I was supposed to be camping at Mount Washington this weekend so I was going to have to miss Seedy Saturday. I have been out of town for the last three years for this event. I am glad to be here this year.
I am particularly looking forward to the session on fruit tree pruning put on by Philip Young of Glendale Gardens. Over the years I have made some messes of trees by not really knowing when and what I am doing. In my defense, the last two places I lived I had to do a lot recovery work on trees that were there. I did some good work and I did some butchering. Some of the plum trees I had in Lillooet were beyond saving, but I was really just learning and had over forty trees to recover out of the bush. I did a much better job getting the apple trees on Balfour Street back into some semblance of happiness but they needed another couple of years of work when I moved out.
I am also interested in the session with Brock Mcleod and Heather Walker of Makaria Farm talking about growing your own grain. My own experiment mainly suffered from not knowing how to thresh and winnow the damn stuff.
Marilyn Soames will be talking about keeping urban chickens, I may drop in on that, but I am not sure there is much for to learn from that.
When I have been in the past there have been some very interesting display booths and some interesting seeds available in the seed swap. I have nothing to offer for the seed swap that I have saved, I have not been saving seeds since I left Lillooet. I could offer some of the scarlet runner beans I have, I bought a lot more last year than I could use.
It is well worth the $7 admission if you are intending on doing any sort of gardening, they even have a session on growing food in a container put on by Jacqueline Bradbury of Garden Arts.
Just going to hear the keynote speaker, Brian Minter of Minter Gardens would be worth the price of admission for me. I have been listening to him for years on CBC Almanac
Friday, February 19, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
City makes some decisions on the Bridge
We are not going to have a quick referendum, this is good as I do not think that it would have passed. The City staff have given the council this report.
From what I heard from the Mayor on the radio with Adam Stirling, I have to say he seems to be going to the extent that I wanted the city to go with the bridge project.
There is discussion of what seismic standard to work towards with the bridge. What I find interesting is that the Point Ellice Bridge is not expected to be usable after a 6.5M earthquake. The recommendation to council is to go foward with a plan for a bridge that could withstand an 8.5M earthquake - a lifeline bridge.
I am not convinced this makes any sense as the land on either end of the bridge would be in significant danger of major problems in such a large earthquake. Certainly the buildings of Old Town would seal off all the streets in the Old Town and therefore allow for no access to the bridge. In an 8.5M event, the whole Dockside Green area will suffer from liquefaction.
Whatever option the City decides to go forward I would hope that the City does not forward unless they have a Class A estimate for the bridge project and has a mechanism in place to ensure the project can not go over budget. We are still working with a Class C estimate for replacement and Class D for refurbishment. Neither one of them is appropriate to move forward with on a project.
Going forward on the basis of a Class C estimate was completely and utterly inappropriate of the City.
From one definition of a Class C estimate:
From what I heard from the Mayor on the radio with Adam Stirling, I have to say he seems to be going to the extent that I wanted the city to go with the bridge project.
There is discussion of what seismic standard to work towards with the bridge. What I find interesting is that the Point Ellice Bridge is not expected to be usable after a 6.5M earthquake. The recommendation to council is to go foward with a plan for a bridge that could withstand an 8.5M earthquake - a lifeline bridge.
I am not convinced this makes any sense as the land on either end of the bridge would be in significant danger of major problems in such a large earthquake. Certainly the buildings of Old Town would seal off all the streets in the Old Town and therefore allow for no access to the bridge. In an 8.5M event, the whole Dockside Green area will suffer from liquefaction.
Whatever option the City decides to go forward I would hope that the City does not forward unless they have a Class A estimate for the bridge project and has a mechanism in place to ensure the project can not go over budget. We are still working with a Class C estimate for replacement and Class D for refurbishment. Neither one of them is appropriate to move forward with on a project.
Going forward on the basis of a Class C estimate was completely and utterly inappropriate of the City.
From one definition of a Class C estimate:
Class C Estimate
General Description
- Ballpark estimate used only in preliminary discussion of feasibility
- Sufficient for selecting correct investment decisions
- But not used for making commitments
Includes
- Completion of all work necessary to undertake preliminary design
- Knowledge of site conditions adequate to enable identification of site related risks, and
- Development of corresponding contingency costs
- Expected precision variance -15% to +25% or more
Monday, February 15, 2010
Parking in Victoria
The City of Victoria has now shifted over to the parking kiosks with numbered stalls, I think it is time for the city to consider making more areas paid parking.
Locations close to existing kiosks would be easy to add, other areas would require new infrastructure. There are numerous locations around the city that could easily allow for metered parking:
I think the City should consider extending the times in parking areas, especially non core ones. They should also lo0k at making some areas more expensive than others. Increase the cost per hour downtown and lower further out.
The City should also consider lengthening the times parking has to be paid for.
Finally, the city owns five parkades in downtown, is this really the highest and best of the resources of the City of Victoria to be owning parkades? Why not sell them to the private sector with a covenant that they must provide a specified number of parking spaces? The money from the sale of the sites would allow the city to build a new rec centre without having to borrow money. The expansion of the street paid parking and other changes I suggested, should make up for the lost parkade revenues. The city would also get property taxes for these sites, this is worth something.
Frankly, I would hire a company to manage all the street parking for a guaranteed amount per year with pro rated amount above a certain level.
Locations close to existing kiosks would be easy to add, other areas would require new infrastructure. There are numerous locations around the city that could easily allow for metered parking:
- North of downtown all the way to Bay and east to Quadra
- Eastern and southern fringes of Downtown, streets like Meares between Quadra and Vancouver
- Cook Street Village - but also all of Cook through to Bay Street
- Hillside/Quadra Village - also all of Quadra south of there to Pandora
- Fernwood
- Streets around the James Bay hotels
- All public parking on Douglas should have pay parking, this would be from the water to the boundary with Saanich
- All of Songhees and all of the area close to Dockside Green through to the trestle to Selkirk
- Selkirk area
I think the City should consider extending the times in parking areas, especially non core ones. They should also lo0k at making some areas more expensive than others. Increase the cost per hour downtown and lower further out.
The City should also consider lengthening the times parking has to be paid for.
Finally, the city owns five parkades in downtown, is this really the highest and best of the resources of the City of Victoria to be owning parkades? Why not sell them to the private sector with a covenant that they must provide a specified number of parking spaces? The money from the sale of the sites would allow the city to build a new rec centre without having to borrow money. The expansion of the street paid parking and other changes I suggested, should make up for the lost parkade revenues. The city would also get property taxes for these sites, this is worth something.
Frankly, I would hire a company to manage all the street parking for a guaranteed amount per year with pro rated amount above a certain level.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Communting in Greater Victoria
The Canadian Census has some good data on commuting. I went through that data to get some sense on this region.
Walk/Bike to work
Greater Victoria average - 16.1%
Transit top five
Greater Victoria Average - 10.2%
Carpool passenger top five
Greater Victoria average - 6.8%
Driver
Greater Victoria average - 64.9%
From 2001 to 2006 BC had a rather dramatic rise in transit users, 54% more transit users but Greater Victoria did not see this sort of a rise. There was only a 17% more transit users in the CRD.
I need to head off with Max to the store, so this is the end of this at the moment.
Walk/Bike to work
- City of Victoria - 32.9%
- Sidney - 20.1%
- Oak Bay - 19.3%
- Esquimalt - 19.2%
- Saanich 10.9%
Greater Victoria average - 16.1%
Transit top five
- Esquimalt - 16.2%
- City of Victoria - 12.6%
- Saanich - 11.3%
- View Royal - 9.9%
- Oak Bay - 9.4%
Greater Victoria Average - 10.2%
Carpool passenger top five
- Oak Bay - 8.4%
- Langford - 8.1%
- Esquimalt - 7.7%
- Colwood - 7.7%
- Hihglands - 7.7%
Greater Victoria average - 6.8%
Driver
- Metchosin - 85.7%
- Highlands - 81.9%
- North Saanich - 81.2%
- Central Saanich - 80.4%
- Langford - 77.7%
Greater Victoria average - 64.9%
From 2001 to 2006 BC had a rather dramatic rise in transit users, 54% more transit users but Greater Victoria did not see this sort of a rise. There was only a 17% more transit users in the CRD.
I need to head off with Max to the store, so this is the end of this at the moment.
Monday, February 01, 2010
Industrial Lands in the CRD
In December the final report on the inventory of industrial land use in the CRD was released and it clearly highlights some major warnings for the region with respect to industrial lands. This is the first report on industrial lands since 1983. The last report indicated that the region had ten year supply of industrial land.
The CRD has been losing industrial land over the last generation on a regular basis. Much of the industrial lands along the harbour have been converted to other uses, examples of this are the Vic West developments and Selkirk. This trend is not good and needs to be reversed or we will have significant problems.
The report shows we only have 2028.5 acres of industrial land under the jurisdiction of local governments. The airport and the naval base and both outside of local zoning and both offer industrial land use.
According to the report there is a need for another 156 acres of industrial land in the core area. Given the coming loses in Victoria, it is closer to 230 acres of industrial land that will be needed. Available industrial land in the core of the CRD is functionally not available. This means we are not able to gain jobs in the core and are pushing more jobs out to the peninsula or elsewhere. The lack of enough industrial land will lead to more commuting in this region. Not having this land will mean 3000 jobs that should be here will not be here.
Over 20,000 jobs are located in municipal industrial lands in this region. This is close to 12% of the jobs in the region. It would be more if the industrial jobs are the airport on on the Esquimalt base are counted. By not having enough industrial lands we will reduce job creation in this region and more specifically blue collar jobs.
Victoria:
The City needs to protect industrial lands and actively add more industrial land. It also needs to make it easier to consolidate lands for larger properties.
Ogden Point
The location is 84 acres of industrial land and water of which close to 33 acres is land. This land is still industrial but the use as a shipping point has dropped to almost nothing. I can not see how this land would continue as industrial given its location and difficulty of getting access to the site from elsewhere in the region.
North of Downtown/Rock Bay
The is a pressure to convert land in this area to residential. We have already seen the transition of the area just north of Chinatown into retail from industrial.
About 40 acres of the industrial land in this area in clearly under threat for redevelopment to non industrial uses.
The City could look at the auto dealerships along Douglas and shift them to industrial use over time. There is already one empty site that could be redevelped, the former Victoria Motors GM dealership. This is a 3 acre site and is well located for an industrial use. My hope is that the City would indicate that it will support industrial zoning here.
Oak Bay
Oak Bay has the distinction of having no industrial land. This is unreasonable and they should work towards having at least 30 acres of light industrial. Where can you find it?
Here are some quick thoughts:
This gets you to 15 to 18 acres.
Light industrial need not be anything loud or smelly. Oak Bay should house some of the industrial lands of the region as it is not fair for one jurisdiction to not shoulder a share of the regional economic needs.
Saanich
Saanich has 530.8 acres of landed zoned as industrial, 310.2 of these acres are the Hartland Landfill. The landfill is 100% of the heavy industrial land in Saanich. Without the landfill Saanich only has 220.6 acres of industrial land.
Given the importance of the University as an incubator of new businesses, it would make sense for Saanich to rezone lands near UVic into light industrial. As it stands, Vancouver Island Technology Park is not zoned as industrial. This should be changed
Saanich should consider transitioning the neighbourhood between Carey Road and Hwy #1 into industrial. It is not an ideal residential neighbourhood any longer.
The old Mount Tolmie school site is a good location for additional industrial. The school board must have enough space to not need this building. If this site were redeveloped for light industrial, the school district would financially benefit.
The problem in many of the areas of Saanich is that areas for new industrial zoning are already a residential neighbourhood.
Esquimalt
Esquimalt is in an odd situation because so much of the municipality is under the control of the Navy. Much of the Navy land is in some form of what one could call industrial, but for the purposes of the economy of the region only the graving dock is relevant. This is an area of about 45 acres of heavy industrial. That one site alone more than doubles the
View Royal
There is a measly 3.7 aces of light industrial in View Royal all of which is taken up by one self storage site, a use that other municipalities have on non industrial lands. View Royal should make it clear that the site of the The Fort Victoria RV Park will be allowed to be used as industrial in future developments. This would add another 25 acres.
There are another 20 acres in the north east corner of View Royal that would be well suited for light industrial. This area is bounded by Watkiss Way and Helmecken Road. This land is outside of the Urban Containment boundary in the regional growth strategy. This should be reviewed and allowed to be released for industrial use. The location is well suited for transportation access.
Central Saanich
Functionally Central Saanich has the second highest amount of industrial land once one takes out the Hartland landfill from the Saanich inventory of industrial lands. This is why we have so many businesses and people work in Central Saanich on Keating Cross Road. Though 91.2 acres of this is gravel extraction, it is not unreasonable to assume this land could be other forms of industrial use in the future.
The Keating Cross Road industrial area has lead to longer commuting than should be the case in this region.
North Saanich
North Saanich only has 8 acres of industrial all of which is located on the north east edge of the airport and against the boundary of Sidney.
There is a need in North Saanich for marine industrial. The Seaspan terminal area would be a good start as would be some of the land around Pat Bay.
Sidney
They are going a good job of providing industrial lands.
Langford
They have a surprisingly small amount of industrial land, I am really surprised by this and thought they have enough lands available to allow for more industrial.
Is there no space to have more industrial lands on the northern edge of the municipality?
Highlands
They have done a good job of providing industrial lands.
Colwood
Shockingly little industrial land in Colwood. Colwood really missed a chance to provide the region with major industrial lands with the former gravel pit lands. There was a chance for a 250 acre parcel of land to made available.
Metchosin
In understand that Metchosin is rural area and people want to maintain that, but it is not unreasonable for Metchosin to make areas along the Sooke Road available for industrial
First Nation Reserves
There is no comparable system to municipal zoning on reserve lands. These lands could all be used for industrial purposes. Ultimately these lands could be of huge interest to industry because it is really the only lands that are available for development.
One of the big needs in this region is for warehouse locations. Businesses do not have the space in the region to store the goods for businesses. The Tsawout First Nation reserve at Mount Newton Cross Road and the Pat Bay Highway is perfectly located for an industrial park focused on warehousing.
The First Nation has a reserve of close to 600 acres, more than enough space to create. The area of the Langford Box Box store are is only about 70 acres. It would not take a lot of the reserve to make a decent sized industrial park. It is also not too far from the Central Saanich industrial area on Keating Cross Road.
Heavy Industrial - The Worst Shortage
This is the classification that needs the most help in the region, if you take away the Hartland Landfill, this region has very, very little heavy industrial, most of it in the Rock Bay area.
When the city was much smaller than now, we had a lot more heavy industrial lands. As the city grew, no one planned for the future and figured out where we would make the heavy industrial lands available.
The CRD has been losing industrial land over the last generation on a regular basis. Much of the industrial lands along the harbour have been converted to other uses, examples of this are the Vic West developments and Selkirk. This trend is not good and needs to be reversed or we will have significant problems.
The report shows we only have 2028.5 acres of industrial land under the jurisdiction of local governments. The airport and the naval base and both outside of local zoning and both offer industrial land use.
According to the report there is a need for another 156 acres of industrial land in the core area. Given the coming loses in Victoria, it is closer to 230 acres of industrial land that will be needed. Available industrial land in the core of the CRD is functionally not available. This means we are not able to gain jobs in the core and are pushing more jobs out to the peninsula or elsewhere. The lack of enough industrial land will lead to more commuting in this region. Not having this land will mean 3000 jobs that should be here will not be here.
Over 20,000 jobs are located in municipal industrial lands in this region. This is close to 12% of the jobs in the region. It would be more if the industrial jobs are the airport on on the Esquimalt base are counted. By not having enough industrial lands we will reduce job creation in this region and more specifically blue collar jobs.
Victoria:
The City needs to protect industrial lands and actively add more industrial land. It also needs to make it easier to consolidate lands for larger properties.
Ogden Point
The location is 84 acres of industrial land and water of which close to 33 acres is land. This land is still industrial but the use as a shipping point has dropped to almost nothing. I can not see how this land would continue as industrial given its location and difficulty of getting access to the site from elsewhere in the region.
North of Downtown/Rock Bay
The is a pressure to convert land in this area to residential. We have already seen the transition of the area just north of Chinatown into retail from industrial.
About 40 acres of the industrial land in this area in clearly under threat for redevelopment to non industrial uses.
The City could look at the auto dealerships along Douglas and shift them to industrial use over time. There is already one empty site that could be redevelped, the former Victoria Motors GM dealership. This is a 3 acre site and is well located for an industrial use. My hope is that the City would indicate that it will support industrial zoning here.
Oak Bay
Oak Bay has the distinction of having no industrial land. This is unreasonable and they should work towards having at least 30 acres of light industrial. Where can you find it?
Here are some quick thoughts:
- South west corner of UVic - 6 acres
- Around the Cadboro Bay Road - 3-6 acres of light industrial
- Oak Bay Rec Centre area - 3 acres
- Oak Bay Village - 3 acres
This gets you to 15 to 18 acres.
Light industrial need not be anything loud or smelly. Oak Bay should house some of the industrial lands of the region as it is not fair for one jurisdiction to not shoulder a share of the regional economic needs.
Saanich
Saanich has 530.8 acres of landed zoned as industrial, 310.2 of these acres are the Hartland Landfill. The landfill is 100% of the heavy industrial land in Saanich. Without the landfill Saanich only has 220.6 acres of industrial land.
Given the importance of the University as an incubator of new businesses, it would make sense for Saanich to rezone lands near UVic into light industrial. As it stands, Vancouver Island Technology Park is not zoned as industrial. This should be changed
Saanich should consider transitioning the neighbourhood between Carey Road and Hwy #1 into industrial. It is not an ideal residential neighbourhood any longer.
The old Mount Tolmie school site is a good location for additional industrial. The school board must have enough space to not need this building. If this site were redeveloped for light industrial, the school district would financially benefit.
The problem in many of the areas of Saanich is that areas for new industrial zoning are already a residential neighbourhood.
Esquimalt
Esquimalt is in an odd situation because so much of the municipality is under the control of the Navy. Much of the Navy land is in some form of what one could call industrial, but for the purposes of the economy of the region only the graving dock is relevant. This is an area of about 45 acres of heavy industrial. That one site alone more than doubles the
View Royal
There is a measly 3.7 aces of light industrial in View Royal all of which is taken up by one self storage site, a use that other municipalities have on non industrial lands. View Royal should make it clear that the site of the The Fort Victoria RV Park will be allowed to be used as industrial in future developments. This would add another 25 acres.
There are another 20 acres in the north east corner of View Royal that would be well suited for light industrial. This area is bounded by Watkiss Way and Helmecken Road. This land is outside of the Urban Containment boundary in the regional growth strategy. This should be reviewed and allowed to be released for industrial use. The location is well suited for transportation access.
Central Saanich
Functionally Central Saanich has the second highest amount of industrial land once one takes out the Hartland landfill from the Saanich inventory of industrial lands. This is why we have so many businesses and people work in Central Saanich on Keating Cross Road. Though 91.2 acres of this is gravel extraction, it is not unreasonable to assume this land could be other forms of industrial use in the future.
The Keating Cross Road industrial area has lead to longer commuting than should be the case in this region.
North Saanich
North Saanich only has 8 acres of industrial all of which is located on the north east edge of the airport and against the boundary of Sidney.
There is a need in North Saanich for marine industrial. The Seaspan terminal area would be a good start as would be some of the land around Pat Bay.
Sidney
They are going a good job of providing industrial lands.
Langford
They have a surprisingly small amount of industrial land, I am really surprised by this and thought they have enough lands available to allow for more industrial.
Is there no space to have more industrial lands on the northern edge of the municipality?
Highlands
They have done a good job of providing industrial lands.
Colwood
Shockingly little industrial land in Colwood. Colwood really missed a chance to provide the region with major industrial lands with the former gravel pit lands. There was a chance for a 250 acre parcel of land to made available.
Metchosin
In understand that Metchosin is rural area and people want to maintain that, but it is not unreasonable for Metchosin to make areas along the Sooke Road available for industrial
First Nation Reserves
There is no comparable system to municipal zoning on reserve lands. These lands could all be used for industrial purposes. Ultimately these lands could be of huge interest to industry because it is really the only lands that are available for development.
One of the big needs in this region is for warehouse locations. Businesses do not have the space in the region to store the goods for businesses. The Tsawout First Nation reserve at Mount Newton Cross Road and the Pat Bay Highway is perfectly located for an industrial park focused on warehousing.
The First Nation has a reserve of close to 600 acres, more than enough space to create. The area of the Langford Box Box store are is only about 70 acres. It would not take a lot of the reserve to make a decent sized industrial park. It is also not too far from the Central Saanich industrial area on Keating Cross Road.
Heavy Industrial - The Worst Shortage
This is the classification that needs the most help in the region, if you take away the Hartland Landfill, this region has very, very little heavy industrial, most of it in the Rock Bay area.
When the city was much smaller than now, we had a lot more heavy industrial lands. As the city grew, no one planned for the future and figured out where we would make the heavy industrial lands available.
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