The winner of Saturday’s byelection in North Saanich will be joining a “slow-moving ongoing train wreck,” according to a former district councillor.
The district has become deeply divided, amid a review of its Official Community Plan, between those who want to maintain the rural nature of the district, and those who would like to see more affordable housing constructed.
Conflict over the OCP has boiled over onto council. In late March, former councillor Brett Smyth resigned after making a remark comparing Mayor Peter Jones to Hitler, leading to a vacant seat on council.
Disagreements over the district’s future have also led to the departure of the chief administrative officer, who was offered about $300,000 to step down because of differences of opinion on the OCP, the mayor previously said. One resident has counted four staffers whose work is related to the OCP who have left since the October election.
“It’s an ugly, ugly situation. A number of the directors have left and there will be more after the byelection,” said former councillor Murray Weisenberger, who served two terms on council and was not re-elected last fall.
Three candidates are vying for the empty council seat: Kristine Marshall, Raymon Farmere and Ryan Lay.
Weisenberger expects Marshall is likely to win, because the advocacy group Save North Saanich has selected her as their preferred candidate.
During the October election campaign, the group, which says it wants to keep the district rural, endorsed five of seven people who were elected, including Jones and councillors Celia Stock, Jack McClintock, Irene McConkey and Sanjiv Shrivastava.
Marshall, who has lived in North Saanich for the last 10 years, works for the Victoria Police Department and runs a small hobby farm that includes an apiary, said she is open to options for affordable housing that fit with the district’s rural character and green spaces.
Marshall said she believes council needs to provide meaningful opportunities for public engagement. “We have a wealth of expertise and knowledge and experience here. It’s really important to me that we hear from everyone and that we listen to them.”
Marshall, who sells her honey at the local farmer’s market and keeps hawks and falcons, has also been endorsed by the community group North Saanich Community Voices.
Lay, a lawyer who moved to North Saanich in 2019, after living in Sidney and growing up in Victoria, sees housing as a critical issue in the district. He said he hopes to help build a community where people who work in North Saanich can afford to live there by increasing the supply of affordable housing.
Lay said he wants to ease the tension in the community around the Official Community Plan review.
“I think that there’s a lot of people who don’t have confidence in the process because it’s perceived as not being transparent. And I think that there needs to be more public involvement and bringing people together rather than closing people out,” he said.
Lay said he sees some development as necessary and inevitable, especially after North Saanich landed on the province’s list of 47 municipalities that will need to meet housing targets.
“The concern that I have and that a lot of residents I’m hearing from share is that North Saanich will not be able to organize itself and kind of get itself together — the council, that is — in time to come up with a made-in-North Saanich approach that the residents can speak into and be a part of, before the situation gets to the point where the province comes in with its own housing strategy, and does it right over top of the municipality,” he said.
Farmere, who has lived in Victoria for the last five years, after moving from Nanaimo, teaches business administration and digital marketing at Multihexa College.
He said he has an interest in helping rural communities like North Saanich and his focus is on climate action.
Farmere wants to appeal to the province for a transportation grant to increase the frequency of transit through North Saanich to encourage commuting to the district via public transit.
He said he’s also interested in increasing affordable housing options in the district and encouraging more public engagement.
Polls will be open on July 8 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at North Saanich Municipal Hall, 1620 Mills Rd.
