[CBRA Chair Eric] Dahli looks forward to an interesting 2018. “[It] is going to be fun,” he said.
The list of issues that dominated 2017 is a long one, but none looms larger than the various controversies both large and small around a controversial bylaw designed to protect environmentally sensitive areas (ESAs) — the Environmental Development Permit Area (EDPA) bylaw.
Saanich council voted 5-4 to strike this bylaw from its books, a move that did not necessarily end the various controversies, but only intensified.
Dahli predicts that the debate around the EDPA will die in 2018, only to start all over again with the municipal election of Oct. 20, 2018. “I sure hope the ego factor will not get in the way of some good results,” he said.
Overall, Dahli says Saanich offers a lot, but he would also like to see it become more confident in its dealings. Saanich, for example, gets no credit for its pivotal role in the Capital Regional District. “Saanich is like the [mid-western region] in the U.S.A., the ‘fly-over states’ and the bread basket of the area when combined with Central and North Saanich.” He says there is too much focus falls on downtown Victoria, as well as the airport and ferry terminal.
