Ostensibly Saanich's Mayor and Council appear to have backed down on much of the up to now proposed Quadra/McKenzie plan, including from 2 proposed automobile lanes on McKenzie, but is all that it seems in this regard?
https://www.peninsulanewsreview.com/local-news/saanich-revises-quadra-mckenzie-plan-after-widespread-community-backlash-7843460
The devil may be in the details however. An email sent by the District of Saanichyesterday with the subject line: "Council Direction on Quadra McKenzie Plan" began in giant letters: "Quadra McKenzie Plan Moves Forward", stated the following:
"Saanich now has a path forward for the Draft Quadra McKenzie Plan (QMP) after the Feb 24th Council Meeting where Council provided staff with direction on next steps.
Following an overview of the key themes drawn from the public feedback, Council was presented with land use, transportation, and process options for advancing the Draft QMP. Informed by public input, Council has directed staff to:
Revise the Draft Plan land use framework, with a focus on reducing density in the Quadra North area;
Defer any modification of McKenzie Avenue vehicle lanes and specific transit priority measures to a future process in consultation with BC Transit; and
Bring a revised Draft Plan to Council for another check-in, before launching another round of public engagement."
[I added the bolding]
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Note that the focus on reducing density is in the North Quadra area, and where specifically in the North Quadra Area? What about other areas in the Quadra/McKenzie area including South Quadra?
This line though appears the most telling: Defer any modification of McKenzie Avenue vehicle lanes and specific transit priority measures to a future process in consultation with BC Transit.
Saanich is still looking towards working with BC Transit toward RapidBus lines in the area (which notably still offers the possibility of greatly increased density through the potential for new Provincially mandated Transit Oriented Areas aka Transit Oriented Development Areas. In other words, even if Saanich backs down on some aspects of the QMP, the Province can still step in and force higher density through creating new TOAs along RapidBus lines as lobbied to it by the development lobby if the RapidBus lines are put into place.
See: The Urban Development Institute lobbied the Province of BC to implement what they called “Global Housing Targets”. The Province would deliver new Housing Bills in response.
How the proposed “RapidBus” lanes in the Capital Region, including on McKenzie, were used as part of the UDI development lobby’s push for enforced densification/upzoning along rapid transit corridors, during their lobbying to David Eby in 2022
The other question is, how are they going to have RapidBus lines going through the area without dedicated lanes?
It may be that the issue has been decided to be a political hot potato prior to the next election, and some indications suggest that decisions in regard to Quadra and McKenzie may be held off until a subsequent council. A similar process happened with the decoupling of the Local Area Plans, which was discussed between Saanich and the development lobby 2 years before it happened, although processes had been set in place leading towards that scenario well in advance.
Saanich and a lobbying organization for development and real estate discussed decoupling the Local Area Plans from the Official Community Plan in the spring of 2022
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Although we should be celebrating a well earned victory, one battle is unlikely to decide the future on Quadra/McKenzie.
For more information, please contact Saanichpetition@mail.com