News

A belated Happy New Year and an enthusiastic welcome to QCHCA’s new website completely rebuilt by the volunteer effort of our website team and our members. Our investment of time and energy gives our community access to news, events, opportunities for involvement, easier membership options and more. Most of all, we hope it provides new and better ways of engaging with you and the issues you care about.

Creating this new website was a top priority for the Association as we faced increasing publication costs and delivery challenges with the Community Roots newsletter. Together with our Facebook page, we believe the site will provide a better and more timely source of information. We welcome your comments, ideas and contributions. Please email our editor: editor@qchca.org

QCHCA continued to be very active throughout the past year. Special thanks to the members of QCHCA’s Board of Directors and committee members. Their dedicated support of the QCHCA organization, funding, activities and events has delivered important services to our community:

• met with residents, proponents and Saanich Planning on development proposals within and adjacent to our area
• represented our neighbourhood desires, issues and concerns to developers and Saanich Planning on an increasing number of applications, large and small. These include Abstract’s proposal for an 83 unit development on Palmer at Quadra; Westbild’s proposal for redevelopment of University Heights; and the Nigel Valley redevelopment.
• collaborated with Saanich to coordinate two very successful Music in the Park events at Rutledge Park;
• wrote to and spoke at Council on development and land use, strategic planning, traffic-related issues, budget and other matters
• hosted community meetings with speakers on a wide range of topics
• engaged with Saanich Parks on the management plan for Cedar Hill Park
• supported the Swan Lake Foundation on its ‘Give a Sheet’ campaign

Your support of QCHCA has been and continues to be what inspires us to do the work we do. We also rely on membership fees and continued volunteer support to sustain a vibrant, beautiful, engaged, peaceful and sociable neighbourhoods for all members of our great community.  Talk to us about how you’d like to get involved . . . we’d love to hear from you!

Susan Haddon, QCHCA President

At its regular meeting on December 16, 2019, a motion was put to Council and approved to ‘pause’ the updating process for our Quadra and North Quadra’s Local Area Plans (LAPs).  This was done “to enable resources to be applied to Saanich-wide housing needs and the pros and cons of doing so”.  The ‘pause’ is for an indeterminate amount of time but likely about two years at minimum.

QCHCA’s and North Quadra’s LAP updating processes were to begin last Fall, according to a schedule approved by Council in September 2017.  Our current LAP was completed in 2001 so is in need of updating.  North Quadra’s process was to happen in parallel and the Quadra Corridor was to be treated as a ‘special area’ within the two plans.  We hope that this is the way the process will unfold once the ‘pause’ has ended.

Council’s agenda package that includes Planning’s report and video recording of the discussion provide background.

The Association’s executive is comprised of six officer positions and nine Area Director roles. For details on the Association, our board members, a map showing the Quadra Cedar Hill CA boundaries and our nine neighbourhood areas, click here.

A recent Huffington Post article suggests seven ways each of us can contribute to a more sustainable future.  These include stopping eating (or eating less) meat, unplugging our devices, driving less, not buying ‘fast’ fashion, planting a garden, eating local (and organic) and line-drying our clothes.