Shelbourne Valley as an ‘innovation district’
A fter eight years of work, the Shelbourne Valley Action Plan will go before Saanich council at a public hearing on April 25. Despite this long process, the action plan still has major flaws.
Most of the effort has been devoted to developing a transportation plan for Shelbourne Street. Much time was lost during the first five years, when Saanich officials were trying to push through a status-quo plan that prioritized car travel over walking and biking.
In 2014, staff were instructed by Saanich council to provide more information on short-term implementation actions that could better balance transportation modes. As a result, the re-worked plan will add more sidewalk upgrades and continuous bike lanes on Shelbourne Street over the next five to seven years. This is progressive change that is supported by most in the community.
The plan also includes a land-use and urban-design component. While the design elements to create a people-focused, densified environment are textbook perfect, there is a dissonance, since many issues have not been adequately addressed.
This includes the rapid increase in the student population that is putting stresses on the community. Another issue is the social isolation of many elderly residents, who are housed in silos that are not integrated into mainstream society and whose mobility is constrained by steep hills, poor sidewalks and dangerous traffic.
The biggest flaw of the plan is that it is not guided by a strong vision that builds on the community’s special attributes. The proposed vision is a generic one that focuses on cookiecutter land-use and urban-design elements. The plan also lacks a community-building and economic-development component. This component should form the backbone of any community plan.
The action plan aims to maximize densification around Shelbourne Street with the addition of 7,500 residents. A rationale for this densification is to create a low-carbon community of residents who live, work and play locally. But where are the jobs?
The action plan does not have an economic-development component. The retail and service sectors are repeatedly mentioned, so perhaps the idea is that the market will add more low-paying jobs to a street already abounding with them.
The action plan also has a geographical flaw. It covers an area about four kilometres long, stretching from Feltham Centre to Hillside Centre in a north-south direction. In the eastwest direction, it extends 500 metres on each side of Shelbourne Street.
However, the geographic Shelbourne Valley is a more extensive area that houses the University of Victoria, Camosun College, the Royal Jubilee Hospital, St. Michaels University School and many elementary, middle and high schools. It is a special place that contains the largest concentration of creative brainpower on Vancouver Island.
Saanich should be harnessing this precious human resource to generate more job opportunities. This could be done by extending the boundaries of the plan and adopting a new vision to transform the Shelbourne Valley into an innovation district.
Innovation districts are places where research-oriented institutions and knowledge-based businesses are embedded in well-designed, amenityrich residential and commercial neighbourhoods. They facilitate the creation and commercialization of new ideas that build on the strengths of their anchor research institutions and host communities.
This helps to spur economic development and provide more employment opportunities.
Innovation also includes exploring new ways of living in a changing world that is defined by global warming and rapidly evolving information and technology. Ultimately, an innovation district aims to bring people together to create an interconnected, thriving community — one that is lowcarbon, socially supportive, culturally vibrant, prosperous and more economically equitable.
An innovation district is a good fit for the Shelbourne Valley, since it is already anchored by three tertiary institutions. The proposed redevelopment and densification of the area opens up timely opportunities to build infrastructure that is tailored to attract knowledge-based investors. A vibrant technology sector can be found scattered throughout Greater Victoria and nearby jurisdictions.
A Shelbourne Valley innovation district could act as a hub that connects these businesses. It would provide more training and employment opportunities for our students and graduates, and help spur the growth of the knowledge-based industry in the region.
A Shelbourne Valley innovation district development plan is needed to translate vision to reality. I urge Saanich council to take steps to explore the potential of this vision. We owe it to all residents to improve the current action plan so it looks boldly forward to meeting the challenges of the present and future.