History

Summary of how we got here ...

(2025) District announces dates for presentation of civic redevelopment options.

(2025) Mayor Ryan Windsor votes to eliminate the rights of residents to vote on major capital projects.

(2025) The District announces dates for presentations of the revised civic redevelopment options decided by Council. The public had no opportunity to offer options of its own.

(2025) Council approves 2025 financial budget. Included in the budget are capital costs totaling $55M dollars for a new municipal complex plus additional huge increases in staffing levels needed to support the project.

(2025) The District hires an architectural consultant to design options for the civic redevelopment.

(2025) After significant opposition from the community, Council revises its commitment to build a new municipal complex on Hovey Road and considers other options, including expanding the Hovey Road concept to include recreational facilities, and abandoning the Hovey Road concept completely to instead build a new municipal complex on the Mt. Newton site.

(2025) The District initiates an online poll requesting input from the community on options for the civic redevelopment. The only options listed in the poll were those that were provided Council and staff. The public had no opportunity to offer their own options.

(2024) Mayor Ryan Windsor refuses to disclose how much the District has spent on legal fees related to the Hovey Road expropriation lawsuit.

(2024) The Office of Information and Privacy Commission opens an FOI case against the District of Central Saanich.

(2024) A Central Saanich resident initiates a Freedom of Information request to view the secret Kasian report. The District responds to the FOI request by providing the Kasian report with ALL PAGES FULLY REDACTED, meaning completely blacked out.

(2024) The previous owner of the expropriated Hovey Road property files a BC Supreme Court lawsuit against the District, claiming that the expropriation negatively impacted its business. The claim in the lawsuit is believed to be for millions of dollars more than the District has already payed.

(2024) Mayor Ryan Windsor announces for the first time that a key component of a new municipal complex is the sale of the municipal property at 1903 Mt. Newton Road to private developers.

(2024) The District begins presentations describing the scope of the civic redevelopment plans for Hovey Road.

(2024) The former owner of the expropriated land on Hovey Rd launches and wins an appeal against the District, claiming that the land assessment used to determine the price of the property was too low. The successful appeal results in the District having to pay an additional $1.5M.

(2024) Mayor Ryan Windsor announces that the District has expropriated land on Hovey Road that was planned for senior's housing. Windsor informs the community the expropriated land will instead be used for a massive new municipal hall complex. Council deemed the price of the land to be $3.1M. Windsor claims that asbestos and seismic issues are the reason a new municipal complex is needed, but refuses to provide the community with proof of that claim. When asked what would happen with the current municipal site on Mt. Newton Road, he refused to answer.

(2023) Council commissions secret Kasian report which becomes the basis for the planning of a massive civic redevelopment project.

(2015) Levelton Consulting report recommends a managed maintenance approach to maximize municipal buildings efficiency and longevity at the most economical costs. The report suggests that using this approach will extend the useful life of the Mount Newton facilities into 2035.