The District of Saanich: creating new housing by re-envisioning policy

August 20, 2024

Katharine Stanbridge

At the District of Saanich, ArcGIS Urban has enabled users to generate multiple 3D scenarios accompanied by statistical metrics and GIS intelligence. 3D massing models let them evaluate concepts against zoning and existing policies to assess the impact on the urban fabric, the environment and well-being of the residents. ArcGIS Urban has also enabled the visualization of potential transportation and land use changes, combining street redesign and building massing concepts.

The District of Saanich is the largest and most populous municipality in Greater Victoria on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The District, alongside other BC municipalities, was mandated by the Province of British Columbia to increase and accelerate the delivery of new housing units in the next five years. To accomplish this, Saanich is updating its planning and land use policies to accommodate this target, which requires an approximate tripling of the current new unit production.

“In order to address community housing needs, a greater onus is placed on planning work that provides clear policy direction that fosters new projects.” —Cameron Scott, Manager of Community Planning, District of Saanich

Saanich’s Housing Needs Report has indicated an acute need for a greater supply and diversity of housing. Housing growth is targeted for Centres, Corridors and Villages that are supported by frequent transit and walkable amenities. The Community Planning department has initiated the development of Centre, Corridor and Village Plans to support this growth, which includes communication with residents via a public engagement process, so that residents have the opportunity to provide input and help shape the future of the District.

A screenshot of ArcGIS Urban showing the landscape of the District of Saanich with new buildings visualized, and metrics on the right.

Saanich used ArcGIS Urban to conduct in-depth impact studies and visualize potential change for the public and internal stakeholders.

Saanich selected ArcGIS Urban as the most suitable tool to conduct a range of in-depth impact studies and to visualize the change for the public and internal stakeholders. One of the first studies being developed is the Quadra McKenzie Plan, which identifies land use change over the next 20–30 years.

Saanich used ArcGIS Urban to:

test a range of development scenarios;
produce analytics to support decision-making; and
effectively visualize the change for stakeholders.

Saanich used proprietary GIS data to generate a LiDAR-derived virtual testing environment in the form of 3D basemaps for its entire area, covering over 100 square kilometres.

ArcGIS Urban enabled the District to generate multiple 3D scenarios accompanied by statistical metrics and GIS intelligence. 3D massing models let them evaluate concepts against zoning and existing policies to assess the impact on the urban fabric, the environment and well-being of the residents. ArcGIS Urban also enabled the visualization of potential transportation and land use changes, combining street redesign and building massing concepts.

A screenshot of the District of Saanich model in ArcGIS Urban with new buildings proposed.

ArcGIS Urban allowed the District of Saanich to look at future growth scenarios and assess the impacts of these scenarios on the community.

“The powers of Urban allowed us to look at what those scenarios might be and assess some of the impacts. This assessment included looking at how we transition different building heights and the design typologies we want around parks.” —Cameron Scott, Manager of Community Planning, District of Saanich

The modelling work that the Community Planning department completed on the Quadra McKenzie Plan was the first of the kind in the District and is being followed by several studies. Saanich is on the way to accomplishing its goal of testing the proposed solutions to meet housing mandates and engaging with residents to build the future of the city.

A screenshot of the visualization of the Quadra McKenzie study in ArcGIS Urban.

A visualization of the Quadra McKenzie study done in ArcGIS Urban.

Territorial acknowledgement

We acknowledge that the District of Saanich lies within the territories of the lək ̓ ʷəŋən peoples represented by the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations and the W̱ SÁNEĆ peoples represented by the W̱ JOȽEȽP (Tsartlip), BOḰEĆEN (Pauquachin), SȾÁUTW̱ (Tsawout), W̱ SIḴEM (Tseycum) and MÁLEXEȽ (Malahat) Nations.

Want to see how your own city’s housing policy can affect its urban landscape, or better understand how intensification will affect your residents? Learn more about ArcGIS Urban at esri.ca/urban.