Between strategic planning, budget preparations and day-to-day operations, including development applications, a lot is happening at the District of Sooke, and I am pleased to highlight several of these items.
The district’s participatory budget process includes two phases of public participation:
• Phase one: Citizen Budget survey and community conversations at local markets
• Phase two: Community Budget Open House
Your feedback, along with master plans and technical guidance from municipal staff, is used to build the district’s annual budget. I invite you to participate. I encourage you to look at the Budget 2023 What We Heard Report, which captures the results from phase one participation.
I also invite you to pencil your calendar for April 18 to save the Community Budget Open House date. The event will run from 2 to 7 p.m. and take place at Municipal Hall.
To follow the budget conversation through its entirety, including the service-level review discussion underway right now (and continuing on March 17 and 21), please visit letstalk.sooke.ca/budget.
At the Feb. 13 regular council meeting, staff shared that the developer of Sunriver Estates has applied for rezoning of the northwest corner of the development. Discussions are ongoing regarding this application for 140 new housing units. Currently, council has directed staff to continue working with the developer to provide a revised zoning application that establishes an alternative emergency access route and/or secondary access to Sunriver. For those interested in learning more about this proposal, the staff report is available on our website at sooke.ca/meetings.
I encourage residents to subscribe to the district’s monthly electronic mailing list with each update. We hope you find this an easy and useful way to stay informed about activities and decisions in our community.
Another way to stay connected with district activities is over coffee. Many thanks to the 35 residents who joined council at our first Chamber Coffee event in January. On March 20 from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., we’ll be meeting with residents at Broomhill Playground. Hope to see you there!
READ: Donations of cluttered items help relief efforts in Ukraine and Turkey
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Maja Tait is the mayor of Sooke. Email mtait@sooke.ca.