Governance, Trust & Decision-Making

A commentary by an architect and urban design planner who has worked for more than 30 years in downtown Victoria Throughout Greater Victoria, more - and more diverse - housing is becoming a collective regional agenda, but care for urban quality and contextual scale should be integral to that quest. Continue gathering a healthy concentration of downtown growth, but there is no need for emphasis on excessive vertical tall towers. Keep to moderation, and foster vital streetscape

The biggest public backlashes against Victoria City Council (2023–2026 term) centred on a few recurring themes that generated the highest public anger, media coverage, and engagement across X (Twitter) and Facebook: Short-term rental (STR) restrictions (especially 2023–2024 provincial alignment and local implementation): Landlords, hosts, and tourism advocates saw it as economic harm and scapegoating. CHEK News coverage of delay motions drew thousands of views and dozens of r

In Greater Victoria’s rush to embrace “missing middle” housing, multiplexes have been marketed as the Goldilocks solution: not too big, not too small, and just affordable enough, if at all, for the elusive middle‑income household. But when you examine the actual strata fees, operating budgets, and developer practices behind these new buildings, a very different picture emerges. What looks like affordability on paper is often a carefully engineered illusion, one that shifts lo

British Columbia’s sweeping housing reforms and land‑use overhaul were introduced and passed months before the Province publicly declared a “middle‑income housing crisis” in February 2024 with the launch of BC Builds. This is when the provincial government formally asserted that “middle‑income housing crisis” required direct state intervention. This means the most aggressive zoning, density, and municipal‑power‑limiting legislation in B.C.’s history was justified after the fa

Between January 1 and December 18, 2025, Cadboro Bay has faced an unprecedented assault on its natural heritage. In less than a year, active permits now threaten 168 trees - ranging from protective Arbutus and Garry Oaks to majestic Pines, Cedars, Cypresses, Dogwoods, Willows, Robinias, and Cherry trees. Only four permits were denied, all tied to single-family dwellings, but the reprieve is negligible: at least 30 trees have already been cut down in favour of multiplex develo

Please see the following analysis on the loss of affordable housing across Canada: https://chec-ccrl.ca/filling-the-hole/ People instinctively know that things have become worse in the last number of years. Here is an analysis that shows this to be true. Councillor Dave Thompson stated in the Times Colonist on March 9, 2025 that "This is why it’s important that council has approved about 7,000 new homes since the beginning of our term. New housing reduces competition for

The City of Victoria Urban Forest Master Plan (February 2013) recommends that a canopy cover goal of 40% would be appropriate for cities in the Pacific Northwest. Table 1 of that document, citing a 2013 LIDAR analyses, states Victoria’s City Wide Canopy Coverage was 26%. Victoria City Councillors approved a significant motion on April 3, 2025 to address the tree deficit we currently have in the city and included an important aspect of the Tree Masterplan that has been ignored

The city of Victoria is embarking on a bold journey by revising its Official Community Plan (OCP). This includes an extensive upzoning initiative that intends to transform single-family lots into areas designated for four-story apartment buildings. The city anticipates a population surge, but many residents and stakeholders are concerned about the necessity and impact of such drastic rezoning. In this blog post, we’ll examine the details of this upzoning plan, its potential i