Saanich residents upset BC Hydro planning to cut down hundreds of trees

The District of Saanich and Prospect Lake residents are calling on BC Hydro to reconsider plans to upgrade power lines that could see 362 trees removed from an area identified as a sensitive ecosystem.

The provincial Crown corporation plans to upgrade the high-voltage power lines along Prospect Lake Road from Meadowbrook Road to Munns Road, although plans for the project still need to be finalized and budgeted.

“BC Hydro says it’s trying to upgrade the power in the area, but the company hasn’t shared any of the details with the people who live here,” said area resident Joan Hendrick. “What we’d like to see is some justification for the project, because we’re in a climate crisis and already losing native trees to drought.”

Hendrick said she’s been told that the new infrastructure would be for future development, even though the project is in an area of rural Saanich zoned for lots of no less than 10 acres in size.

On Monday (March 27), Saanich council unanimously voted to have Mayor Dean Murdock write a letter to BC Hydro asking it abide by the district’s tree protection bylaw and consider alternatives to minimize, or all together avoid, the loss of those trees.

If it were a municipal or private project within the district’s the boundaries, it would be required at a three-to-one replacement ratio. Saanich’s urban forest strategy calls for one-to-one replacement ratio for all trees at minimum.

But because BC Hydro is governed by the Hydro and Power Authority Act, which supersedes municipal bylaws, it is not subject to Saanich’s tree protection bylaw or required to replace any trees removed.

BC Hydro spokesperson Ted Olynyk said the single power line that runs along Prospect Lake Road is being upgraded to a three-phase line to handle higher loads in rural Saanich and meet growing demand across the Capital Region.

“Of course we want to minimize the impact that our operations have on the environment. But we have a responsibility that the province puts on us that we have to maintain a reliable source of power,” he said.

“We want to see people be less reliant on internal combustion vehicles, natural gas and propane and use electricity. So to get there, we have to increase capacity in our system so people can lower their carbon footprint.”

“We’re just trying to have a diaglogue with (BC Hydro),” said Hendrick. “But the one gaping hole that a number of people in the community see is the actual need for the upgrade itself.”

Work on the project is expected to begin this fall.

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