An open house next week promises to give Saanich residents their first glimpse of proposed amendments to a controversial bylaw designed to protect environmentally sensitive areas (ESAs).
Diamond Head Consulting, the third-party currently reviewing the Environmental Development Area Permit (EDPA) bylaw, scheduled the drop-in open house for May 25 between noon and 8 p.m. at the Salvation Army Citadel Gym at 4030 Douglas St.
Saanich hired the company last December to review the EDPA bylaw, a process that had started in May 2016 when council approved the review following a series of long and contentious public input sessions.
The open house will allow participants to consult information boards set up in the room and provide feedback on the options presented on participatory boards.
The report identifies the open house as the third stage of the review engagement strategy. Earlier this year, Diamond Head staff interviewed various stakeholders “to understand the concerns and aspirations of stakeholders, Council and staff to inform the objectives for the EDPA revisions and develop a preliminary list of alternatives.”
Stakeholders include various groups representing opponents and the proponents of the EPDA, community and neigbhourhood associations, provincial ministry staff, senior municipal staff and members of council, who actually filled out an online questionnaire before their interviews.
Attendees of the open house can fill out a survey.
The final stage of the review will see Diamond Head Consulting present its final report to council’s committee of the whole, likely sometime in June.
Next week’s open house takes place after council gave three readings to respective bylaws removing 29 properties from the EDPA and temporarily suspending the EDPA for single-residential properties, the largest category of properties subject to the EDPA last Saturday by a 5-3 vote following an extensive public hearing.
While it is not clear how many people will attend the open house, it is likely that it will generate considerable interest.
Members of council, however, will not attend to avoid the potential of receiving new information before their final vote on the temporary suspension of the EDPA and the exclusion of 29 properties from the EDPA.