On May 25, 2011 the District received an application from the owners of the Sandown Racetrack to rezone 12 acres of the 95 acre site for a range of commercial uses. This application was made at the request of the District. A key part of the proposal is that the owners will give the remaining 83 acres of the property to the Municipality for agricultural purposes and the 12 acres taken out of the ALR for the commercial development would be replaced by 12.05 acres of municipal land being added to the ALR so there will be no net loss of ALR land in the District.

The District has now begun its consultation process and this involves community discussions, receiving advice from its Advisory Commissions and discussions with other agencies. So far a great deal of support has been expressed. In fact the Victoria Airport Authority has offered to donate topsoil from its lands to the District for improving the agricultural capability of the Sandown property.

In addition to the potential value of the land to the community for agricultural and food securing, we also anticipate that the value of the 83 acres (based on BC Assessment Authority valuations) would be about $5,803,000.00 and the value of existing leases on the property would also contribute about $173,000.00 over the term of the leases (up to 2017). This means the District would receive an asset worth approximately $6,000,000.00. In addition, a conservative estimate of the property taxes that may be generated from the 12 acres of commercial land once developed is approximately $371,000 which is $348,459.00 per year more than the current $22,541 of municipal taxes currently paid.

The District is though, undertaking a number of investigations (environmental, traffic,  planning, etc.) to provide enough information to Council and the public so an informed decision can be made on the application. There will clearly be costs associated with owning the property. The magnitude of these costs cannot be determined until Council completes consultations with stakeholders on how the 83 acres will be used. However, District staff are working on preparing a business case which will provide some expense information. We will provide this on our District website as soon as we have it ready.

In terms of process, the next steps include conducting necessary investigations, preparing and considering bylaws, sending referrals to agencies like the Agricultural Land Commission and the Capital Regional District, First Nations, Town of Sidney and the Ministry of Transportation. After bylaws are introduced and given readings, there will be a Public Hearing. This may occur sometime in the fall.