Zone

C1 (Commercial 1)

Zoning bylaw

Salt Spring Island Land Use Bylaw, 1999 (Bylaw No. 355)

Heritage conservation area

The Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee's Ganges Village Core heritage conservation area, designated in 2008 (Islands Trust SSI Local Trust Committee OCP; Bylaw 434, 2008, Sched. A, Vol.1), per the Province's list

Fewest homes provincial law requires

Doesn't apply here: the lot is in the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Area under the Islands Trust Act, and the Province's small-scale multi-unit housing rules, suites and accessory homes included, don't apply to land in a local trust area. The local trust committee's land use bylaw decides how many homes are allowed.

Transit-oriented area (provincial minimum)

Not in one: the Province sets transit-oriented areas only around the SkyTrain, West Coast Express and bus exchange stations its regulations list, in Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey, Richmond, Coquitlam, New Westminster, Port Moody, Port Coquitlam, Delta, the Langleys, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, the North Vancouvers, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Mission, Victoria, Saanich, Langford, Colwood, View Royal, Nanaimo, Lantzville, Kelowna, Kamloops, Vernon, Penticton, Prince George and Whistler, and this lot is outside a municipality (B.C. Reg. 263/2023, checked 2026-10-06).

Short-term rentals (provincial rule)

The Province's principal residence requirement applies in the Capital Regional District's Saltspring Island Electoral Area (list in force from June 1, 2026): a short-term rental (under 90 days) is limited to the host's own home plus one secondary suite or garden suite on the same property. Land assessed as a farm (class 9) is exempt. Local bylaws, including the zone's own rules, can be stricter. Hosts anywhere in BC register each unit with the provincial registry.

We haven't summarised the rules of this zone. Islands Trust publishes the bylaw on its website.

Zoning is only one layer: development permit areas, the official community plan, the ALR, building and septic permits and provincial housing rules can add limits or allow more. Confirm with the Islands Trust's office for the island before you buy or build.

In a heritage conservation area, the official community plan sets guidelines for how buildings and land may change, and subdividing, starting a building or an addition, or altering a building or the land needs a heritage alteration permit that follows them (Local Government Act ss. 614 and 615), unless the plan exempts that kind of work. The permit can shape form, materials and siting but can't change the use or density the zoning allows (s. 617), and the area can't be used to unreasonably restrict the homes the Province's small-scale housing rules require (s. 457.1). Our summary, checked 2026-10-07.

The plan for the Ganges Village Core heritage conservation area lists protected heritage properties by name. Ask the Salt Spring Island Local Trust Committee whether this lot or its building is on that list: a listed one is protected heritage property, with tighter limits on demolition and change.

The provincial floor is our summary of the small-scale multi-unit housing rules in the Local Government Act (ss. 481.3 and 481.4) and the Local Government Zoning Bylaw Regulation, checked 2026-10-04. Local governments had to bring their bylaws in line by June 30, 2024, and with the 2025 changes by June 30, 2026, so the zone's own rules usually allow at least these homes already; height, coverage, setbacks and parking still decide how they fit. Whether the lot is inside an urban containment boundary, on community water or sewer, or near a frequent bus stop isn't checked here: confirm with the local government before you buy or build.

Clear of steep slope and water setbacks

580 m² (83%)

In or within 30 m of mapped water

17%

Steeper than 30%, outside that strip

0%

15 to 30% slope

0%

On designated floodplain (counted as clear)

0%

Median slope

5%

Main slope direction

Mostly flat (slopes under 5%); measured by us on NRCan's lidar elevation model (Vancouver Island Sunshine Coast survey, 2018; 2 m grid)

Which way it faces

7% south (SE to SW), 5% north (NW to NE), 58% flat; the rest east or west

Terrain stability (Province's map)

The Province's terrain stability mapping doesn't cover this lot: it was mapped from air photos, mostly on forest land, so most towns and farmland aren't on it. That says nothing either way about the ground's stability

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)

6 h 30 min of possible direct sun; 8 h on open ground

March 21 (about the same on September 21)

11 h 20 min; 12 h on open ground

June 21 (longest day)

15 h 30 min; 16 h on open ground

Noon sun on December 21

18° above level; the hills due south rise to 8°, 2 km away

Highest hills in the winter sun's path

11° above level to the south-west, 1.3 km away

Measured at

The middle of the lot, ground at about 7 m, from head height

Water the ground lets you see (16 km)

The sea (our reading of the elevation model) to the east, from about 100 m away, across about 160° of the horizon

Highest skyline

11° above level to the southwest, 1.3 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.

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 3: about 100% of the lot

What limits it

soil holds little water, slope, too wet (high water table)

Improved rating

Class 2, assuming the improvements the map judged practical

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.

Dam: Madrona Creek Dam

About 960 m from the lot line; earthfill, 4.5 m high; the Dam Safety Regulation applies, without its Part 3 duties; failure consequence class Low

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)

0.65 g

Peak ground acceleration, 10% in 50 years

0.35 g

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

1.51 g

The same value in city centres

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

Distance to the ocean shore

About 20 m from the lot line (Freshwater Atlas coastline)

Tsunami notification zone

Zone E: the Strait of Georgia, including the Gulf Islands, Greater Vancouver and Johnstone Strait (the Province's zone for alerts on this coast)

Ground at the lot's middle

About 7 m above sea level (NRCan's 30 m elevation model; our reading, not a survey)

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.

The Province divides the coast into five tsunami notification zones so a warning, advisory or watch can name the coast it's for; they're drawn over the water and aren't a map of what a tsunami would flood. How high and how far inland water could reach here depends on the shore and the local government's own modelling: ask it whether it has a tsunami flood or evacuation map for the lot, and where its high ground is. The height is NRCan's 30 m model at the lot's middle, so a lower corner or a building's floor can sit lower.

The Province's advice near the coast: if you feel a strong earthquake, drop, cover and hold on, then as soon as the shaking stops go to high ground or as far inland as you can, by your community's evacuation route where it has one, and stay there until officials give the all clear. A tsunami from a nearby earthquake can arrive in minutes.

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)

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.

At-risk species or ecosystems on the parcel

None recorded

Within 500 m

Common Sharp-tailed Snake (Red-listed), Western Bumble Bee

Wide-ranging species mapped over it

Ermine, anguinae subspecies (Blue-listed)

Secured records in the wider area

Yes (location withheld by the CDC)

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.

The CDC hides the exact location of some sensitive species inside large blocks; it shares details with landowners and their consultants on request (cdcdata@gov.bc.ca).

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)

0

Crown land applications (1 km)

private moorage (5), trail maintenance, public wharf, public works

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

None

Along the lot line

Private land along about 85% of the lot line (the north, south and west sides); no parcel mapped along about 15% of the lot line (the east side), 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

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 Capital 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)

A sewage treatment or discharge, about 240 m from the lot line, may discharge to water or land (effluent), registered under the Municipal Wastewater Regulation (authorization 5521, 2004); A vehicle dismantling and recycling yard, about 730 m from the lot line, registered under the Vehicle Dismantling and Recycling Industry Environmental Planning Regulation (authorization 109799, 2018); A concrete plant, about 1,200 m from the lot line (position given to about 100 m), registered under the Code of Practice for Concrete and Concrete Products (authorization 108114, 2015)

Major projects in assessment (10 km)

None

Major projects approved (10 km)

Vancouver Island Transmission Reinforcement (electric transmission line; about 9.9 km away; certificate issued Feb 12, 2007, operating)

Reviewed, no assessment needed (10 km)

None

Closed or not reviewable (10 km)

None

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.

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.

Permitted discharges are from the Province's list of active waste discharge authorizations under the Environmental Management Act: permits, approvals and operational certificates, and sites registered under its regulations and codes of practice (sewage, fuel storage, vehicle recycling, concrete, asphalt, composting and others). Each is one point the Province gives for the site, which can be a plant's office or an outfall rather than the ground worked; distances are measured by us from the lot line to that point. Metro Vancouver issues its own air quality permits, which aren't on this list, and the Province's Site Registry of contaminated sites charges for searches and isn't shown here.

An authorization sets what may be discharged, how much and on what conditions; it doesn't mean the site is out of compliance. The Province's Authorization Management System search shows each authorization's documents by its number. Odour, dust and noise are often for the local government too: ask the regional district or city, and the Province's environmental protection office about the authorization.

Nearest railway (2 km)

None mapped within 2 km

Nearest highway or major road (2 km)

None mapped within 2 km

Nearest airport or airstrip (2 km)

Ganges Water Aerodrome (YGG), about 250 m from the lot line

Distances only, not a measured noise level; noise depends on traffic, trains per day and terrain. Measured by us in a straight line from the lot line to the mapped centreline of the track or road, or to the edge of an airport's mapped grounds (to its point where only a point is mapped); a mapped line can sit some metres off the real one.

Railways are OpenStreetMap's track in use: main, branch and industrial lines, sidings and yards, and rapid transit; lines mapped as disused or abandoned, and track in tunnels, are left out. "Main line" is how OpenStreetMap's mappers class the line. Highways and major roads are the roads OpenStreetMap classes as motorway (a freeway), trunk (a highway) or primary (a major road). Airports and airstrips are every aerodrome OpenStreetMap maps, public or private, with its type where mapped; heliports aren't included. Airport noise exposure maps (the NEF contours some airports draw) aren't open data, so they aren't used.

Visit at rush hour and at night, ask the seller how often trains pass, and confirm with the local government whether a noise bylaw, a development permit area or an airport zoning regulation covers the lot. For a railway, the railway company or Transport Canada can say how many trains use the line; for an airport, ask the airport about flight paths.

Wells within 2 km

195

Median depth

61 m

Median tested yield

9 L/min (156 wells tested)

Median water level below ground

6 m

Aquifer 156 under the lot

Ganges Harbour: unconfined sand and gravel (late glacial outwash); productivity low, vulnerability moderate, demand not rated; 14 wells linked, median depth 35.2 m

Aquifer 721 under the lot

North Salt Spring Island: fractured sedimentary rock; productivity low, vulnerability high, demand not rated; 1,051 wells linked, median depth 76.2 m

Sea water intrusion

Moderate (3 on the Province's scale of five, Low to High) for the sand and gravel aquifer under the lot in the 2021 assessment, rated on the aquifer's setting (its material, slope, distance from the sea and ground water level) and pumping nearby (how many wells, and what for), plus the coast's flood hazard and shape; other ratings over the lot: moderately low and low (per the Province's map)

Observation well 281

in aquifer 721, 3.2 km from the lot's middle: water level stable or no clear trend over 2014 to 2023; stable or no clear trend over 1991 to 2023; well 107 m deep (the Province's trend, records to December 2023)

Observation well 438

in aquifer 721, 4 km from the lot's middle: water level stable or no clear trend over 2014 to 2023; stable or no clear trend over 2014 to 2023; water typically 30 m below ground in a well 122 m deep (the Province's trend, records to December 2023)

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

None over the lot on 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.

The Province's map is a regional screening of how easily sea water could be drawn into a coastal aquifer, not a test of any well. Near the sea, fresh ground water floats on salt water, and a well near the shore can turn salty with pumping, its own or its neighbours'; once in, the salt can take years to clear or stay for good, and a well must not be run in a way that draws it in (Water Sustainability Act, s. 58). The Province advises well owners near the coast to test for chloride and electrical conductivity once a year, in the dry season: a well over 150 mg/L of chloride or 1,000 µS/cm counts as affected, and water tastes salty from about 250 mg/L. For a property on a well here, ask for chloride and conductivity in the well water test. Our summary, read 2026-10-07.

Observation wells are the Province's monitoring wells, their water level measured for years or decades. The trend is the Province's reading of one well's yearly levels: a decline of 3 to 10 cm a year that the record clearly shows is a moderate rate, 10 cm or more a large one, anything not clear is stable or no clear trend. It shows how the aquifer has behaved there, not what a well on this lot will give; confirm with a qualified hydrogeologist or registered well driller.

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

None recorded within 30 m

Mapped water within 30 m

the ocean shore

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

370 m² (53%)

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

370 m² (53%)

Within the setbacks, under 45% slope (trenches)

370 m² (53%)

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

Lady Minto/Gulf Islands Hospital, Salt Spring Island: 1 km

Next nearest hospital

Cowichan District Hospital, Duncan: 18 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

Salt Spring Elementary, Salt Spring Island: 200 m

Nearest public secondary school

Gulf Islands Secondary, Salt Spring Island: 500 m

Independent schools within 10 km

0

Nearest grocery store

Thrifty Foods: 100 m

Grocery stores within 10 km

3

Nearest fire station

Salt Spring Island Fire Department Hall 1 Ganges: 100 m, on the Province's list

Nearest ambulance station

Ambulance station 103, Salt Spring Island: 900 m

Nearest park or protected area

Mount Erskine Park, a provincial park: 3 km from the lot line

Nearest recreation site or trail

Musgrave Point (In Sansum Narrows), on Recreation Sites and Trails BC's list: 13 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.

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.

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.

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

25/5 Mbps

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 at about the lot's elevation

Salt Spring St. Mary Lake, 5.1 km away

Station elevation

46 m

Lot elevation (estimated, middle of the lot)

7 m

January mean temperature (1981-2010)

4.3 °C

July mean temperature (1981-2010)

18.1 °C

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

987 mm

Yearly snowfall (1981-2010)

32 cm

Period

1981-2010

Plant hardiness zone (regional)

8b

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.

Salt Spring Island Cusheon Lake is nearer (4.1 km) but sits at 108 m, 101 m above the lot; we use Salt Spring St. Mary Lake because it is at about the lot's elevation.

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.

ECCC's 1981-2010 normals for this station don't include the frost-free period, days with snow on the ground or the lowest temperature recorded, so those are left out rather than guessed.

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 Saltspring Island Electoral Area

Rate every home pays, 2026

3.127 per $1,000

Regional district (the electoral area's share)

1.24793 per $1,000

Regional hospital district

0.12247 per $1,000

School (set by the Province)

1.2437 per $1,000

Provincial rural tax

0.3861 per $1,000

Police tax

0.0885 per $1,000

Other

0.0383 per $1,000

Local service areas

Unclear for this lot: they cover parts of the area, up to 1.0271 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 Saltspring Island RCMP detachment (rural; inferred)

Crime severity index, 2025

35 (BC 92)

Violent / non-violent index

31 / 36 (BC 98 / 91)

Crime severity index, 2015

39 (BC 93)

Break and enter, per 100,000 people, 2025

81 (BC 281)

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

48 (BC 138)

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

40 (BC 441)

Violent crime, per 100,000 people, 2025

974 (BC 1,531)

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

3,436 (BC 6,943)

Inferred: the nearest RCMP rural detachment Statistics Canada publishes figures for, less than 1 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.