Saanich staff have presented council with the draft update to the Shelbourne Valley Plan, outlining progress and key changes ahead of the next round of public consultation scheduled for fall 2025.
Adopted in 2017, the original plan has guided land use and transportation decisions in the Shelbourne Valley, including the Shelbourne Street Improvement Project and approval of over 1,700 new housing units to meet provincial housing targets.
“We have some really clear direction in terms of our housing needs report with the amount of housing that's required in Saanich,” said staff. “A lot of the market conditions still indicate a significant amount of need (and) additional supply is actually something we're trying to achieve because we've had an unhealthy supply for quite some time.”
The plan covers a 4-kilometre stretch of Shelbourne Street, from North Dairy Road in the south to Thelma Place in the north. Its scope includes properties within 500 metres of Shelbourne and overlaps with the Quadra McKenzie Plan – which is excluded from the scope of this plan.
“Any land use decision that is going to be made in the (Shelbourne-McKenzie) area will be administered through the Quadra McKenzie plan,” staff said.
Following an initial public engagement in 2024, the revised draft plan noted that residents expressed a desire for more public spaces, especially for recreation and community events, and showed limited support for highrises in the area.
The 2025 updated draft seeks to align with the new Official Community Plan and reflect community input, recent demographic data, housing policies, and council decisions.
Staff said key changes focus on revised land use boundaries based on parcel-level details, updated designations that promote growth near frequent transit, improving the overall health of Bowker Creek, promoting community businesses, and implementing new policies on housing diversity and affordability, among other initiatives.
Councillors Judy Brownoff, Mena Westhaver, and Nathalie Chambers voiced concerns about the potential impact of redevelopment on the environment, specifically on the urban, fish-bearing Bowker Creek.
Chambers was the only one who chose not to support the revised draft, which she said does not align with her conception of urban growth.
“My reasons for not accepting this information is because… the environmental standards of this plan and the perception of the corporate worldview on what protecting the environment means are not consistent… with the science I follow.
“With the (new) developments, we've lost lots of trees, so what I really don't want for this area is to be like a… heat dome ghetto.”
After being received by council, the plan now moves into Phase 4 for a round of public engagement from August to October, which will allow for additional refinement. This period will include open houses, online sessions, community pop-ups, and stakeholder meetings.
While some details may still need to be reviewed, Coun. Karen Harper said the 2025 draft offers a more holistic vision for the area’s future as it heads out for public feedback.
“The plan itself, I think, has a far more fulsome appreciation of the full range of things that affect land use planning, whether it be transportation (or) the environment,” she said. “All of these things are much more clearly articulated.”
The final draft is expected to go before council in early 2026.
