Consideration for the natural environment and the impact that our human built environment has on nature is one of my most important values as a person, and I will always be considering the environment when decisions are made in our municipality of Central Saanich.  We are privileged to live in an area with a variety of ecosystems and natural assets that are woven into a complex web of life.  I’m going to focus on the value of trees in this post.

The W̱SÁNEĆ Nation stewarded the land and waters within Central Saanich prior to colonization around 1848.  While they cleared some of the land, we know that settlers with the goal of establishing farms did a significant of clearing of trees.  As settlements grew, trees were cleared for our towns and homes.   We can’t undo that history, but we can look at the current environmental status on the Saanich Peninsula and use that as a baseline going forward. 

I spent my 35-year career in the provincial government working with trees: growing seedlings for reforestation, working with seed orchards that produce the seed to grow the seedlings, managing systems, creating policy and being part of a team that worked on climate change science and policy for reforestation. 

Trees play important roles in our urban and rural communities in Central Saanich.  Trees support a complex web of life, they provide habitat for a wide range of species, including birds, mammals, and insects, and are essential for maintaining biodiversity. Trees contribute to the forest's ability to absorb carbon dioxide, helping to mitigate climate change.

I’m sure that everyone has noticed the difference during the last few summers between the temperatures we feel when under a tree canopy compared to being in paved areas without shade. 

As a personal example of planting trees, when we moved into our current home in 1992, there were no trees on the property.  Our backyard had a very wet area, so after consultation with experts and a local nursery, we planted 3 deciduous trees that soak up the water in that area and provide us with shade and a buffer between neighbouring homes.  Alongside our gravel driveway we have numerous trees:  a “volunteer” 35-year-old Douglas fir, an Arbutus that I planted as a seedling and Garry Oak trees where local acorns sprouted 25 years ago.

Planting trees of appropriate species on our own properties and on public land can have numerous benefits.  A helpful tool can be found in this recent UBC article on “CanopyFit” New UBC tool helps cities plant trees where they’re needed most.

For rural areas of Central Saanich with open spaces, there is a Forests Canada program Plant Trees | Forests Canada for support plant a minimum of 500 trees.

There is lots of work that can be done to conserve and enhance our ecosystems, and we need to make this work a significant priority in the near future.  I would like to see Central Saanich Council and staff collaborate with North Saanich and Sidney on a “Bioregional Framework for the Saanich Peninsula” as developed by the Saanich Peninsula Environmental Coalition Saanich Peninsula Enviromental Coalition.

Photos taken in Centennial Park, home to large Western Red Cedars, Douglas Firs and Big Leaf Maple trees, with ḰENNES creek.

Candidate Canvassing - What I'm hearing from Central Saanich Residents

 Nominations for the October 17, 2026 election for Mayor, Councillor and School Trustee closed on Friday, September 11 at 4:00 pm. The Candidates for are listed here: https://www.centralsaanich.ca/munici.../elections/candidates

I started knocking on doors two weeks before I submitted my forms on September 1. As Candidates we have a huge area to cover. It will be impossible to get to every neighbourhood in Central Saanich as an individual candidate, which is why social media plays an important role in an election campaign.

I have talked to residents in Central Saanich who have lived here for several decades and some that recently moved here. Everyone says they love living in Central Saanich, but most property owners / taxpayers have some recent concerns that’s I’ll mention this week:

• Developments for large residential buildings where there was no community engagement prior to approval. For example, in Brentwood Bay there is a six storey, 110-unit Capital Region Housing Corporation building with “Affordable Housing” under construction. While everyone agrees that providing affordable housing to members of the community is important, the height and footprint and height of the new building are larger than anyone envisioned for Brentwood Bay village. Immediate neighbours of the new building were never consulted about the impacts to their properties. Community engagement with neighbours that are directly impacted by a large building next to their homes and the broader community MUST be done by the next council and beyond before approval of large developments.

• The recent loss of commercial space available for small businesses to lease in Brentwood Bay. I know that when we moved to Brentwood in 1985, there was a much broader selection of retail businesses than there is today and there has been a steady decline in variety over the years.

• Residents of that area of Central Saanich near Central Saanich Road, East Saanich Road and Cooperidge Drive have been under stress for the past 2 years due to a development proposal for a 61-unit rental apartment building on 2 lots on the west corner of East Saanich and Central Saanich Roads. Several members of that area attended the Sept. 8 Council meeting, where thankfully council voted to reject that development proposal. In my opinion that proposal should have been rejected much earlier in the development application process, which would have avoided a lot of discontent for the property owners in that neighbourhood. Among other major concerns in that scenario, the challenging array of roads and intersections around Central Saanich Road, Saanich X Road, East Saanich Road, Island View Road area would not be able to handle that much additional density.

• Infrastructure issues including underground sewer and storm drain systems, water supply and water pressure have been raised by several property owners. With climate change we are getting more extremes in weather patterns. When we get an extremely heavy rainfall in a short time period (aka “atmospheric river”), water has to move through storm drains, open ditches and culverts. One of my neighbour’s has experienced flooding in their basement due to a poorly designed drainage system on public land.

• Increasing property taxes well above inflation levels year after year comes up as an issue with almost everyone I have talked to. Spending tens of millions of dollars on new municipal buildings in the current national economic situation and the future debt that will create for taxpayers is very concerning. Concentrating on maintenance and replacement of existing infrastructure and paying less attention and funds on new developments is a common thread among those residents who have lived in Central Saanich for several years.

That’s all I will post for this week, but I am interested in what Central Saanich residents and businesses have to say. You can comment here or send an email to: susanzedel.forcscouncil@gmail.com

Facebook posts from July 19 to August 31, 2026

July 19, 2026

I have been following the discussions and decisions made by Central Saanich Council for a few years, with an increasing amount of interest since becoming a member of the Central Saanich Advisory Planning Commission (APC) in January 2021. As the APC Chair since April 2023 and as someone who regularly attends council meetings, I have learned a significant amount about how our elected council reviews agenda items and makes decisions. As a member of the community who wants the best for our community of Central Saanich, I personally agree with some decisions and disagree with others.

I consider myself very fortunate to have moved to Central Saanich over 40 years ago from Victoria. Central Saanich has been a great place for my husband and I to raise our two daughters (now in their 30's) and be active participants in the community.

With the passion I have for Central Saanich, I am stepping forward to be a candidate in the October 17 municipal election.

I hope to talk to lots of Central Saanich taxpayers, residents and businesses in the next three months.

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July 23, 2026

Someone on Facebook asked the question: am I pro-development or anti-development? There are many layers to this topic and the short answer would be "It depends on the development".

Residential Development

While we accept future population growth in our community, it is preferable to have new housing fit within plans and guidelines that the district developed (Official Community Plan, Saanichton Village Design Plan and Residential Infill and Densification Guidelines). I resent the BC Provincial Government for passing Bill 44 - Housing Statutes (Residential Development) Amendment Act, 2023, which has drastically altered the development process in Central Saanich and 86 other local governments in BC. I'm not going to rant about that at the moment though.

Central Saanich needs a maintain a diverse demographic to keep our community vibrant. My hope is for young working adults and families to have the opportunity to establish themselves in Central Saanich. There is a significant population of residents like me who raised families here, but would be classified as “seniors” now, and may want to downsize in a several years. So new development needs to provide a diversity of housing types. Central Saanich has limited area within the Urban Containment Boundary for residential development and as we can all see from our property assessments, land is extremely valuable.

When it comes to existing residential neighbourhoods, I would like to see infill housing such as carriage homes where space exists, addition of secondary suites to existing homes, etc. (density without demolition). Where there are older homes and some land assembly possible, family-oriented townhouses in denser configurations that the typical 1980's style townhouse development, would be suitable, but would require removal of existing homes.

I believe that multi-storey (4 to 6 stories) residential development should be kept to the Saanichton Village and the Brentwood Bay Village. Spaces for commercial and retail businesses within the villages are needed so that residents can shop locally.

One of the many challenges with development in the village core areas is that you need a property owner who wants to develop their land and a developer with the finances to build a project. That usually mean that existing buildings are torn down and a new larger multi-storey building is squeezed in between other existing buildings. I don't have a solution to this, but I would sure like to have the opportunity for more input!

Council members should listen to members of the community and form opinions/make decisions based on the feedback they receive. For example, I was impressed by a councilor that said he would have voted YES to a project based on his personal opinion but voted NO because of what he heard from residents in the community. That would be how I would view a development proposal and I would vote based on a broad spectrum of voices in the community.

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July 28, 2026

Thanks for following my Facebook page - Susan Zedel for Central Saanich Council.

Last week I posted about Draft Central Saanich Parks and Trails Master Plan. On July 27, at the Special (Open) Council meeting, where a "Committee of the Whole" meeting is held, the reason why the plan wasn't finalized became clear. Staff needed to produce a Parks and Trails Service Baseline Report, so they know what parks and assets we have in Central Saanich. As someone who used to dabble in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for work, I really appreciated the work done by the GIS Technician on staff to provide information. I hope this GIS tool becomes available to the public.

If you want to see the report, you can get to it by looking for Council and Committees Meeting Calendar, select Past, then open the Special (Open) Council meeting line to see the Agenda, etc. The html version of the agenda has links to documents presented to council.

There was lots of talk about what staff will do with the information, but I really want to see more community engagement now that this report is available. If elected to council in October, more community engagement will be one of my goals.

Special (Open) Council - July 27, 2026

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August 5, 2026

Supporting local farms across Central Saanich is one of the best parts of living in this area at this time of year. I love having direct access to fresh, seasonal produce from the Peninsula Country Market and the numerous roadside farms stands and larger family farm businesses in Central Saanich. I can grow a few fruits and vegetables in my own garden, however from June to October, most of the produce that my household eats comes from local farms. Let's not forget some of the year-round foods available from local farmers - eggs, meat, etc.

Some of us in Central Saanich can grow vegetables and fruits on our own properties, but many do not have the space, time, energy or ability to grow their own food.

Some local farms offer weekly food box programs for pickup or delivery. Getting a surprise haul of seasonal items forces you to get creative with meal preparation.

The Central Saanich Official Community Plan, adopted in April 2023, lists several fundamental principles, with this one on the topic of agriculture:

“Support Agriculture and Food Security

Our farmland is preserved, farmers are supported, and both residents and visitors continue to access fresh, healthy foods. The District recognizes agriculture as an important contributor to its rural and smalltown character, to the local and regional economy, and to local food security. Central Saanich’s agricultural land base remains protected and sustainable agricultural production is supported.”

The District of Central Saanich has a review of agriculture included in the work plan for staff, and one council member currently has a Notice of Motion in support of agriculture.

If elected to Central Saanich Council in October, one of my main priorities is engagement with local farmers and determining what policies and processes local government can do to support and strengthen agriculture.

       Photo taken from Bear Hill August 4, looking northeast to Central Saanich farms and beyond. 

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August 14, 2026

Community engagement and consultation are values that I consider to be critical for a local council, particularly when it comes to land use, zoning changes and development within a municipality.

I will provide an example of a land use change currently under review. At the Central Saanich Council meeting on Monday, August 10, one of the subjects was a draft Zoning Bylaw amendment for the Keating Business District (KBD) Extraction Lands. The amendment would rezone approximately 27 hectares of former gravel and sand extraction lands along Keating Cross Road from I-2 (I-E) Extraction Industrial to I-1 (I-L) Light Industrial. There is a 2 hectare (5 acre) portion of land in the NW corner of the map I have included that currently RE-2 (soon to be classified as R-A Rural Agriculture).

The residents who own and live on the RE-2 (R-A) land to the NW and west of the extraction lands found out about this rezoning only days before the council meeting. Many of these residents wrote letters to council and spoke at the council meeting. They would like to have a buffer and transition area between the light industrial land and the rural agricultural land.

I won't go into more detail about this subject online, as I don't know if the rezoning will be referred to the Advisory Planning Commission, of which I am a member.

If you would like to read more about this rezoning, go to https://www.centralsaanich.ca/municipal.../council-meetings, look for Past - Regular Council Meetings - August 10, 2026. The agenda includes several documents and videos are available of meetings.

What I want to highlight is my perspective that there should have been more transparency and consultation with the landowners that will be impacted by the rezoning prior to this going to council for a Zoning Bylaw amendment.

Meaningful community participation and collaboration in decision-making is one of my core values that I would bring to council if elected.

 

            Image from Central Saanich GIS Map Service with I-2 (Extraction) Zoning highlighted.

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August 19, 2026

This week's post is about coastal land, foreshore and marine use and management in Central Saanich, specifically Brentwood Bay. Below is some background information, followed by a few notes about involvement by the District of Central Saanich.

At the August 10 Central Saanich Council meeting there was an excellent presentation by Michael Simmons of the Saanich Inlet Protection Society on the SIPS Water Quality Testing Program. I encourage everyone to read the information on the SIPS website https://saanichinletprotection.org/sips-water-quality.../

Coastal resource management is complicated by the number of jurisdictions involved (I included a few links):

• Federal government (Transport Canada, Canadian Coast Guard, etc),
• BC provincial government (foreshore and ocean bottom 
•    W̱JOȽEȽP (Tsartlip) First Nation
• Capital Regional District Environmental Services (Bylaw 
• Island Health 
• District of Central Saanich

It's a long list!

Thankfully, we also have non-profit organizations involved, such as SIPS, Brentwood Bay Marine Community Society (BBCMS), Saanich Inlet Clean Waters Society (SICWS) and more. See info on the renewed Pumpty Dumpty service, using the boat owned by the Tsartlip First Nation in conjunction with others: https://pumptydumpty.ca/about-us/

Central Saanich Council has been supportive of the boat pump-out operation and has provided some funding for it, which is good news.

The District of Central Saanich was actively engaged in a Brentwood Bay Management Plan, starting in 2018, details which are mentioned here: https://letstalkcentralsaanich.ca.engagementhq.com/lets...

BUT, what has become apparent from the SIPS water quality testing is that some of the contamination of the Brentwood Bay water near the shoreline is coming from the land based sewer system. There was a significant leak south of the ferry terminal last year and the bacterial counts indicate that there may be other leaks contributing to contamination of the water. This affects the marine ecosystem and is disturbing to residents who have spent years swimming at some of the Brentwood Bay beach accesses.

SO, this brings up the subject of sewer and storm water infrastructure in Central Saanich. I suggest that the next council direct staff to focus on the maintenance of existing infrastructure before we start adding new infrastructure that new development will require. 

       View of Brentwood Bay from Saunders Lane

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August 31, 2026

September 1 is the first day of the nomination period for municipal elections in British Columbia and I will be submitting my forms to the Electoral Officer for Central Saanich on September 1.   The Declaration of Candidates is scheduled for Friday September 11 at 4:00 pm.  I’m curious to see how many candidates we have for Mayor and Councillors! 

I have started some door knocking and talking to people and almost everyone has issues with traffic and parking, so I’ll list a few here:

• Saanichton Village – Many of the businesses in the village find that there is not sufficient parking for their customers.  Much of the street parking is taken up by employees working in the area, etc.  As more multi-level condominiums and apartments are built in the village core, parking is going to be more of a problem. 

How does this relate to Central Saanich Council?  In Spring 2021, Council approved a development permit for a building with 28 residential units with a variance for one parking stall per unit, which was a reduction from 1.75 per unit in the zoning bylaw at the time.  Further variances were granted to reduce some parking stall sizes, and the number of accessible parking stalls was reduced from 4 to 2. Now 1.0 stalls per unit is the norm for this type of development.  The building will have commercial space on the main floor for a medical office.  The commercial space was allocated 9 parking stalls and those are to be shared as visitor spaces for the residences.  At a recent council meeting, the potential tenant for the commercial space brought this forward to council and asked that all 9 stalls be commercial during the day, so there would be no visitor spaces.  So, think about that situation if you purchased a high-end condo or if you are a client of the medical office. 

What are some possible solutions here:

- Council must make sure that developments have sufficient parking for owners/tenants and commercial spaces.

- Will Saanichton need parking signs limiting parking to 2 or 3 hours?  First, if you go to Sidney, you’ll see that employees of Sidney businesses are parking in residential areas, so more signs are needed.  If you have parking limit signs, you need staff to enforce parking rules, which we aren’t going to do with our one Bylaw Officer.

• Parking for the Keating Industrial area – currently in the Sean Heights business area there is insufficient parking for employees so many are parking on Verling Avenue, which is a narrow rural road, which is a major problem for residents along the road.  Future expansion of the Keating Business district must ensure that sufficient parking is provided, and Council should not grant parking variances in the development permit application process.   Businesses in the area could provide incentives to employees to use transit or carpool to work, which would help the current situation.

• Parking along Lochside Drive and Ferguson Road is an issue for residents.  The owner/property managers of the rental apartments on Lochside and Mt. Newton X Road charge extra for parking spaces on top of monthly rent.  Does there need to be parking signs limiting the length of time a vehicle is parked and how do you enforce that?

• Traffic – Mt Newton X Road between Lochside Drive and Wallace Drive is a concern of many residents.  When more multi-level residential units are built in Saanichton Village, it’s only going to get busier.  Central Saanich is still a very personal vehicle centric municipality, so traffic will continue to be a problem in the near future.  People living along Central Saanich Road find it challenging to turn left onto Mt. Newton X Road during the day, so do we need a vehicle activated traffic light instead of just a crosswalk and light? 

If more people live in the Saanichton Village core and Brentwood Bay Village core will more people walk, cycle and use transit?  Will there be less vehicle traffic?  When developers present new projects to council, they often have traffic surveys that indicate that there will be no significant traffic issues, but I usually find that hard to believe.  When the 110 unit Capital Region Housing Corporation “affordable housing” building was presented, the traffic consultants insisted that many of the residents would be using transit and they didn't think traffic in and out of the single driveway or road traffic would be an issue. We will see what comes of that prediction when the building is complete and fully rented.

Please comment on this post regarding traffic and parking issues in your neighbourhood, or send me an email susanzedel.forcscouncil@gmail.com.

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