Neighbourhood Boundaries

Project Status

Thank you to everyone who shared feedback on potential changes to the neighbourhood boundaries.

Here is a summary of the Council motions from the COTW report on June 9, 2022.

1. “That the City recognize the 2700-block to 3000-block of the east side of Shelbourne Street as part of the Oaklands neighbourhood, with the Oaklands Community Association acting as the Community Association Land Use Committee (CALUC) for land use matters in the area.”

2. “That the City recognize the 800-block between Fort Street and Academy Close, and Blanshard Street and Quadra Street, as part of the Downtown neighbourhood, with the Downtown Residents Association (DRA) acting as the Community Association Land Use Committee (CALUC) for land use matters in the area.”

3. That the City recognizes the area currently described as “Harris Green” as part of the Downtown neighbourhood, with the Downtown Residents Association continuing to act as the Community Association Land Use Committee (CALUC) for land use matters in the area. And that the City recognizes Harris Green as a district within the Downtown neighbourhood, similar to Chinatown and Old Town.

These neighbourhood boundary changes are reflected in the above map and came into effect on June 9, 2022. City staff will work on the administrative changes, including updating all City maps in 2023.

What We Engaged On

In 2019, City Council began a process to help reconcile some geographic anomalies and to align neighbourhood boundaries with residents’ sense of place.

How We Got Here
In 2019, Council introduced an action to ‘resolve anomalies in neighbourhood boundaries’ in the Strong, Liveable Neighbourhoods section of the City's Strategic Plan.

On February 4, 2021 Council held a discussion about current neighbourhood boundaries. For more details, view the Council Led Workshop – Neighbourhood Boundaries agenda item and Council’s discussion at the February 4 meeting here.

Council made several observations including that:

• Reconciling geographic anomalies that may fit better in an adjacent neighbourhood
• There may be opportunities to better match boundaries with the neighbourhoods in which residents perceive themselves to be living
• Neighbourhood populations vary substantially and may present challenges for neighbourhood associations, e.g. too big for effective representation or too small to recruit volunteer support
• Some village centres are divided between neighbourhoods

With the above considerations, several boundaries were discussed as possible areas for change. Council directed staff to engage residents through their neighbourhood associations about the proposed boundary area changes.

A subsequent Council discussion (including specific resolutions) was held on February 25, which you can view here.

As you can see in the timeline to the right, community engagement took place in the summer of 2021. The Council Report (in Reports section to the right) was accepted by Council and they brought forward a series of proposed neighbourhood boundary related changes.

In early January 2022, one of the three proposed changes (relating to merging the North and South Jubilee CALUCs) was removed by Council.

Two proposed boundary changes then moved forward for a final opportunity for public comment. You can learn about these changes that were brought forward at the January 27, 2022 Non- Statutory Public Hearing here.

Following the January 27 meeting Council considered all the feedback and provide staff with direction on moving forward.

Final motions were brought forward on June 9, 2022.