Clear of steep slope and water setbacks

8,920 m² (100%)

In or within 30 m of mapped water

0%

Steeper than 30%, outside that strip

0%

15 to 30% slope

67%

On designated floodplain (counted as clear)

0%

Median slope

17%

Main slope direction

Mostly faces north-east (100% of the lot faces within 45° of it); measured by us on NRCan's 30 m elevation model

Which way it faces

0% south (SE to SW), 44% north (NW to NE), 0% flat; the rest east or west

Terrain stability (Vancouver Island Geomorphology)

Over the lot, the Province's terrain stability mapping, mapped at 1:50,000 gives no stability class, so it says nothing either way

Estimated by us on Natural Resources Canada's 30 m elevation model: each dot on the plan is one 30 m cell. Small banks, gullies and benches can be smoothed out, and on lots under a few hectares the edges count for a lot. Slopes over 30% usually need a geotechnical engineer's report to build on; 15 to 30% is buildable with more work.

Not counted: zoning setbacks from the lot lines, room for a septic field and well (the Septic section screens for a field), easements and rights of way, and the local government's own slope or hazard development permit areas. What you can build names them where the local government publishes its map. A surveyor and the local government confirm where you can build.

December 21 (shortest day)

6 h of possible direct sun; 8 h 10 min on open ground

March 21 (about the same on September 21)

10 h 10 min; 12 h on open ground

June 21 (longest day)

14 h 30 min; 16 h on open ground

Noon sun on December 21

18° above level; the hills due south rise to 6°, 0.4 km away

Highest hills in the winter sun's path

11° above level to the south-west, 1.2 km away

Measured at

The middle of the lot, ground at about 144 m, from head height

Solar panel output (south-facing, tilted at the latitude)

About 990 kWh a year for each kW of panels (December about 33), on Natural Resources Canada's 1998-2022 sunshine map; the sun on the panel's face is 3.62 kWh/m² a day over the year, 1.41 in December

Water the ground lets you see (16 km)

Shawnigan Lake to the northeast, from about 200 m away, across about 155° of the horizon

Highest skyline

11° above level to the southwest, 1.2 km away

Computed by us from the terrain only: trees, buildings and cloud aren't counted, so the sun that reaches a window or a garden is often less. The hours are possible direct sun, counted from when the sun's centre clears the hills, at head height at the middle of the lot; another spot on a hillside lot can differ.

The horizon is read from Natural Resources Canada's 30 m elevation model in 72 directions, out to 16 km: on its 30 m grid within 1.5 km, beyond that on a 120 m version of it, where single peaks can read a little lower than they are. The curve of the earth is taken into account.

The sun's path is from the standard solar position formulas. Hours are counted in sun time; clock times shift with daylight saving and with how far the lot is from its time zone's centre.

Check it on site: visit on a clear day in December or January, look at where the trees and buildings to the south fall, and ask neighbours when the sun leaves and comes back.

The panel output is our reading of Natural Resources Canada's figures: its map gives the sun reaching a south-facing panel tilted at the latitude, averaged over 1998-2022 on a grid of about 10 km, and we turn it into kWh for each kW of panels at the performance ratio its Photovoltaic Potential maps use (0.75: losses in heat, wiring, the inverter and dirt). The map is for an open sky: the hills around the lot, trees, buildings and snow on the panels aren't counted. The hills around this lot take about 26% of the direct sun on December 21 and about 9% on June 21 (our figure above), so a panel at the lot's middle would most likely make less than this, most of all in winter (our reading; the hills block direct sun, not all the light). A solar installer measures the roof or the spot itself.

What the ground allows you to see from head height at the middle of the lot, read by us on the same elevation model as the sun hours, out to 16 km: trees, buildings and the house's own spot and height aren't counted, so a view the ground allows can be hidden by the forest, and a second storey can see over a rise. Lakes and rivers are the Freshwater Atlas's; the sea is read where the elevation model sits at sea level.

Capability class (1 best, 7 none)

Class 5: about 100% of the lot

What limits it

shallow soil over bedrock, slope

Map scale

1:20,000 to 1:100,000: describes the area, not the field

Mapped

1960s to 1990s (digitised 2015)

These classes rate how well the land suits ordinary field crops, from the soil and climate as surveyed decades ago. Drainage, irrigation or fill since then can change the real answer, and a map at this scale can miss a good or poor field. The Agricultural Land Commission weighs these classes when it decides applications.

If farming matters to you here, a professional agrologist (P.Ag.) can assess the soil on site.

Dams nearby

None within 1 km on the Province's list of dams

Dikes nearby

None within 1 km on the Province's map of dikes and flood protection works

These maps were drawn mostly in the 1980s and 1990s and cover only some rivers and lakes. Not being on one doesn't mean the land can't flood: ask the local government whether it has newer flood mapping, and whether its bylaws set a flood construction level or floodplain setback here.

Peak ground acceleration, 2% in 50 years (the code's design level)

0.77 g

Peak ground acceleration, 10% in 50 years

0.41 g

Short-period shaking Sa(0.2), the value the code uses for houses and other low buildings

1.80 g

The same value in city centres

Victoria 0.81 g, Vancouver 0.47 g, Kelowna 0.089 g, Prince George 0.064 g

Tsunami

More than 2 km from the ocean shore, so the Province's tsunami notification zones, which are for the coast, don't bear on it

These are the 2020 National Building Code's reference values at the lot's centre, on firm ground (site class C). Soft soil, fill or a slope can make shaking stronger; the site class and the values a building is designed for come from the building official or a geotechnical engineer.

2% in 50 years means shaking at least this strong has about a 1-in-2,500 chance in any year; 10% in 50 years, about 1 in 475. g is the acceleration of gravity. The comparison with Vancouver and the other cities is ours.

Liquefaction and earthquake-triggered landslides aren't covered here; ask the local government whether it has mapped them.

On record within 5 km

0

This is a list of landslides that are known to have happened, gathered from published inventories and from mapping on satellite images and lidar. It isn't a hazard map: it doesn't say how likely a slide is here, and no record nearby doesn't mean the ground is stable. Some parts of BC (the Fraser Valley and Fraser Canyon, Vancouver Island, Haida Gwaii, recent burn areas) are mapped in far more detail than others.

Each point mostly marks where a slide started. Debris can travel well past it, down a creek channel and onto the fan at the creek's mouth, so a lot on a fan or below a steep slope can be reached by a slide that began kilometres away. Distances are measured by us from the lot's boundary.

The kind of slide and its date are the database's own, mostly worked out from images, so treat them as a first look. Confirm with the local government, many of which have mapped steep-slope or debris-flow hazard areas, and with a geotechnical engineer.

Health region (regional figure, not this lot)

Central Vancouver Island

Homes tested here

109

At or above 200 Bq/m³ (the guideline)

1 (0.9%)

At or above 600 Bq/m³

None

Across BC

143 of 1,817 homes (7.9%) at or above the guideline

Radon comes up from the ground and differs from one house to the next, even next door, so a regional figure says nothing certain about one home. The only way to know is a long-term test of at least 3 months. Health Canada's guideline is 200 Bq/m³ in the parts of a home where people spend more than 4 hours a day; above it, fix it within a year, and the higher the level, the sooner. For a home you buy, Health Canada suggests a long-term test once you've moved in.

The survey tested about a hundred volunteer homes per health region, with one long-term test each. That gives a rough regional picture: it isn't a map, and a region where few or none tested high can still have homes above the guideline. The survey grouped homes by the 2007 health regions; we place the lot by today's boundaries for the same areas.

Open sites (active or suspected) within 500 m

0

Open sites within 2 km

0

Closed sites within 2 km

5

Shawnigan Lake No. 12 - Unassessed

1.1 km from the lot. Closed: no further action needed. Historical review not required. Federal custodian: National Defence; site 00020667.

Shawnigan Lake Cautionary Buoy No. 14 - Unassessed

1.1 km from the lot. Closed: no further action needed. Historical review not required. Federal custodian: Fisheries and Oceans Canada; site 00020830.

Shawnigan Lake Cautionary Buoy No. 13 - Unassessed

1.1 km from the lot. Closed: no further action needed. Historical review not required. Federal custodian: Fisheries and Oceans Canada; site 00020831.

Shawnigan Lake No. 11 - Unassessed

1.5 km from the lot. Closed: no further action needed. Historical review not required. Federal custodian: National Defence; site 00020666.

Shawnigan Lake Spar Buoy No. 3 - Unassessed

1.5 km from the lot. Closed: no further action needed. Historical review not required. Federal custodian: Fisheries and Oceans Canada; site 00020828.

This inventory lists only contaminated sites on federal land or that the federal government is responsible for: military land, ports and harbours, airports, fisheries and research stations, reserve land, national parks and similar. Most contaminated sites in BC, such as old gas stations, dry cleaners and industrial land, are on the Province's Site Registry, which charges for searches and isn't shown here. Ask the seller what the land and its neighbours were used for; a Phase I environmental site assessment covers it properly.

Each site is one point given by its federal custodian, and a large site such as a base or an airport reaches well past it. Distances are measured by us from the lot's boundary to that point.

Closed means the custodian found no further action needed after testing, cleanup or risk management; it doesn't always mean nothing is left in the ground. The priority class is the federal ranking of its own sites for funding and action, not a measure of risk to neighbours.

Confirm with the local government and a qualified environmental professional.

Nearest sampled lake

Shawnigan Lake, about 110 m

Readings on record

1971 to 2025, 16 sampling sites

Measured by us from the Freshwater Atlas outline of the lake to the parcel map's lot line; it says nothing about a way down to the water, which the title, the strata or the local government can answer. The lake's clarity and nutrient record, compared with other BC lakes, is on its page.

Algae bloom reports and invasive mussel checks aren't in this record: the province's Algae Watch map and mussel monitoring aren't published as open data. For swimming, check the regional health authority's beach advisories; for blooms and mussels, ask the province's regional environment office or the local lake association.

At-risk species or ecosystems on the parcel

None recorded

Within 500 m

None recorded

Wide-ranging species mapped over it

Howell's violet (Blue-listed)

Secured records in the wider area

No

Wildlife Habitat Area over the parcel

No

Ungulate winter range over the parcel

No

Proposed Wildlife Habitat Area over the parcel

No

Proposed ungulate winter range over the parcel

No

Sensitive ecosystems mapped on the lot

Not mapped here: the lot isn't covered by any of the Province's sensitive ecosystem inventories (checked 2026-10-11)

Red-listed species are at risk of being lost from BC; Blue-listed are of special concern. A record shows where the species was found, sometimes decades ago; no record doesn't mean nothing lives here, since most land has never been surveyed.

Species at risk can still limit building through local environmental development permit areas or federal critical habitat: ask the local government before planning work.

Cutblocks applied for (1 km)

0

Approved, not yet logged (1 km)

0

Logged in the last 5 years (1 km)

1

Old growth set aside from logging (1 km)

None within 1 km on the Province's map of legal old growth management areas

Woodlots and community forests (1 km)

Woodlot licence W0024, Crown land (Schedule B): 40 m from the lot line

Tree farm licences (1 km)

None within 1 km on the Province's map of tree farm licences

Crown land applications (1 km)

None

Quarry, industry, energy or tower tenures (500 m)

None

Along the lot line

Private land along about 55% of the lot line (the east and west sides); no parcel mapped along about 45% of the lot line (the north and south sides), most often a road allowance, water or Crown land the parcel map doesn't draw (our reading)

Rights of way and easements drawn on the lot

None drawn on ParcelMap BC; a charge with no plan can still be on the title, so ask for it

Wildlife conservation land (1 km)

None within 1 km on the Province's map

Local development applications

Not covered here: we read applications only where the local government publishes them as open data (the CSRD, the City of Surrey, the City of Abbotsford and the District of Squamish). Ask the Cowichan Valley Regional District what's in progress on and near the lot

Crown range tenures (1 km)

None within 1 km on the Province's map

Guide outfitter territory

The lot is inside guiding territory 100G104 (Vancouver Island region) on the Province's map

Nearest power line (200 m)

None mapped within 200 m

Oil and gas pipelines (200 m)

None within 200 m on the BC Energy Regulator's permit map

Gravel pits, quarries and mine permits (2 km)

None within 2 km on the Province's map

Permitted discharges to air, water and land (2 km)

None on the Province's list

Major projects in assessment (10 km)

None

Major projects approved (10 km)

None

Reviewed, no assessment needed (10 km)

None

Closed or not reviewable (10 km)

Bamberton Projects (construction stone and industrial mineral quarry; about 8.3 km away; found not to need an assessment 2023 (it may still go ahead under other permits)); Bamberton Town Development (about 9.1 km away; withdrawn 1995)

Cutblocks are from the province's forest tenure records, which cover Crown forest licences and woodlots, not logging on private land. Crown land applications are on the province's tenure register; the Applications, Comments and Reasons for Decision site takes public comments on them. Mineral and placer claims are in their own section above.

Some landscape units have no mapped areas and keep old forest by a share set in a provincial order instead, so none on the map doesn't mean the forest nearby can be logged. Our summary, read 2026-10-11.

A woodlot licence gives its holder the sole right to log the Crown land in it (Schedule B) for up to 20 years, and the holder is usually offered a replacement in the licence's tenth year (Forest Act ss. 45, 46); a community forest agreement or a First Nations woodland licence does the same for 25 to 99 years (ss. 43.3, 43.55). Logging there follows the licence's plan. Their cutblocks are in the counts above. Before a woodlot licence plan is approved, the holder publishes a notice in a newspaper and takes comments from anyone affected for 30 days (Woodlot Licence Planning and Practices Regulation, s. 17). Who holds a licence isn't shown here; the South Island Natural Resource District of the Ministry of Forests can say who to talk to. Our summary of the Forest Act and the regulation, read 2026-10-11.

Who owns the land beside the lot is ParcelMap BC's owner type for each parcel that shares the lot line (measured by us along the line); the open parcel map names no owners. Crown land beside a lot, with a title or without, can be logged, leased, grazed or roaded, and a view or trail across it isn't yours to keep; ask the natural resource district or FrontCounter BC. Land owned by the local government is often a park, a road allowance or a utility lot; ask the local government what it's for.

A guiding territory lets one guide outfitter take hunters for game in that area. It gives no right in wildlife and doesn't restrict anyone else's right to hunt (Wildlife Act s. 67); hunting over cultivated land needs the owner's consent (s. 39), and the Trespass Act governs who may come onto private land. Guided hunters may be on the Crown land nearby in season. Our summary of the Wildlife Act, read 2026-10-07.

Who holds a trapline or territory isn't shown here; the Province's regional Fish and Wildlife office can say who to talk to.

Major projects are those large enough to need a provincial environmental assessment: mines, power plants, pipelines, transmission lines, highways, ports, dams and resorts, among others. Each is on the Environmental Assessment Office's register at a single point, the location it gives for the project. A mine, pipeline, transmission line or road can reach well past that point, so a project listed 8 km away can still pass the lot, and one placed beyond 10 km isn't listed here. Each project's page on the EAO's site has its maps, documents and comment periods; distances are measured by us from the lot line to the point. Smaller projects (subdivisions, smaller pits and quarries, and other works under the assessment thresholds) aren't on this register.

Power lines are from two maps read together: the Province's map of high-voltage transmission lines (BC Hydro's, private and independent producers' lines), which leaves voltages out, and OpenStreetMap, where volunteers map lines and record the voltage where it's known. Smaller distribution lines along streets aren't included. Distances are measured by us from the lot line to the mapped line, which can sit some metres off the real one. The line's right of way, and what it lets the line's owner do on the land, is set by the easement on title, which is the definitive record: check it in the title search, and ask BC Hydro (or the line's owner) about clearances for building and trees.

Wells within 2 km

125

Median depth

64 m

Median tested yield

19 L/min (123 wells tested)

Median water level below ground

6 m

Aquifer 203 under the lot

Shawnigan Lake/Cobble Hill/Mill Bay: fractured crystalline bedrock; productivity not rated, vulnerability moderate, demand not rated; 1,262 wells linked, median depth 91.4 m

Aquifer 205 under the lot

Shawnigan Lake: unconfined sand and gravel (late glacial outwash); productivity not rated, vulnerability high, demand not rated; 56 wells linked, median depth 40.8 m

Groundwater level trend

No provincial observation well still measured in the aquifer under the lot or within 10 km

Groundwater tested 6.5 km away

At a sampled well, in aquifer 203, under the lot: within Health Canada's limits, in mg/L: arsenic 0.0009, fluoride 0.07, manganese 0.044, uranium 0.0013, nitrate (as nitrogen) under detection, lead 0.00001; manganese over the 0.02 mg/L taste and staining level in its one sample; 1 sample, 2018. Not this lot's water: test your own well.

Groundwater tested 6.8 km away

At the Province's observation well 380, in aquifer 203, under the lot: manganese median 0.239 mg/L, over the 0.12 mg/L limit (3 of 3 samples over); within Health Canada's limits, in mg/L (medians): arsenic 0.0016, fluoride 0.17, uranium 0.0022, nitrate (as nitrogen) under detection, lead 0.000028; up to 3 samples, 2018 to 2019. Not this lot's water: test your own well.

Groundwater tested 7 km away

At a water system's well, in aquifer 203, under the lot: within Health Canada's limits, in mg/L (medians): arsenic 0.00065, fluoride 0.095, manganese 0.017, uranium 0.0014, nitrate (as nitrogen) under detection, lead 0.00028; up to 2 samples, 2018 to 2019. Not this lot's water: test your own well.

More wells tested

24 more within 10 km in the Province's records, farther away or in another aquifer

Drinking-water protection zone

None over the lot on the Province's map (it holds only the zones a water system's protection plan has mapped, so many wells and intakes have none on it)

Water systems' wells and intakes within 300 m

None on the Province's list

Community watershed

Shawnigan Community Watershed: a water source from Shawnigan Creek for Shawnigan Lake North Water System, Mill Bay Water System (Cowichan Valley Regional District, Mill Bay Waterworks); designated in 1995 (per the Province's map)

Water licences on springs and drinking-water diversions (300 m)

None within 300 m on the Province's open maps

Neighbours' wells show what drillers found nearby, not what a new well here will find; many wells were never registered. For a property on a well, ask for a recent flow test and water quality test.

Productivity is how much water the aquifer gives up to wells; vulnerability is how easily a spill at the surface could reach it; both are the province's ratings for the whole aquifer, not this lot. Mapped aquifers cover mostly settled valleys: a lot outside every outline can still have groundwater. Confirm with a qualified hydrogeologist or registered well driller.

These are samples of raw water, before any treatment, from wells in the Province's environmental monitoring records since 2000: its observation wells and groundwater surveys, water systems' wells and other drinking-water wells; wells at landfills, mines and permit holders' works are left out. A result below the lab's detection limit counts at that limit. Lead mostly comes from a well's pipes and fittings rather than the aquifer. Groundwater changes over short distances and with depth, so a nearby well says what the aquifer can hold, not what a well on this lot gives. Bacteria aren't shown: they depend on how each well is built and kept.

Health Canada's Guidelines for Canadian Drinking Water Quality set the most a drinking water should hold: arsenic 0.010 mg/L, fluoride 1.5 mg/L, manganese 0.12 mg/L (and 0.02 mg/L for taste and for staining laundry and fixtures), uranium 0.02 mg/L, nitrate 10 mg/L as nitrogen (45 mg/L as nitrate) and lead 0.005 mg/L, with arsenic and lead kept as low as reasonably achievable. Our summary of Health Canada's summary table, read 2026-10-11.

Test your own well, for bacteria and these, at an accredited lab; your health authority can say which labs take samples from private wells.

A community watershed is the land draining to a licensed drinking-water intake. Logging and road building on Crown land there must keep the water from harming the quantity, timing or safety of the supply (Forest Planning and Practices Regulation, s. 8.2). The designation sets no rule for private land by itself (our reading), but the people downstream drink the water: ask the water system what it asks of landowners, and keep a septic field, fuel, manure and livestock well back from the creek.

These are the Province's open maps of licensed springs and of points where drinking water is diverted from a stream for two or more homes or a water system. Other water licences (a creek diverted for one house, irrigation, storage) are only in the Province's water rights databases, which aren't open data, so no licence listed here doesn't mean none is held on or near the lot (our reading). Ask the seller whether a water licence comes with the land, its number and what it allows, and look it up by number or by the creek's or spring's name in the Province's Water Licence Search; FrontCounter BC (1-877-855-3222) answers questions about licences.

Recorded water-supply wells within 30 m

3, nearest about 10 m outside it; well tags 85109, 108706, 85460

Mapped water within 30 m

None mapped

Within the setbacks, under 15% slope (gravity fields, mounds and trenches)

2,970 m² (33%)

Within the setbacks, under 25% slope (mounds, at-grade beds and trenches)

7,930 m² (89%)

Within the setbacks, under 45% slope (trenches)

7,930 m² (89%)

Screening, not a site assessment: measured by us on the same elevation cells as the buildable area, against the separations in the Province's Sewerage System Standard Practice Manual: a field stays 30 m from a drinking-water well (60 to 90 m from a high-pumping one), 30 m from a lake, river or permanent stream (15 m from seasonal water and the sea), 7.5 m from a downslope drain or bank where effluent could break out, and, as a guideline, 3 m from the lot line. We use 30 m for every mapped stream. A gravity field isn't allowed on slopes over 15%, a mound or at-grade bed over 25%, and trenches over 45%.

Under the Sewerage System Regulation, only an Authorized Person (a Registered Onsite Wastewater Practitioner or a professional engineer or geoscientist) may plan and install a system, and they file the plans with the regional health authority before work starts. They dig test pits to check the soil depth and the seasonal water table and measure how fast the soil drains, which no open map shows. Ask the seller for the filing and maintenance records of an existing system, and have it inspected.

Well locations in GWELLS are often approximate, and many wells were never registered: look for well caps on and next to the lot. Wells, water lines and septic fields on the neighbours' land count too.

If the lot is on a community sewer, none of this applies; ask the local government, which may also set larger setbacks or a minimum lot size for septic.

Nearest hospital

Saanich Peninsula Hospital, Saanichton: 17 km

Next nearest hospital

Cowichan District Hospital, Duncan: 21 km

School catchment

Not mapped for this lot: catchments are shown only where the school district's boundaries are open data, for Surrey Schools (Surrey and White Rock) and the North Vancouver School District (the City and District of North Vancouver). Ask the school district which schools serve it.

Nearest public elementary school

Discovery Elementary, Shawnigan Lake: 5.6 km

Nearest public secondary school

Frances Kelsey Secondary, Mill Bay: 8 km

Nearest public school with early French immersion

Frances Kelsey Secondary, Mill Bay: 8 km

Nearest francophone school (Conseil scolaire francophone)

Des Cascades, Duncan: 19 km

Independent schools within 10 km

4

Nearest licensed group child care

None within 2 km on the Province's list; the nearest is 5.6 km away

Licensed family child care within about 2 km

None on the Province's list

Nearest grocery store

Thrifty Foods: 7.8 km

Grocery stores within 10 km

1

Nearest fire station

Shawnigan Lake Fire Department Hall 3: 2.2 km, on the Province's list

Nearest ambulance station

Ambulance station 137, Mill Bay: 7.9 km

Nearest transfer station or landfill

A landfill (no name on the map): 13 km

Nearest post office

Shawnigan Lake: 5.7 km

Nearest gas station

Shawnigan Garage: 5.7 km

Nearest transit stop

None within 1 km; the nearest is Renfrew & Linden: 5.4 km, routes 8, 9 and 99; 15 departures on a weekday, 5 on Saturday, 3 on Sunday (BC Transit's schedule, week of October 19, 2026)

Nearest park or protected area

Memory Island Park, a provincial park: 790 m from the lot line

Nearest recreation site or trail

Bonanza Bluffs, on Recreation Sites and Trails BC's list: 7.8 km from the lot line

Distances are straight lines from the middle of the lot, measured by us. The drive is longer, and much longer where the road winds, crosses water or takes a ferry.

Hospitals are from the Province's list. Not every hospital has a 24-hour emergency department, and some small towns have a health centre with emergency care that isn't on this list: check with the regional health authority.

Which school a child goes to depends on the school district's catchment, not on distance: ask the district.

French programs are from the Ministry's school list. French immersion usually takes students by application or lottery, often with its own boundary, and the Conseil scolaire francophone's schools are for children whose parents have the right to French-language education: ask the district which applies.

Child care is from the Province's Child Care Map Data, listed October 11, 2026: licensed facilities the Province funds, so a licensed one without that funding, or a licence-not-required carer, isn't on it. The ages served and any space are what each operator reports, and many list no ages. A space reported weeks ago may be gone: ask the facility about spaces and wait lists.

The fee reduction is the Province's Child Care Fee Reduction Initiative (CCFRI): a facility taking part charges lower monthly fees for children up to kindergarten age (our summary).

Licensed family child care is in the provider's own home, so we count it but don't name or place it. It's counted on a grid of about 1 km, so the count near 2 km is approximate (our reading).

A fire station nearby doesn't mean it covers this lot: confirm the fire protection area with the local government. Insurers price fire cover by the road distance to the hall that responds and whether the lot is inside a fire protection area.

Fire halls and ambulance stations are from the Province's First Responders list (updated 2026-09-11), with fire stations it lacks added from OpenStreetMap. A hall that has moved may still be listed at its old address.

An ambulance station is where crews are based. How soon one arrives depends on where the crew is when the call comes.

Transit stops and departures are counted by us from BC Transit's and TransLink's published schedules for one week, leaving out the stop where a trip ends. A stop's distance is a straight line from the middle of the lot; the walk is longer. Service changes with the seasons: check the timetable before you count on a route.

Parks and recreation sites are measured in a straight line from the lot line. Conservancies, regional and municipal parks aren't on these lists. Recreation Sites and Trails BC's list doesn't say whether a site is open, closed or reachable this season: check its page before you go.

Many rural lots have no garbage pickup: households take it to the regional district's transfer station or landfill. Ask the regional district about pickup, the site's hours and fees, and whether it takes what you'd bring. Rural mail is often a box at the post office, not delivered to the door: ask Canada Post.

Grocery stores, transfer stations, landfills, recycling depots, post offices, gas stations are from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers: one may be missing, closed or mapped in the wrong place, and a landfill may be closed without the map saying so (our reading).

Confirm services with the local government.

Best speed recorded within about 1 km

50/10 Mbps or faster

Over a wired line (cable, fibre or DSL)

50/10 Mbps or faster

Over fixed wireless

50/10 Mbps or faster

LTE mobile within about 1 km

recorded

Nearest place with 50/10 Mbps or faster

within about 1 km (about 100 m)

Data

ISED National Broadband Data, May 2026

This is the service providers report to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) for homes and roads near the lot, not a quote: ask providers whether they serve this address, at what speed and at what cost to connect.

Speeds are download/upload bands. 50/10 Mbps is ISED's top band, so a place in it can get much faster service, and it is the CRTC's target for every Canadian home.

A line that reaches homes within 1 km may stop short of this lot; bringing it further can cost the buyer. Fixed wireless and LTE need a clear line to the tower, which hills and tall trees can block.

Satellite service doesn't need nearby lines, but it needs a clear view of the sky.

Distances are straight lines from the middle of the lot, measured by us on a grid of about 250 m.

Nearest climate station

Shawnigan Lake, 4.9 km away

Station elevation

159 m

Lot elevation (estimated, middle of the lot)

145 m

January mean temperature (1981-2010)

3.4 °C

July mean temperature (1981-2010)

17.7 °C

Yearly precipitation, rain and snow as water (1981-2010)

1,250 mm

Yearly snowfall (1981-2010)

68 cm

Frost-free period (1981-2010)

205 days a year*

Average last spring frost (1981-2010)

April 12*

Average first fall frost (1981-2010)

November 4*

Days with snow on the ground, 1 cm or more (1981-2010)

23 days a year, 8 days of them in January

Days a year over 30 °C (1981-2010)

4 days, no days of them over 35 °C

Heating degree days, below 18 °C (1981-2010)

3,013 a year*

Growing degree days, above 5 °C (1981-2010)

2,030 a year; 915 above 10 °C*

Period

1981-2010

Plant hardiness zone (regional)

8b

By the 2050s, days a year over 30 °C (model projection, SSP2-4.5)

About 4 more days over 30 °C a year than in the same models' 1971-2000

By the 2050s, longest frost-free run (model projection, SSP2-4.5)

A longest frost-free run about 50 days longer than in the same models' 1971-2000

By the 2050s, winter precipitation falling as snow (model projection, SSP2-4.5)

About 8 percentage points less of winter's precipitation falling as snow than in the same models' 1971-2000

Days with fine particles over BC's air objective level

A median of 4 days a year at the Duncan College Street station, 21 km away (2018 to 2025); the most was 12 days in 2020, most in September

Normals are 30-year averages at the station, not readings for this lot. In BC's mountains a few hundred metres of elevation, a north-facing slope or a lakeshore can change winters a lot: a hillside lot can be much colder and snowier than a valley station.

The lot's elevation is our estimate from Natural Resources Canada's 30 m elevation model at the middle of the lot.

The hardiness zone is from Natural Resources Canada's 2025 map, read by us on a grid of about 2 to 3 km: near a zone's edge, or well above or below the valley around it, the lot may fall in the next zone. It is a guide to which plants survive the winter, not a frost date.

* Based on fewer years than the WMO standard: these figures rest on at least 20 of the 30 years, short of the World Meteorological Organization's standard of nearly all of them. ECCC publishes them as normals; treat them as a rougher guide.

ECCC's 1981-2010 normals for this station don't include the lowest temperature recorded, so that is left out rather than guessed.

A degree day is one degree of a day's mean temperature below or above a base, added up over the year. Heating degree days below 18 °C follow how much a home needs heating: a place with 5,000 needs roughly half again the heat of one with 3,300, for the same house. Growing degree days above 5 °C (10 °C for warm-season crops such as corn and grapes) follow how much warmth plants get to grow.

Model projections, not predictions of the weather: the median of 26 climate models downscaled by Environment and Climate Change Canada and the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (CanDCS-M6), for 2041-2070 under SSP2-4.5, a middle path for emissions. Each is given as the change from the same models' 1971-2000, not against a station's normals: in the mountains the models' figures can sit well off a valley station's, and the change between the two periods says more than either number. The frost-free run is the longest stretch of days with the low at or above 0 °C. The share of winter's precipitation falling as snow is our reading: each model's December to February snowfall over its precipitation, then the median across the models.

The models work on a grid of about 9 by 6 km, which averages valley floors with the slopes around them, so their own figures can sit well off a station's normals and aren't comparable with them. The models' own figures here, for setting against each other only: about 6 days over 30 °C a year in 2041-2070 (range 4 to 14 across the models), against about 2 in 1971-2000; a longest frost-free run of about 260 days (range 240 to 320), against about 210; and about 6% of winter's precipitation falling as snow (range 2% to 8%), against about 14%. The range runs from the 10th to the 90th percentile of the models' 2041-2070 figure; it isn't a range of the change.

Frost dates are averages: in about half of years the last spring frost comes later than the date shown, and frost pockets in hollows and valley bottoms get it later still.

At the Duncan College Street station, 21 km away, fine particles passed the level of BC's 24-hour objective (25 µg/m³) on a median of 4 days a year over the 8 years with a full record, 2018 to 2025; the most was 12 days in 2020, most of them in September. These days fell both in the wildfire season and in winter (our reading: wildfire smoke in summer, wood smoke held in by still air in winter).

The days are counted by us from the Province's verified hourly readings: a day counts when the station has 18 or more valid hours and their mean is over 25 µg/m³, the level of BC's Ambient Air Quality Objective for fine particles over 24 hours (the Province judges the objective itself on a year's 98th percentile of daily averages, not on single days), and a year counts when the station ran most of it, July to September included. They are the station's days, not this lot's: smoke drifts unevenly, and a lot up a valley or across a lake from the station can be clearer or smokier.

BC's air quality advisories and the Air Quality Health Index say what the air is like now; a HEPA filter and a home with a ventilation system that can recirculate help on smoky days.

ECCC has no fuller 1991-2020 set for this station, so these are its 1981-2010 normals; recent years have run warmer than them in most of BC. Ask neighbours or the local government about snow on the road and who clears it.

Collected by

The Province (rural area), for Cowichan Valley, Electoral Area B (Shawnigan Lake)

Rate every home pays, 2026

4.53699 per $1,000

Regional district (the electoral area's share)

2.23114 per $1,000

Regional hospital district

0.39605 per $1,000

School (set by the Province)

1.3812 per $1,000

Provincial rural tax

0.3861 per $1,000

Police tax

0.1042 per $1,000

Other

0.0383 per $1,000

Local service areas

Unclear for this lot: they cover parts of the area, up to 1.56803 per $1,000 each

Full rate for this lot

Unclear

The Province's rural rates don't say which local service areas (fire protection, recreation, street lighting, water, improvement districts, the Islands Trust) cover which lots, so they're left out of the rate above. Ask the Province's Surveyor of Taxes, or the seller for the latest tax notice.

Your bill uses BC Assessment's value for the property, which can differ from its price, and may also include parcel taxes and utility fees (water, sewer, garbage) that aren't rates on value.

The home owner grant takes up to $570 off the bill of a home its owner lives in ($770 in the Province's northern and rural area in 2026, and up to $845, or $1,045 there, for seniors, veterans and people with a disability), for homes assessed at $2,075,000 or less in 2026; above that it shrinks by $5 for each $1,000. From 2027 the northern and rural extra ends and the regular grant is $570 everywhere. The owner applies each year, and must pay at least $350 in tax ($100 for the higher grant) after it.

Police service

The Shawnigan Lake RCMP detachment (rural; inferred)

Crime severity index, 2025

38 (BC 92)

Violent / non-violent index

43 / 36 (BC 98 / 91)

Crime severity index, 2015

45 (BC 93)

Break and enter, per 100,000 people, 2025

89 (BC 281)

Theft of a vehicle, per 100,000 people, 2025

69 (BC 138)

Theft from a vehicle, per 100,000 people, 2025

30 (BC 441)

Violent crime, per 100,000 people, 2025

846 (BC 1,531)

All Criminal Code offences (not traffic), per 100,000 people, 2025

2,841 (BC 6,943)

Inferred: the nearest RCMP rural detachment Statistics Canada publishes figures for, about 6 km away. BC's police boundaries aren't open data, so the detachment that actually polices this spot may be another.

The crime severity index weighs each offence by how serious it is (one assault counts for more than several thefts), with Canada in 2006 set at 100. Rates are per 100,000 people living in the police service's area, so places with many visitors, commuters or seasonal homes read high, and in small places a few incidents swing the figures a lot. These are crimes reported to police, not all crime.

In BC only Surrey, the Township of Langley, Coquitlam and Port Coquitlam publish reported property crime block by block under an open licence; reports there count what was reported within 500 m of the lot. The police here don't, so the figures above are for the whole area they cover.

Police calls to a particular address aren't published in BC (privacy law keeps police records about identifiable people closed), and neither is whether a home was used as a grow-op or drug lab: that shows up as a notice on the title. Ask the seller for the Property Disclosure Statement, and your lawyer for the title search.