Lot near Shawnigan, Cowichan Valley, Electoral Area B (PID 024-697-371)

Clear of steep slope and water setbacks

33.6 ha (92%)

In or within 30 m of mapped water

7%

Steeper than 30%, outside that strip

1%

15 to 30% slope

15%

On designated floodplain (counted as clear)

0%

Median slope

8%

Main slope direction

No main direction: the slopes face several ways; measured by us on NRCan's 30 m elevation model

Which way it faces

14% south (SE to SW), 37% north (NW to NE), 24% 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

Karst-prone rock (the Province's reconnaissance map)

Not on the Province's karst map: the rock mapped under the area isn't one it rates as forming karst, at a scale of about 1:250,000

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)

7 h 40 min of possible direct sun; 8 h on open ground

March 21 (about the same on September 21)

11 h 10 min; 12 h on open ground

June 21 (longest day)

14 h 50 min; 16 h on open ground

Noon sun on December 21

18° above level; the hills due south rise to 4°, 3.5 km away

Highest hills in the winter sun's path

5° above level to the south, 3.5 km away

Measured at

The middle of the lot, ground at about 122 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)

The sea (our reading of the elevation model) to the east, from about 5.6 km away, across about 15° of the horizon

Highest skyline

9° above level to the northwest, 0 km away

Named peaks in view (150 km)

Canadian Border Peak to the east-northeast, 147 km away (about 2,180 m); Mount McGuire to the east-northeast, 141 km away (about 1,963 m); Baynes Peak to the north-northeast, 17 km away (about 564 m); Mount Maxwell to the north-northeast, 17 km away (about 564 m); Old Baldy Mountain to the south, 3.6 km away (about 431 m); and 5 more

Highest ground in view

About 2,724 m, to the east, 133 km away

Farthest ground in view

About 148 km to the east-northeast

Most relief in one direction

To the east: from sea level, 16 km away, up to about 2,724 m, 133 km away

Town centres in line of sight

None within 150 km, over the bare ground

City lights in direct line (150 km)

In direct line (our reading): the lights of North Saanich to the east, 14 km (58 nW/cm²/sr at the brightest in line, like a city's busy streets); the lights of Sidney to the east, 16 km (37 nW/cm²/sr at the brightest in line, like a town centre or a city suburb)

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 6% of the direct sun on December 21 and about 7% on June 21 (our figure above), so a panel at the lot's middle would most likely make less than this, through the year (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.

Peaks, towns and the farthest ground are read by us out to 150 km on the same elevation model, coarser past 16 km (cells of 240 m to 60 km, 480 m beyond), with the curve of the earth and the usual bending of light: summits read lower than they are at that scale, so a peak only counts when it clears the ground before it, and one at the very edge of the skyline may be left out. It's what the bare ground allows on a perfectly clear day: haze, smoke, cloud, trees and buildings aren't counted. Peak names are BC Geographical Names'; peaks outside BC aren't named.

City lights in direct line are our reading: the satellite's lit cells (15 nW/cm²/sr and up, the brightness of a town centre or more) within 150 km, each named after the nearest town centre within 8 km, and a town counted when one of its brightest cells, taken 10 m above the ground, clears the bare ground before it on the same elevation model as the long view. It says where lights are in a straight line, not how bright they look: the glow a town throws over a ridge isn't modelled, so a town behind the hills can still light the sky above them, and haze, trees and buildings aren't counted.

Capability class (1 best, 7 none)

Class 5 (organic soil): about 75% of the lot; Class 7: about 25% of the lot

What limits it

too dry in the growing season, stones, 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.

Dam: Shawnigan Lake Weir

About 930 m from the lot line; concrete, gravity, 3.2 m high; the Dam Safety Regulation applies in full; failure consequence class High (the Province's rating of what a failure would do downstream, not of how likely one is); built 2006

Dikes nearby

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

A dam's failure consequence class rates the harm a failure would cause downstream (lives, property, the environment), not the chance of one; it doesn't say which land the water would reach. Ask the local government whether the dam's emergency plan maps an inundation area over the lot.

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.

Fires on the parcel

1

Last burned on the parcel

1933

Each fire on the parcel

1933 (37 ha, caused by people)

Fires within 2 km

8

Within 2 km in the last 30 years

0

Most recent nearby

1942 (225 ha, caused by people)

Largest nearby

1942 (225 ha, caused by people)

Causes on record within 2 km

8 caused by people

Natural fire regime (the Province's ecosystem map)

NDT2, infrequent stand-initiating events: forest where large fires replaced the stand about every 200 years on average, leaving wide even-aged stands with a few older trees that survived

Biogeoclimatic unit

Coastal Douglas-fir zone, moist maritime subzone (CDFmm)

Forest damage mapped from the air

None mapped on or within 1 km of the lot in the Province's aerial overview surveys, 1999 to 2025

Fire perimeters mapped by the BC Wildfire Service since 1919, each with its size and the cause the Service recorded (lightning or people, sometimes unknown); older and small fires are less complete. Past fire is history, not a forecast: for insurance, ask about the fire protection area and the distance to the nearest fire hall.

The natural disturbance type is how the forest here burned, blew down or otherwise renewed itself before logging and fire suppression, from the Province's biogeoclimatic map and its Biodiversity Guidebook (1995). It describes the land around the lot over centuries, not the lot's own fire risk or the odds of a fire in any year; the Province's fire threat rating and fuel maps aren't open data. Our summary, checked 2026-10-11.

The Province's Aerial Overview Survey is flown each summer from small planes 500 to 1,000 m up, sketching damaged stands on maps at 1:100,000 to 1:250,000: it gives the general location and rough extent of damage, not a ground count, and the Province says it isn't accurate enough to direct work on the ground. Most of the province is flown each year, but weather and smoke leave gaps, so a year with no record isn't a year with no damage. Each year's polygons record the trees recently killed (fading or red) or the foliage damaged that season, as the surveyors read it from the air; trees killed in earlier years aren't counted again, and dead trees may since have fallen, been logged or burned. Clumps of up to about 50 dead trees are mapped as spots, which aren't shown here. Our summary of the survey's standards and damage ratings, checked 2026-10-12.

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

0.74 g

Peak ground acceleration, 10% in 50 years

0.40 g

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

1.72 g

Peak ground acceleration, 2% in 50 years, on softer ground

0.76 g on stiff soil (site class D), 0.75 g on soft soil, about the same as on firm ground

The same value in city centres

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

Earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or more recorded since 1985

52 within 50 km and 172 within 100 km

Largest within 100 km

M4.9 in December 1999, about 30 km away (NRCan: Victoria, BC)

Nearest of magnitude 3 or more

M3.6 in January 2006, about 10 km away (NRCan: Near Victoria, BC)

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), with the values the code gives stiff soil (D) and soft soil (E) beside them. Which class the lot's ground is isn't on any open map: the site class and the values a building is designed for come from the building official or a geotechnical engineer. Very soft ground, peat or fill that can liquefy (site class F) needs a site-specific assessment.

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.

Past earthquakes are those Natural Resources Canada's National Earthquake Database records within 100 km of the lot's middle since 1985, the start of its digital record, at magnitude 2.5 and up; blasts, mining events (tremors set off in a mine) and slides are left out. The seismograph network has grown much denser since then, so smaller quakes found today would have gone unrecorded in the 1980s, and positions are good to a few kilometres. A count of past quakes isn't a measure of the hazard: the building code's values above are.

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.

Federal sites within 2 km

0

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.

Confirm with the local government and a qualified environmental professional.

Nearest sampled lake

Shawnigan Lake, about 800 m

Readings on record

1971 to 2025, 16 sampling sites

Depth

Deepest point about 50 m (surveyed 1984); mean depth about 12 m, from the Province's lake surveys (the latest with a depth)

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.

Wells within 2 km

364

Median depth

88 m

Median tested yield

15 L/min (339 wells tested)

Median water level below ground

9 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

Observation well 320

5 km from the lot's middle: water level stable or no clear trend over 2014 to 2023; stable or no clear trend over 1992 to 2023; water typically 22 m below ground in a well 36 m deep (the Province's trend, records to December 2023)

Groundwater tested 2 km away

At the Province's observation well 439, in aquifer 203, under the lot: within Health Canada's limits, in mg/L: arsenic 0.00015, fluoride under detection, manganese 0.0064, uranium 0.000028, nitrate (as nitrogen) 1.4, lead under detection; 1 sample, 2017. Not this lot's water: test your own well.

Groundwater tested 3.1 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 3.6 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.

More wells tested

90 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

Water use cut back for fish (temporary protection orders)

No temporary protection order has covered this lot on the Province's map

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.

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 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

None recorded within 30 m

Mapped water within 30 m

an unnamed stream

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

26.8 ha (74%)

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

31.8 ha (87%)

Within the setbacks, under 45% slope (trenches)

32.5 ha (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

Cowichan District Hospital, Duncan: 16 km

Next nearest hospital

Saanich Peninsula Hospital, Saanichton: 16 km

Nearest emergency department

Cowichan District Hospital, Duncan: 16 km. Hours on HealthLink BC's list: 24 hours a day, 7 days a week

Nearest walk-in clinic

Valleyview Treatment Centre, Cobble Hill: 5.8 km. Hours on HealthLink BC's list: Mon to Fri 09:00 to 17:00, Sat and Sun 09:00 to 15:00. Note that hours are subject to physician availability and patient volume. Closed for lunch 12:00 - 13:00, and on statutory holidays

Nearest pharmacy

Island Pharmacy, Shawnigan Lake: 1 km. Hours on HealthLink BC's list: Mon to Fri 09:00 to 17:00, Sat 10:00 to 16:00

Nearest late-night or 24-hour pharmacy

Shoppers Drug Mart, Sidney: 15 km. Hours on HealthLink BC's list: Mon to Sun 08:00 to 22:00

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: 3 km

Nearest public secondary school

Frances Kelsey Secondary, Mill Bay: 3.1 km

Nearest public school with early French immersion

Frances Kelsey Secondary, Mill Bay: 3.1 km

Nearest francophone school (Conseil scolaire francophone)

Des Cascades, Duncan: 14 km

Independent schools within 10 km on Vancouver Island

5

Nearest licensed group child care

Starchild Centre - Malta Rd: 400 m

Licensed group child care within 1 km

2: by the ages their operators list, 1 under 36 months and 1 for 30 months to 5 years (1 lists none); all take part in the fee reduction (CCFRI)

Licensed group child care within 2 km

4: by the ages their operators list, 1 under 36 months, 2 for 30 months to 5 years and 1 preschool (1 lists none); all take part in the fee reduction (CCFRI)

Licensed family child care within about 2 km

1, in the providers' homes

Nearest grocery store

Thrifty Foods: 4.1 km

Grocery stores within 10 km on Vancouver Island

2

Nearest fire station

Shawnigan Lake Fire Department Hall 1: 500 m, on the Province's list

Nearest ambulance station

Ambulance station 137, Mill Bay: 3.3 km

Nearest police detachment or station

Shawnigan Lake RCMP: 900 m

Nearest transfer station or landfill

A landfill (no name on the map): 12 km

Nearest post office

Shawnigan Lake: 1 km

Postal area

V0R: Canada Post marks it a rural postal area (a 0 as the second character): mail mostly goes to a post office box or a rural route box, not to the door, and couriers often add a charge for rural postal codes (our reading).

Nearest gas station

Shawnigan Garage: 1 km

Nearest Service BC office

Service BC - Duncan: 15 km

Nearest ferry terminal

Mill Bay: 8.6 km. Crossings from it on OpenStreetMap: Brentwood Bay ↔ Mill Bay (British Columbia Ferry Services)

Nearest airport with screened airline flights

Victoria airport (YYJ): 14 km

Vancouver International Airport (YVR), BC's main airport for flights abroad

67 km

Nearest transit stop

Shawnigan/Mill Bay 1640 Blk: 620 m, route 8; 7 departures on a weekday, 3 on Saturday, 2 on Sunday (BC Transit's schedule, week of October 19, 2026)

Transit stops within 500 m

0

Nearest park or protected area

West Shawnigan Lake Park, a provincial park: 2.9 km from the lot line

Nearest recreation site or trail

Cobble Hill, on Recreation Sites and Trails BC's list: 2.1 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; emergency departments and walk-in clinics from HealthLink BC's lists, with the hours they give. Not every hospital has a 24-hour emergency department, and a small town's emergency department can close for a shift when it's short of staff: the health authority posts these as service changes, so check before you rely on one. In an emergency, call 9-1-1.

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 13, 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, ambulance stations and police 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.

A detachment is where police are based; it isn't always the force that covers the lot, and a community policing office is often volunteer-run with no officers on hand. Ask the local government which police serve the lot. In an emergency, call 9-1-1.

Pharmacies are from HealthLink BC's list, with the hours it gives: a few pharmacies are in clinics or programs for their own patients, and hours change, so call ahead.

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.

Ferry schedules, fares and reservations aren't shown. Check the operator (BC Ferries, or for an inland crossing the Ministry of Transportation and Transit's inland ferries page) before you count on a sailing: many routes run fewer sailings in winter.

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, ferry terminals, ferry crossings 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).

The lot is on Vancouver Island, by our reading of the Province's island outlines. Where the lot's own island has a service, its nearest one is named first; one marked "across the water" is a ferry or boat ride away, however short the straight line.

The postal area is Statistics Canada's outline of where a postal code's first three characters are used, drawn from postal code points, so near its edge the lot may fall in the next one. It doesn't say how this lot's mail is delivered: ask Canada Post, and give a courier or online store the full postal code to see what they charge.

Airports with screened airline flights are the ones the CATSA Aerodrome Designation Regulations list, where the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority screens passengers, kept where OurAirports also lists scheduled flights (Dawson Creek is designated but has none listed). Smaller airports and floatplane bases with scheduled flights aren't screened and aren't on this list, so a nearer one may have flights: check with the airlines. Distances are straight lines; the drive, or a ferry, is longer.

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 200 m)

Data

ISED National Broadband Data, May 2026

Mobile carriers listed in the area around the lot (about 25 km²)

Bell and Telus (one shared network), Rogers, Freedom Mobile (ISED, reported, not a guarantee at the lot)

Nearest FM radio transmitter

CBCV-FM, 90.5 MHz FM, 6.3 kW, at Victoria, about 8.7 km to the south-east; the bare ground doesn't block the line to it (our reading, terrain only)

Nearest TV transmitter

CHNM-DT-1, TV channel 29 (digital), 2.8 kW, at Victoria, about 33 km to the south-east; hills about 5.3 km away rise to 1.8° in its direction, above the line to the antenna: likely blocked by the bare ground (our reading)

Bell satellite TV dish sightline

82° W sits 22° up to the south-east, clear of the hills by 21°; 91.1° W sits 26° up to the south-east, clear of the hills by 25° (terrain only; our reading)

Shaw Direct satellite TV dish sightline

107.3° W sits 32° up to the south-south-east, clear of the hills by 28°; 111.1° W sits 33° up to the south-south-east, clear of the hills by 29° (terrain only; our reading)

Starlink: sky hidden by the hills

The hills stay under 20° all round, so terrain shouldn't block it (trees and buildings not counted; our reading)

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.

Mobile carriers are those Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) lists for mobile service in its hexagon of about 25 km² holding the lot's middle; ISED counts LTE and 5G together and doesn't say how much of the hexagon a carrier covers, so a listed carrier may not reach the lot, the house or the valley floor. Cell tower positions aren't open data. Ask the carriers, or try a phone on site.

Broadcast transmitters are from ISED's Spectrum Management System extract: the nearest FM and TV transmitters in operation within 50 km of the lot's middle, with their effective radiated power. Whether the bare ground blocks the line is our reading on the elevation model the Winter sun section reads (out to 16 km round the lot; hills beyond it aren't counted); trees, buildings and an antenna's height on the house aren't, and reception also depends on power, distance and the receiver.

Satellite sightlines are our reading: each geostationary satellite's place in the sky from the lot's middle (Telesat's orbital slots, read 2026-10-13) set against the skyline the Winter sun section reads on NRCan's elevation model, in 72 directions out to 16 km. Trees and buildings, which most often decide whether a dish sees its satellite, aren't counted, and a dish can sit higher or elsewhere on the lot. Starlink asks for a clear view of the sky from about 20° above the horizon and picks its own direction: its app's obstruction check on site is the real test.

Nearest climate station

Shawnigan Lake, 1.7 km away

Station elevation

159 m

Lot elevation (estimated, middle of the lot)

120 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

Wettest day in the station's record to 2010

117.2 mm of rain and melted snow, October 16, 2003

Most snow in a day in the station's record to 2010

66 cm, December 25, 1937

Deepest snow on the ground in the station's record to 2010

70 cm, December 29, 1996

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, 16 km away (2018 to 2025); the most was 12 days in 2020, most in September

Lightning near the lot (1998-2025 average)

A cloud-to-ground flash within 10 km on about 2 days a year; 0.02 flashes per km² a year, less than at half of BC homes

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.

The records are single days measured at the station: the most rain, snow and wind it saw in its record up to 2010 (ECCC's 1981-2010 sets give records over the station's whole history, so some dates are older than 1981). Each is one event, not what to expect in a year, and the lot can get more or less than the station.

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, 16 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.

Lightning is the Canadian Lightning Detection Network's cloud-to-ground flashes, averaged over 1998-2025, on Environment and Climate Change Canada's grid of 0.1 degrees (about 11 km north to south and 7 km east to west in BC): it is the area's lightning, not the lot's. A day counts when a flash fell in a grid cell whose middle is within 10 km of the middle of the lot's cell, by the Pacific standard time day (our reading); flashes per km² are for the lot's own cell. Set among BC's homes by Statistics Canada's 2021 dwellings on ISED's points. Lightning starts fires and can damage a well pump, panels or wiring on high open ground; ask an electrician about surge protection.

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, 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.