Juan de Fuca Electoral Area
”Electoral Area’ is the odd sounding term given to any land within the the Capital Regional District (the CRD) that doesn’t lie within the boundaries of an incorporated municipality. The ‘Juan de Fuca’ Electoral Area is one of three. But since the other two are islands, here at VancouverIslandProjects.com we deal with them in the ‘Other Island’ section.
Largely wilderness, the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area runs along the south-western coast of Vancouver Island to just beyond the settlement of Port Renfrew. Then it runs more or less easterly across the Island until it bumps into the incorporated District of the Highlands at about the top of the Finlayson Arm of the Saanich Inlet. The Highlands, Langford, and Sooke form its eastern border all the way down to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Two other areas should be mentioned. ‘East Sooke’, and Willis Point. East Sooke lies between Metchosin, the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and Sooke. Willis point is actually on the Saanich Inlet side of the Saanich Peninsula. Both of these areas fall outside of the above-described perimeter, but since both areas remain unincorporated, they are part of the Juan de Fuca Electoral Area.
So what?
It has to do with local government. The Capital Regional District, subject to oversight of the Provincial Government, in effect is the local government for the Juan de Fuca Electoral District. It’s an odd structure which can lead to some odd situations which in turn can have a major impact on development along the wild west coast of Vancouver Island.
That wild west coast has long been subject to timber licences, a situation which essentially meant that wilderness areas, including beaches, were protected from the developers’ bulldozer.
But all that changed, or at least, all that stands to change, when the British Columbia government relieved Western Forest Products (WFP) from its licence obligations over a large tract of timber land, stretching from Sooke to Port Renfrew. Almost immediately, WFP agreed to sell about 2,500 hectares of prime land along the wild west coast to a developer.
The local public outcry was heard across this Electoral Area. The CRD, in a bid for time to study the situation more carefully, changed the zoning of the whole area to require a minimum lot size of 120 hectares. That meant that any development proposal involving lot sizes of less than 120 hectares would require rezoning. That in turn would give the CRD opportunity to consider the individual merits of each development application.
Remember the word ‘oversight’ used earlier? Well, here ‘oversight’ meant that the new zoning bylaw required provincial blessing before it could be come law. That has happened, but before it happened, the old bylaw remained in effect, which allowed for lots sizes as small as 4 hectares.
And before the new bylaw was ‘blessed’, WFP applied to develop about 320 lots under the old bylaw - no rezoning required. Unlike the original development concept - of preserved access to large parts of the wild west coast, and large park areas - WFP’s application makes no provision for any of that. No parks, no preserved beach access.
Under existing regulations, the decision to approve WFP’s application lies with an ‘approving officer’, a single, unelected employee of the Provincial Government. There appears to be no requirement for a public hearing.
Most of the public, including the CRD, is demanding one. From WFP’s perspective, the mandate of the ‘approving officer’ is narrow, relating to issues of technical compliance, and transportation safety. The application should be treated no differently than any other of the many applications submitted by landowners before the new bylaw became law.
One might surmise that from the perspective of those opposed to WFP’s application (and who wouldn’t be), the name of the game will be a full, deliberate and lengthy process to consider issues of broad public interest.
Under the rules, WFP has just 12 months from the going into effect of the new bylaw within which to complete its subdivision.
The only thing we can be sure of it there will be more - much more - in the news before this is over. In the meanwhile, get out there and enjoy everything the wild west coast has to offer.
