Zone

CD3 (Comprehensive Development 3)

Zoning bylaw

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

Heritage conservation area

None over the lot on the Province's list of local heritage conservation areas (a newly designated one may not be listed yet, and single buildings protected by a heritage bylaw aren't on it)

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.

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.

December 21 (shortest day)

7 h 10 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)

14 h 40 min; 16 h on open ground

Noon sun on December 21

18° above level; the hills due south rise to 9°, 0.6 km away

Highest hills in the winter sun's path

10° above level to the south-west, 0.5 km away

Measured at

The middle of the lot, ground at about 194 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 30), 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, 1.29 in December

Water the ground lets you see (16 km)

None on the Freshwater Atlas or the sea, over the bare ground

Highest skyline

10° above level to the south-southwest, 0.5 km away

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

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

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

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

The panel output is our reading of Natural Resources Canada's figures: its map gives the sun reaching a south-facing panel tilted at the latitude, averaged over 1998-2022 on a grid of about 10 km, and we turn it into kWh for each kW of panels at the performance ratio its Photovoltaic Potential maps use (0.75: losses in heat, wiring, the inverter and dirt). The map is for an open sky: the hills around the lot, trees, buildings and snow on the panels aren't counted. The hills around this lot take about 12% of the direct sun on December 21 and about 8% on June 21 (our figure above), so a panel at the lot's middle would most likely make less than this, most of all in winter (our reading; the hills block direct sun, not all the light). A solar installer measures the roof or the spot itself.

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

Capability class (1 best, 7 none)

Class 6: about 70% of the lot; Class 5: about 15% of the lot; Class 7: about 15% of the lot

What limits it

slope, shallow soil over bedrock

Map scale

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

Mapped

1960s to 1990s (digitised 2015)

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

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

Dams nearby

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

Dikes nearby

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

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

Fires on the parcel

1

Last burned on the parcel

1934

Each fire on the parcel

1934 (613 ha, caused by people)

Fires within 2 km

5

Within 2 km in the last 30 years

0

Most recent nearby

1934 (613 ha, caused by people)

Largest nearby

1934 (613 ha, caused by people)

Causes on record within 2 km

4 caused by people, 1 lightning

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)

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.

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

0.67 g

Peak ground acceleration, 10% in 50 years

0.36 g

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

1.55 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 1,550 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 194 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.

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.

At-risk species or ecosystems on the parcel

None recorded

Within 500 m

grand fir / dull Oregon-grape (Red-listed)

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

Proposed Wildlife Habitat Area over the parcel

No

Proposed ungulate winter range over the parcel

No

Federal critical habitat over the lot

Western Painted Turtle Pacific Coast population (site: South Saltspring Island)

Sensitive ecosystems mapped on the lot

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

Invasive plants recorded on the lot

None on the Province's list

Invasive plants recorded within 100 m

None on the Province's list

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).

Federal critical habitat is the habitat a recovery strategy or action plan under the Species at Risk Act says a listed species needs to survive or recover (ss. 2, 41). On federal land the Act protects it by order (s. 58). On private and provincial land the Act leans on provincial and local law first; the federal Cabinet can order it protected where that falls short (s. 61). The Act's bans on harming a listed species or its residence apply everywhere for aquatic species and migratory birds, and elsewhere on private land only under a federal order (ss. 32 to 34). Our summary, read 2026-10-12.

Critical habitat for some sensitive species is kept off the public map; Environment and Climate Change Canada's Species at Risk Public Registry has each species' recovery strategy.

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

The Province's records come from invasive plant surveys, mostly since 2022, along roads, trails and shores and wherever crews were sent; no record doesn't mean no invasive plants. A record marks where a plant was found that day; it may since have been treated.

Wells within 2 km

123

Median depth

76 m

Median tested yield

15 L/min (108 wells tested)

Median water level below ground

14 m

Aquifer 1147 under the lot

South-Central Salt Spring Island: fractured crystalline bedrock; productivity low, vulnerability high, demand not rated; 480 wells linked, median depth 76.2 m

Sea water intrusion

Moderately Low (2 on the Province's scale of five, Low to High) for the bedrock 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: low (per the Province's map)

Observation well 281

5.6 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)

Groundwater tested 760 m away

At a sampled well, in aquifer 1147, under the lot: within Health Canada's limits, in mg/L: fluoride 0.036, nitrate (as nitrogen) 2.3; 1 sample, 2007. Not this lot's water: test your own well.

Groundwater tested 1000 m away

At a sampled well, in aquifer 1147, under the lot: arsenic 0.0113 mg/L, over the 0.010 mg/L limit; within Health Canada's limits, in mg/L (medians): fluoride 0.086, manganese 0.0083, uranium 0.000042, nitrate (as nitrogen) 0.008, lead 0.000047; up to 2 samples, 2007 to 2008. Not this lot's water: test your own well.

Groundwater tested 1.1 km away

At a sampled well, in aquifer 1147, under the lot: within Health Canada's limits, in mg/L: arsenic 0.0029, fluoride 0.05, manganese 0.00031, uranium 0.000027, nitrate (as nitrogen) 1.1, lead 0.00012; 1 sample, 2007. Not this lot's water: test your own well.

More wells tested

113 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

None over the lot on the Province's map

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

Marcotte Spring: a domestic licence (C046722), priority date 1970, 2.3 m³ a day, 260 m from the lot line; Marcotte Spring: a domestic licence (C046720), priority date 1970, 2.3 m³ a day, 260 m from the lot line

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.

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 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.

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). All water in BC belongs to the Crown. Taking water from a creek, spring or lake needs a water licence, except household use of water no licence or reservation already holds (Water Sustainability Act, s. 6 (3)); a well for the house needs none (s. 6 (4)). A licence lets its holder divert and use the quantity it names and build the works for it (s. 7), and when water runs short, licences on the same stream or a connected aquifer take precedence by their priority date, earliest first (s. 22). A licence tied to land passes with it when the land is sold, and the seller must tell the Province in writing before the sale completes (s. 25). The holder pays a yearly rental, must make beneficial use of the water (s. 30), and can lose a licence not used for 3 years in a row (s. 94). 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. Our summary of the Water Sustainability Act, checked 2026-10-11.

Recorded water-supply wells within 30 m

5, nearest about 5 m outside it; well tags 97155, 97394, 97156, 97396, 97157

Mapped water within 30 m

an unnamed stream and an unnamed wetland

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

4.3 ha (30%)

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

7.8 ha (55%)

Within the setbacks, under 45% slope (trenches)

11.4 ha (80%)

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: 7.8 km

Next nearest hospital

Cowichan District Hospital, Duncan: 20 km

Emergency departments and walk-in clinics

Not loaded yet: the services file was built before they were added

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: 7 km

Nearest public secondary school

Gulf Islands Secondary, Salt Spring Island: 7.2 km

Nearest public school with early French immersion

Gulf Islands Secondary, Salt Spring Island: 7.2 km

Nearest francophone school (Conseil scolaire francophone)

Des Cascades, Duncan: 18 km

Independent schools within 10 km

0

Nearest licensed group child care

None within 2 km on the Province's list; the nearest is 2.7 km away

Licensed family child care within about 2 km

None on the Province's list

Nearest grocery store

Thrifty Foods: 6.8 km

Grocery stores within 10 km

3

Nearest fire station

Salt Spring Island Fire Department Hall 2 Fulford: 3.5 km, on the Province's list

Nearest ambulance station

Ambulance station 103, Salt Spring Island: 7.7 km

Nearest transfer station or landfill

Salt Spring Recycling: 7.4 km

Nearest post office

Fulford Harbour: 3.6 km

Nearest gas station

Ganges Gas: 6.6 km

Nearest transit stop

None within 1 km; the nearest is Cusheon Lake Road at Fulford-Ganges Road: 3 km, route 7; 3 departures on a weekday, 3 on Saturday, 3 on Sunday (BC Transit's schedule, week of October 19, 2026)

Nearest park or protected area

Ruckle Park, a provincial park: 2.7 km from the lot line

Nearest recreation site or trail

Musgrave Point (In Sansum Narrows), on Recreation Sites and Trails BC's list: 9 km from the lot line

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Confirm services with the local government.

Best speed recorded within about 1 km

50/10 Mbps or faster

Over a wired line (cable, fibre or DSL)

50/10 Mbps or faster

Over fixed wireless

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

Salt Spring Island Cusheon Lake, 2.8 km away

Station elevation

108 m

Lot elevation (estimated, middle of the lot)

194 m

January mean temperature (1981-2010)

2.8 °C*

July mean temperature (1981-2010)

16.1 °C*

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

1,071 mm*

Yearly snowfall (1981-2010)

46 cm*

Frost-free period (1981-2010)

169 days a year*

Average last spring frost (1981-2010)

April 28*

Average first fall frost (1981-2010)

October 15*

Days a year over 30 °C (1981-2010)

1.5 days, under half a day of them over 35 °C*

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

3,333 a year*

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

1,729 a year; 685 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 60 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 2 days a year at the Duncan Deykin Avenue station, 14 km away (2016 to 2023); the most was 13 days in 2017, most in August

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 1981-2010 normals for this station don't include days with snow on the ground or the lowest temperature recorded, so those are 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 5 days over 30 °C a year in 2041-2070 (range 3 to 12 across the models), against about 1 in 1971-2000; a longest frost-free run of about 285 days (range 260 to 330), against about 225; and about 4% of winter's precipitation falling as snow (range 2% to 6%), against about 12%. 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 Deykin Avenue station, 14 km away, fine particles passed the level of BC's 24-hour objective (25 µg/m³) on a median of 2 days a year over the 8 years with a full record, 2016 to 2023; the most was 13 days in 2017, most of them in August. Most of these days fell from June to September, the wildfire season (our reading: mostly wildfire smoke).

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

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

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

Collected by

The Province (rural area), for 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, about 7 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.