what doesn't work, and what might work. This will be an opportunity for residents to contribute to the improvement of the Fisherman's Wharf marina area. 

NOTE:  The appointment of Mr. Trevor Moat as Director-at-Large to replace Mr. B. Tuomi for the remainder of term (AGM 2012) was ratified by the JBNA membership at the September 2011 meeting.