We have been often asked why we created this petition before Aragon's actual formal submission of development to Saanich. 

Great question! 

Well, a couple of reasons. 

Firstly, after the Aragon meeting in November at Cordova Bay School when they revealed the new development numbers, NO ONE in our community seemed to know about this!

Secondly, at the end of the meeting when people were talking to each other, the “word on the street” was that Aragon was submitting their formal proposal for these new numbers on December 8, 2024, and that if our community didn’t have something in place to fight this NOW, then the development was going to be green lighted as presented that night. 

That is what I got out of that meeting, as did the many other folks I spoke to. 

Was that true? Not really sure. But we needed answers to all of this, and we couldn’t get any! Our residents didn’t have a clue what was going on, the Cordova Bay Association didn’t know, and Saanich simply said they could not provide any details UNTIL a formal development plan was submitted.

ALL WE KNEW IS WHAT ARAGON SHOWED AND TOLD US THAT NIGHT, AND IT WASN’ T PRETTY. 335 units ballooning to 1165 units!

So, the initial response was to get something going asap.

That is why we started the petition, because it was something that we could do NOW. It was really the only thing that we could think of to do. It was a start. A total cliché here, but we needed to be active not reactive, because there may not have been time to mount a fight against these numbers. The information around all of this was, and continues to be, very vague.  

So, I don’t think it has been too early at all. It is allowing us to not only collect signatures, but more importantly than that, it is allowing us to inform everyone in the community on what is going on. It is also allowing us time to provide and document information to question the sheer size of this inappropriate development. 

We also have now, enough resident VOTERS so we can actually be taken seriously here, because VOTERS matter! When we have numbers like these, we have POWER, not just the developers. 

As of today, we have 1425 signatures! That is 1425 VERY concerned Cordova Bay Community Members, saying this proposed development is NOT okay. That is really something. 

So perhaps being “too” early is a good thing!! 

We CONTINUE to hand out flyers and have covered a lot of ground. Still LOTS of folks who don’t know about this development, so please tell as many neighbors and friends as you can about it. Our efforts are paying off, so thank you!

Also, the image attached to this update is the Aragon development as proposed in 2015. It comes from a 2015 Times Colonist article about this development then, and titled “385 housing units pitched for Trio site in Cordova Bay”. Please find the link to the article below - 

2015 Times Colonist Story - 385 housing units pitched for Trio site in Cordova Bay

Perhaps Aragon should be engaging us residents again as they did in 2015? Please read the linked article above which supports this communication. Aragon did a good job on this development in 2015, when this plan was released, AND they communicated with our community! 

We understand times have changed since 2015, but by THAT much?

The proposed development in 2015 WAS appropriate for this area, and I think most of us would agree with that. Please note on the attached image above, that NO building is over 6 storeys, and that this 385 number was actually reduced to 335 units due to resident concerns and input. 

The solution has been here since 2015!

Perhaps we need to invite Aragon to an open house after they have formally submitted their proposal to Saanich, so we can discuss.

Thanks everyone for your continued support for our special community here in Cordova Bay.

Very much appreciated.

Best Regards,

Dan Horth