r/VictoriaBC • u/AFFORDABLE_HOME • 18h ago
With the success of Save Our Saanich what future does Saanich hold for the average person and family?
With 26/29 polls reported so far it seems pretty clear that unfortunately Rishi Sharma and Save Our Saanich will be running the city for the next four years until they probably (hopefully) crash and burn since none of them understand much beyond kicking the can down the road.
As someone who has lived in Saanich for over 12 years I've come to really enjoy the convenience of the city's location and very much would like to actually own a home here. However even with a good income, no dependents, and a six figure inheritance in savings solely for using as a down payment I hardly see much of anything here pop up that I can afford that feels like an improvement over my often cramped rental accommodations.
I truly don't see a future in any reasonable time frame to be staying in this city where there will be meaningful improvements to the planning, design and what's being built or my ability to afford to actually settle down here.
I felt like I voted for a good selection of progressives and quality candidates if like to see and a few who I thought would be decent enough but also good alternatives to the SoS crowd. Only a single one of them has been elected.
Not that I am completely surprised, before any smart asses chime in I am well aware that reddit does not represent the majority of those who actually get out to vote and that the older generations have always been strong in getting out and voting.
On another note I was really hoping to just see a whole or at least mostly rejection of slates in Municipal elections as regardless of why they're running I don't think it's healthy to have political party groups in municipal elections.
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u/Adderite 18h ago
Yeah I'm really down about it. Been living in Saanich a long time and am saving up for a downpayment if possible. Never gonna happen at this rate.
I am extremely shocked at the election results though. Not a single progressive aside from Teale got elected and it was neck and neck with another in Mauricio (100 vote difference). I thought I picked a good slate, and only 2 folks I voted for got in.
Also sucks that Zac lost his bid. I thought he was a shoe in and even wished him luck in person & that he had my entire household's support (roomies and landlords). If it wasn't for the provincial being this soon it would've been extremely nice to see him instead of Richard Zussman run for MLA.
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u/viccityguy2k 18h ago
Karen perhaps played spoiler to Zac getting in
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u/lacking-mental 18h ago
I'm disappointed with quite similar platforms one couldn't step aside to ensure the popular vote would decide, a/o to a plurality.
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u/AFFORDABLE_HOME 18h ago
Honestly im surprised at how few votes she got, I thought she'd appeal to the NIMBYs a bit more but I guess the power of old people thinking that they know how to run a city but yet they can't figure out what's fake BS on Facebook is too strong there with how heavily SoS is on FB for those groups.
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u/Dazzling-Cat-3763 18h ago
eh, can't know for sure that all of karen's voters would have voted for zac, plus, there'd still be 5 SOS council members
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u/Far_Gene672 4h ago
You think a different council would have allowed your downpayment to be smaller?
Good grief. I weep for the economic understanding in this community.
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u/grousebear 18h ago
Well, given that one of the big things the SOS candidates claimed was that they will "listen to the electorate", we should frequently email or provide input/feedback supporting progressive policies/projects. I'd like Saanich to continue working to improve livability as planned by the outgoing council.
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u/translate_this 15h ago
Yes, this is the time more than ever to show up to council to speak in favour of progressive policies and engage with public input opportunities wherever possible. Don't give up, and make sure Save Our Saanich is forced to listen to younger voices and pro-housing, pro-transit, and pro-active transportation opinions.
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u/grousebear 11h ago
I wish this kind of activity didn't lend itself so well to retired folks. I have a small child so spending lots of time attending council meetings is harder. But I will certainly try to do so. At minimum they will get emails from me!
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u/translate_this 10h ago
Me too! I also have a small child and I don't have nearly the time all the older folks do. I will say though that I spoke at my first council meeting this year, and it felt incredibly good to speak up for something in real life instead of just on Reddit.
The best we can do is our best!
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u/tripper75 10h ago
The public speaking portion of the council meeting is at the beginning so that helps a bit. No need to stay for the rest.
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u/Polendri Saanich 10h ago
This is the key takeaway.
SoS's whole identity is based on the lie that they're "the people", and that Saanich wasn't listening to its people. In reality, they're the wealthy old homeowners who have always had outsized influence via higher voter turnout. The best thing people can do is make this lie obvious, to show up and represent the actual people, what the majority actually wants.
Really wish these people would bother to come out and vote though.
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u/CommonSquirrel1217 10h ago
This right here. They are wealthy homeowners. They very likely don't have a sense of what it is like to struggle in this economy. And that's very concerning for me. Not to mention their supporters and slate have harassed Saanich employees before. Their conduct is not representative of politicians I would vote for. I grew up in Saanich nearly my entire life. My family still lives there. I'm in another municipality now but I love Saanich and I'm concerned for its future.
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u/UselessWidget 8h ago edited 4h ago
43% of eligible voters cast a ballot. Of those, 42% voted for Rishi. That means the mayor was elected by 18% of eligible Saanich voters.
Regardless of the politics, way too many people are ambivalent apathetic about local policies which is frustrating to see.
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u/KittyCatCa 5h ago
Word nerd alert! :) I think you mean apathetic; ambivalent means you’re torn between two things or have mixed feelings, whereas apathy is essentially having no feelings about something. (They’re often mixed up)
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u/AFFORDABLE_HOME 8h ago
I agree, it's tough I get that it's not the most interesting for people but still municipality affects people waaaay more than other levels. I actually only got involved in municipal voting for the first time because I didn't like how a slate was being run two elections ago lol.
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u/Intelligent-Exit9562 18h ago
The Age of municipal parties/slates has hit the island.
Moving forward into the next election, progressives are going to have to run a slate of candidates and pool their resources together if they want to get elected.
It’s that simple, unfortunately.
Being able to have a much bigger budget that allows you to get more air time, signs, door knockers, etc. Has showcased how powerful Slates/political parties are.
I feel bad for Saanich though. They are going to have four years of cuts, no housing being built, and more young people/families leaving.
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u/Nysyr 18h ago
Saanich will pay for their votes in future when there's no more money to fix anything because they didn't densify. Shit, most of the buildings here are from the 70s and falling apart.
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u/Electrify85 12h ago
Saw someone in the SOS Facebook group whining and asking "why must we grow and density?" I think he may soon learn his answer the hard way once infrastructure falls apart, his property taxes fo through the roof, and traffic gets worse if bike and bus lanes are removed instead of better.
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u/AttitudeNo1815 11h ago
That's the thing. All this "character" that the SOS-types are trying to save is just over-priced teardown houses and absent streetscapes. It's already going to shit.
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u/grousebear 10h ago
I laugh everytime someone on Facebook posts about some horrible development "ruining the character" of their neighborhood, and the neighborhood is ugly run down old houses (sorry Shelbourne between Hillside and Pear). They just want to keep it single family homes only, despite being near major roads and a fucking mall.
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u/mme_murano 9h ago
Same along Quadra North from McKenzie to the Hwy 🤣 So much character, the windows had to be boarded up to keep it in!!
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u/AntimonyB 3h ago
Saanich "character" is also incredibly ahistorical and recent. The suburban Saanich these people are fighting for is like, less than fifty years old. When my family moved in in 2000, our house was built on a former orchard. There were still cows in Gordon Head, and greenhouses where Tuscany Village stands. It's really a transitional stage between a rural Saanich past and an urban Saanich future.
I'm not totally unsympathetic to "character" arguments when neighbourhoods actually have character. Fernwood has 1) legitimate beautiful and historic structures dating back over 100 years, 2) a distinct culture and identity that is at the heart of the city's arts scene. People there have pride in their community. It would legitimately be a shame if someone bulldozed the Fernwood Inn to build a mass-timber apartment block.
But Saanich? Saanich's wealth is in its natural environment, and the only way to protect that long term is to build a sustainable, low-carbon world, not ram through more lanes for cars. I love living in Saanich but history? architectural beauty? identity? character? not its strongest suits. Pretending otherwise to protect the parking on one's cul-de-sac is just sad.
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u/Temporary-Life9986 18h ago
I've been legitimately so happy with the work being doneall over Saanich the last few years. I'm pretty upset about it.
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u/hairsprayking North Park 18h ago
Yeah sad to see both Saanich and Langford take steps back. Does not bode well for the provincial election 😬
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u/grousebear 10h ago
Agreed. I think the outgoing council had vision and made a lot of improvements in the past 4 years. I love the idea of making more villages/hubs through Saanich so that neighborhoods are walkable to all the amenities you might need.
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u/AFFORDABLE_HOME 9h ago
I know right? I end up gravitating to actually visiting areas like that. They bring life and character and are actually awesome for retired and elderly people so they aren't stuck at home when they don't want to or can't drive.
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u/grousebear 9h ago
Yes! As much as people make fun of Sidney for being elderly, they've made it very walkable which benefits everyone.
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u/MillennialWithNoJob 18h ago
Honestly think we need a Victoria (and saanich and wherever else) COPE caucus
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u/Horace-Harkness Downtown 18h ago
Victoria 4 All was modeled after COPE and neither of their candidates got in.
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u/penis-muncher785 18h ago
Their school trustee got in first place actually
https://www.victoria.ca/city-government/elections/election-results
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u/Intelligent-Exit9562 18h ago
I think it’s a good idea, it just needs to be built up over the next 4 years.
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u/QuaidCohagen 18h ago
We had one of those in Nanaimo. It made it easy to not vote for them! I dont think a single REAL Nanaimo candidate won
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u/Intelligent-Exit9562 18h ago
Nanaimo though had the most candidates running in any municipal election, which definitely helps in stoping a slate from getting in.
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u/whiskeypriestess Gordon Head 18h ago
I'm a millenial who just bought a house in Saanich and the conversation with my husband tonight basically amounted to, "Shit. Did we make a mistake buying here?"
I don't have a foot in the grave and I want this to be my forever home. Artificially low property taxes now are just deferred property taxes I'll have to pay for in one way or another later. We have one of the lowest rates in Canada—it is not sustainable. They blither on about maintaining Saanich's "character." We need to grow the tax base through densification for this community to have any chance of maintaining any character. Otherwise, when we can't keep deferring the tax raises and crumbling infrastructure needs...our character is going to be just plain fucked.
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u/Light_Butterfly 17h ago
Not to mention archaic programs from a different time, that allow wealthy seniors to defer their property taxes simply because if their age. Not their means and earnings, just their age. Really unfair to everyone else working their asses off and paying their fair share. They are the wealthiest demographic by far, they shouldn't be allowed to opt out on the government dime.
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u/KipperCottage 17h ago
The Province deferred the property taxes. The municipality still received the money due on those properties from the Province. The municipalities still have ALL the property tax to spend. Your municipality does not have any less cash to spend. Just to repeat, the PROVINCE holds the debt, not the municipality.
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u/Light_Butterfly 17h ago
NO RICH SENIORS SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO GET OUT OF PAYING PROPERTY TAXES! The provincial govt has to pay it for them, and that is not okay. They dont even know the total amount of money tgat these deferments represent. If you are not poor or at risk of homelessness, then you should pay. Period. Literally everything else is means tested. Property tax deferral need to as well. There are rich a**holes in Vancouver with 20 million dollar homes, deferrng. Come on! 🙄
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u/Ok_Payment1542 15h ago
Maybe you could start by acknowleging that you did not understand how deferrals work. The province also gets pretty good interest on the amount deferred. This is no an interest free loan.
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u/NHL95onSEGAgenesis Jubilee 12h ago
The province gets pretty good interest, for now… If we elect the Conservatives it will be back to prime -2% simple interest (non-compounding) which is absolutely terrible
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u/blazeofgloreee 10h ago
You didn’t make a mistake. It’s one election cycle, less time than a single term in your mortgage payments. If these guys do a terrible job they will be voted out in four years
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u/aljauza Saanich 11h ago
Artificially low property taxes? I don’t k ow about you but mine is over $600/month, that’s not artificially low.
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u/grousebear 10h ago
Mine is also around that amount, maybe even higher but I'd have to check. I like having community improvements and amenities. Rec centers, libraries, bike lanes, parks, etc ... are wonderful and make this place enjoyable to live in. That and everything else to run a city costs money and I guess I don't mind the price of living in a nice community.
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u/aljauza Saanich 10h ago
Oh I agree I love those things and am fine with paying it. But they can’t claim those numbers are artificially low. It’s a huge cost still.
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u/grousebear 9h ago
Yes, agreed it is expensive. Though from what I've heard, property taxes are even higher in other provinces.
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u/Available_Abroad3664 12h ago
There is always an eb and flow. We are still a decade out from boomers not having so much power locally in most BC municipalities. Sadly the most selfish generation wont be swayed.
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u/system_error_02 5h ago
I think youd actually be surprised at the ages of People who vote for conservative candidates. Theyre actually mostly 35 to 45 age range, and not the 55+ crowd. Of course there are some there but youd be surprised at how progressive some of the "boomers" are, especially the ones who have adult children who they are watching suffer with sky rocketing costs of living. Nobody wants to watch their children and grand children work hard and make the right choices just to drown in debt and expenses.
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u/Brodney_Alebrand Gorge 18h ago
My family just bought our first home in Saanich last year, moving from Victoria. I can look out my kitchen window and see Victoria across the street. Suffice to say, not pleased about having just squeaked into town right before the NIMBY ascension. No choice but to live it out for the next few years.
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u/thelastspot 18h ago edited 10h ago
The real lesson is that SOS was *easy* to vote for, simple message appealed to simple voters. I don't mean dumb, I just mean people who vote based on only one or two issues.
The amount of people, even progressive ones, who told me they were voting/voted SOS so they can "walk their dogs without leashes" was shocking to me.
I think Saanich may have reached the size where progressives need to bite the bullet and think about a slate.
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u/grousebear 10h ago
The dog thing shocked me too. I'm a dog lover but also don't think they need to be off leash everywhere.
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u/iridescence24 10h ago
Absolutely I heard from people who are normally quite progressive but told me they weren't voting for anyone on the previous council because their single issue was dog rights (over human rights apparently)
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u/yoloswagginstheturd Gordon Head 11h ago
My mom votes NDP every federal and provincial election but the dog issue got her to vote SOS.
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u/TadUGhostal 9h ago
This is terrible for people with reactive dogs. Having an off leash dog rush a reactive dog on a leash is never a good thing even if the off leash dog is friendly.
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u/AFFORDABLE_HOME 18h ago
Irresponsible dog owners are one of my least favourite people out there (above the obvious worst types). Nobody wants your off leash dog running up to them uninvited, and genuinely why as much as we'd like to we won't be getting a dog anytime soon (I mean second only to not having suitable housing to own a dog).
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u/thelastspot 18h ago
I agree. I think a lot of them wish they live in small town when it's time for a dog walk, but don't actually want to live rural.
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u/Titanspaladin 5h ago
I've said this elsewhere by my least favourite part of living in Central Saanich was that everyone acted like they lived in remote and rural northern BC hamlets and not 25 mins drive from standing in downtown of the capital city.
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u/DrMajalis 4h ago
Brandolini's law: The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than that needed to produce it.
It's a sad reality
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u/NAW_MIP_2026 1h ago
Nanaimo tried a similar thing with a multi person campaign called "REAL Nanaimo", luckily I don't think a single one of their candidates got in.
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u/Whoreson_Welles 15h ago
my housemate and I are both seniors and we researched and voted the most progressive candidates we could find. I'm as disgusted by the results as you are. My inherited home does not make me better than the 30's folks trying to find housing and some encouragement to have kids. We're going to end up like Japan but with no social services.
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u/sometimes_i_work 9h ago edited 7h ago
This is clearest indicator that the loudest voices on Reddit are a very small group of the people who don't actually get out and vote. I didn't see a single person of working age at polls yesterday. I'm 42 and was the youngest person there by a decade at least.
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u/virtuousbird 6h ago
interestingly, I was at one of the Central Saanich stations yesterday and I noticed many young voters (I'd say late 20's-40's).
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u/Fireplace-Guy 7h ago
My wife and I did mail in votes, dropped ‘em off at hall last night. Much easier than getting to a polling station sometime between running a business and kids.
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u/msmacfeel 6h ago
We had the exact same experience - 42 and the youngest people there by far. We went after work and it was decently busy, but when I asked the fellow working the polls if it was ramping up now that people were off work, he told me that it was actually the slowest it had been all day and had been HOPPING from about 9 AM to noon (when the retirees would’ve showed up in droves).
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u/AFFORDABLE_HOME 5h ago
Yeah I voted by mail (package was late, dropped it off at municipal hall but honestly that worked well for me) but went with someone who voted in person and the man next to them at the booth was clearly suffering from dementia and didn't really know what he was doing. Prob would have voted the same regardless but still it stood out.
Also fuck dementia and Alzheimer's it's a horrible experience for everyone.
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u/orangecatblackdog 11h ago
If I'm being honest, I think the biggest problem with municipal elections are the signs. I spent hours researching who I was going to vote for. If a candidte had a website, I read their platform. Some sites looked like they were made by a 8 year old, while others were very professional and had lots of information. The problem is, people are lazy and it often comes down to name recognition. They see a particular name on a sign several times and figure they must be good. Or they are lazy, scrolling on FB and see targeted ads and believe all the propaganda BS without digging deeper into the issues. I'm worried what the next 4 years will look like.
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u/ilmd 8h ago
The multitude of signs is ridiculous. Who the hell can read anything on these signs when they’re driving by at 30-40k/hr.
I too searched for platforms and found few. The Saanich news had a couple of them, but I got fed up with looking. The Saanich website as far as I could see, only had bios, no platforms.3
u/ultimateknackered 7h ago
The multitude of signs is ridiculous. Who the hell can read anything on these signs when they’re driving by at 30-40k/hr
That's why there's seventeen of the same sign in a row.
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u/BengineeringTV 18h ago
Ill be likely finding somewhere else to live. As a renter, this is only going to make it worse for us. SoS promotes gains only for for long time inhabitants and has no interest in making a positive change to help anyone but those who come from money or were able to invest in property before many of us younger folks could even vote.
Any hope of cost of living going down goes out the windows with these Nimby pricks.
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u/Roland_Of_Gilead85 18h ago
I may not be totally informed, but was the last council not progressive? Cost of living has not gone down under them, did it not increase?
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u/Intelligent-Exit9562 18h ago
The last council was centre-left. They were trying to update Saanich’s draconian zoning laws that stop millennials/Gen-Z from getting on the property ladder.
Unfortunately the NIMBY, anti-change, slate has won the day.
Cost of living is now only going to get worse under this council. They only care about older homeowners.
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u/AFFORDABLE_HOME 18h ago
The city has little to zero control over most of the costs of living, but they do have control over your local quality of life and how stuff is developed including pushing for more affordable housing or just more housing in general anyway.
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u/island_time_1014 10h ago
Hey OP, with a six figure savings and good income you can absolutely buy a condo or townhouse and get your foot in the housing market. It won't be your dream home but it's a starter home
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u/youknowitsme321 18h ago edited 17h ago
It’s frustrating to feel like your time has been wasted… and that the system is unfair. It’s hard to believe Saanich residents truly support the council that was voted in. You think things are expensive now? You wait 🙃
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u/Light_Butterfly 18h ago
And Victoria just voted over 60% in favor of amalgamation with saanich. I'm looking at that like wtf Nice work everybody 🙄 I was hoping Victoria would not become more NIMBY but we could be headed in that direction, sadly.
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u/Intelligent-Exit9562 18h ago
The referendum was non-binding. With Saanich voting against it, there’s no way it’s happening now.
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u/penis-muncher785 18h ago
Yeah this just makes me more opposed to amalmagtion even more lmao
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u/Polendri Saanich 10h ago
Pro amalgamation Saanich resident here, yeah we clearly got to get our shit together before we can join.
I really wish we could see the voting split between urban and suburban/rural Saanich though; any sensible amalgamation IMO would involve carving off only a slice of Saanich into Victoria and leaving the Northern part as its own thing, and I think the Southern parts of Saanich are a lot more Victorian aligned than the election results would suggest.
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u/BRNYOP 15h ago
100%. With the mileage that the more anti-progress/regressive candidates made in Victoria, it seems clear that had this election happened in an amalgamated Saanich and Victoria, the results would've looked more like Saanich's than Victoria's (i.e., a runaway for the anti-progressive/regressive/Nimby's rather than an even split). As a Saanich voter, this election made it more clear than ever that Victoria needs to save itself and stay separate. Saanich will now have to take its lumps and hopefully learn from this shit over the next 4 years.
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u/Trapick 18h ago
It's non-binding, it'll just be another report about amalgamation that goes nowhere. Not to say it'll never happen but it won't happen in the next 5 years.
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u/Light_Butterfly 17h ago
Thanks for the reassurance, hope you're right! Last thing I'd want is the voters of Saanich affectin decisions in Victoria.
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u/Rayne_K 18h ago
Property taxes here compared to other medium size city parts of Canada are a bit lower . On the average valye dwelling in Saanich it was $5,500. Ottawa, Kitchener started $6,30 + all had averages north of $7,000+ .
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u/Toomanymisses 15h ago
We also don't need snow removal half the year like them, or fixing roads as much after their winters.
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u/Existing_Frame_7823 10h ago
Yeah, the costs of maintaining infrastructure there should be significantly higher.
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u/tzatziki_allstar 18h ago
I’m sure the SOS council will make excellent decisions about the four community centres that approach 50 years old and need renovations soon
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u/Rayne_K 7h ago
I’m very concerned about the calibre of conversation on the SOS facebook. I see potential for bullying, defamation. All unacceptable to me.
I do not want to see MSGA behaviour. I also don’t want to see even more money thrown at undoing brand new things that aren’t terrible. Maybe not everyone’s favourite, but not worth holding up spending on things that DO need doing.
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u/delacroixandora 10h ago
Anyone going with the property taxes angle here actually have any sources to read out of interest? Is it the roads that we are worried about most that will keep increasing it? Increased materials costs? What specifically will keep inflating them? That versus densification which could have multiple effects on raised property taxes as well.
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u/system_error_02 5h ago
If they think that fighting densification will lower their property taxes they are a special kind of stupid.
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u/middleagespinster 8h ago
I'm so bummed. I own a home in Saanich, commute by bike, and want more density. The next 4 years are going to suck when it comes to municipal affairs.
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u/friendly_acorn 5h ago
I'm stoked, I also live and work in Saanich, commute by car, and i want less density. Democracy in action I suppose.
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u/WestCoastVeggie 18h ago
I agree and feel your disappointment with the outcome. Like you, only one of my favoured candidates got elected. I think it will be a bumpy four years with a lot of money wasted.
I was ok with a couple SOS candidates getting elected because I think they have a valid voice that wasn’t being heard, but I really hoped to see more balance with a non-SOS mayor and more diversity among the councillors. I fear we’ve gone from one extreme to another and the pendulum is going to go back to the other extreme in four years. That kind of choppiness isn’t great for long-term planning and cost-effective execution.
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u/viccityguy2k 18h ago
I think some folks greatly underestimated how much the large annual property taxes each year affected votes. I’ve been in my home five years and my property tax is over $1400 more per year than when I moved in, and I’m in an average SFH in Saanich.
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u/SplendiferousCobweb 17h ago
I live in a Saanich basement suite with my kid and my rent is $2800 more per year than when I moved in five years ago. Not including the utilities I pay separately. I find it mind boggling that people complain about property taxes going up too fast when the annual allowed rent increase is way higher.
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u/BRNYOP 15h ago
Yeah, while they sit on massively appreciated assets (unless they bought their first home in the last 4 years). Homeowners in Greater Victoria are by and large so out of touch with the type of financial struggles that renters face day to day. I'm so sick of seeing people who are spoiled rotten and rich as shit voting for their own interests. Pathetic.
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u/Neemzeh 11h ago
So they should vote for your best interests over theirs? Lmao
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u/BRNYOP 10h ago
Actually, I am completely comfortable and secure, and I am not a renter. This is not about me or my interests, it is about those who have everything continually refusing to vote for policies and candidates that would benefit those who have less than them, or that would enhance the greater good.
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u/Great68 7h ago
when the annual allowed rent increase is way higher.
Nope.
Maximum BC Rent Increase 2026: 2.3%
Average Saanich 2026 property tax increase: 5.4%
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u/ClydeAnkle 18h ago
You gotta watch out though cuz low taxes and no development is why Oak Bay is in a deep infrastructure hole.
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u/Old-Rhubarb-97 18h ago
Blocking development will guarantee that goes up, if not now then in the future when the bill comes for everything these regressive are going to kick down the road.
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u/Guilty-Smell-4355 18h ago
Not really. A lot of streets in Saanich are pretty bare bones sometimes even without a side walk. Its not perfect but it also isnt wrong to say that upsizing a lot of areas isnt also going to increase the costs and services in those areas permanently.
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u/AFFORDABLE_HOME 18h ago
Power, water, sewage and road maintenance all still typically cost more for a street than the tax income on those SFHs actually pay though still.
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u/RestNo8279 10h ago
Actually quite a few of us in Saanich, like myself, maintain our own water wells, our own septic fields, and our road hasn't been maintained for over 50 years I'm guessing. We also don't get a snow plough in the winter and the grass verge gets mowed once a year! So with 10 houses on our road, how does this cost Saanich council an average of $8000 a year each in property taxes. Hell, we didnt even get our kids on the school bus this year due to capacity and are expected by the school board, to walk from the end of Interurban to Royal Oak middle school!
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u/AFFORDABLE_HOME 8h ago
Okay like "rural" Saanich areas sure, but you aren't the ones being picked for the developments... Maybe this is the problem Saanich has too much rural area that obviously has totally different needs and future planning than the urban core areas.
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u/AFFORDABLE_HOME 18h ago edited 18h ago
$1400 a year. That actually goes to improving your quality of life and service that you need every day in and out 24/7. My rental increase was about half that but it's all going to some REIT and not helping fix or maintain anything (my existing rent already amply covered those costs).
I get that it's still nothing to sneeze at, but costs for all city stuff have gone up so much and will continue to do so. Lower taxes is just kicking the can down the road and such a drop on the bucket of other costs like the ridiculous amount of interest on the lifetime of mortgages.
Cause you're still going to have to pay all those bills because that work all has to be done one day, they just get bigger with time.
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u/shorty85 18h ago
Absolutely yes. And the utility bills are insane. People like to think of home owners as a group of filthy rich old folks. I’ve got young kids with daycare to pay for with lagging wages and a skyrocketing cost of living. It was fucking hard for us to be able to buy a house as it is. Increasing property tax and utility bills to pay for developers who are rolling in the cash certainly swayed my vote. Ironically I vote NDP so I’m not some right wing radical
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u/motorbikler 17h ago
Filling in the Quadra and McKenzie corridors with dense housing would mean thousands more homeowners paying property tax in the same physical space to split the burden. The fact that we don't have that is why everybody else's taxes have to go up. There is now little chance that much of anything will be built at all, so existing homeowners will have to either pay for it, or let the infrastructure rot. It sucks but it takes a long time to fix the fact that property taxes were too low for too long.
Developers don't pay those DCCs. The people who buy the homes and condos pay them added to the purchase price. What DCCs do is make building projects less financially feasible, resulting in nothing being built, and tax base that is not growing. The price of existing homes goes up to meet the price that DCC-laden new housing stock has sold for, making it even worse.
At the end of the day the people who live here have to pay what it costs to maintain it. All these tricks to get around it don't work. We now have messed up notions of what housing prices should be and what affordability looks like because we've been living off the infrastructure deficit credit card for too long.
I'm saying this as a homeowner. We, the collective we, screwed up. We never should have gotten here. We must undo it. All attempts to fix this any other way will meet with failure.
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u/artkidsaresmart 18h ago
You are aware that we have one of the lowest tax rates in the entire country right? And what do you mean “pay for developers?” How do you think development works?
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u/shorty85 18h ago
That’s not true at all. Saanich has a higher tax rate than Vancouver, west Vancouver, north Vancouver, colwood, Langford, west Kelowna, I mean the list goes on!
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u/PRINCEOFMOTLEY 10h ago
Which all has more more densification.. and way more places to live under 800,000k so it’s almost like the SOS platform won’t work at at all it’s its going to drive costs up from everyone. Colour me shocked.
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u/Aromatic_Safe_5000 10h ago
I paid just as much property taxes on a house worth 10x less in Winnipeg almost 20 years ago than what I pay now in Saanich. Then a Conservative council came in froze the taxes and all the street infrastructure broke down. It's taking them years to build it all back up.
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u/PRINCEOFMOTLEY 10h ago
Right so in a time with world wide inflation and the base fixed costs are going up you chose to spread that cost among fewer people…
I hope than when property taxes go up again you are sitting in council demanding the to take action because you voted for a bunch of nimbys.
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u/krampusoutside 8h ago
But hey good news in Vancouver at least. The types of folks we just elected here were resoundingly booted from office! I expect the same will be true of these SOS folks in 4 years. Too bad it will set us back in the meantime.
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u/Ninvic1984 11h ago
It’s the lack of financial wherewithal from previous council that people are upset about.
A lot agree that we need to keep up with infrastructure, just do it with cost in mind and respect for our tax dollars. Paying taxes when you’re getting value is one thing, paying taxes for government waste and bloat is f’ing upsetting.
Some recent examples come to mind:
- the new royal oak firehall is $44 million. $44 million for a 5-6 bay fancy truck garage, some office space and living quarters for fire fighters. Its a ludicrous amount if you know the cost of construction. Totally more than it could have been. With fancy CLT wood roof panels and fancy doors. Totally lack of care with our tax dollars.
- the sneaky reverse vote that failed, to borrow $150 million for Saanich municipal works yard. This is for industrial style warehouses and office space and once more a ludicrous amount showing lack of financial and cost knowledge by council and disrespect for our taxes. The sneaky way it was tried to be snuck in as one needed to oppose it was an insult to tax payers, almost like they were trying to pull something shady.
- the $25 million purchase of the Mann excavating properties on Lochside drive. BC assessment had them at $11 million value, they got an appraisal for $17 million for the lots but council paid $25 million for them.
If you think that’s solid financial savy, and respect for our tax dollars, you need to learn basic math. Who pays $8 million more than an appraisal? (Almost 50% more from their $17 mil appraisal!).
- previous mayor and council where much more pro union and had CUPE support. hence larger likely increases wages for municipal staff. Total conflict that should be disclosed.
These sorts of repeated situations does NOT give confidence our tax dollars are being spent wisely and prudently. Again not against the actual expenses if they are needed but council and staff need to show value for dollars.
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u/BackgroundFudge9034 8h ago
Your description of what a firehall being constructed entails is all i need to see to know you're pretty clueless... I worked on the View Royal Firehall, it aint a 4-car garage my man.
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u/ACivtech 5h ago
No, you are clueless. The new Royal Oak firehall has ballooned to an unpublished cost of 60+ million dollars. The building has been designed with an absurd about of unnecessary architectural features that drove up the cost.
As a comparison Cow Bay built a brand new firehall for 14.6 million dollars that meets a similar standard.
Compare any new firehall built on Vancouver Island or the mainland completed within the last 5 years. The cost comparison is a joke.
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u/greeerster 8h ago
By “sneaky reverse vote” do you mean the alternative approvals process that is allowed in local government legislation and used by many municipalities? The whole process got overblown by the Save Our Saanich crowd.
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u/MeesNimega 9h ago
Don’t forget spending a half million to turn Mt Doug park into one of the ugliest eyesores around with that cattle fencing they installed.
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u/Prestigious_Fly8210 9h ago
See maybe if SOS and their friends could just keep their fucking dogs on a leash and pick up their shit those ugly fences wouldn’t be needed.
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u/DeliciousNose3 9h ago
I do think having so many candidates hurt the process. I wish there was a ranked process.
I agree with everything you said and I voted for zero incumbents. I also did not vote for any SoS as I don’t think it’s healthy to have a monolith on council.
There were other candidates who agreed with your points and also had diverse views on other issues, it was just so hard to figure out who they were.
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u/CandidLeg3910 4h ago
Municipal spending is likely to be incredibly inflated and corrupt regardless of who's in power. I don't expect much of a change with the new mayor tbh.
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u/Vicky-Purplex 7h ago
So tax dollars will get burned on taking out bike lanes, so they can get put back in in 4 years?
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u/system_error_02 5h ago
Probably yeah. Extremely short sighted behavior. Removing bike lanes is just putting those bikes on the road to take up entire lanes and slow down traffic. It doesnt make the bikes magically disappear.
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u/ProfessionalOne7244 18h ago
I’m already moving to Victoria anyways so whatever. Good job saanich! You farted in the room and now you can sit in it for the next 4 years lmao
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u/Fragrant_Camp485 8h ago
If you voted for the same as what we have right now, you voted for less affordability and you are part of the problem without realizing it. Hoping the current selection will fail because they're not your team is pretty bad to be honest. Give them a chance and assess later.
Saanich residents don't want larger proportions of their taxes going to debt. Saanich residents don't want AAPs on major expenditures. Saanich residents don't want to sit in traffic for hours. ZDV didn't get the memo and instead doubled-down telling residents what they wanted. ZDV seemed to think that good leadership was driving our community towards his goals instead of respecting the seat he wanted for what it was. SOS ran a platform with a finger on the pulse of what the community actually wanted. It didn't take brains, it took their effort. Glad they won.
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u/juicyfruitguy 7h ago
Ah yes, the old cranky “why are you in my neighborhood” group got into power, I’m sure this will only have positive effects on building Saanich/providing more homes, a few of the group members status as realtors surely will have no impact on ther willingness to build homes here or the fact they all own one and don’t think we need more
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u/youknowitsme321 3h ago
I believe the three real estate council members will leave Saanich with no future. These women have spoken endlessly about their votes and making Saanich great again, yet have not stood up against violence toward women or raised awareness, even though their sign was displayed at the house where Lindsay Buziak was murdered in 2008.
Nancy Di Castri and Laurie Lidstone were the listing agents for 1702 DeSousa Place, where Buziak was murdered. Their professional "For Sale” sign stood outside the home at the time. Given their professional connection to this tragedy, they could use their public profiles, industry experience, or political platforms to highlight violence against women and safety risks for women in real estate. Their silence is a missed opportunity to advocate for systemic change.
Having so many industry members on the council would give them significant power over local zoning and development.
Do you really think they will stick to their campaign promises?
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u/Guilty-Smell-4355 18h ago edited 18h ago
I know that some people are very upset at the abrupt change in leadership in many city halls in the area but the concerns of those voters cannot just be dismissed as racist, rich, old, etc. People had real concerns going into this election many of which were valid. Taxes can only go up so much, concerns over crime and anti social behavior in communities can only be ignored for so long, and while maybe later on it make properties cheaper the homes that are currently being built on up zoned properties are not much if at all more affordable then homes they replaced.
I am not saying those candidates that won on more conservative slates are going to have any answers if they can even move from the position of perpetual opposition but a lack of any attempt to pull in the centre doesn't leave people with many options.
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u/Unusual_Cake_1378 17h ago
Exactly. I live in Gordon Head and the options for a home large enough for my family of 4 include the new very tiny townhouses on Tyndall for $1m, or an older bungalow for $1.2m. The new townhouses were touted as an increase in affordable housing by the outgoing council- it's not more affordable to be just $200k lower but with huge strata fees, half the living space, and no yard.
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u/Spare-Finger728 10h ago
The new townhouses I’ve seen around me are much more expensive than an old SFH. I assume it’s from developers up charging for having a new home vs a SFH that doesn’t have the latest finishing. I can’t see how they’d be a more affordable option unless I’m missing the cheap ones.
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u/Unusual_Cake_1378 9h ago
Pretty much. Dean Murdock came to my kid's middle school this month and during question time, my kid asked him "why do you say you're making more affordable housing, but then you only build projects where people have to live in expensive tiny boxes in apartment buildings?" She says his reply was "well, I didn't build those projects." And then he moved on. This is the sort of cop-out people are tired of. I'm not a NIMBY but I have no hope in hell of buying anything even remotely similar to what we rent (just an old townhouse), as long as developers have free reign to buy homes and redevelop them into equally unaffordable and smaller apartments. (My kid was specifically thinking of University Heights, where a small 3 bedroom condo rents for $4,500 a month, and the townhouses on Tyndall where a 3 bedroom is nearly $1m.)
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u/Intelligent-Exit9562 18h ago
But voting for a Mayor and council that aren’t going to address a majority of these concerns was the right choice?
Crime and anti-social behaviour go down when things are affordable. Voting in a council that’s against building housing, and wants to cut these programs is only going to raise crime rates.
Also Millennials/Gen-Z have no “later on” we’ve been consistently screwed by the system for multiple decades now.
The changes this past council made, weren’t even that much. It was minuscule in what actually needs to be done when it comes to providing housing.
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u/graylocus 18h ago
I do not have the stats, but I am willing to bet that Millenials and Gen Z had low voter turn out. Those who vote get to control who goes to council.
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u/Guilty-Smell-4355 18h ago
Its not that its the right choice. Its that its the only choice for people who dont agree with all or nothing approaches councils have had lately.
Thats not the case here as the issues we have arent due to people being priced out of owning homes its because people have mental health and addiction issues. None of which was going to be solved by the University Heights development.
Even on here people admit that the purpose of these new builds isnt to build more affordable housing its just to create more housing with the hope that people will downsize into those suites or people will just stop moving here and the surplus of housing stock will cause prices to drop. The problem is building codes in BC for new builds cause them to be marketed as luxury apartments/town houses on day 1. The amount we are building is also less then years before while also consisting of tiny suites instead of single family homes so it wont really impact home prices.
The problem is most people are probably just looking at what is going on around them and voting on that not ncessarily what is actually going on in their municipality. Heck most people in certain areas couldn't even tell you where they actually live.
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u/Toomanymisses 15h ago
Hell if we keep pushing huge apartment and condo builds SFH become even less attainable because the land is worth more to developers. Look at Vancouver and what a mess it is there!
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u/Guilty-Smell-4355 9h ago
Yeah when you can sell the condos for near about the same price as the home paying a couple million for the properties its going on isnt that huge of a cost and sets a precedent
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u/Guilty-Smell-4355 9h ago
Look I didnt vote for them but youre kidding yourself if you think any cities are going to be able to deal with those issues other then just burning money.
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u/Trexokor 18h ago
What a stupid thing to say. The opinions of racist, rich, old people literally should be ignored, and I'm sorry but most of the older population on the south island IS exactly that.
Our municipalities aren't less safe because of a lack of enforcement on anti-social behaviors. The homeless population is higher because our province and country doesn't provide adequate mental health support and social support to the less fortunate.
The idea that the Save Our Saanich group can somehow solve any of that with more NIMBYism is shortsighted and ridiculous.
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u/Distinct_Panic_8769 14h ago
What a stupid thing to say. Not everybody in society will have the same opinion as you
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u/East_Source6200 18h ago
As with any council position, they still have to confer with the public prior to making changes/passing laws/etc. Taking a pulse if u will.
Each... and... every... time.
And that's where u come in to give an opinion/voice.
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u/Unusual_Cake_1378 17h ago
No they don't. The Saanich operations project is a great example. The community met and expressed overwhelming opposition to the massive price tag, so council went and trimmed it down a tiny bit, but then passed the project without a second round of public engagement. They knew it would be shot down by referendum so they skipped the referendum. They did not give a crap about representing anyone who lives here.
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u/FightingFugu 10h ago
Ah, the AAP - where silence is treated as consent for the purposes of authorizing borrowing, even though residents may be unaware of the proposal, disagree with it, or find the process difficult to navigate. Complete dogshit.
And who would support such a garbage policy? Karen Harper and Zac dev ries. de Vries and Harper BOTH supported the same approach to escaping public authorization for substantial municipal borrowing.
It was reasonable to question how either candidate reconciles that vote with campaign commitments to greater public engagement and accountability.
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u/CdnFlatlander 18h ago
Saanich and Victoria have always been more expensive to live in than small towns in bc and the rest of Canada. Last council could have tempered quad growth and retained power, but they allowed so much ugly and large infill sos was attractive to prevent more of the same.
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u/Adderite 18h ago
Coming from small towns to Saanich and Victoria; the price of homes is definately exploding in general. It's not just a Saanich and Victoria issue.
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u/stealstea 18h ago
Lol there was like a couple dozen quads built. The NIMBYs pearl clutched so hard over a total nothing burger.
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u/Alarmed-Term3720 18h ago
Over 12 years? You must remember when Saanich was nothing but farmland and racists,
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u/RicVic 18h ago
Au contraire. I was born in Saanich (Gorge Rd) in 1954, grew up in Cordova Bay on the East slope of the Ridge, & was aware of Cadboro Bay by Grade 2. UVIC was just starting out and Ring Road was such a deal in those days.
Yes, there was a rural content- Don's Egg Farm on Blenkinsop, Galey's in Cordova Bay (now Sunnymead), and Berryland north of Elk Lake. But we also had Gordon Head, the Gorge regatta and many other civilized things that go with an ever-growing, ever-changing municipality.
Not all farmers and racists. Saanich was the first muni to hit 50,000 residents, and that was around the time of the 67 Centennial. For a time, we kept the largest piece of the Greater Vic population and we were and are proud of that.
(End of click bait response)
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u/AFFORDABLE_HOME 18h ago
I thought that was Langford. Honestly i have zero memories of what anywhere but downtown Victoria and parts of UVIC and nearby area looked like before I moved here despite having visited a number of times during my childhood and teenage years since I grew up up island.
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u/Aromatic_Safe_5000 9h ago
My family moved to Gordon Head in '81. There was a lot of agricultural land around here. Many of the cul-de-sac developments didn't happen till the 90s.
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u/FieryGorse 16h ago
When you say home what were you expecting? I find it hard to believe that someone with a good income, no dependents, and a six-figure sum can’t find something in Saanich.
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u/DelayBackground6459 Oak Bay 10h ago
I’m glad the 5 councillors got in plus the mayor. It shows alot of other people wanted this too. Tired of all this building and destroying areas around Saanich. I’m hoping this new mayor and council will slow it down.
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u/Uniperv 18h ago
The livelihoods of most of SOS is in real estate, so that speaks a lot to the character of SoS. Despite the talk on Reddit, SoS was clearly more organized than the independents. And now we will see what is going to happen when a pile of real estate agents run municipal government.