Clear of steep slope and water setbacks

1,890 m² (100%)

In or within 30 m of mapped water

0%

Steeper than 30%, outside that strip

0%

15 to 30% slope

16%

On designated floodplain (counted as clear)

0%

Median slope

5%

Main slope direction

No main direction: the slopes face several ways; measured by us on NRCan's lidar elevation model (Vancouver Island Sunshine Coast survey, 2018; 2 m grid)

Which way it faces

38% south (SE to SW), 0% north (NW to NE), 48% flat; the rest east or west

Estimated by us on Natural Resources Canada's lidar elevation model, from the Vancouver Island Sunshine Coast survey (2018): bare ground with buildings and trees taken out, read here on a 2 m grid, one dot on the plan per cell. Retaining walls, road cuts and ditches count as steep ground, and earthworks since the survey aren't shown. 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)

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

March 21 (about the same on September 21)

12 h; 12 h on open ground

June 21 (longest day)

15 h 50 min; 15 h 50 min on open ground

Noon sun on December 21

18° above level; the hills due south rise to 0°

Highest hills in the winter sun's path

1° above level to the south-east, 0.4 km away

Measured at

The middle of the lot, ground at about 16 m, from head height

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.

Capability class (1 best, 7 none)

Class 4: about 65% of the lot; Class 3: about 35% of the lot

What limits it

several minor limits together, stones, too wet (high water table)

Improved rating

Class 3 on most of the mapped part, assuming the several minor limits together being corrected

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.

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)

0.80 g

Peak ground acceleration, 10% in 50 years

0.43 g

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

1.87 g

The same value in city centres

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

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

On record on the lot or within 100 m

0

On record within 1 km

0

On record within 5 km

2

Nearest

4.5 km from the lot: an earth slide, 9 Dec 1975, after rainfall

Kinds within 5 km

earth slide 2

With a date

1 of 2; the latest 9 Dec 1975 (earth slide, 4.5 km from the lot)

Recorded causes

rainfall 1

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)

South Vancouver Island

Homes tested here

55

At or above 200 Bq/m³ (the guideline)

1 (1.8%)

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

OAK BAY, TURKEY HEAD - BREAKWATER - Unassessed

1.3 km from the lot. Closed: no further action needed. Historical review not required. Federal custodian: Fisheries and Oceans Canada; site 00021448.

Mary Tod Island Breakwater

1.3 km from the lot. Closed: no further action needed. Historical review completed. No further action required. Federal custodian: National Defence; site 00020108.

Robson Reef - Unassessed

1.8 km from the lot. Closed: no further action needed. Historical review not required. Federal custodian: National Defence; site 00020435.

Cattle Point

1.9 km from the lot. Closed: no further action needed. Historical review completed. No further action required. Federal custodian: National Defence; site 00020422.

Harris Island North

2 km from the lot. Closed: no further action needed. Historical review completed. No further action required. Federal custodian: National Defence; site 00020431.

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.

At-risk species or ecosystems on the parcel

None recorded

Within 500 m

Western Branded Skipper, oregonia subspecies (Red-listed), twisted oak moss

Wide-ranging species mapped over it

Threaded Vertigo (Blue-listed)

Secured records in the wider area

No

Wildlife Habitat Area over the parcel

No

Ungulate winter range over the parcel

No

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.

Community water

No open map of the District of Oak Bay's water service: ask the District of Oak Bay whether the lot is on it

Wells within 2 km

9

Median depth

84 m

Median tested yield

19 L/min (7 wells tested)

Median water level below ground

2 m

Aquifer 680 under the lot

Wark-Colquitz: fractured crystalline bedrock; productivity moderate, vulnerability moderate, demand high; 1,259 wells linked, median depth 76.2 m

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.

Community sewer

No open map of the District of Oak Bay's sewer service: ask the District of Oak Bay whether the lot is on it

Recorded water-supply wells within 30 m

None recorded within 30 m

Mapped water within 30 m

None mapped

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

1060 m² (56%)

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

1260 m² (66%)

Within the setbacks, under 45% slope (trenches)

1310 m² (69%)

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

Royal Jubilee Hospital, Victoria: 900 m

Next nearest hospital

Victoria General Hospital: 9.6 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

Ecole Willows Elementary, Victoria: 600 m

Nearest public secondary school

Oak Bay Secondary, Victoria: 300 m

Independent schools within 10 km

17

Nearest grocery store

Fairway Market Athlone Court: 600 m

Grocery stores within 10 km

51

Nearest fire station

Oak Bay Fire Department: 300 m, on the Province's list

Nearest ambulance station

Ambulance station 118 (annex), Victoria: 3 km

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.

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.

Grocery stores are from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers: one may be missing, closed or mapped in the wrong place.

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

Victoria Gonzales City, 2.2 km away

Station elevation

70 m

Lot elevation (estimated, middle of the lot)

17 m

January mean temperature (1991-2020)

5.8 °C

July mean temperature (1991-2020)

16.3 °C

Yearly precipitation, rain and snow as water (1991-2020)

675 mm*

Lowest temperature recorded, 1991-2020

−8.8 °C (2008)

Period

1991-2020

Plant hardiness zone (regional)

9a

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 15 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 1991-2020 normals for this station don't include yearly snowfall, the frost-free period or days with snow on the ground, so those are left out rather than guessed.

Recent years have run warmer than the 1991-2020 averages in much of BC. Ask neighbours or the local government about snow on the road and who clears it.

Place

Oak Bay

In the taxable area

Yes

Rate, 2026

1% of the assessed value for Canadian citizens and permanent residents, 3% for foreign owners and untaxed worldwide earners (4% from 2027)

Declare by

March 31 each year, for the year before

The tax applies to property BC Assessment classes as residential; exemptions also cover a newly bought home in its first year, a home being built or rebuilt, a home reached only by water and over 100 m from a road, and a property assessed at $150,000 or less, among others. Every owner on title declares separately, each year, even when exempt. Confirm a given property with the Province's speculation and vacancy tax office.

Reserve and treaty lands, and islands reached only by air or water (Vancouver Island aside), are outside the taxable areas.

Local government

Oak Bay

Residential rate, 2026

5.47788 per $1,000

Municipal

3.4206 per $1,000

Regional district

0.36574 per $1,000

Regional hospital district

0.12194 per $1,000

School (set by the Province)

1.1719 per $1,000

Other

0.3977 per $1,000

BC municipalities' middle rate

6.24337 per $1,000

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.

Rates are set each May for the year; the next year's will differ.

Police service

Oak Bay's municipal police

Crime severity index, 2025

26 (BC 92)

Violent / non-violent index

24 / 27 (BC 98 / 91)

Crime severity index, 2015

33 (BC 93)

Break and enter, per 100,000 people, 2025

86 (BC 281)

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

32 (BC 138)

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

166 (BC 441)

Violent crime, per 100,000 people, 2025

419 (BC 1,531)

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

2,502 (BC 6,943)

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.