Development Permit Guidelines

On February 26, 2024, Council gave final reading to "Official Community Plan Bylaw, 2008, Amendment Bylaw, 2024, No. 9984" to replace the old Development Permit Areas Justification and Guidelines with the new updated Development Permit Guidelines. These are included as Appendix N of the Official Community Plan and are available here:

The referenced schedules included in the Development Permit Guidelines can be found here:

Development Permit Guidelines - Use & Structure

The Saanich Development Permit Area Guidelines designates several development permit areas (DPA), and prescribes relevant exemptions and associated guidelines. DPA Guidelines are an important tool to support staff, applicants, the Saanich Advisory Design Committee and Council in evaluating new Development Permit (DP) applications.

The Saanich DPA Guidelines document is structured as follows:

Part A: Form & Character Development Permit Guidelines

These provide design guidance that is broadly applicable to all areas of Saanich. Unlike previous iterations of Saanich’s Guidelines, there are limited area-specific form and character development permit areas.  The Design Guidelines are organized as follows:

  • Core Design Principles - apply to all projects and provide the overarching principles for supporting creativity, innovation, and design excellence in Saanich.
  • General Design Guidelines - apply to all residential (except Garden Suites) and mixed-use projects.
  • Typology-specific Design Guidelines – for residential multi-family, mixed-use, commercial, and industrial projects.
  • Uptown Core Development Permit Area Guidelines.

Applicants should review both the Core Design Principles and the Design Guidelines associated with their specific building typology or use.

Applicants applying for Residential and Mixed-Use developments should review the relevant typology section(s) and then also review the relevant General Design Guidelines.

Applicants applying for Commercial and Industrial developments should review the relevant typology section(s) and then also review the Bicycle Parking & Infrastructure, Zero Carbon, Resilient, High-performance Buildings and Bird-Friendly Design sections of the General Design Guidelines.

Part B: Other Development Permit Area Guidelines

These include:

  • Floodplain Development Permit Area
  • Streamside Development Permit Area
  • Rural Saanich Interface Fire Hazard Development Permit Area
  • Stormwater Management Development Permit Area

While the District-wide Design Guidelines will enable high-quality, responsive site and building design, it is also important to ensure localized considerations are integrated in some instances. In these instances, the Guidelines are supplemented by design policies and principles included in Centre, Corridor and Village Plans and Local Area Plans.