View Royal plans for 2050, looking to carve out its own space between big neighbours

Positioned between some of the largest urban growth engines in the South Island—Langford, Victoria, and Saanich—View Royal is hoping to define its future on its own terms. Often seen as a bedroom community to Victoria or a gateway to the Westshore, the town is on a mission to create a unique vision for itself. 

Being a smaller part of that larger whole is tricky business. 

“Given the growth View Royal has experienced, as well as our neighbour municipalities, looking into the future it is difficult,” Mayor Sid Tobias told The Westshore, “when it comes to incorporating the best in urban planning.”

“Getting planning right on buildings that have a lifetime of 50 years or more has never been more important.”

It’s council’s hope that a vision will come out of a comprehensive update to its Official Community Plan (OCP), dubbed View Royal 2050: Our Future View. The project aims to guide the town’s growth and development over the next 25 years. To that end, the town is implementing a robust public engagement process that it hopes will ensure the plan reflects the values and aspirations of its residents.

The public engagement survey launched by the town is due by the end of  Sunday Feb. 16 and includes key questions relating to housing, development, and transportation.

Tobias wants anyone who lives or works in View Royal to weigh in. “Council values your opinions and knowledge to help shape the future of our town,” he said, “to ensure its future is built on inclusion.”

The importance of an OCP

An Official Community Plan is a document that sets the framework for a municipality’s anticipated growth and development. It outlines the vision, policies, and goals that will shape council decisions around aspects such as: 

• land use

• housing

• transportation

• parks

• environmental stewardship

• climate action

• economic development

 OCPs are not totally static once introduced, though; they can be used by municipal lawmakers as a kind of barometer to respond, through bylaw amendments, to the wishes and changing needs of residents. For example, Colwood recently amended its OCP in response to the province’s 2023 Housing Supply Act (Bill 43) and Bill 47, regarding quotas and zoning for housing around transit oriented areas (TOAs) respectively.  

The town at the crossroads… is at a crossroads

One of the most crucial aspects of View Royal 2050 is the town’s vision for its role in regional transportation networks. One of those points of insertion is the Island Highway corridor. In 2023, the federal government announced $13.2 in funding to facilitate the growth of rapid bus service in the region through the creation of dedicated bus and bicycle lanes along Island Highway in View Royal.

The area between Admirals Road and the ‘Colwood Strip’ is envisioned as a high-density town centre.

The municipality seeks to transform its stretch of the highway into a more dynamic hub with residential, commercial, and recreational spaces that will provide new opportunities for residents and businesses.

All of this, though, is ultimately up to the townspeople.

Latest of several OCP updates across Westshore 

View Royal residents aren't the only Wesrshore residents revamping their OCP—or the only ones who have been at it for a few years. Langford began new consultations last fall.

Colwood’s most current Official Community Plan was adopted in 2022 but still refers to Bylaw No. 1700 (2018). Its OCP planning process took place over three phases which included its Making Waves public engagement campaign that was launched in fall 2016.

Sooke’s OCP is has long been on hold, but now—5 years after it first began its Visioning and Growth public engagement process—it intends to complete the process by the end of 2025. One of the hang-ups in arriving at a final draft of an OCP has been its deferred response to the province’s rigid housing quota, a quota which mayor Maja Tait has said ignores infrastructure deficits and other service concerns outlined in its What We Heard 2025 budget document. 

All BC municipalities must finalize their first review and update of their Official Community Plans and zoning bylaws, based on interim Housing Needs Reports by December 31, 2025.

Last year Sooke and View Royal both applied for extensions to the provincial requirement that cities update zoning to allow for more small-scale density. They argued that local infrastructure needed more time to catch up. When the applications were rejected, View Royal went through with the density increases while Sooke has continued to hold out.

Municipalities have pivoted to more public engagement to minimize OCP backlash 

View Royal began the process of updating its 2011 OCP in 2020-2022. In an election year that saw OCPs become polarizing in other local munis such as Sooke and North Saanich, View Royal ultimately chose to put off finishing the process until after the 2022 election. 

Following that 2022 election, some regional councils found themselves struggling to address contention around rates of growth, taxation, and new provincial housing density demands. These issues put municipal processes under increasing scrutiny, and sometimes outright animosity (as in Langford).

Like Colwood and Sooke, View Royal has operated in the limbo of due diligence for quite some time. That time must come to an eventual end. 

Local munis such as Langford, and most recently Saanich, have opted to make amendments to walk back certain proposed elements of their civic planning and to consult further with the public. 

It was with similar caution that View Royal decided to outright set aside the 2022 draft and try for a more comprehensive approach to community engagement. Mayor Tobias has said that during the 2022 election campaign he often heard concerns about lack of engagement. The town heard from some 600+ respondents across several stages in 2021-22, but there were Covid-related limitations on parts of that process.

In September 2024, council adopted the International Association of Public Participation’s Framework. This provides guidance for maximizing opportunities to incorporate the public’s views into municipal planning. This framework set the groundwork for the public engagement process that informs View Royal 2025.

Finding identity as a small municipality

For View Royal, the OCP update is particularly important as the town looks to navigate emerging challenges and opportunities as a relatively small wedge of a rapidly growing region. View Royal 2050 will be the fourth OCP since the town's incorporation in 1988. Since the current plan was finished in 2011, the town’s population has grown from 9,381 to 11,900+. 

The old plan referred to the town as a "bedroom community" for the nearby city of Victoria, with a suburban character optimized for cars rather than pedestrians. While the town offers family-friendly neighborhoods and access to natural spaces, the OCP acknowledged that it lacked the vibrancy and amenities of a more bustling urban center. 

For some, the initial appeal of a sleepy community can tip into the negative.

View Royal’s appeal is broad and speaks to its quirky position as a more muted patch in the regional quilt. In a Reddit thread that asked locals if they recommend living there, user Julie Magliari summed it up this way: “View Royal is classic suburbia: single-family detached housing, safe neighborhoods, great place to raise school-age kids, and optimized for driving. But there isn’t a ton to do. If you don’t have kids or access to a vehicle, this can get pretty boring pretty quick.” 

But urban amenities and activities aren't everything. Based on data it collected from 448 cities across Canada with a population exceeding 10,000 the Globe and Mail’s 2024 list ranked View Royal as one of the 20 Most Livable Canadian Cities for Entrepreneurs. Their evaluation analyzed 50 variables across 10 key categories identified for individuals contemplating a move—including economy, housing, demographics, health care, safety, education, community, amenities, transportation, and climate. 

View Royal can choose how to develop what it wants to be beyond a pass-through—but m it also does function as a junction between the major parts of the region. That means it still has to answer to the transportation and development pressures of those larger communities that surround it. 

Carry-overs from 2011 in key goals of View Royal 2050 

The OCP update comes at a time when the town is preparing for growth and change. In 2011, former Mayor Graham Hill set the framework for an updated version of OCP in the two-page Community Vision Statement.

The 2011 plan incorporated nine key goals, with the top three being:

• Promote a strong sense of community: “View Royal aims to strengthen the sense of community across all neighborhoods, enhancing its parks, trails, recreational facilities, and waterfront to build a unique identity.”

• Create an inclusive and diverse community: “The OCP aims to provide housing, transportation, and services that cater to people from diverse backgrounds, cultures, ages, and economic means. This goal envisions a town that is accessible and welcoming to all.”

• Balance growth with natural beauty: “As View Royal grows, it will maintain its strong connection with its natural environment, preserving the qualities that make the community unique while accommodating development.” 

The town is home to natural gems like Thetis Regional Park, Francis Hill Regional, and Craigflower Creek. In the face of the pressures of urban growth, climate change, and other forest health concerns, the town is hoping to have a full draft of its Urban Forest Strategy by September. The strategy will form a part of the larger OCP. 

Timeline for View Royal’s engagement process

The OCP update process will unfold over three phases, beginning in January 2025. The first phase will focus on gathering public input through various engagement activities, including in-person meetings, workshops, the survey, and online consultations. Residents will be encouraged to share their thoughts on the town's future and provide feedback on the proposed direction.

By April 2025, the town hopes to release a What We Heard Report (WWHR), summarizing the feedback collected during this first round of engagement. Following this, a second round of public engagement will take place between May and June 2025. The town expects to present a full working draft of the OCP by August 2025, and then a public hearing and series of bylaw adoption processes will be initiated by October.

You can engage at https://engage.viewroyal.ca/view-royal-2050