PERIOD REPORT
DATE: August 31, 2016 Report No. DEV-16-061
TO: Laurie Hurst, Chief Administrative Officer
FROM: Bill Brown, Director of Development Services
SUBJECT:TITLE Development Services - Second Period ReportBody
The following is a report on the activities pertaining to the Development Services Department from May 1, 2016 to August 31, 2016.
I. DIVISION ACHIEVEMENTS AND ACTIVITIES
1. Rezoning Applications/Official Community Plan Amendments
• The Department received three new rezoning applications in the second period. To date this year five rezoning applications have been received which is equal to the entire number of applications received in 2015. In addition to processing the new applications the Department continued the processing of existing active applications.
• (NEW) 429 Lampson (English Inn) - This application is for some minor text amendments to accommodate slight changes to the development program.
• 468 Head Street - (Triangle Lands - mixed use commercial/residential) - Craft Amendment Bylaw/ 1st and 2nd reading May 16th, Public Hearing and 3rd reading June 20th.
• (NEW) 455 Nelson Street - (proposed two-lot split infill) - Pre-application consultation/Advisory Planning Commission.
• 616/620 Lampson Street - (12 Townhouses) - January 18, 2016 [1st and 2nd reading] - March 7, 2016 [public hearing and 3rd reading] - Covenant now registered - Returning to Council September 12, 2016 for final reading of bylaws.
• 826 Esquimalt Road (30-unit apartment building) - Rezoning - Coordination of S.219 Covenant/ Adoption of Bylaw No. 2864 May 2, 2016.
• 910 McNaughton Avenue - (proposed two-lot split infill) - Advisory Planning Commission/ Craft Amendment Bylaw/ 1st and 2nd reading.
• (NEW) 1235 Esquimalt Road (Esquimalt Town Centre) Amendments to the Official Community Plan and the Zoning Bylaw as well as a Phased Development Agreement. All three bylaws received first and second readings on May 30th, 2016. The public hearing was held on June 27th, 2016 and the three bylaws were adopted on July 11th, 2016.
2. Development Permit Applications
• In addition to the existing Development Permit applications that Development Services continues to process, the Department received seven new applications in the second period. The total applications received to date in 2016 is ten which is on par with the number received at this time in 2015, namely 11.
• (NEW) 429 Lampson Street (English Inn) - Development permit application for approximately 180 residential units, a new spa, and additional hotel rooms in the new north wing.
• 519 Foster Street - Development Permit (Four-unit Townhouse) - Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia registration/ File Administration.
• (NEW) 788 Dominion Road - form and character of balcony repairs / porch railings. Director’s approval June 1, 2016.
• (NEW) 790 Dominion Road - form and character of balcony repairs / porch railings. Director’s approval June 1, 2016.
• 826 Esquimalt Road - (30-unit apartment) - Design Review Committee [April and May]/ Council June 13th/ Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia registration/ File Administration.
• (NEW) 851 Coles Street - single unit dwelling -Advisory Planning Commission/ Council/ Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia registration/ File Administration.
• 925 Esquimalt Road - New Roof for an existing apartment building - Variances for Height and existing Siting - approved by Council June 13, 2016 - Permit Issued June 15, 2016.
• 933 Mesher Place - worked with consulting biologist on the terms of reference for the rehabilitation of the shore of the Gorge.
• (NEW) 1310 Esquimalt Road - Development Permit and Development Variance Permit - Red Barn Market - façade improvements, signage and parking variance approved by Council July 11, 2016 - Permit Issued July 15, 2016
• (NEW) 1038 Colville Road - single unit dwelling - Advisory Planning Commission/ Council/ Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia registration/ File Administration.
• (NEW) 1040 Colville Road - single unit dwelling - Advisory Planning Commission / Council/ Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia registration/ File Administration.
• 1110 Craigflower Road - single unit dwelling - Advisory Planning Commission / Council/ Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia registration/ File Administration
• 1127 Lyall Street - June 3, 2016 - Development Permit issued - Two Family Dwelling (Approved by Council June 22, 2015, with issuance of the permit conditional upon the payment of a security deposit for landscaping).
3. Development Variance Applications
• In addition to continuing to process existing Development Variance Permit applications, seven new Development Variance Permit Applications were received during the second period. A total of nine Development Variance Permit Applications have been received to date this year which is almost double the five applications received in the same period in 2015.
• (NEW) 429 Lampson Street (English Inn) - several minor variances are required in order to accommodate proposed design elements.
• (NEW) 500 Park Place - Setback variances for an addition of a bay at the Fire Hall to accommodate the fire truck being displaced by the pending development of the Esquimalt Town Square lands.
• (NEW) 741 Admirals Road - Development Variance Permit and Covenant revisions -- approved by Council June 13, 2016 - Permit issuance pending covenant registration by applicant.
• (NEW) 910 McNaughton Avenue - Proposed setback variance for a shed.
• (NEW) 925 Esquimalt Road - New Roof - Variances for Height and existing Siting - approved by Council June 13, 2016 - Permit Issued June 15, 2016.
• (NEW) 1129 Munro Street - Request for a setback variance in order to accommodate a proposed veranda.
• (NEW) 1310 Esquimalt Road - Red Barn Market - façade improvements, signage and parking variance approved by Council July 11, 2016 - Permit Issued July 15, 2016.
• 535 Fraser Street - Setback variances for the new building to be constructed for the Adventure Park - Council/ Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia registration/ File Administration.
4. Heritage Alteration Permits
• Development Services received one Heritage Alteration Permit application in the second period.
• 429 Lampson Street (English Inn) - application for minor alterations to the exterior of the English Inn. The proposed alterations to the exterior of the building will be sympathetic to the original architecture.
5. Subdivision Applications
• No new subdivision applications were received during the second period. Staff continued to process existing applications.
• 1038 Colville Road - Two-lot infill. Approved May 31, 2016.
• 948 Aral Road - Two-lot infill. Approved May, 2016
• 1385 Tree Bank Road West - Three-lot subdivision - on hold pending receipt of engineering plan for retaining wall and revised cost estimates for servicing.
• 622 Admirals Road - Legion - Subdivision for road widening - on hold pending receipt of civil engineering plans.
6. Other Planning Projects
• Esquimalt Town Square - Worked with Aragon and the project architect to help ensure that any questions that they had about the project were answered.
• Participated in the Interdepartmental Coordinating Committee for the Esquimalt Town Square project.
• Participated in the first design workshop for the new public library.
• Prepared and issued the Request for Proposals for the Esquimalt Road Urban Design Guidelines.
• Prepared and issued a Request for Expressions of Interest for the development of 867 Lampson Street.
• Worked on the wastewater treatment file.
• In consultation with the Chief Administrative Officer and a consultant, helped to prepare a Memorandum of Understanding between the Township of Esquimalt and the Greater Victoria Public Library that will serve as the guiding document for the development and design of the new public library
• Attended a meeting of the Development and Planning Advisory Committee (a Capital Regional District (CRD) Committed composed of Planning Directors from the local governments that compose the CRD) to discuss the most recent iteration of the draft Regional Growth Strategy.
7. Consultation
• Consulted with developers and commercial realtors to identify possible sites for commercial mixed use and high density residential development in Esquimalt.
• Fielded a significant volume of realtor, appraiser, developer, and potential home buyer inquiries regarding properties in Esquimalt.
• Updated BC Assessment regarding the number and scope of approved development proposals within the Township.
• Met with the consultant working on the update of the City of Victoria’s Parks Master Plan.
8. Official Community Plan (OCP) Review
• Organized the May 4th “Looking Forward Forum” this was attended by over 50 people.
• Conducted the “Looking Forward” online and paper survey from May 4th - 31st. During this period staff promoted the survey using social media, distributing promotional post cards to local businesses and having a display at the Esquimalt Recreation Centre, Municipal Hall and Library. In total, 221 surveys were completed.
• Engaged and gathered input from 111 youth on May 6th at the Esquimalt Teen Centre and June 8th & 13th at Rockheights School.
• Completed Official Community Plan Review Phase 2 (January - June 2016) “Community Engagement Strategy”.
• Prepared and presented Staff Report DEV-16-057, Phase 2 “Looking Forward Forum” Public Input, at the August 22nd Council meeting.
• Completed Official Community Plan Review Phase 3 (June - September 2016) “Analysis and Findings” one month ahead of schedule.
• Drafted and sent project updates to stakeholders list (1 email) and Official Community Plan Review subscribers (2 emails).
• Updated the project web pages (www.esquimalt.ca/communityplan).
9. Economic Development
• Prepared and submitted an application to the 2016 Open for Business Awards conducted by the Small Business Roundtable Secretariat under the Ministry of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction. Winners will be announced during the Union of British Columbia Municipalities convention in September.
• Helped review Esquimalt’s promotional ad for the Coho Magazine.
• Worked with the Township’s Communications Coordinator to respond to every possible opportunity to promote Esquimalt.
• EDS 5.3.1 - Promote Esquimalt as “place to visit” (ongoing):
• Distributed copies of the updated 2016 “Destination Victoria” Map to local businesses.
• Promoted Esquimalt events, attractions and walking tours at the Victoria Tourism Showcase held May 11th at the Victoria Conference Centre. The event is aimed at informing front line hospitality staff about local tourism attractions and activities.
• EDS 5.4.5. - Respond to community needs for information and resources to support community driven initiatives.
• Staff met with a representative from Esquimalt United Church and provided community information to assist them with a funding proposal to the United Church of Canada.
10. Sustainability
• Completed the Township’s Climate Action Revenue Incentive Program (CARIP) reporting requirements for the year 2015 (Staff Report DEV-16-039):
• Carbon tax grant equaled $28,935 and will be placed in the Sustainability Reserve Fund.
• Greenhouse gas emissions from corporate operations (building and fleet) totaled 1,037 tCO2e.
• CARIP public report posted to website on May 25th.
• Climate actions survey submitted to Province by June 1st deadline.
• Met on two occasions with a member of a strata board who was investigating the process for installing a Level 2 charging station for residents use at 477 Lampson Street.
11. Geographic Information System (GIS)
GIS Data:
• Acquiring the transportation feature layer from the Province of BC
• Updating the roads feature class in our transportation feature dataset correctly placing and labelling the polylines
• Zoning shapefile update
• Land Use Designation Map shapefile update
• Updating 1038/1040 Colville subdivision
• Updating the consolidation of 527, 535, 537, 543 Fraser
Integrated Cadastral Information Society (ICIS):
• Scripting to send our addresses, water, sewer and drain lines for ICIS
Tempest Training from Financial Services:
• create subdivisions
• create/update alias
• create/update zoning
• create/update map reference numbers
Tempest Updates:
• Updating missing zoning information
• Updating missing/incorrect map reference numbers on Tempest
• Discussion with Financial Services to add an extra PID into Tempest that was missing for a property.
Tempest/GIS Integration:
• Update addresses on ArcGIS to match Tempest
• Adding alias to ArcGIS for appropriate child properties or parents.
• Updating alias on ArcGIS for apartments listed on Tempest.
• Investigating into Tempest database and creating a link to extract data into ArcGIS database.
• Consulting with Tempest to integrate to our new mapping interface.
Computer Aided Design (CAD)/GIS Integration:
• Creating a list of incorrect/missing PID and polygon numbers on CADBase Map for the Engineering Department.
• Updating the PID and polygon numbers on our cadastral parcels feature class.
• Creating and updating python scripts to convert AutoCAD data into ArcGIS data.
• Updated the task scheduler script to create a nightly log file for troubleshooting errors.
New ArcGIS 10.4 and Corresponding Server, gis-server2
• Meetings with Jon Woodland, Bill Brown and Steve Garner regarding the installation of ArcGIS 10.4 and gis-server2
• Modification and migration of python scripts to load GIS data.
• Plan Checks for:
o 1102 Gosper Cres
o 855 Ellery St
o 896 Dellwood Rd
o 1129 Munro St
o 976 Wollaston St
• Maps for:
o Proposed CREST Tower Site
o Lyall Street and Head Street Zoning variance
o 50m buffer map for 741 Admirals, 925 Esquimalt, 500 Park Place, 1310 Esquimalt Road
o Mail notice map for 741 Admirals, 925 Esquimalt, 468 Head St, 500 Park Place, 1310 Esquimalt Road, 535 Fraser
o Subject property map for 500 park place, 1310 Esquimalt Road
o Schedule A, public hearing notice map, rezoning map and DPA map for Esquimalt Town Square
o Map showing the underground parkade adjacent to municipal hall
o Rockheights Student Survey of their walking/Bicycling path to school
o Schedule A and figure drawing for 910 McNaughton
o RFP Map for Jeff Miller regarding Esquimalt Town Square
o 910 Forshaw Map for Darrell McLean regarding bylaw enforcement
o Updated zoning map to reflect most recent rezoning
o Update the link to the zoning map on our webpage
On line Development Tracker:
• Researching online development tracking practices within the CRD and beyond
External Requests:
• Creating a zone designation layer to reflect our current zoning to send to a UVIC PhD student
• Fifteen comfort letters were issued.
12. Other
• Hired a new Planning Technologist. This position includes the maintenance of the Township’s Geographical Information System.
• Community Development Coordinator completed a systematic review of the Development Services pages on the website. Outdated information and links were corrected with further improvements being completed in the next period.
• Age-friendly Assessment of Esquimalt (January - August 2016):
o Organized two partners meetings with consultant and participating community groups.
o Assisted the consultant with organizing 4 focus groups, and attended one of the focus groups, held May 18th at the Esquimalt Municipal Hall.
o Reviewed various documents prepared by the consultant and provided feedback.
o Prepared and presented Staff Report DEV-16-053, Esquimalt Age-friendly Assessment, at the August 15th Council meeting.
• Registered ten (10) Notices with Land Title and Survey Authority
• 973 Wollaston Street
o Correspondence with the owner.
o Creating a floorplan on AutoCAD to accurately reflect the current lot coverage.
o Creating a spreadsheet on Excel to calculate the lot coverage for sending to the owner.
• 948 Aral-Handling development variance permit for setback variances
• 1041 Wurtele-Plan check for deck and handling development variance permit for deck variances
• Reviewed thirty-eight (38) Business License Applications for Zoning Compliance
• Multiple building permit application plan checks - trained new planning technician
• Many telephone and counter enquiries - realtors, owners and potential buyers
• Updated West Bay kiosk monthly, and when extra posters received
• 622 Admirals Road - Registration of Notice of Housing Agreement at Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia .
13. Training
Staff attended the following training sessions:
• Attended OCP Review - Looking Forward Forum as “Development” representative.
• Attended the “Earthquake Cottage” and participated in demonstration.
• Attended Urban Development Institute Lunch and Learn - “Stackable Boomers”.
• Attended the May, June, July and August meetings of the Advisory Planning Commission.
• Attended the May, June and July meetings of Design Review Committee.
• May 5th - Training: Intro to Emergency Management
• June 17th - Meeting: CRD Climate Action Inter-Municipal Working Group
• June 22nd - Training: Intro to Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) - Exercise
• Attended the CRD Pilot Mapping Project regarding social isolation/connectedness for older adults, minorities, and/or living alone
• June 29th - Webinar: #BIKETORIA: How the City of Victoria aims to be one of the best small cities in the world for cycling.
• July 6th - Rapid Damage Assessment (In-house Training provided by the Community Safety Services Department).
• July 11-12th - Training: Public Health Association of BC’s Summer School program “Promoting Health and Sustainability: The Case of Climate Change and Energy Use”
• August 10-11th - Training: Navigating Challenging Conversations and Leading Change Workshop
• Carvello on Variances - May 25, 2016 - Held in Oak Bay.
II. COMMITTEES
Advisory Planning Commission
• The Advisory Planning Commission met four times in the second period and reviewed 12 applications.
Design Review Committee
• The Design Review Committee met three times in the second period and reviewed 5 applications.
Environmental Advisory Committee
• Community Development Coordinator, staff liaison to the Environmental Advisory Committee, attended 3 meetings and provided more than 12 hours of support to the committee.
• During the second period, the committee reported back on two items that were referred to them by Council in the first period.
• Committee recommended improvements to the Green Event Planning Guide as well as developed a Green Event Reporting Form as a tool to measure the environmental performance of events.
• Committee provided input on the BC Climate Leadership Plan and Federal pan-Canadian framework for combatting climate change and recommended that Council forward a letter to the Ministry of Environment.
Board of Variance
• One new Board of Variance Application was received.
• On August 24, 2016 the Board convened to hear an application from the United Church for a minor increase in site coverage in order to increase the safety and efficiency of the kitchen and loading area at the Rainbow Kitchen. The Board ordered that the variance be granted.