“The Town of View Royal was the host municipality for the first of three events in ‘Showcasing Green Infrastructure Innovation: The 2008 Series’. The Town showcased its Transportation Master Plan, with the spotlight on the implementation strategy for reconstruction and enhancement of the old Island Highway in phases,” stated Kim Stephens.
“The goal is to promote networking, inform and educate practitioners, and help local governments move ‘from awareness to action’ in doing business differently — The New Business As Usual — through sharing of approaches, tools, experiences and lessons learned that will ultimately inform a pragmatic strategy for climate change adaptation,” stated John Finnie.
“The case study exercise worked for me. Thanks to the inspiration provided by the other members of the working group, I came away with a concept design for a street enhancement project. The exercise demonstrated the power of brainstorming when a group has something specific to focus their creativity,” stated Gary Pleven.
“Rain gardens are a core element of the Design with Nature strategy for the Island Highway Enhancement Project through the Town of View Royal. The ultimate objective of the strategy for retrofitting rain gardens is to protect and restore water quality in Portage Inlet. This requires a major shift in the way homeowners think about their road frontage,” stated Lehna Malmkvist.
“The community has embraced a holistic, ecosystem approach that looks for opportunities and synergies to achieve multiple objectives when replacing and/or retrofitting infrastructure. In 2007, the Town’s vision and innovation was rewarded by a $7.4 million grant to fund the first phase of the old Island Highway project. A driver is restoration of water quality in Portage Inlet, often described as the jewel of Victoria,” stated Emmet McCusker.
“The desired outcome is that a common understanding of challenges and solutions will result in consistent expectations at front counters across Vancouver Island. To that end, the purpose of the seminars is to bring together representatives of planning, engineering, operations, building services, environment and parks departments from various municipalities. When developers and development consultants hear a consistent message about what is expected of them, we believe this will further accelerate doing business differently,” stated Kim Stephens.
Ron Neufeld used a driver training analogy to emphasize what makes good policy. “Good policy is knowing where the horizon is..so that you know where you want to get to,” he told his audience. He then elaborated on the elements of a bottom-up and regional team approach to implementing provincial policy. “Success depends on cooperation across jurisdictional boundaries,” he underscored
