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
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