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“We need to take the approach of all areas potentially supporting up to six storeys to ensure we have a pivotal opportunity to arrive at where we will inevitably need to get by 2050” – Quote from Sept 19, 2024 UDI Workshop on City of Victoria Official Community Plan (OCP) update.

The discussion between the City of Victoria and the UDI has profound implications for not only the City, but also for the District of Saanich, which is poised to potentially amalgamate with it.

By Sasha Izard
April 11, 2025

The City of Victoria is a paying member of the Urban Development Institute (UDI), a registered lobbying organization that offers political influence and representation for its paying corporate member organizations involved in real estate and development, that combined hold assets worth many billions dollars.

On September 19, 2024, the City of Victoria held a workshop with the UDI to consult with them in regard to the City’s upcoming update to its Official Community Plan.

I received records of the workshop through Freedom of Information, which can be seen in full at the end of this article.

One of the first things to jump out in the text was the following:

“We need to take the approach of all areas potentially supporting up to six storeys to ensure we have a pivotal opportunity to arrive at where we will inevitably need to get by 2050”

The 6 storey theme continued later in the dialogue:

Presumably the neighbouring municipality that was being discussed as potentially being aligned with the corridor approach, is the District of Saanich, which has been discussing potential amalgamation with the City of Victoria.

Is this the hidden dream behind amalgamation, that development oriented/pre-zoned transport corridors forcing density along such areas – become merged between the City of Victoria and the District of Saanich, as one merged municipality, thus making developers ever greater profits?

The District of Saanich recently updated its OCP to render the Local Area Plans legally non-binding, under the guise of ‘decoupling them’, something it discussed with the UDI at a similar workshop 2 years before it happened.

The same this ‘decoupling of the Local Area Plans took place. Mayor Murdock and Mayor Alto were featured speakers together along with a top representative of BC Transit, at a UDI workshop held at the Union Club titled: “Pathways to Progress: Uniting Land Use and Transit Strategies for Sustainable Growth”

If the municipalities merge, would 6 storeys in all areas, then become the potential norm, just as is being proposed between the development lobby and the City of Victoria? How would this play out in rural Saanich? I think the formula can be seen right here. Is this not Tammany Hall politics playing out in the 21st century?

Conclusion:

The question is ultimately, why was the City of Victoria discussing potential 6 storeys in all areas of the city with a development/real estate lobby that it is a paying member of?

Is the City of Victoria representing the residents of the City of Victoria, or has the City of Victoria become captured by the development/real estate lobby?

See also:

Index of articles regarding lobby events and other meetings between government and lobbyists. – CRD Watch Homepage

A ‘developer’s wet dream and a renter’s nightmare’: Victoria plans for growth – Saanich News