Saanich council is moving forward on a plan to transform an area near Uptown.
"Our plans refer to it as creating the 'heart' of Saanich. Or creating a downtown," says Mayor Dean Murdock.
The Uptown Douglas Action Plan was discussed by council this week and they agreed on terms-of-reference for pre-zoning the area covered by the plan.
The area in question is between Blanshard and Douglas running from Mayfair Shopping Centre to the Uptown Shopping Centre. The area will be pre-zoned in a way that creates new uses beyond the current emphasis on light industrial.
"We want to create more homes and those will be in larger buildings.... as well as commercial services, amenities and creating more public realms at the street level, so it becomes less of a transportation through-way and more of place where people would want to gather and spend time.”
Murdock says the plans are more than five years in the making and follow consultation with residents and businesses in the area.
The Uptown Douglas Action Plan dovetails with the recent announcement from the province on additional close-to-transit housing near Uptown.