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Development and neighbourhoods

Victoria is a city of villages. James Bay is not Fernwood, and neither is Fairfield. The plan adopted in 2025 treats them as one.

Victoria needs change

What this council gave us, and what we want from the next one.

From

  • Too big, too tall, too much, too fast
  • Housing targets built for growth that BC Stats has since cut by two thirds
  • One city, one plan: the same one-size-fits-all rules for every neighbourhood
  • Local area plans revoked, and the character they protected with them
  • Heritage and history bulldozed to make way for new builds

To

  • Balanced development at a pace the city can absorb
  • Realistic housing targets that follow BC Stats forecasts
  • One city, many neighbourhoods
  • Local area plans restored, so each neighbourhood keeps its character
  • Heritage protected before a building is lost, not after

What happened

  • The plan arrived fast, and the consultation was built around it

    Victoria 2050, the Official Community Plan, was adopted on October 2, 2025 as Bylaw 25-045.1 It sets what can be built on every lot in the city. In our view the engagement that led to it was shaped to confirm a plan rather than to test one, and the community associations that had always been part of that work were left outside it.

  • Too big, too tall, too much, too fast

    That is the group's own summary and we are keeping it, because it is what residents said at the door. As we read it, the plan roughly doubled how much can be built across the city, well beyond the targets the province actually set. Room to build is not the same thing as homes built, and opening up every lot at once has a cost: land values move first, and speculation follows.

    The targets are the real problem, and the numbers are public. In February 2024 City staff planned for Victoria to reach 142,000 people by 2050, up from about 92,000 in 2021,2 and they took that from a BC Stats forecast that had the region at 598,000 by 2046.3 BC Stats has since cut that forecast hard: its December 2025 forecast is 551,000 by 2046, growth of 18.8% instead of 32%,4 and its ten-year forecast dropped from 61,400 new people to 19,600,5 which is a 68% cut, or two thirds of the growth gone. Last year the region grew by just 3,251 people,6 so BC Stats now expects about half the growth the City planned for, and council has not touched the targets.

    The developers noticed, though, and in September 2025 the Urban Development Institute quoted that same 68% cut to the CRD Board to argue that the regional water plan, and the charge on developers to pay for it, rested on growth that is not coming.7 So growth is too small to charge developers for water but big enough to allow much bigger, taller buildings on every lot in Victoria, and we do not think it can be both.

  • Local area plans were revoked, and one size now fits all

    Neighbourhoods used to have their own plans, written with the people who live there, setting out what fits where. Those were revoked and replaced by one set of citywide rules, the same for James Bay as for Fernwood, and since local area plans were how a neighbourhood kept its character, "what suits this street" is no longer a question the planning system even asks.

  • The infrastructure question was left for later

    More homes need more water, sewer, roads and schools. The plan sets the growth. It does not set out who pays for the pipes, or when. Developers are not required to cover the infrastructure cost their project creates before it is approved, so the bill lands on the tax base. Where that has already shown up is traced on the real tax bill.

Heritage left unprotected, and lost to new builds

Heritage sits here rather than on its own page, because in practice it is decided by the same planning choices.

The Official Community Plan gives heritage buildings no firm protection, and our members have watched what fills that gap: older buildings with real heritage value coming down for new ones, with the plan on the side of the new build.

  • Heritage Conservation Area designations have stalled

    James Bay applied for a Heritage Conservation Area. Two years on, that application is still on hold. James Bay has one of the most visible concentrations of heritage housing in the city. Fernwood already has its designation, which shows the tool works when the City chooses to use it. How a neighbourhood applies for one.

  • The Old Town rezoning did not protect Old Town

    The recent bylaw rezoning Old Town is not protective of the heritage buildings already standing there. Our OCP guide sets out what the downtown heritage rules actually say: the OCP, explained in plain language.

Why heritage matters more here than in most cities

Victoria's built heritage is the reason people come, and a good part of the reason people stay. Without those buildings, Victoria is just another city by the ocean.

What the next council should do

  • Rescind Victoria 2050 and reinstate the plan it replaced, then write a new one properly.
  • Build the new plan to the requirements the province set, and no further.
  • Cut the housing targets to match the BC Stats forecast, slow building down to match, and look at both again whenever the forecast changes.
  • Reinstate local area plans and update them to match, because Victoria is a city of villages rather than one city with one plan.
  • Spread new density fairly, and stop piling it onto neighbourhoods that already carry more than their share until the rest catch up.
  • Reinstate and extend heritage protections, including against facadism, where only the front wall of an old building is kept, and favour keeping and converting older buildings over demolishing them.
  • Adopt design rules so new buildings fit their street and show the city off instead of crowding it.
  • Bring community associations back in as the neighbourhood hub for consultation.
  • Require developers to cover the infrastructure their projects need before approval.

Questions on this issue

On top of the five questions for every candidate, these go deeper on this issue.

  • Will you restore local area plans, and will they have any binding force?
  • Since the plan was written, BC Stats has cut its growth forecast for the region by two thirds, so will you cut the City's housing targets to match and slow building down with them?
  • Will you support a Heritage Conservation Area for James Bay, and when?
  • Should a developer pay the infrastructure cost of a project before it is approved?

If you would rather not ask them yourself, see who we are voting for and why. We also send one short email when this issue moves at council.

Sources

  1. City of Victoria, Victoria 2050 Official Community Plan, Bylaw 25-045, adopted October 2, 2025. Official Community Plan
  2. Mike Kozakowski, "City of Victoria will require 34,600 units of new housing by 2050: report", Citified, February 6, 2024, reporting the City staff report that projected 142,000 residents by 2050 from about 92,000 at the 2021 census. Citified
  3. BC Stats, "B.C. Population Estimates: Regional District level and Outlook for 2046", August 2024, using the 2024 projections: Capital Regional District 453,000 in 2023 to 598,000 in 2046, a 32% increase. BC Stats, 2024 (PDF)
  4. BC Stats, "B.C. Population Estimates: Regional District level and Outlook for 2046", May 20, 2026, using the December 19, 2025 projections: Capital Regional District 464,000 in 2025 to 551,000 in 2046, an 18.8% increase. BC Stats, 2026 (PDF)
  5. rennie intelligence, "Projecting a lot less of more (population growth in BC)", October 13, 2025, comparing BC Stats' 2025 and 2024 ten-year outlooks for Greater Victoria: 19,600 new residents for 2025 to 2034 against 61,400 in the prior forecast, and against 73,800 added from 2015 to 2024. rennie
  6. BC Stats, "2025 Sub-Provincial Population Estimates Highlights", reference date July 2025, released May 2026: Capital Regional District up 3,251 in the year to July 1, 2025. BC Stats highlights (PDF)
  7. UDI Capital Region, Victoria Residential Builders Association and WestShore Developers Association, letter to the CRD Board on the proposed Regional Water Supply Development Cost Charge, September 26, 2025, section 2, "Updated Population and Water Demand Forecasts": "a 73% decline from the 73,800 residents added over the last decade and a 68% downward revision from BC Stats' prior forecast". UDI letter (PDF)

The population and growth-forecast figures are sourced above. The claims on this page about consultation, how much can be built, local area plans and heritage are the network's own account of what its members observed and read. Where a decision is on the public file we have linked it.

Keep reading

The technical detail is in the OCP guide, including the photographs of Brooke Street that show what replacing an older affordable building actually looks like. For what the same plan did to renters, see housing and affordability, and for what it did to the tree canopy, the urban forest.

Where the deep detail lives

What has been written about this

10 pieces

Our members have tracked 10 pieces on this issue since January, every one an opinion piece or a letter. The five most recent are below, and the notes are our members' own.

All 10 pieces on this issue

Most people who read this were sent it by someone they know.

The next council decides what happens to your street.

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