A new look for both Quadra Street and McKenzie Avenue, a makeover for the Gordon Head-McKenzie area and new “hubs” on corridors for more walkable neighbourhoods are all part of a draft plan that could shape a large swath of Saanich over the next two decades.
Saanich council on Monday night moved forward a draft of the Quadra McKenzie Plan, which has been in the works since the fall of 2022.
There will be another month of public engagement before district staff incorporate more public feedback and revisions into a final document to return to council in the spring.
“This is a very significant planning exercise and one that sets the vision for these two very significant corridors,” said Mayor Dean Murdock.
Murdock said the plan will guide the future growth of the Quadra-McKenzie area, with transportation infrastructure upgrades that improve safety, prioritize transit and move people more effectively through major intersections.
The plan includes redesigning McKenzie Avenue to include rapid transit, active transportation and mixed-use commercial hubs, while on Quadra Street, it enhances transit and cycling facilities, improves sidewalks and adds treed boulevards.
The plan calls for concentrating growth and higher-density housing along Quadra and McKenzie, with a mix of uses that provide both housing and employment opportunities.
It notes that increased density requires better access to nature and points to the need to maintain the tree canopy along the Quadra corridor as the climate changes.
The draft also calls for the creation of hubs along both Quadra and McKenzie providing commercial services, with public spaces and connections for multiple modes of travel, so people can meet their daily needs on foot.
“What we’re seeing in the plan thoughtfully sets out the hubs along the corridor, what level of density, what types of homes and services, commercial services and amenities that would have be located in particular parts of the corridor,” said Murdock, who noted that more than 2,000 people have weighed in with their thoughts so far on the plan.
“There’s nothing we can do to compel a certain kind of development, but we can create some certainty about what our expectations are.”
The mayor said the district has learned from the Shelbourne Street revitalization project that it’s difficult to do a significant rebuild of road infrastructure and pedestrian and cycling environments as part of one large project, so those improvements will likely be broken up into sections.
The project will also not be happening right away.
Troy McKay, Saanich’s senior manager of transportation and development, said the work on McKenzie will likely be done over three to seven years in partnership with B.C. Transit.
McKay said the work on Quadra will follow. While some upgrades can be done more quickly than the Shelbourne work, some intensive work is required in areas like Quadra’s intersections with McKenzie and at Tattersall.
He estimates the Quadra upgrades could take about 10 years to complete.
The draft also includes introducing a new centre at Gordon Head Road and McKenzie Avenue that will improve connections to the University of Victoria.
The draft plan calls for the re-development of several major sites near that intersection to expand housing options and provide mixed-use projects.
Plans for the new centre would complement the master planning being done by the university for its Ian H. Stewart complex and other properties. UVic is planning a mix of residential, commercial and community spaces in the area.
Saanich council has now given district staff the green light to move forward with the next phase of public engagement, which will include webinars, pop-up interactive displays and an online survey tool that is expected to launch this week.
Council directed staff to ensure they are engaging with young people and seniors, especially when it comes to transportation needs.
“I can appreciate that folks might feel like they’re being asked to participate in a number of processes at the same time, maybe even overlapping processes,” said Murdock.
“But it’s so important that we have that feedback from folks about whether we’re living up to their expectations of what our community is going to look like, how we’re going to grow, how we respond to the demand for services and make sure that we continue to be a livable, thriving community.”
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