With plans underway to change the look and feel of Saanich’s four-kilometre stretch of Shelbourne Street, progress is expected to come to a head this coming year as a draft plan is anticipated to be before council by summer.
Saanich planner Harold Stanley says the 30-year plan, which focuses on creating a balanced transportation system and areas of densification near urban centres, will go to the public in the spring, too.
Open houses were held in late 2012 to gather feedback on land-use and transportation studies. Saanich will now put that feedback to practice and create the Shelbourne Valley Action Plan.
The planned spring open houses, as well as focus groups, will give Saanichites a first look at the comprehensive long-term vision, and to ensure planners have “covered all the bases” when it comes to residents’ concerns surrounding transportation and density, Stanley said.
Construction on two major projects along the corridor – Gardiners Green (residential) north of University Heights Shopping Centre and the Paragon Building (commercial) on Cedar Hill Cross Road – began in 2012, and are both expected to be complete in 2013.