South Island
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Here at VancouverIalandProjects.com, ‘South Island’ covers the part of Vancouver Island known as the Capital Region District … with one deviation. The Capital Regional District (CRD) includes Saltspring Island and a number of the southern Gulf Islands, but we believe these islands up and down Vancouver Island are so unique we have grouped them into a special category of their own - ‘Other Islands’.
Within our South Island there are 13 municipalities, plus the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area. The latter is described by the CRD as ‘ … a vast tract of wilderness that lies along the south-western coast of Vancouver Island‘ (which brings to mind the description by one well know Canadian humorist of the political landscape in Ottawa, but that is a different topic altogether).
The CRD can legitimately boast of an incredible network of regional trails connecting many communities. This network is a big factor behind the fact that Victoria and area has the highest percentage of bike to work commuters in Canada. Links to more information are listed on the right hand side of this page.
Without delving into the niceties of jurisdictional relationships between the CRD and its constituent parts, it’s probably enough to say generally that the primary role of the CRD is to provide leadership concerning issues that transcend local municipal boundaries. Such as planning for population growth in the Region, and taking on a regulatory role over water and sewerage infrastructures.
Today the CRD is grappling with some difficult issues of common concern to some or many of the municipalities as well as the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area. One of most pressing issues is that of secondary sewage treatment for Victoria and many local municipalities.
While debate rages on locally as to whether secondary treatment is essential or even desirable for Victoria and nearby communities, the Province of British Columbia has decreed treatment will proceed, and has imposed deadlines on the CRD to produce preliminary and final plans to proceed.
At this early stage the ’bill’ for secondary sewage treatment is estimated to be about 1.2 billion, to be shared equally by the federal government, the provincial government, and the local citizenry. We are going to hear and read about it for some time to come.
Just a few years ago (2003) the CRD, working with its constituent municipalities, completed a Regional Growth Strategy. The Region’s natural beauty and climate, and the quality of life if offers (not to mention its world class golf courses open virtually year round) will continue to attract newcomers to the area - and population growth is inevitable. The Strategy document recognizes that most growth will, of necessity, take place in West Shore communities and beyond.
Issues that flow from growth concentrated in those areas will include trying to minimize further traffic congestion in already crowded traffic corridors. These issues should provide the CRD plenty to deal with in the years ahead. Unfortunately, comprehensive transportation thorough the Region isn’t in the CRD’s bailiwick, nor it seems in anyone else’s. A coordinated Regional approach to transportation might more readily get the attention of the BC government … but that too is a topic for another day.
Apart from shared infrastructure, such as sewage and water, and collaborative planning leadership, it remains with individual municipalities to deal with zoning issues governing their own development. Each municipality has its own ’culture’, its own vision for its future, and its own notion of how it can achieve its vision within the principles set out in the broader Regional Growth Strategy.
So the type of development we will witness in the next two decades on South Vancouver Island are likely to be diverse, and likely to generate much debate.
Interesting times lie ahead.
