The District of Saanich’s Quadra McKenzie Plan (QMP) has entered its final phase of public engagement, and Mayor Dean Murdock hopes as many people as possible will help inform the future of the two corridors.
The QMP has been in the works since February 2023 and has changed significantly throughout the several phases of development.
This massive undertaking will effectively help to shape the future of Saanich’s two busiest corridors for the next few decades, allowing the surrounding communities to grow with the demand the District is facing.
“The secret’s out—the south island is the place to be, and more folks are looking for a home here,” Mayor Murdock told Victoria Buzz.
“The plan is designed to try to allow us to create more homes in a range of types: duplexes, tri-plexes, townhouses, apartments, condos and single-family homes, that’ll be along these corridors that surround them.”
He added that along with homes, the QMP will lay the foundations to establish adequate amenities for the surrounding neighbourhoods.
“We don’t want to sprawl out in every direction, we want to make sure we have a coherent plan for how we’re going to grow, and really that’s the thrust of what this is about—putting people closer to centres, in walking distance or biking distance to everything they’re going to need.”
The District is hosting a handful of webinars, open houses, pop-ups and a survey has been launched to ensure as many Saanich residents’ voices are heard and taken into account during this last round of public engagement.
Changes made to the last revision of the QMP
In the round of public engagement prior to this final push, the District saw over 10,000 entries of comments, concerns and feedback from the people of Saanich.
These comments and concerns have helped contribute to the revisions that have altered the QMP before its last phase of public engagement.
Some of these revisions included changes to the project’s scope surrounding affordability, density as well as roadway layout.
“There were a number of items in the plan that raised some concerns—I would call them controversial aspects of the plan. Those have been removed or tempered,” said Mayor Murdock.”
One of these items was the dedicated transit lanes on McKenzie Avenue, which has been removed from the plan, and will be later discussed as a separate endeavour which will be led by BC Transit.
Additionally, aspects surrounding building height and density, particularly in the Quadra-North area, have been tempered, meaning there will be fewer units and smaller buildings in the form of mid-rise buildings and townhouses.
“We see that as being responsive to a number of the concerns that were raised, so we want to go back out for public consultation to hear from folks to see if this is better aligned with what their vision of the future looks like,” explained Mayor Murdock.
In terms of affordability for Saanich residents, Murdock says that building non-market priced homes is a key aspect of the District’s plans and the QMP.
“It’s a major driving factor for everything that Saanich does right now to ensure that people can truly afford to live in our community.”
“I think that for our long-term success as a region, for the vibrancy of our economy and just for the health and well-being of our residents, we need to have homes that people can afford,” he continued.”
Density was specifically a matter that the District received a lot of feedback on during the last round of public engagement.
Mayor Murdock says that density around the community ‘hubs’ in the QMP has been tempered significantly, especially as one moves from the intersection of Quadra and McKenzie, further along the two corridors.
“Initially, some of those hubs had allowed for higher buildings, taller buildings and higher density and in our response to the concern we’ve heard, those have been reduced while still allowing for mixed-use, multi-unit buildings, but at a smaller scale,” said Mayor Murdock.
Another controversial aspect of the QMP was bicycle lanes and active transportation measures.
Mayor Murdock says that the plan recognizes the need to move more people along the two corridors, as well as in the neighbourhoods around them.
“More people means more traffic, and not just vehicles, because not everybody is going to drive,” he explained.
“So we need to be building in infrastructure that allows people to get around safely and conveniently.”
To achieve this, the District recognizes that over the next 20 years, there will need to be more frequent transit, improved infrastructure for bikes and for pedestrians.
Especially with the goal of having hubs with amenities, the QMP puts a focus on allowing residents to walk, bike or use transit to get what they need rather than driving—be it to a grocery store, a pharmacy or some other service.
According to Mayor Murdock, these aspects cover the highlights of what residents’ concerns were with the last rendition of the QMP, though he suspects there will be further feedback that will help lead to a plan that benefits everybody on the current phase of feedback.
“This is a plan that everybody needs to see themselves in. It is so important that people get involved in this process,” said Mayor Murdock.
Final call for engagement and feedback
The District of Saanich is conducting what will be the final phase of engagement and feedback for the QMP throughout September. This feedback will inform staff and council on any further revisions before the plan is set in motion.
For this reason, Mayor Murdock and the District as a whole hope that everyone is able to provide their two cents on the plan.
The easiest way for residents to have their voices heard is to fill out the District’s most recent survey on the QMP. This survey will be closed as of October 1st.
For those hoping learn more about the plan and its scope, there will be multiple webinars, open houses and pop-up events with senior city planning staff on-hand to help guide people through what changes to the community the plan encompasses.
Below are the planned webinar and open house events that will take place throughout September:
- Webinar #1 – Wednesday, September 10th, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. – online
- Webinar #2 – Thursday, September 11th, from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. – online
- Webinar #3 – Tuesday, September 16th, from 12 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. – online
- Open House #1 – Wednesday, September 17th, from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. – Saanich Municipal Hall, at 770 Vernon Avenue
- Open House #2 – Sunday, September 21st, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. – Saanich Municipal Hall, at 770 Vernon Avenue
- Open House #3 – Tuesday, September 23rd, from 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. – Saanich Municipal Hall, at 770 Vernon Avenue
Active links will be available closer to the time of the webinars via the District of Saanich’s QMP webpage.
To see the full scope of the QMP, read the plan here, or see the comparison report between previous renditions and the current draft here.
