Paper copies of the survey are available and anyone wishing to provide input but encountering barriers should be encouraged to contact the CVRD. Contact information (e.g. phone number, email) to share is available here on the website and on notices that are being mailed to all residents. Written input is welcome throughout the process.

On the larger regional scale, it is among the objectives of the Regional Growth Strategy (RGS) to promote residential/commercial development in few, geographically small areas (which the RGS refers to as Core Settlement Areas) - this Saratoga Beach area being one of those - partly as a means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions resulting from land use change and sprawl across the broad rural areas. This concentration of development along major corridors between major destinations also enables transit to provide service. A review of multi-modal transportation and the impact of development on roadways is a major part of this Local Area Plan. Both the RGS and the rural Official Community Plan give consideration to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change which may be further developed in this Local Area Plan.

Thanks for the input regarding the impact of the area on Seaview Road. The Local Area Plan will recognize the role development within this area has on surrounding neighborhoods. Residents of Seaview Road are welcome and encouraged to participate in providing input into the Local Area Plan as it is recognized that they also use and experience the area. However, the specific properties along Seaview Road were not included within the geographic scope of this Local Area Plan because it is intended to focus on areas for additional development and potential growth. The Regional Growth Strategy and Official Community Plan place the Seaview Road properties in the “Rural Settlement Areas” designation which is more amenable to low growth.

The purpose of the Local Area Plan is to provide goals, objectives and policy direction for the area identified as settlement node in the Regional Growth Strategy and Official Community Plan. In both documents, the settlement node covers the same geographic area spanning from Saratoga Beach down to Miracle Beach Drive and even past the highway, a bit down Macaulay Road. The RGS only refers the area as “Saratoga Beach” while the OCP refers to it as “Saratoga Miracle Beach”. This LAP is named after how the RGS refers to the identified area.

The scope of the Saratoga Beach Local Area Plan (LAP) is limited to the area designated as “Settlement Node” within the Regional Growth Strategy (RGS) and Official Community Plan which is more suitable for accommodating higher growth rates. Instead, the residential Seaview Road properties were placed in the “Rural Settlement Areas” designation which is more amenable to lower growth scenarios. The boundaries of those designations have not changed since the adoption of the RGS. However, it is recognized that residents of the Seaview Road area may be impacted by directions and policies enabled by the LAP given that it is solely accessed via Miracle Beach Drive which crosses the length of the Settlement Node and is serviced by the same water system that covers the larger regional area, among other shared interests. For those reason, residents of the Seaview Road area are welcome and encouraged to participate in the LAP process.

Black Creek is excluded in the Saratoga Beach Local Area Plan (LAP) because the plan focuses specifically on the Saratoga Beach Settlement Node, located in Electoral Area C of the Comox Valley Regional District (CVRD). This area is identified as a “Settlement Node” in the CVRD’s Regional Growth Strategy (RGS), which guides where growth and development are expected to occur in the region.

Although Black Creek is nearby, it lies outside the boundaries of this Settlement Node. These nodes (also including Mount Washington and Union Bay) are designated based on factors such as existing community water services, walkability, and access to local services. The RGS directs growth to these areas to support sustainable development and cost-effective service delivery.

Black Creek is generally designated as a Rural Settlement Area, or as an Agricultural Area where lands fall within the Agricultural Land Reserve. These designations aim to preserve the rural, working landscape and typically rely on private servicing, such as wells and onsite septic systems.