Saanich moves to make the Uptown corridor its city centre

If you ask anyone for directions to downtown Saanich, you’re going to get some confusing responses.

“It’s all around,” said one man.

“I’d say McKenzie and Quadra,” said Glenda Andersen.

“No, there isn’t one,” said Anita Edwards.

Saanich is the largest municipality in the capital region, both by geographic size and by its population of more than 115,000 people.

Currently, the district is without a designated centre but if a 20-to-30-year plan gets approved, the Uptown-Douglas corridor would become Saanich’s downtown core.

“It will recreate this central area of Saanich into a vibrant hub,” said Fred Haynes, the district’s mayor.

Currently, the Uptown area is largely made up of commercial and retail businesses.

Artist renderings provided to CTV News show the type of buildings that are envisioned for the area. They would bring densification throughout the neighbourhood, with an added focus on Oak Street, which runs between Uptown Centre and Mayfair Mall.

Zoning would have to change to allow 24-storey mixed-use commercial and residential buildings. That would add around 4,000 new units of housing to the concentrated area.

The mayor says by focusing those large buildings in Saanich’s new downtown core, other neighbourhoods would be spared major fights over density and rezoning.

“We shouldn’t be fighting local communities that do not want these towers in their area,” said Haynes. “We’re not going to. That’s what this plan delivers.”

“It is the ideal location for densification,” said Carol Hamill, chair of the Mount View Colquitz Community Association.

Generally, when that word, “densification” gets mentioned, local community associations react with opposition to the plan. Not in this case.

In fact, the Mount View Colquitz Community Association is fully on board.

“It is a place where it can happen and it is probably the most logical place for it to happen as well,” said Hamill.

Sandwiched between the Pat Bay Highway and the Trans-Canada Highway, the proposal would see a major transit hub established on land already owned by BC Transit. That land is located by Switch Bridge, where the Galloping Goose Trail and the Lochside Trail meet.

“The idea there is to have a multimodal transit hub where all the major routes in the region converge,” said Cameron Scott, manager of community planning with the District of Saanich.

“That will provide easy access out to the West Shore, UVIC, downtown (Victoria), the ferries and other regional destinations.”

If light rail transit ever comes to the South Island, the envisioned transit hub would be able to accommodate that as well.

“Sure, go for it,” said Andersen. “I think it’s a good idea.”

“We have to grow somewhere, and even if it means higher buildings, it provides homes and more opportunities for businesses, I think it’s great,” said Edwards. “I just wonder what it would all mean for my taxes.”

The plan will be going to public hearing on Feb. 15.

The mayor says there are already interested developers bringing forward ideas and wanting to invest in Saanich’s new downtown core.