Hello 38 Supporters! 

This update is a quick one. I've heard from a signer who is not receiving updates into her email, though she would like them! I hope this isn't a common occurrence!

The meeting is confirmed for Tuesday and will include:
·      Del de Medeiros, Executive Director of Project Delivery Services, Real Property Division of the Province of BC (Ministry of Citizens’ Services)
·      Mariam Okwengu, the Province’s Executive Director of Policy, Programs & Legislation at the Office of the Attorney General
·      Suzanne Tabata, CEO of the Japanese Canadian Legacies Society (Suzanne will fly over from Vancouver for the meeting.)

My energy is fading a lot and I'm not feeling my best, but it all feels okay somehow. I feel I will wake up tomorrow to a wave of fresh resources, support and encouraging energy flowing in this week. Any supporter who is seeing the updates and is enjoying them is welcome to reach out with a cyber squeeze! 

Yesterday I received this text message from a new client in my private practice:

If we could connect on Thursday I would greatly appreciate that.
I wish you strength in your battle with the higher ups.
I went by the site the other day and it is absolutely devastating to see.
I hope you are successful in your venture and thank you for battling for the community.

Devastation is a valid, reasonable application of the word towards what has occurred on the land, and I have heard it many times spoken by some of the people I've been meeting in the neighbourhood. I get to meet and talk with neighbours I've never met almost every day on my walks, and it has been so enlivening as part of my research and learning!

🇨🇦 Now the construction company has added many new features to the site, including strapping new BIG FANCY banners along their fences! I'm putting together some video for tomorrow with an on-the-ground progression of events. 

In respect to being "in a battle":
It is a pleasure, an honour and opportunity to see it not only as a battle but a desperately-needed healing. We're all in this together. There are so many other interconnected issues and effects of not seeing or acting truthfully that these coming times will usher forth.

I believe this region of Victoria is now ready to deeply explore principles of redress—to grieve and be uplifted and enlightened by the road ahead.

There are no roadmaps.
All I know is that beauty will be reborn
again in new expressions and forms.

Below is the one-page request for information I sent to City Hall on Friday.

Blessings as you each enter your weeks,
Sally 🐿️

*   *   *  

January 23rd, 2025

Subject: Academy Close setback protections – request for disclosure and review (BP059623)

To Mayor and Council / City Staff,

I am writing to raise a serious planning and governance concern regarding construction works authorized along Academy Close in relation to the Japanese Canadian Monument Park and the St. Ann’s Academy District boundary.

The issue is not simply whether zoning regulations can be interpreted as technically satisfied. The issue is that the longstanding Academy Close setback / protected edge intent—which exists to preserve an open buffer and prevent encroachment into a sensitive heritage/cultural landscape interface—has been functionally undermined.

Public permit records show that major construction is being processed under:

·       Civic address: 841 Academy Close

·       PID: 024-962-121

·       Legal description: “That part of Academy Close…” (Plan VIP72054 / VIP72054)

·       Owner: Province of British Columbia

A major construction approval is recorded as:

·       Permit: BP059623 (BP-COMPLEX – NEW)

·       Application date: July 3, 2025

·       Purpose: “Construct retaining wall and landscape park”

·       Value: $2,201,500

·       Associated properties affected: 839, 851, and 841 Academy Close

A retaining wall is a permanent structural intervention. When boundary-altering construction occurs within the Academy Close corridor itself, the practical effect is that setback protections intended to safeguard the district edge are nullified, even if a jurisdictional or parcel-based rationale is offered to justify the approvals route.

This creates a troubling precedent: a protected district edge can be bypassed without rezoning or a public hearing by shifting the footprint into a roadway/provincial corridor and proceeding through a building permit process.

Accordingly, I request:

1.     Full disclosure of all approvals and authorizations associated with BP059623 (including plans/drawings and any related DP / variance / heritage / right-of-way approvals).

2.     A written explanation of how district setback intent and edge protection was upheld on the Academy Close corridor regarding the Japanese Canadian Memorial Monument project.

3.     An independent planning review or staff report assessing whether protected district edge conditions have been circumvented, including impacts and precedent risk.

Thank you for addressing this promptly in the interest of transparency, planning integrity, and public trust.

Sincerely,
Sally Ross