Central Saanich is seeking public input on zoning changes that would allow more housing on Agricultural Land Reserve sites and rural properties.
The district wants to bring its rules in line with a 2021 update to provincial legislation that allows local governments to permit up to three dwellings on a single property in the ALR.
Those dwellings can take the form of a principal home, a secondary suite in the principal home and a detached dwelling with a maximum floor area of just under 1,000 square feet.
Changes could affect up to 1,097 properties in the district, 610 of which are zoned agricultural and 487 zoned rural.
Both agricultural and rural zones in the district allow a principal dwelling, but in the agricultural zone, owners are also allowed to have a secondary suite, while in the rural zone, they can have either a secondary suite or a detached dwelling, both up to a maximum floor area of just under 1,000 square feet.
The district is seeking feedback on five options to inform proposed changes, to be presented to council in early 2024.
The survey asks residents to consider the minimum property size to allow three dwellings.
Setting the minimum at 1,000 square metres (10,764 square feet) means the change would apply to 99 per cent of rural and agricultural properties, while requiring a threshold of 4,000 square metres (43,000 square feet) would mean it would apply to only about 79 per cent or 863 properties.
Jarret Matanowitsch, director of planning and building services for Central Saanich, said the district needs to balance expanding housing supply with maintaining farmland.
Allowing more homes on a property could boost rental housing in the district — which has a low vacancy rate and is seeing rising housing costs like elsewhere in the region — and support farmers who need worker accommodation, he said. Matanowitsch said residents have been asking the district for the zoning change. “There’s people that are waiting for us to put this into regulation, so definitely there would be some uptake on it for sure.”
Once the survey closes in December, staff are expected to bring a report to council with recommendations based on public input.
Changes could come into effect as early as next spring, Matanowitsch said.
Dan Ponchet, owner of Dan’s Farm on Bear Hill Road in Saanichton, said he doesn’t know enough about the proposal to decide if he would take advantage of zoning changes to build an additional dwelling on his property, but he thinks most owners of agricultural land are interested in having additional dwellings for staff.
The survey is online at letstalkcentralsaanich.ca/alr-ruralhousing or at the Central Saanich Municipal Hall until Dec. 15.
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