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The Mayor’s Task Force on Housing Affordability and Sustainability has “identified top priorities for immediate action and a series of supporting principles, strategies and actions based on a 10-year time horizon”. Its recommendations are anticipated to form the core content of the Housing Strategy.

The Task Force recommendations are organized under seven key themes:

• Increasing affordable and supportive housing;
• Promoting and protecting rental housing;
• Supporting housing diversity and increasing supply;
• Reducing barriers to housing development;
• Strengthening partnerships;
• Enhancing community engagement of housing needs and initiatives; and
• Understanding housing demand and addressing land speculation.

Saanich is looking for feedback on the task force’s recommendations on housing and affordability in Saanich via our short survey.  The recommendations are outlined in a report and will guide the direction of housing decisions in Saanich.

This is your opportunity to feed into the District’s Financial Plan for 2021 – 2025

The District of Saanich’s draft 2021 to 2025 Financial Plan and the online budget education tool are now available atsaanich.ca/budget. The tool provides an opportunity for citizens to learn about the financial planning process while Council deliberates the draft plan.

The online budget education tool is available for all residents to explore and learn. The real-time results allow residents to see how budget changes could impact their property taxes. Comments submitted by residents in the tool will be provided to Council as citizen feedback.

The tool is available at saanich.ca/budget for the month of March.

Read more about Saanich’s ‘Partnership Tree Planting Program’ below . . .

Do you own property in Saanich with a boulevard area along the road? Want to help improve the tree canopy? Apply for our tree partnership program!

The following is a message from Mayor Haynes . . .

“Some of your members have contacted us in regards to the possible changes under review at Hartland. To help keep you all abreast of the approaches for input and consultation, I am sharing below a recent update that has gone out.

Kindest regards,

Fred

“On behalf of Council I want to express our appreciation for the input and concerns raised regarding potential changes to the commercial access to the Hartland Landfill. The letter has been forwarded to our professional staff who are in active conversations with the CRD on this matter. I’ve spoken with them and they are familiar with these concerns. Given the operational discussions that are ongoing, I can’t provide you with any information at this time. I encourage you to continue voicing your concerns and providing feedback through the CRD process. I know both the CRD and the District are committed to providing affordable and excellent service to residents while respecting and balancing the impact on local residents.”

Mayor Haynes has asked us to share his March 3 2021 update on the BC Urban Mayors Caucus meeting with Premier Horgan . . .

“I am pleased to share this update on the recent meeting of the B.C. Urban Mayors’ Caucus with Premier Horgan. You will see it raises the issues of an improved fiscal formula for your municipality and improved supports for complex care options for those of our residents in need.

As a member of the B.C. Urban Mayors’ Caucus, Saanich is pleased to be able to raise the key issues identified in the Blueprint with the Provincial government.

Meeting at 7:00 – 8:00 every Friday morning since last October, I believe we are making steady progress in meeting with your Provincial Ministers on the four core areas of Mental Health, Substance Use and Treatment, Affordable Housing, Public Transit, and a New Fiscal Relationship. We have also embarked upon raising these conversations at the Federal levels.

On behalf of the B.C. Urban Mayors’ Caucus and the Union of B.C. Municipalities, we would like to thank Premier Horgan and Minister Osborne for meeting to begin to explore opportunities for improving the local government finance system.

Vicki Sanders gave a wonderful virtual heritage tour of the Quadra area on February 16 during Heritage week.  In case you missed it, you can watch the tour by copying and pasting the link below into your URL address bar.

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/play/eNnuu7T39Bjrp1UIVRm8TZnjT_zS8WTCf97iqMqK76dFBFPNwCvgv-GrGIyMdLhBem_j5kH1TcNBKf6I.CchfHHB2ga6SQjCP?autoplay=true&continueMode=true&startTime=1613531914000

If you live on Vancouver Island, are currently un- or under-employed and want certification in the building supply, warehousing and distribution field, this free, fully-funded 3-month training program may be for you.  For more information, click here and/or contact registrar@nwskills.org or call 1.604.900.1980, ext 122

Below is a message from Mayor Haynes to Community Associations re community engagement efforts during the continuing Covid times, for your information.

Hello Community Associations and SCAN,

Please see this link to the Report to Council dated January 12, 2021, Ministerial Order no. 192 for our meetings held February 1 – April 30, 2021. The recommendation from the Report is also attached. This was passed at Council last night. It is our third renewal of this Order.

Council and staff share with you the lament at the absence of opportunities to see you and residents in the Chamber. Ministerial Order 192 is an essential piece that allows us to conduct and complete the essential business of the municipality. To deliver the essential municipal services you all depend on during these COVID times.

We thank you for your patience and for remaining engaged. This greatly assists our work on your behalf. An interesting set of numbers: In 2020 council has received and processed some 6162 pieces of written correspondence on our agenda items. This is an increase from 4220 in 2019. The phone call-in system is also working well. These outcomes indicate that our Community Associations and residents are able to continue to be engaged in the work at Council. Together with staff we greatly appreciate that.

We know, COVID will be with us for some time. To improve our community engagement, staff and council are working flat out to accelerate critical upgrades to our IT and video systems that will enable your online participation in our meetings. Think large participation MS Teams meetings? I am undertaking with staff and council to keep you informed on these and hope to share more news soon.

Separately, we have the email from SCAN requesting details on the Community Associations criteria for your works on community engagements. Staff and I are preparing the materials in reply, and these should be available soon.

Thank you for all you do to help make Saanich the amazing place it is to live, work and play. Please stay safe and well and look after each other.

Kind Regards,

Fred

Fred Haynes

Mayor