Saanich, British Columbia
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The District of Saanich is a municipality on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. It is located north of the provincial capital, Victoria. It has a population of 103,654, making it the most populated municipality on Vancouver Island, and the seventh most populated in the province [link]. The municipality is named after the Saanich First Nation.
Saanich is part of Greater Victoria and a member municipality of the Capital Regional District.
The Municipality of Saanich was incorporated on March 1, 1906. With an area of 111.79 km² , it is the largest of the core municipalities making up Greater Victoria. The topography is undulating with many glacially scoured rock outcroppings. Elevations range from sea level to 213 metres. The physical setting is greatly influenced by water. There are 8.1749 km² of fresh water lakes and 29.61 km of marine shoreline.
Within Saanich is located part of the University of Victoria which straddles the boundary with the neighbouring Municipality of Oak Bay. Saanich is fairly large in area and contains a wide variety of rural and urban landscapes and neighbourhoods stretching north to the Saanich Peninsula. Saanich is the location of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory near Elk Lake. The Municipality of Saanich contains a long shoreline with sandy beaches located at a number of ocean bays. Two of the beaches are Cadboro Bay Beach and Cordova Bay Beach. Cadboro Bay is known as a place to view the "Cadborosaurus", a mythical sea monster that may or may not exist. Saanich's notable parks include Mount Douglas Park, Mount Tolmie Park (with viewpoints) and Gyro Park.
The residents of Saanich are served by the Saanich News, a free circulation newspaper.
Neighbourhoods of Saanich
As with many other Greater Victoria municipalities, Saanich contains a number of "village" like shopping areas (for example, Cadboro Bay Village, Cordova Bay Village, Broadmead Village).Distinct residential areas include:
- Beaver Lake-Elk Lake - A rural area just south of the Central Saanich border, bounded by Old West Saanich Road and the Patricia Bay Highway, dominated by Beaver and Elk Lakes, and Bear Hill Regional Park.
- Broadmead - Located east of the Patricia Bay Highway south of Cordova Bay and north of Mount Douglas Park. An upscale master planned community with contemporary west coast architecture in a wooded setting. Broadmead Village is the commercial shopping core for residents.
- Cadboro Bay - A scenic residential area east of the University of Victoria and just north of the Oak Bay border. Cadboro Bay itself has a popular park and a sandy beach (including concrete octopus and sea monster Cadborosaurus), and a charming village shopping area.
- Cedar Hill - A middle class, largely older residential area just south of Mount Douglas (formerly Cedar Hill), bounded by Quadra St., Cook St., North Dairy Rd., Shelbourne St., and McKenzie Ave. Dominated by the Cedar Hill Golf Course.
- Cloverdale - In the southwest corner of the municipality, bounded by Tolmie Ave., Douglas St., Saanich Rd., Tattersall Dr., and Cook St. To the south and west is a heavily built-up commercial area, transitioning in areas to industrial zones. Low-rise apartment buildings predominate in sections, with further commercial development along Cook and Quadra Streets. The rest is a diverse mix of middle, and lower-middle-class homes, including some subsidized housing. Cloverdale Ave. (named for a pioneer farm) runs through the centre of the neighbourhood.
- Cordova Bay - A mixed rural and residential area of newer and older homes, situated east of Elk and Beaver Lakes and north of Broadmead. It is an upper middle class area and includes a small "village-like" strip along scenic Cordova Bay Road.
- Glanford - A mix of all kinds of residential homes. Located between Carey Rd., Patricia Bay Highway, and Vanalman Rd. It is named for the central thoroughfare of the neighbourhood, Glanford Rd.
- Gordon Head - Converted from an area of small farms and greenhouses into a residential area after the construction of the University of Victoria, part of which lies in the neighbourhood. Now a comfortable, middle class neighbourhood. Located east of Shelbourne Street, north of McKenzie Avenue, and west of Finnerty Rd., and bounded to the north and east by Haro Strait into which juts the landform from which the neighbourhood derives its name. Lately, there has been some very upscale housing developed at the very tip of Gordon Head called Gordon Point near the north waterfront.
- Gorge-Tillicum - A mix of lower-middle and middle-class homes, as well as mixed industrial and commercial neighbourhoods, bounded to the northwest by Portage Inlet, to the southwest by The Gorge waterway (a narrow channel leading from Selkirk Water to Portage Inlet), to the east by Interurban and West Burnside Roads, to the north by the Trans-Canada Highway, and to the southeast by the border with Victoria, running along Harriet Road.
- Interurban - A largely rural area, with some considerable wooded areas still remaining, located to the east and west of Interurban Road. Newer subdivisions are creeping in, but much of the agricultural land is protected. The neighbourhood, lying west of Wilkinson Road and south of West Saanich Road, is home to the Interurban Campus of Camosun College, the Greater Victoria Technology Park (a light industrial park), and the historic Wilkinson Road Jail, a minimum security facility for prisoners serving sentences of less than two years.
- Lake Hill - Located south of Broadmead, north of McKenzie Avenue, east of the Pat Bay Highway, and west of Borden Road. This is a stable neighbourhood of mainly postwar middle class homes. It includes the Christmas Hill Nature Sanctuary.
- Maplewood is west of the Cedar Hill golf course, south of Blenkinsop Road and at the end of Cook Street. It's an older, treed area with many character homes and winding streets. There is a "star" intersection located somewhere here.
- Marigold - Bounded by West Burnside Rd., McKenzie Ave., Carey Rd., and Wilkinson Rd. Some farmland, notably "Panama Flats" remains undeveloped, but it mainly consists of smaller post-war homes, mixed with newer ones. "Marigold" is one of many "flower-themed" roads in the neighbourhood.
- Mt. Tolmie - Bounded to the west and south by the Victoria border, along Shelbourne St. and Richmond Rd., to the east by the Oak Bay border, along Foul Bay Road, and to the north by Cedar Hill Cross Rd. This area contains the Lansdowne Campus of Camosun College, St. Michael's University School, the northern pavilions of Royal Jubilee Hospital, and of course the panoramic Mt. Tolmie itself. A mixture of commercial establishments and low-rise aprtment blocks lie along the western and southern extremities, and middle class homes farther east.
- Prospect Lake - A largely rural and wooded area, with some newer subdivisions, in the northwest of the municipality. It lies just east of the Highlands municipal boundary. It contains a number of wooded parks (notably Prospect Lake and Francis/King).
- Strawberry Vale - Bounded by Wilkinson Rd., View Royal, and the Layritz Park area. An area in transition, it is a mix of small farms, older subdivisions, and newer subdivisions.
- Swan Lake - Lying south of McKenzie, east of the Patricia Bay Highway, north of Tattersall Dr., and west of Quadra St. A pleasant, treed area of older middle class homes, at the centre of which is Swan Lake Nature Sanctuary.
- Ten Mile Point is the most easterly point on Vancouver Island. This wooded upper class area is located east of Cadboro Bay and the University of Victoria. Ten Mile Point is an exclusive, expensive, peninsular neighbourhood known for its secluded beaches, private estates and waterfront properties. While Ten Mile Point is located within the urban part of Saanich, its setting has a quiet, rural feel. '''
- Town and Country-Burnside - A largely commercial and industrial zone in the southwest corner of Saanich, next to the Victoria border, between Blanshard St., Burnside Rd., and Tillicum Rd. Residentially, it contains mainly small, post-war, lower middle-class housing, and low-rise apartments. The municipal hall and two large shopping centres - Mayfair and Town and Country - are located in this area.
History
Saanich has been the home to First Nations people for thousands of years. The non-native history begins with the arrival of the Hudson's Bay Company in the 1840s.
The Craigflower Schoolhouse (originally called Maple Point School), the oldest surviving school building in Western Canada, was built on orders from Kenneth MacKenzie. He came from Scotland with his family in 1852, on the Hudson's Bay Company ship Norman Morison, to establish a farm for the Puget Sound Agricultural Company, a subsidiary of the Hudson's Bay Company. A school was needed for the children of farm employees, as well as those of arriving settlers.
The Dominion Astrophysical Observatory telescope was designed by Dr John Stanley Plaskett, astronomer with the Department of the Interior in Ottawa. The 72 inch (1.8 m) reflecting telescope was the largest of its kind in the world when it was built, though this was only the case for a few short months in 1918.
Education
Saanich is home to half of British Columbia's third largest university, the University of Victoria. It is also home to both major campuses of Camosun College - the one at Lansdowne and the main campus on Interurban Road.Saanich is bisected by two school districts, School District 61 Greater Victoria and School District 63 Saanich.
Demographics
(according to Statistics Canada 2001 census) Growth rate (1996 to 2001): 2.2% Total private Dwellings: 42905 Area: 103.45 km² Density: 1002.2 people/km²Council
Mayor: Frank Leonard - was re-elected by acclamation in the Nov. 19, 2005 municipal elections.Surrounding municipalities and communities
| Northwest: Highlands, Malahat | North: Central Saanich | Northeast: Gulf Islands, Strait of Georgia |
| West: Highlands, Langford | Saanich | East: Strait of Georgia, San Juan Islands, Skagit County, Washington |
| Southwest: View Royal, Colwood, Esquimalt | South: Victoria | Southeast: Oak Bay |
| Members of the Capital Regional District | |
|---|---|
|
Municipalities: Central Saanich | Colwood | Esquimalt | Highlands | Langford | Metchosin | North Saanich | Oak Bay | Saanich | Sidney | Sooke | Victoria | View Royal
Electoral areas: B & D (Juan de Fuca) | F (Salt Spring Island) | G (Southern Gulf Islands) | |
| | |
|---|---|
| Victoria: | Chinatown | Cook Street Village | East Burnside-Gorge | Fairfield | Fernwood | Harris Green | Hillside | Humboldt Valley | James Bay | Jubilee | North Park | Rockland | Victoria West |
| Saanich: | Beaver Lake-Elk Lake | Broadmead-Sunnymead | Cadboro Bay | Cedar Hill | Cloverdale | Cordova Bay | Glanford | Gordon Head | Gorge-Tillicum | Interurban | Lake Hill | Maplewood | Marigold | Mount Douglas | Mount Tolmie-Lansdowne | Prospect Lake | Royal Oak | Strawberry Vale | Swan Lake | Ten Mile Point | Town and Country-Burnside | West Saanich |
| Other areas: | Belmont Park | Brentwood Bay | Broom Hill | Cloak Hill | Colwood Corners | Craigflower | Dean Park | Deep Cove | Durrance Lake | East Sooke | Florence Lake | Glen Lake | Goldstream | Gonzales | Gorge Vale | Happy Valley | Hatley Park | Island View | Kemp Lake | Lands End | Luxton | Matheson Lake | Mill Hill | Millstream | Otter Point | Pat Bay | Ravenwood | Rockheights | Rocky Point | Royal Roads | Saanichton | Saseenos | Songhees | Swartz Bay | Thetis Lake | Uplands | Whiffen Spit | William Head | Willis Point | Willows Beach | Windsor Park | Work Point |
|
| British Columbia |
|---|---|
| Regional Districts | Alberni-Clayoquot - Bulkley-Nechako - Capital - Cariboo - Central Coast - Central Kootenay - Central Okanagan - Columbia-Shuswap - Comox-Strathcona - Cowichan Valley - East Kootenay - Fraser Valley - Fraser-Fort George - Greater Vancouver - Kitimat-Stikine - Kootenay Boundary - Mount Waddington - Nanaimo - North Okanagan - Northern Rockies - Okanagan-Similkameen - Peace River - Powell River - Skeena-Queen Charlotte - Squamish-Lillooet - Stikine - Sunshine Coast - Thompson-Nicola |
| Communities over 100,000 | Abbotsford - Burnaby - Coquitlam - Delta - Kelowna - Richmond - Saanich - Surrey - Vancouver |
| 70,000-100,000 | Chilliwack - Kamloops - Langley Township - Maple Ridge - Nanaimo - District of North Vancouver - Prince George - Victoria |
| Other major communities | Campbell River - Cranbrook - Fort St. John - Mission - New Westminster - City of North Vancouver - Penticton - Port Coquitlam - Port Moody - Vernon |
External links
- [Saanich Homepage] – Saanich Homepage
- [Saanich's local newspaper]
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