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DRA Board Meeting

Tuesday May 9, 2006

Unit #2, Dragon Alley

532 ½ Fisgard Street

In attendance:

Robert Randall / Director/ Land Use Committee, Chair /
Lehna Malmvist / Downtown Resident /
Wendy Bowkett / Land Use Committee /
Sandra Meigs / Director/ Chair /
Serena Kataoka / Director/ Treasurer /
Jessica Duncan / Director/ Secretary /
Micah Carmody
Cathy Brankston / Director
Guest /

Charlayne Thorton-Joe / City Councillor, Downtown/Harris Green Liason /
Ingrid Percy / Member /

ACTIONS:

Land Use Report for Newsletter to be sent to Micah (due May 15th) / Robert
Article about DT as a learning centre for lead newsletter story (due May 15th) / Serena
List of Market days, times and locations (due May 15th) / Jessica
Estimates for printing and folding the newsletter / Serena
Connect with Market on Yates re: DRA table / Sandra
Connect with Charlayne and DT Business Association about setting up a DRA window display / Ingrid
Follow up with potential new website master / Robert
Send Sandra your summer vacation schedules / ALL

7h05 meeting called to order.

  1. Agenda approved with changes
  1. April 4th Board Meeting minutes approved with changes.
  1. No business arose from the minutes.
  1. Reports
  1. Newsletter – Micah
  2. This edition will be shorter and be sent out to members
  3. Needs a land use report
  4. Ideas for lead stories: University 101, Serena’s current academic work, Smart Growth review, Downtown planning. It was decided that Serena would write a piece about the DT as a learning centre and make ties to University 101. Jessica will write up a list of community markets. DEAD LINE for these is MAY 15th.
  5. The newsletter should me transferred to PDF and posted online
  6. Serena will inquire into printing and folding options
  7. DT Steering Committee – Sandra for Serena
  8. Sandra attended the last Committee meeting for Serena.
  9. At the last meeting they broke into groups. Each group was given a summary of the comments from the public sessions. The groups were to develop a story from these comments.
  10. There was a discussion of whether they should take a slogan or narrative approach to formulating the vision. It was agreed that a narrative approach was preferable.
  11. Each group was given a branch of the tree and 15 minutes to develop a narrative and the exercise resulted in the Victoria 2026 Tree. Each branch of the tree represented a social or infrastructural aspect of the downtown.
  12. The group plans to meet again in early June.
  13. On a related note, all of the LUC of the neighbourhood association met to discuss the boundaries (North Park was absent). There were clear differences of opinions expressed by LUCs at this meeting.The outcome of this meeting was a list of 8 questions sent out the residents association. The responses will be sent back to the steering committee. Sandra has completed the questions and sent them to the board for review and comment. The steering committee has also request that we brainstorm better/more effective ways of communicating the vision. Send any ideas to Serena.
  14. CAN – Jessica and Robert
  15. Robert and Jessica both attended the last CAN meeting. Very few neighbourhood associations were represented. Those present were North Jubilee, James Bay, Downtown Residence Association, Vic West and Blanshard.
  16. The CAN Grant was handed in by May 1st.
  17. Downtown Planning Update:For background see notes above. According to CAN, there was no consensus on the information. There was a feeling that the urban developing institute pushing this. James Bay wondered why are we being put into the place to defend the boundaries? We are too watch out for decisions being made in the summer. There was some discussion about Deb Day trying to fuse neighbourhood plans. The DRA is concerned with identifying public spaces in the urban fabric.
  18. Fairfield blocked the consensus needed for CAN to move forward on a unified position with regards to Rec Renewal. Associations are encouraged to move forward on their own.
  1. LUC – Robert
  2. Robert attended a meeting with the RegentsPark residents hosted by Alex Ranay to discuss the View and Vancouver Project. 20-30 people attended. They informed Robert about the concerns that they have regarding the neighbouring development that included: trees/landscape, parking garage in proximity to bog, downdraft effect due to limited setbacks, shadowing effect, courtyard for residents’ use, no through way, excess height, project allegedly contradicts many Harris Green Guidelines. Robert too these concerns who the developer who has responded to Robert by e-mail. Robert will forward this response to Board members and LUC members.
  3. Robert sent a letter of support for the Sawyers building to Mickey Lam and cc’s to JP Martin of Three Point Properties.
  4. The meeting with Three Point is scheduled for Thursday May 11th re: conversion of the old house on Johnson near Vancouver St. Also preview of Blanshard/Chatham lot (Wessex Property Management), the Bus Depot status, liquor store applications (2)
  5. Regarding the liquor stores, the City established that there needs to be 200 m between liquor store establishments. It appears that provincial regulations mandate at least 300-400 metres between stores. The city may need to update their bylaws to conform to the provincial regulations.
  6. The Florida’s attended the Advisory Design Panel on May 3rd. The Falls project and the Cook and Johnson Street projects were approves and will move to COW and then to a public meeting.
  7. Chairs Report – Sandra
  8. Sandra submitted a grant for the maximum amount we can receive: $1,765
  9. City Liaison– Charlayne
  10. The city is dealing with a lot of development at the moment.
  11. Social issues in the downtown appear to be an increasing problem. Responding to these concerns is very time consuming. The problem seems to be primarily at Store and Herald Streets. There are rumours that people are being dropped off downtown from other communities. There is a lot of pressure with the Olympics looming. The problem has also resulted in lost revenue from conferences.
  12. Charlayne is working with tourism and the DT Business Association and the Chamber to work on solutions. She is also bringing in speakers. She is working to get businesses and tourism vocal about the issue so that action can be taken to come up with solutions. The business community wants to know what to write and what to ask for. The city is looking at gathering stats about the number of beds, treatment, supported housing. Charlayne went out with a service provided to talk to people on the street and to learn what people want.
  1. DRA Booth on Government Market

The DRA ran a booth at the beginning of last summer and then stopped because the booth attracted mostly tourists. The Market on Yates is a possible alternative location. We could set up a booth on the weekends. This would also help to attract more Harris Green residents. We need to establish a regular presence once a week. We could take turns and recruit volunteers from the general membership.

Charlayne has Art Cool’s number. Sandra will connect with the Market on Yates to sort out the detail.

On a related note, the DVBA is willing to donate some of their window space in Centennial Square to the DRA. Ingrid has volunteered to arrange the window display. She will connect with Charlayne to set this up. Rob has also volunteered to help.

  1. Chalk Art Canada Day
  2. Sandra sent an e-mail to Ken Kelly to let them know we are on board for this year’s event. The DRA is interested in coordinating the kid’s chalk booth. Last year this was a very successful activity. The prizes are the most important part of this activity. We need to organize volunteers. Sandra has volunteered to organise the goody bags.
  3. Things to keep in mind are that a crossing guard with best will be needed and we should plan on using both sides of Yates Street between Douglas and Blanshard.
  1. Website
  2. Robert will follow up with his website contact.
  3. Wendy also had a contact
  1. Presentation on Smart Growth BC – Deb Curran

Smart Growth BC emerged in the late 90s. At this time there were a number of regional growth management strategies around the province working on issues of land use. The model was taken form the USA where there is a strong coalition and network of LUC and Smart Growth groups. Smart Growth BC is a provincial-wide coalition with three main programs.

1)Community assistance program

  1. 14-20 workshops across BC
  2. Now offering CAP Plus, this next step focuses on cost sharing.

2)Smart Growth on the Ground

3)Yet unnamed – Smart Growth Advisory Services

  1. Consultation service inline with Smart Growth principles. Revenue to feed back into non-profit components.

Other key priorities of Smart Growth: ALR, working with local governments, housing and transportation.

Detailed policies are available online:

List of principles and the smart bylaws guide: (principles are down the right hand side, the summary report is also available there as well).

Three things needed in any effective Official Community Plan (OCP):

1)In OCPs, you should have the maximum uplift allowed over the base unit: a ceiling.

2)Prioritise amenities (affordable housing, green space, . . . ). For example, 80% of density bonus gains should go to affordable housing, 10% to ensuring green space. . .

3)Create a formula to calculate the benefit of the uplift. 50% of development cost-out amenities provided- develop a formula to ensure consistency.

  1. Other business:
  2. Rec Renewal
  3. The mayor sent out a letter re: rec renewal. Sandra will respond to the questions which ask about the needs of individual associations around recreation.
  4. June 14th is a meeting with rec stakeholders
  5. Banking
  6. Vacation
  7. Send Sandra your vacation schedules for the summer.
  8. Party
  9. Sandra is hosting a party on May 21st at 7h30. Bring a friend and BYOB.
  10. Miscellaneous
  11. Wendy is concerned about the motorcycle noise on Government Street and Fisgard Street. Wendy will e-mail Charlayne who will forward the concern to the traffic people.
  12. Micah suggested that we go around the table to inquire about other businesses.
  13. Jessica is working with the city to get permission to use the old city banners as a DRA fundraiser.
  14. Serena is looking for a space to house the Daring Design show. Any ideas? Contact Serena.

Next meeting is June 6th.