Community Association Land Use Committee

The CALUC is a volunteer committee that researches community opinion on land use in our neighbourhood. The CALUC helps our neighbours engage in community planning by providing opportunities and processes to collect and forward residents’ comments to City Council. The CALUC reviews a variety of development applications & proposals for rezoning in the Fairfield and Gonzales areas, and hears and records public input on these matters.  The CALUC has no decision-making authority over proposed developments, and all decisions are made by the city.  Residents may also provide input by writing to City Council, attending Council meetings, as well as talking to City councillors.  Community Meeting General Info.

COVID-19 update

• The FGCA CALUC is continuing to host both preliminary and public meetings for all prospective developments as per established practice. Meetings will be held either in person, online, or both. Please check this page regularly for updates. Applicants for all developments are to contact CALUC at planandzone@fairfieldcommunity.ca.
• Please note that the City of Victoria will send out notices to community members who reside within 100m of a proposed development for the temporary alternate process of community engagement where plans are presented on the City’s development tracker and a comment box is provided to community members for a 30-days period. Should the applicant and the CALUC agree to hold a virtual community meeting in addition to this process, the information will be shared on the FGCA website, sent to FGCA members via email and posted on the social media platforms of Fairfield Gonzales Nextdoor and Fairfield Gonzales Local FaceBook. More info on changes to procedures is below.

Meeting Dates and Time (meetings may be cancelled if project applicants choose to only use the City’s temporary alternate Community Meeting process):

2nd and 4th Thursday of each month (may change according to needs, please check dates below)
Time: 7:00pm-9:00pm

Location: Currently online only

2021: June 10, June 24, July 8, July 22, Aug 12, Aug 26, Sept 9, Sept 23, Oct 14, Oct 28, Nov 25, Dec 9. 

Email planandzone@fairfieldcommunity.ca for information or to get on the agenda.

CALUC members: Joanna Fox (chair), David Molinski (vice-chair), Kevin White, Don Monsour, Michael Hirsch, Dave Thompson, Owen Sieffert

Agenda items for Upcoming Community Meetings

Past Meetings

Minutes of past community meetings are posted here.

Temporary alternate development process during COVID-19

In early July 2020, City of Victoria Council adopted the necessary bylaw amendments for the alternate approach to Community Meetings between representatives of proposed developments and the community. This was done in response to concerns regarding various factors influencing public engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic, input received from the CALUCs, and challenges associated with various forms of remote engagement. City staff provided recommendations to Council with an alternate approach to undertaking community consultation for rezoning and OCP amendment development applications during the pandemic. City staff felt that the temporary alternate process meets the intent of the CALUC pre-application application review process, mirrors that process as much as possible, and is as accessible and inclusive for CALUCs, applicants and the public, as much as possible, regardless of capacity and individual circumstances.

In summary, the City is not recommending any changes to the initial Preliminary Meeting between the applicant and the CALUCs. However, given the current health orders and the need for physical distancing, there are, for some CALUCs, greater challenges with coordinating the formal Community Meeting. To ensure that the community has the opportunity to learn about and comment on these applications, and for the applicant to benefit from this feedback, a temporary alternative approach was developed. Here are the steps:

• After the preliminary meeting with the CALUC, the applicant must complete the Proposed Development Notice and get sign off from the CALUC. Application plans will be posted on the City’s Development Tracker website for viewing for a minimum of 30 days to allow for feedback from the community prior to an application being submitted to the City. To post the plans on the Development Tracker, the applicant provides the completed Notice Form, plans, summary letter, and pre-application fee to the City. These documents must be emailed to zoning@victoria.ca(staff will provide instructions for how to complete payment once email is received)
• The existing practices around providing notification to the public would be maintained but adapted to direct people to the Development Tracker. (mail out of notice to those who live 100m of the proposed development or land use change, or 200m of the proposed development or land use change that also involves an amendment to the OCP; paid for by applicant)
• An online comment form connects to the Development Tracker to allow the public to provide comments directly to the CALUC, with copies to the applicant, the City and the CALUC. Public must also include their address. City staff will review comments and provide a summary for the Committee of the Whole.
• The applicant’s contact information is provided so that the public can directly ask questions and discuss the proposal with them.
• Should the applicant wish to continue to hold Community Meetings, the CALUC will arrange the meeting, following the relevant Provincial Orders and guidelines. During this period, the City is not mailing notices to community members within 100/200m of the proposed site for in-person meetings during the pandemic. The CALUC will continue to summarize the Community Meeting in a report that is posted on its website and provide it to the City.

City of Victoria ~ Sustainable Planning & Community Development

Visit the above link to find information and direction around development, zoning and Community Association Land Use Committees (CALUC)

The City of Victoria’s Terms of Reference for all CALUCs can be found here.

City of Victoria ~ on-line tool to access information portals

The  Development Tracker follows the progress of rezoning applications and will be of interest to both applicants and neighbourhood residents. Once a proposal has been filed with the City, the status of current Fairfield-Gonzales projects (as well as all others) may be reviewed by clicking the link above

City of Victoria ~ Maps

To view all City of Victoria neighbourhoods on one map, visit this link.

Also see individual maps of:

Fairfield Neighbourhood Boundary

Gonzales Neighbourhood Boundary