Age-Friendly Community Plan

Central Saanich Council adopted the Age Friendly plan (see Documents) in October 2023. With this, the District and its partners are on track to improve the community for older adults. The Plan provides District Council and staff, and community organizations with an understanding of where the municipality and community partners can support older adults through buildings and infrastructure, services and health care, policies, and communications practices. It is intended the implementation of the actions is a collaborative effort between the District and multiple community partners and organizations and not the sole responsibility of any one organization. All partners have active and important roles to play.

The Age-Friendly Community Plan was a joint effort by a number of agencies serving older adults in Central Saanich. Stronger relationships and communications channels between the various agencies were built as a result of this project. The District wished to thank the Age-Friendly Committee, which was comprised of representatives from Peninsula Accessibility Committee, Panorama Recreation Centre, Greater Victoria Housing Society, Mt Newton Centre, Central Saanich Senior Citizen Association, Beacon Community Services, W̱JOȽEȽP (Tsartlip) First Nation, Island Health, the CRD, and the Town of Sidney.

The District and its partners are undertaking a number of strategic initiatives from the plan. Below is a few of the actions of the plan (see Documents for the plan):

• Increase promotion of services in the community and promote the Senior Services Directory
• Continue to maintain and expand options for low cost and no-cost recreational programs and services
  • http://www.centralsaanichseniorscentre.org/
  • https://www.saanichtonvillage.com/spagetti-supper/
  • https://brentwoodbay.info/music-in-the-park
  • https://www.crd.bc.ca/panorama/programs/adult_programs
• Establish a system to check-in on older adults who are isolated during extreme weather events
• Support the Seniors Living Expo
• Support the implementation of the District's Signage Strategy
• Incorporate needs of older adults into facility and infrastructure design, including active transportation
• Organize road safety initiatives and educational opportunities
• Continue to provide print materials and in-person engagement opportunities to engage older adults in District initiatives

Complementary work

The District has a number of plans underway that were used to inform the actions of the Age-Friendly Community Plan, including the Active Transportation Plan (2021), Housing Needs Assessment (2020), Panorama’s Recreation Needs Assessment (2019), Accessibility Plan (2023), and Parks Master Plan (underway in 2023 to 2024). Each of these plans include policies that are intended to support a range of residents’ needs, including support for increased social programming, encouraging diversity of housing, support for active transportation, and ensuring accessibility in various areas of community life. As they are implemented, the Age-Friendly Community Plan and What We Heard Report will provide further guidance to the District, including stakeholder engagement, design considerations, partnership opportunities, and more.

The District is focused on the priorities of Council as listed in the 2024-2027 Strategic Plan. This includes supporting community inclusion, equity, accessibility, and diversity through improvements to services and the built environment.

In addition to, the District’s recently updated (2023) Official Community Plan (OCP) supports the development of age-friendly communities through a variety of its fundamental principles, including providing a range of housing opportunities and protecting housing affordability, ensuring mobility and transportation systems for all, fostering a sense of community, and responding to community needs. Specific OCP policies that enable age-friendly planning by targeting the increase of seniors’ housing, accessibility, social services, and transportation are summarized below.

• Higher-density apartments and mixed-use buildings are supported in Village Centres where a community benefit is provided, such as affordable, seniors,’ or supportive housing, community space, medical services, and active transportation infrastructure.
• Specific types of housing developments that are encouraged include rental housing for seniors, First Nations’ housing, affordable housing, aging-in-place, accessible housing, and supportive housing.
• Advocating to provincial and federal governments to increase funding and support for seniors’ rental housing, affordable housing, First Nations’ housing, accessible housing, and supportive housing.
• Principles of universal design should be applied to the design of public parks and trails.
• Support for the Panorama Recreation in creating welcoming programs and facilities for people of all ages.
• All new institutional uses are encouraged to be accessible for all ages and abilities.
• Working with local and regional partners to support the delivery of health care and social services.

After the first round of community engagement and stakeholder input, we have drafted a plan to share for further input and ideas.

Join us for an Open House on Thursday, July 27 from 3:00 pm to 7:00 pm (drop in) at The Centre for Active Living (formerly the Senior Centre), 1229 Clarke Road, Cultural Centre, Brentwood Bay

Come chat with us, share your thoughts via a survey (to launch July 25), or draw your ideas. A team member who is fluent in American Sign Language will be on site.