Quadra Cedar Hill Community Association

Quadra Cedar Hill Community Association

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Saanich undertaking Alternate Approval Process to obtain electoral approval to borrow up to $150M

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Alternate Approval Process for funding for Saanich Operations Centre redevelopment
Saanich is undertaking an Alternate Approval Process (AAP) “to obtain electoral approval . . . to borrow up to $150,000,000 for the redevelopment of the Saanich Operations Centre.  The borrowing will occur over several years and mirror the construction timeline”.  Read more about the redevelopment project here.   Residents have until June 25 to submit an elector response form if they DO NOT SUPPORT the project loan authorization bylaw.  If you do support it, you don’t need to do anything; it will be assumed you are in favour.  If fewer than 10 % of the electorate submit response forms by June 25, the AAP bylaw will be acted upon.
According to the Government of BC’s website on the subject, “The alternative approval process is a form of approval that allows electors to indicate whether they are against a local government proposal moving forward.

For certain matters, local governments are required to obtain approval of the electors or participating area approval before the municipal council or regional district board may proceed with its decision. The alternative approval process can be used as both a form of approval of the electors and participating area approval.

Approval of the electors is required for a variety of municipal and regional district actions, including disposal of certain utilities or specified parkland, municipal boundary extensions, and municipal loan authorization bylaws. Where approval of the electors is required, it may be obtained by the local government either directly through assent voting (referendum) or by first ‘testing the waters’ through the alternative approval process.”

You can read more about the Alternate Approval Process on the Government of BC’s website here

GoByBike Week 2025 kicks off May 30

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Capital Bike’s GoByBike Week 2025, organized in partnership with Greater Victoria communities, will have 14 “Celebration Stations” arranged across the CRD for riders to visit and add a stamp to their passport.  At these stations, cyclists will be offered free food, drinks and prizes, and the chance to meet and chat with other riders.  Evidently last year’s GoByBike events saw 50,000 British Columbians participate, logging nearly 2.5 million kilometres, says Capital Bike’s community manager, Britt Burnham.  She adds that, “If we had driven that distance instead, it would have added 539,683 kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions to our atmosphere. That’s roughly the equivalent of 126 gas-powered cars, driven for an entire year.”  In honour of GoByBike Week, BC Transit is also offering free rides to cyclists next week.

Safe cycling, everyone!

Why pollinators matter

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Why Pollinators Matter

One in every three bites of food you eat depends on a pollinator.

Pollinators – like bees, butterflies, birds, bats and even moths – play a vital role in our ecosystems and food production.  Here on southern Vancouver Island, over 200 native bee species thrive, along with many other pollinating friends.  Without them, most flowering plants couldn’t reproduce.  That means fewer fruits, vegetables and healthy habitats for us all.

The Bigger Picture

Healthy ecosystems depend on pollinators.  They help clean the air, stabilize soil, support wildlife and provide shelter during extreme weather.

What We’re Doing.    

As part of a citizen science project with UVic Geography students, we began by mapping pollinator gardens throughout our community.  Now we are building pollinator corridors – we’ve prepared and planted two sites on Astoria Street at Willerton.

What is a pollinator corridor?  It is a pesticide-free pathway of native plants that helps pollinators move between habitats, especially in urban areas.

How You Can Help

You don’t need a large yard to make a difference.  Every balcony, boulevard or back yard can become part of the network.

Tips to Get Started

  • plant native species – native plants support more species than non-native ornamentals
  • grow food?  add hedgerows!  They attract birds and insects that eat pests
  • grow flowers?  Interplant native bulbs.  They’re often deer-resistant and drought-tolerant
  • provide water and bloom variety – choose plants that flower throughout the growing season
  • skip the tidy-up – bare soil, dried stalks and leaf litter create homes for pollinators
  • say not to pesticides – even treated plants can harm pollinators
  • check out Habitat Acquisition Trust’s ‘Gardening with Nature‘

Spotlight:  Garry Oak Ecosystems

Garry Oak ecosystems are the most biodiverse native ecosystems in Canada, and they’re right in our back yards – but less than 5% of their original habitat remains.

These ecosystems support:

  • 800 insect and mite species
  • 104 bird species
  • dozens of mammals, reptiles, amphibians and many species at risk

If you have Garry Oaks, let the leaf litter lie – endangered species like the Propertius Duskywing butterfly depend on it

Community in Action

Our neighbours are making a difference!  In 2023, Friends of Cedar Hill Park volunteered over 1400 hours with Saanich’s Pulling Together program removing invasive species and planting natives along the Cedar Hill Park chip trail – benefiting pollinators and biodiversity for future generations.

Join the Pollinator Movement

Whether you have a garden, balcony or boulevard, you can help.

  • get involved with QCHCA
  • start your own native planting
  • help us expand the pollinator corridor

For more information and/or to find out how about volunteer opportunities, email us at qchca3003@gmail.com

Share your garden – send us a photo to qchca3003@gmail.com

WHAT’S CHUFF ? – 2024 Year in Review

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CHUFF sprouted April 2022 as an initiative of our community association’s Climate Action group. In Saanich, food and our food systems are the third greatest contributor to carbon emissions after transportation and buildings. Food waste plays a significant role. We all eat, and we each have the power to be part of the solution.  CHUFF’s goal is to encourage our neighbours to grow more food, consume more local foods, eat more of what is in-season, and to stop wasting food. Luckily for us, on southern Vancouver Island we can grow and purchase good, locally-grown food year round. CHUFF members gather most months, on a Sunday morning. Here is some of what CHUFF offered in its third year, 2024. New members welcome

January 2024
CHUFFians greeted the new year and each other with our very own Social Seed Swap. Most seeds were saved from member’s own gardens, the intent being to share locally-successful and favorite varieties.

January / February 2024
A handful of able volunteers organized CHUFF’S 2 ND EAT LOCAL Winter Recipe Contest open this year to all Saanich residents. Contest rules required that 75% of ingredients be BC grown produce, and in-season. The contest attracted 55 fabulous recipes and was featured in the T-C by food columnist Eric Akis. 1 st place prize (by random draw) went to Saanich resident Nancy D’s delicious Hungarian Mushroom Soup. See all contest recipes here qchca.org/winter-veggie-recipes/

In April
Members gathered to troubleshoot a challenging, food-on-a-budget grow site. Ashlie’s backyard has a gigantic glacially-scoured rocky outcropping right in the middle of it. While her initial intent was to create habitat for pollinators she soon decided that that much work should produce people food too. Despite pests, pernicious weeds, too much heat, and zero soil she is creating a food forest with child-friendly play places throughout, a resilient garden for a working mom that won’t be too time-consuming or expensive to maintain.

May
Paige and Tommy of Fullmoon Farmstand on Maplewood opened their backyard to CHUFF members and the public for the community association’s Lower Your Carbon Footprint Neighbourhood Tour. Paige works with HAT (Habitat Acquisition Trust) and Tommy with Satin Flower Nursery and their garden exemplifies the benefits of biodiversity. As they say: We have tended to and expanded our garden on this rental property for the last 4 years. Here we produce 75% of the vegetables we consume in summer, plus enough to give away to family and friends and to sell at our farmstand. About half the backyard garden is devoted to vegetables; half the yard is lawn for the dogs and backyard hangouts, with the perimeters being native plants for pollinators and biodiversity. About 50 QCH neighbours took advantage of the all day tour. Thanks Paige & Tommy!

June
An early summer visit to Judy & Ian’s garden carved out of a blackberry thicket along the Galloping Goose Trail – surely ironic for food growers who describe themselves as aspirationally lazy gardeners!

Here the focus was strategies for maximum yield with minimum effort, benefits to co-growing with family members or neighbours whose garden plots are nearby but separate, and balancing living next to a wildlife sanctuary with the desire for a reasonably productive garden.

CHUFF-ians gloried in Judy’s garden art and re-named Ian the McGiver of Growers for his talent in fashioning tool solutions from found objects.

September
The highlight of 2024 was CHUFF’s tour to ALM Farm; Full Circle Seeds in Sooke! Enthralling … Inspiring … I had no idea what’s required to be a certified organic farm … I want to go back to volunteer … Mary-Alice is amazing! were some of the comments shared.

Buckwheat in full bloom, seeded mere weeks earlier as a green manure /cover crop following potato harvest.

Established 30-plus years ago, ALM Farm offered the South Island’s first organic CSA box program which continues today. Many of our region’s organic farmers got their start with Mary-Alice via ALM’s on-farm apprenticeship program. “Townies’ can find ALM produce at the Moss Street Market every Saturday.

November

Undaunted by October rain, CHUFF’s annual Harvest Potluck Lunch moved indoors a month later. Always a delicious social event, members bring a dish concocted from their own garden produce. A treat this year was taste testing Gregor’s sparkling plum cider! For dessert, the CHUFF pie-guys provided a choice of wild-foraged blueberry, or orchard apple pie!

Appreciating that one in every three bites of foods we eat is reliant on pollinators, after our Harvest Potluck lunch we toured the Community Association’s latest climate action – an in-progress, native plants for pollinators boulevard garden, Astoria Street at Willerton.

Quadra Cedar Hill Urban Food Farmers, or CHUFF, gathers on a Sunday morning most months in the growing seasons. Activities reflect what garners the support of our members. New members welcome, especially new-to-food growing families. Contact qchca.chuff@gmail.com

Saanich seeking elector approval to borrow funds through AAP – submission deadline is March 19

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Alternative Approval Process (AAP): An AAP is to seek approval of the electors to borrow funds for various improvements in the community. This borrowing strategy is being proposed to mitigate the tax burden by spreading financial impacts over a number of years. Residents have the opportunity to submit written opposition forms until Wednesday, March 19, 2025..

The District of Saanich is currently undertaking five separate and concurrent AAPs as follows:

How it Works

  • If you are in favour of adoption of the bylaw, no action is required.
  • If you are opposed to adoption of a bylaw or bylaws and are an eligible resident or non-resident property elector of the District of Saanich, you will need to submit an AAP Elector Response Form for each bylaw that you are opposed to prior to 4:30 p.m. on March 19, 2025.   Note:  Only eligible electors within the Sewer Service Area are permitted to submit Elector Response Forms for Bylaw No. 10023.

Letter to QCHCA and area residents from Abstract Developments

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Letter to QCHCA and area residents from Abstract Developments

Dear QCHCA and area residents,

Firstly, thank you for your patience as we’ve navigated this challenging situation.

We are very grateful for the support and understanding that we have received from our neighbours and the community during this time. We remain committed to providing these new homes to Saanich and most importantly to the purchasers who have entrusted us with constructing them.

As you can imagine, the post-fire cleanup and associated work involves coordination with many stakeholders. Much of the recent focus has been on clean up, including removing debris from the parkade and the concrete slabs and getting the roads re-opened. In parallel, structural engineers have started assessing the concrete structure to determine the extent of the damages prior to any required repairs or construction commencing for the rebuild. To date, we have yet to receive a final report from Saanich Fire on the cause of the fire.

We are pleased to share that we will be rebuilding, and that debris cleanup is nearly complete. While the rebuild timeline depends on many factors, our current goal is to begin reframing the building in late spring / early summer of 2025 with a projected completion late in 2026. Please keep in mind that these dates are based on the best information we have today, with the schedule subject to change based on the results of on-going testing.

Thank you again for your understanding and support.

Abstract Developments

Special Council meeting TUESDAY, FEB. 11 for Quadra McKenzie Plan check-in

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A Special Council Meeting is planned for February 11, 2025, for a Quadra McKenzie Plan Check-in with Council and presentation of the Phase 3 Community and Stakeholder Engagement Summary. The report will outline land use, transportation, and process options for advancing the Draft Quadra McKenzie Plan. The Special Council meeting agenda and report will be available online on THURSDAY, FEB. 6 on the Council Meeting Schedule page. Should you wish to participate at the meeting either in person or by MS Teams, please visit the Council Meeting Information page for registration information.

Saanich seeking your input – survey open until Jan 12

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Citizen and business surveys

Saanich conducts the citizen and business surveys every four years following the start of a new council term. Survey questions cover topics such as municipal service delivery, safety and quality of life in Saanich, value for taxes and Council decision making among others. Every two years, residents are also invited to complete a pulse check survey in between the larger surveys.

2024 Resident Pulse Survey

The 2024 Resident Pulse Survey will run from December 2, 2024 to January 12, 2025. Sign up online to receive your unique and confidential survey link today! Need help completing the survey? Contact Saanich Reception at ph# 250-475-1775.

For more information and to see the results of the 2022 survey and those of previous years, click here.

Letter from Abstract Developments re recent fire

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Dear neighbour,

As a member of your local community we wanted to reach out and share what information we have been able to share to date with other stakeholders about our 3839 Quadra project.

As you know, we had a very unfortunate incident at our Cadence project at 3839 Quadra St. with a fire breaking out in the early morning of Wednesday Nov 20th.

Our team is actively cooperating with all relevant parties to stabilize the situation and gather more information, but it is still too early to determine the extent of the impact or the cause of the fire.

We are devastated by the event and our thoughts are with everyone affected especially our neighbours in the community who have endured disruption and uncertainty that it has caused.

Thank you for your understanding and patience as we navigate this complicated situation.

We will do our best to provide updates through you as more information comes available.

Sincerely,

Abstract Developments

Quadra Cedar Hill Community Association