Appendix D: Glossary

Agricultural Land: Agricultural land (farm land) is comprised of areas that support the growing, producing, raising or keeping of animals and plants allowed by British Columbia’s various Acts and Regulations. This refers to land designated as agricultural land under the Agricultural Land Commission Act or by municipal or regional governments within land use bylaws. The definition also includes land assessed as farm land.

Attached housing Any form of housing where more than two individual dwellings are structurally attached including townhouses, apartments regardless of tenure, stacked townhouses and the like.

Capital Green Lands Policy Area See Land Use Designation definition on page 11.

Climate Change A change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity.⁷

⁷ Based on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change definition.

Complete Community Multiple–use urban community that contains within its boundaries the full range of facilities and activities necessary to meet typical household needs for employment, shopping, personal services, recreation, housing, education and other goods and services.

Core Municipalities The Capital Region sub–region that includes the municipalities of Victoria, Esquimalt, Oak Bay, Saanich and View Royal.

Density A measure of the intensity of occupancy and use of the land, generally described in terms of persons per hectare, or dwelling units per hectare, or a ratio of the built floor area of a structure to the area of the lot it occupies.

Framework For Our Future Agreement An agreement approved by the Capital Regional District Board on July 15, 1998 that set out the scope, overall vision, priority areas and guiding principles for the preparation of the Regional Growth Strategy.

Food Security: A multi-faceted condition which ensures that community residents have access to safe, affordable, culturally acceptable, nutritionally adequate diet through a system that maximizes community self-reliance, environmental sustainability and social justice.

Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Gases in the earth’s atmosphere that absorb and re-emit infrared radiation. These gases occur through both natural and human-influenced processes. GHG emitted through human activities include carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide (N2O), methane (CH4), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulphur hexafluoride (SF6).

Growth management Implementation of government regulations that control the type, location, quality, scale, rate, sequence or timing of development. More generally, the whole range of policies designed to control, guide or mitigate the effects of growth. By attempting to guide growth rather than react to its effects, communities engaged in growth management assume a proactive stance in ensuring that the very qualities that attract growth are not destroyed for existing residents and future generations.

Healthy ecosystems Terrestrial, riparian and shoreline areas with high ecological value that support habitat and biodiversity, support rare, threatened or endangered plant and animal species and contribute to the continued functioning of natural processes such as groundwater infiltration, water purification, air filtration, carbon sequestration and soil nutrient management. Healthy ecosystems could be on developed, partly developed or undeveloped public and private spaces.

Housing affordability Generally describes a condition in which housing costs consume no more than 30% of gross household income (unless by choice); including taxes and insurance (for owners) and utilities (for owners and renters). Applies to both market and non-market (subsidized) dwellings.

Infrastructure The physical capital and associated services considered basic and necessary to the functioning of the built environment. These include such things as: sanitary sewers, treatment plants, and water pipelines and distribution/collection systems; roads, signals, sidewalks and other components of the transportation system including transit vehicles, ferries and airports; solid waste management facilities including transfer stations and landfills; and, energy supply and distribution systems including hydroelectric and natural gas transmission and distribution systems. More generally, infrastructure can refer to other tangible public and private assets necessary to support the development of a modern urban settlement, such as hospitals, schools and recreation facilities. In some cases, preserved green space and natural areas including forests, wetlands, and stream corridors have been described as a “green infrastructure”, essential to the vitality of healthy human communities.

Mixed–use Land use regulations that permit a variety of different uses and activities either on one legal parcel or within one defined land use zone. The classic example of a mixed use district is a historical downtown core that contains a wide range of residential, business, service, institutional, cultural, recreational and industrial uses within a relatively small area; in many cases, a wide range of different uses within individual buildings or on single sites.

Official Community Plan (OCP) Under Section 471 of the Local Government Act, a general statement of the broad objectives and policies of the local government respecting the form and character of existing and proposed land use and servicing requirements in the area covered by the plan.

Peninsula The sub–region of the Capital Regional District including the municipalities of Central Saanich, Sidney, and North Saanich.

Regional Context Statement Under Section 446 of the Local Government Act, a statement, accepted by the regional district board, included in a municipal official community plan within two years of the adoption of the Regional Growth Strategy, that explains the relationship between the official community plan and the Regional Growth Strategy.

Regional Growth Strategy (RGS) Under Part 13 of the Local Government Act, a regional agreement (including a vision, goals, policies and actions) that commits affected municipalities and regional districts to a course of action to meet common social, economic and environmental objectives. It is initiated and adopted by a regional district and referred to all affected local governments for acceptance.

Regional Multi-Modal Network The interconnected transportation corridors defined in the Regional Transportation Plan. The multi-modal network provides for connectivity across modes (walking, cycling, transit and driving) and describes the backbone of the region’s transportation system. The corridors that comprise the network are prioritized based on expected demand for two or more transportation modes.

Renewable Resource Lands Policy Area See Land Use Designation definition on page 11.

Rural / Rural Residential Policy Area See Land Use Designation definition on page 12.

Sea to Sea Green/Blue Belt A band of watersheds running between Saanich Inlet and Sooke Basin that includes major parks and Capital Regional District Water lands.

Target A desired level of performance set for a specific situation in a plan or program. The time horizon for all targets is 2038.

Urban Containment Policy Area See Land Use Designation definition on pages 11-12.

Urban Containment Policy Area Boundary The area contained within a regulatory boundary (an urban containment boundary) marking the limit between a defined urban growth and servicing area and other areas such as rural and resource areas, where urban growth is discouraged.