Defining Rural

[this excellent letter by a North Saanich resident recently appeared in the Times Colonist]

In some communities when people are planning to move to a rural community, real estate agents will give them a scratch and sniff manure card.  Heads up!  Sometimes it stinks around here. The importance of rural is being hotly debated in the 2022 municipal election for North Saanich.  There are references to the pastoral vistas, the hedgerows, and not much traffic.  And it’s true, rural does mean those things.  But it also means less infrastructure, fewer staff at District Hall, and (consequently) lower taxes. We don’t need streetlights, sidewalks, or Starbucks.  Why?  Because our purpose, as defined by the Regional Growth Strategy, is to grow food and provide green space.  Think back to the height of the pandemic, and the experience of there being not much produce on the grocery shelves.  With the lack of water in California that will almost certainly be a repeat experience.  North Saanich is one of the last areas in the Capital Regional District whose purpose is food production.  Cast yur eye south down the Peninsula and what do you see?  Gordon Head used to be farm country, as did Cordova Bay, and parts of Saanich.  But this has been eroded by the slow march of densification.  Neighbourhood nooks, sensitive infills and village centres are all part of the game to connect the urban dots.  In North Saanich our preservation of rural is linked to food security, carbon sequestration, and green space – for the region.   

S. Chandler

The Municipal Election

            As you likely know, there is a municipal election on 15 October.  There is an abundance of candidates, three for Mayor and 13 for the six positions of Councillor.  Three Councillors are running again as noted in the table below.  In addition, Former Councillor Weisenberger, now a resident of Sidney, is one of the Mayoral candidates. 

Candidates 

BORDEN	Nancy	Mayor
JONES	Peter	Mayor
WEISENBERGER	Murray	Mayor
DIBATTISTA	Phil	Councillor
GIESBRECHT	Erin	Councillor
KEEPING	Tara	Councillor
* MCCLINTOCK	Jack	Councillor
MCCONKEY	Irene	Councillor
MIKKELSEN	Morgan	Councillor
RENNISON	Jon	Councillor
ROLPH	Terrie	Councillor
Sanjiv		Councillor
* SMYTH	Brett	Councillor
* STOCK	Celia	Councillor
TSE-COTTON	Maya	Councillor
VARASTEH	Majid	Councillor

* = incumbent 

Key Voting Dates.  All voting is at the Municipal Hall on Mills Rd. 

Advance voting day #1	8:00 am to 8:00 pm	Wednesday	October 5
Advance voting day #2	8:00 am to 8:00 pm	Wednesday	October 12
General voting day	8:00 am to 8:00 pm	Saturday	October 15

 All Candidates Meetings 

Date	Location	Time	Sponsor
26 Sept 2022	Mary Winspear Centre	6:30 pm	Black Press and Mary Winspear Centre
28 Sept 2022	Presbyterian Church	7:00 pm	North Saanich Residents Association

 A Pandora’s Box of Change 

Issues 

In this election a major issue, perhaps the main one, will be the Official Community Plan

review. That process has been grinding along for over two years, has consumed over $400,000 and is not yet done. A draft OCP will be in the hands of the next Council early in their term. The review process and many of the recommendations have often been contentious, leading to a serious rift between the Mayor and some of the Councillors and many of the residents. Councillors Stock and McClintock have been much more inclined to listen to the feedback from residents, and often question the Staff recommendations regarding the draft OCP. Councillors Weisenberger and Smyth have consistently voted to move the process and its controversial proposals forward. 

The disagreements primarily stem from a decidedly urbanization focus for a community that is both officially and philosophically rural. The Regional Growth Strategy of the Capital Regional District, of which North Saanich is a signatory, designates North Saanich as a rural/rural-residential municipality. The RGS directs growth within the CRD to the already urban areas, outside of North Saanich.  This sound planning policy makes efficient use of public transport while helping to mitigate climate change pressures.  This plan was agreed to by all 13-member municipalities. Extensive survey results (and logic) indicate that the majority of residents support our rural designation too. 

(For a better understanding of this critically important land-use plan and other important issues for this election, see the OCP and related pages and postings on this website.) 

The previous Mayor and Council ran out of time to finish the OCP review process, yet, against the advice of many, they elected to leave a finished draft OCP for the next governing group. It will be challenging for the new council to assess the merits of something they had no hand in designing or funding. 

Tied into the OCP review, but given scant attention for the most part, are issues concerning support for agriculture, food security, the marine environment and climate change mitigation. 

In this election there is an unprecedented amount at stake concerning the future of our Municipality. The proposals that will be put forward in the new draft OCP, if they go ahead, will open a Pandora’s Box of big changes for most neighbourhoods in North Saanich. Some will happen pretty quickly. Others will be the natural consequence of introducing urban densities to a rural/rural-residential area – they inevitably creep and sprawl, as we have seen again and again and again. 

Voters should give careful consideration to the implications of candidates’ positions. What will their priorities mean for the future of this unique place? For residents’ quality of life? For why you chose this place to call home? 

North Saanich Community Voices will be following the campaign.  Please forward this message to those who may be interested, and, if you haven’t already, sign up on our website (nscv.ca) for updates. 

Recent world events have shone a brighter light on food security, climate change and land use planning. Residents are urged to carefully consider these issues and the positions of the candidates when deciding how to vote on October 15.