WHAT WE HEARD REPORT Phase 1: Western Gateway Community Corridor Engagement
A detailed report on the engagement process and feedback received regarding land use scenarios for the Western Gateway area.
WHAT WE HEARD REPORT
Phase 1: Western Gateway Community Corridor Engagement
January 2026
Table of contents
Contents
ABOUT THE VIEW ROYAL 2050 OFFICIAL COMMUNITY PLAN
- About the View Royal 2020 Official Community Plan .... 4
- Process .... 4
- OCP Engagement Touchpoints .... 5
- OVERALL OCP ENGAGEMENT OBJECTIVES .... 5
- AUDIENCE .... 6
- ENGAGEMENT APPROACH .... 6
- PUBLIC PARTICIPATION AND COMMITMENT .... 6
WHAT WE DID: ENGAGEMENT TOUCHPOINT 4 .... 7
- Engagement Touchpoint 4 Objectives .... 8
- How We Spread The Word .... 8
- PROJECT PAGE ON ENGAGE VIEW ROYAL .... 8
- TOWN’S OFFICIAL WEBSITE .... 9
- SOCIAL MEDIA .... 9
- INSIDE VIEW ROYAL E-NEWSLETTER .... 9
- POSTERS .... 10
- RESIDENT AND BUSINESS COMMUNITY LETTERS .... 10
- STAKEHOLDER EMAILS .... 10
- NEWSPAPER AD .... 10
- NEWS RELEASES .... 11
WHAT WE HEARD: ENGAGEMENT TOUCHPOINT 4 .... 12
- WESTERN GATEWAY COMMUNITY CORRIDOR SURVEY .... 12
- Scenario 1: High Growth .... 13
- Scenario 2: Medium Growth .... 15
- Scenario 3: Low Growth .... 16
- OVERALL THEMES .... 17
- WHO PARTICIPATED .... 18
- Demographic Questions .... 33
- COMMUNITY WORKSHOP .... 39
- OPEN HOUSES .... 43
- Additional Comments (Unstructured/No Question) .... 47
FOCUS GROUP: BUSINESS & LAND OWNER WORKSHOP .... 49
- Next Steps .... 52
- Appendix A: Open House Display Boards .... 53
- Appendix B: Community Workshop Feedback (October 18) .... 65
- Appendix C: Open House Feedback .... 73
ABOUT THE VIEW ROYAL 2050 OFFICIAL COMMUNITY PLAN
The Official Community Plan (OCP) is a blueprint and will help define what we envision for View Royal over the next 20 years. As a key municipal document, it reflects community values and guides decisions on land use, housing, transportation, parks, environmental stewardship, economic development, and more.
The OCP is a living document, updated periodically to stay relevant as the community evolves and grows. View Royal’s last comprehensive OCP update was adopted in 2011. While the current OCP has served our community well, there are opportunities to review what policies, objectives, goals, and guidelines within the Plan are working, what isn’t and what we need to do to prepare for our future needs and wants.
Process
View Royal 2050 is a multi-year process with three phases. The review and update of the OCP began in January of 2025, and is expected to conclude in 2027/2028. In each of the three phases, there will be a focus on key topics and content that will be reviewed to update the OCP. During each phase there will be consultation that includes both in-person events and online tools. This approach balances technical analysis with community feedback to shape a long-term vision and policies that reflect residents’ needs for the OCP.
We are currently at the end of Phase 1, focusing on the Western Gateway Community Corridor, a special planning area.
OCP Engagement Touchpoints
Through the View Royal 2050 process, the Town has completed four rounds of engagement. The first engagement touchpoint, Visioning and Guiding Principles, ran from January 24 to February 18, 2025, and the feedback collected is summarized in the Phase 1: Visioning and Guiding Principles Survey What We Heard report. The second round of engagement, Phase 1: How We Grow, took place from March 7 to April 4, 2025, with results captured in the Phase 1: How We Grow Engagement What We Heard report. The third touchpoint, Vision and Goals, ran from July 18 to September 7, 2025.
The fourth engagement touchpoint (Western Gateway Community Corridor) took place from October 10 to November 7, 2025. What we heard during this engagement is summarized in this report and will be used by the Town to identify future land use options for the area, including opportunities for new housing, businesses, services, and employment space.
The following section provides a summary of the Town’s Communications and Engagement Strategy for the OCP review and update.
OVERALL OCP ENGAGEMENT OBJECTIVES
The guiding objectives and principles of the OCP review and update include the following:
- Inclusive: offer multiple methods or platforms for engagement, including online and in-person;
- Educate: provide and share information to educate and inform the community to help them understand how their involvement shapes their future community;
- Engage: identify, engage, consult, and listen to a range of stakeholders;
- Establish: objectives, guidelines, and policies that are measurable and actionable;
- Demonstrate: active listening by staff and Council, by incorporating feedback;
- Transparency and accountability: open dialogue between stakeholders and decision makers;
- Address: challenges that pose risk to our community and opportunities that pose a reward;
- Communicate: clear, concise, communication which avoids the use of jargon to ensure all those involved understand and participate in the process; and
- Adaptability, learning, and improvement: openness to learn and improve with the understanding that stakeholder and community interests and needs and wants change.
AUDIENCE
- View Royal residents
- View Royal business owners
- View Royal community organizations
- View Royal staff
- View Royal Mayor and Council
The project team also encouraged people that may not live in View Royal but work and play in View Royal to participate in the process. This approach recognizes that View Royal is located between many neighbouring municipalities and serves as both a corridor and destination for those that live outside our municipal borders.
ENGAGEMENT APPROACH
The consultation process was designed in alignment with the International Association of Public Participation (IAP2) spectrum and core values. For more information on IAP2 visit: www.iap2.org
The engagement process for View Royal 2050 aims to engage at the “consult” level on the IAP2 spectrum of engagement. Council has previously endorsed the use of IAP2 principles, which will guide public engagement through the OCP review and update.
PUBLIC PARTICIPATION AND COMMITMENT
The project’s Communications and Engagement Strategy identifies the need to engage with the community across three levels of public participation, including “inform”, “consult”, and “involve”, which follows the IAP2 spectrum of public participation. The project team is committed to ensuring that participants in this process are informed and are heard, and that concerns raised, and feedback received will help inform the review and update process moving forward.
WHAT WE DID: ENGAGEMENT TOUCHPOINT 4
The fourth engagement touchpoint focused on the Western Gateway Community Corridor, a special planning area along Island Highway between the Colwood border and the Atkins Interchange. This corridor plays a vital role in connecting neighbourhoods, businesses, parks, and transit, including the Blink RapidBus line and Galloping Goose Trail.
In May and June 2025, Council, through an open Council Meeting, determined that the scope of the Western Gateway Community Corridor as is currently defined in the 2011 Official Community Plan should be expanded, for the purpose of exploring this area as an employment hub that may be supported by higher density mixed residential commercial land uses.
Through this engagement, the Town explored three future land use options for this area to consider opportunities for:
- businesses and services
- employment space
- new housing options
- improved connections for people walking, cycling, rolling, and driving.
What we heard will help shape how this area evolves over the coming decade.
Engagement Touchpoint 4 Objectives
The objectives of this engagement touchpoint included:
- Providing information that is relevant and easy to understand, particularly about what an OCP is and how it will be used in the future;
- Raising awareness of the project and of opportunities to provide input;
- Sharing the information about the Western Gateway Community Corridor and gathering support and feedback on three future land use options being considered for the area;
- Inspiring dialogue and participation using digital and in-person methods of communication; and
- Demonstrating that the project team has listened and incorporated community input gathered during the engagement period.
How We Spread The Word
Multiple methods, both digital and print, were used to inform the community of the OCP update during this engagement touchpoint. A list of all methods is included below:
- View Royal 2050 webpage (engage.viewroyal.ca/view-royal-2050);
- Town’s official website (viewroyal.ca);
- Social media (Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky);
- Inside View Royal e-newsletter;
- Engage View Royal subscriber campaigns;
- Posters;
- Hand-delivered letters;
- Stakeholder e-mails;
- Newspaper ad; and
- News releases.
The following section provides a summary of the outcomes from the tools used to promote this engagement touchpoint.
PROJECT PAGE ON ENGAGE VIEW ROYAL
The View Royal 2050 project webpage was first updated on September 25, 2025, to thank those who completed the Vision survey and to briefly highlight the next focus of the OCP update. A second update on October 3 outlined the upcoming engagement opportunities for this touchpoint, including the community workshop, open houses, and online survey. An email was also sent to project subscribers on October 3 to share these opportunities and encourage participation in the engagement period.
Between September 25, 2025, and November 7, 2025, the webpage was viewed 668 times by 366 visitors. Over the same period, 12 people subscribed to follow the project page, bringing the total number of subscribers to 143.
Since the project launch on January 24, 2025, to the close of the fourth round of engagement on November 7, 2025, the project webpage has received 4,425 views by 2,444 visitors.
The webpage can be found at: engage.viewroyal.ca/view-royal-2050
TOWN’S OFFICIAL WEBSITE
During this engagement period, the OCP update was prominently featured on the Town’s website, viewroyal.ca, homepage. In addition, three “What’s New” notices were sent to subscribers to support ongoing promotion and awareness:
- October 3: Announced the focus of the fourth engagement touchpoint and promoted upcoming opportunities to provide input.
- October 15: Announced the launch of the Western Gateway Community Corridor survey and highlighted upcoming in-person engagement events.
- October 31: While the primary focus of this notice was to share details about the Policy Review engagement, it also included a reminder about the Western Gateway Community Corridor survey and encouraged community members to participate before it closed.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Between October 1, 2025, and November 7, 2025, content was shared on the Town’s social media accounts to promote the project and encourage public participation.
INSIDE VIEW ROYAL E-NEWSLETTER
The September and October 2025 editions of Inside View Royal, the Town’s monthly e-newsletter, featured articles about the Western Gateway Community Corridor engagement and highlighted opportunities to participate. The OCP review and update was also featured in Fall and Winter edition of View Royal News, the Town’s bi-annual newsletter. The newsletter was issued on October 1, 2025.
POSTERS
Posters with information about the Western Gateway Community Corridor engagement touchpoint and a QR code linking to the website were created and posted at bus stops and community boards along the corridor.
RESIDENT AND BUSINESS COMMUNITY LETTERS
Two letters were prepared for property owners and residents within the Western Gateway Community Corridor. The resident letter outlined the purpose of this engagement touchpoint and encouraged participation in the survey, open houses, and workshop. The letter for property and business owners provided the same information and additionally invited them to a focus group specifically intended for those who own land or operate a business along the corridor.
Staff had planned to mail these letters; however, the nationwide Canada Post strike made this approach unfeasible. To ensure residents, businesses, and property owners within the corridor received timely notice, staff hand-delivered the letters to every business along the corridor and to 50 nearby homes. Staff also coordinated with the strata managers of two apartment buildings within the study area to distribute the letter to their residents.
STAKEHOLDER EMAILS
During this engagement touchpoint, an email was sent to approximately 250 stakeholders outlining the Western Gateway Community Corridor engagement and the opportunities to participate.
NEWSPAPER AD
A print ad was placed in the October 15 edition of the Goldstream Gazette. The ad raised awareness for the OCP update and encouraged participation in the survey, open-houses and workshops.
NEWS RELEASES
On October 15, 2025, a news release about the Western Gateway Community Corridor engagement was distributed to local media highlighting the purpose of the engagement and opportunities to participate. The news release led to earned media coverage, with Island Social Trends publishing an article the same day.