Carey Area Residents Association

10/27/2026

A Reminder (and not the last one!)

Carey Area Residents Association Annual General Meeting
• Date: November 18th, 2026
• Time: 6:00pm Doors Open 6:30pm Start (8:30pm End)
• Location: Victoria Horseshoe Club 620 Kenneth Street V8Z 2B9

• Guest Speaker:
Dr. Gavin Hanke, Curator of Vertebrate Zoology, Royal BC Museum
“From the Island to the Mainland: Wall Lizards in BC”

• Business meeting and election of board members

We’re excited to have Gavin Hanke as our guest speaker. Wall lizards were introduced to this area only a few years ago and have rapidly spread across southern Vancouver Island. You see them in many places – warm dry gardens, rock walls, the side of your house, maybe even in your house! And they’ve been featured in the local media. So yes, they are part of the community, but should we welcome them?

Why have the lizards spread so fast? Do they eat native critters? Can they be controlled?

Hear from an expert, join the discussion and get your questions answered!

And consider joining our board of directors and contributing your skills and energy to making Carey Area an even better neighborhood. We’ll have a separate post with more details about the board and how to join. Please consider joining!

10/25/2026

And speaking of the Colquitz, we'd be remiss not to share this -

Colquitz Plant - O - Ween

Saturday October 31 930 - 1230

Help restore salmon habitat! Come plant native riparian vegetation at the streamside restoration site along the Colquitz Trail - under the TCH Colquitz Bridge over Interurban.

Wear appropriate clothes - might be muddy. Parking is available at Tillicum Centre.

10/25/2026

Now that the work on the TCH bridge over the Colquitz is complete, it's fabulous to see the stream and streambank restoration work underneath the bridge conducted by Peninsula Streams Society and District of Saanich with support from many other partners. This restoration will minimize toxic runoff into the creek and generally improve stream habitat for salmon and cutthroat trout. There is a nice front page story in the Sunday Times Colonist. Great work!

10/21/2026

Carey Traffic/Roadwork update: Interurban-Wilkinson-Hastings Intersection
🚗🚙🛻🚗🚙🛻🚗🚙🛻🚗🚙🚐🚓 etc

We forgot to post this earlier amidst the hubbub of the municipal elections. Oops!

The summary of the June 2 open house, associated online survey, and focus group meeting with BC Transit was recently released by Saanich.

https://hello.saanich.ca/en/projects/interurban-wilkinson-project

Did the report capture what you think is important?

As per the report, this information will be used in developing “preliminary concept options” in Phase 2 in fall/winter 2026/2027. The next round of engagement is tentatively planned for spring/summer 2027.

Stay tuned! And stay patient!

10/16/2026

These fine gentlemen from the 1908 Saanich Council kindly ask you to vote in tomorrow's municipal election, if you haven't voted already.

What was it like voting for Mayor and Council back in 1908?

10/16/2026

And here are 1971-1972 pictures of the Interurban-Marigold intersection when the Colquitz was being recontoured and prior to the expansion of Hyacinth Park. Looks a bit different compared to 1911 and now, doesn't it?

10/15/2026

Saanich leaf 🍁🍁🍁🍁collection is beginning soon.

Saanich will officially begin their annual leaf collection program on November 2 https://www.saanich.ca/EN/main/community/utilities-garbage/garbage-organics-recycling/leaf-collection-program.html.

Collected leaves are used by Saanich as mulch in parks. Some of the collected leaves are piled up and made accessible for residents’ pickup and use, including at Hyacinth Park by Marigold.

We often consider leaves as “messy” - something to be cleaned up and taken away. (Thank goodness, autumn no longer means the thick smoke from burning leaf piles throughout neighborhoods!)

But leaves are incredibly important as a source of nutrients, organic matter and mulch for soil - for improving soil health, water infiltration and retention and providing habitat for pollinators and beneficial soil critters. So, what is the best way to retain ecological value with your leaves?

If you can, retain your leaves on your property and process appropriately.

How fast leaves and needles break down and what they contribute as habitat differ with tree species. Whole leaves in beds may provide better habitat for some beneficial creatures while mulching can help leaves breakdown sooner – especially oak leaves. That may be preferable if left on lawn grass or if incorporated into compost.

The second- best option: make available for Saanich leaf collection those leaves which you or your neighbors can’t incorporate on-site. They’ll be used to improve soil quality in parks or possibly by other homeowners.

The third- best option for retaining values specific to tree leaves: put them in your green bin for collection. In that case, they ultimately get mixed with food or other wastes and composted.

Leaves composted with food and other organic wastes may not have the same ecological benefits as recycled leaves, may introduce unwanted contaminants and the additional transport and processing up-island may increase carbon emissions associated with the final product.

Not an option...putting leaves into your gray bin and shipping it to Hartland as garbage. It's banned, it takes up critical landfill space and releases methane as it decomposes. Methane is a potent greenhouse gas.

If you need leaves for landscaping and soil improvement, Saanich provides leaves for residents at certain locations, one of which is Hyacinth Park. But you can’t be as certain of what you are “taking home” as you can when you retain your own leaves. And we’ve often seen contaminants such as plastic, wire, etc. in the public leaf piles. If you need leaves from the public leaf piles, be early and be aware.

10/11/2026

In case you had missed this and use Roy Road--🚗🚗🚴‍♀️🚴‍♂️🚶‍♂️🚶‍♀️‍➡️

🚧 Road closure: Roy Road — Wednesday, October 14

Roy Road at Carey Road will be closed to vehicles in both directions from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesday, October 14 while crews complete paving work.

Single-lane alternating traffic will be in place on Carey Road near the Roy Road raised intersection.

Please allow extra travel time and follow traffic-control signage in the area.

More information is available on HelloSaanich: saanich.ca/roy

10/07/2026

Interested in volunteering some of your time, energy, and skills toward your Carey Area neighborhood? Carey Area Residents Association (CARA) would love your help!

CARA is one of 17 community associations in Saanich https://www.saanich.ca/EN/main/community/community-associations.html

CARA is led by a volunteer Board of Directors. We want to fill several positions at our November 17 AGM. You need to be a CARA member to serve. https://www.careyarea.ca/about

First, some background on the CARA Board.

What do we do?
• Govern CARA in accordance with the Societies Act and Saanich regulations
• On behalf of CARA, we seek to:

(1) foster a sense of place and community in Carey Area (2) publicize Saanich policies and projects of interest to Carey Area residents (3) represent the community to Saanich and advocate for Council policies that benefit the community (4) work with other volunteer groups in Carey Area, along with Saanich, to ensure neighborhood issues are addressed appropriately

Among other activities, we help run Music in the Park at Hyacinth Park every summer. We've been active in the rezoning and planning for Panama Flats and Hill. We try to post relevant things mainly via our page.

We’d like to do more and do better!! That means more Board members to share the (modest) workload and new ideas.

Ideally, we’d like Board members who have a diversity of skills, backgrounds, and ideas; interest in the past and future of Carey Area; and who listen to and respect differing points of view within the Board and community.

How often do we meet?
• We generally meet monthly from January through June and September through November. We also have an annual AGM and occasional special meetings as needed. Meetings can be in-person but have typically been on-line.

What are the Board positions and their status?
• Currently vacant (or interim): Vice president, Treasurer, Communications officer; At-large Board members (3)
• To be elected at AGM: President, Secretary

What are the key tasks associated with each position?

President (up for election)
• Chairs meetings
• Co-signer for financial transactions if the Treasurer is unavailable
• Spokesperson for CARA with Saanich and others; appoints other Board members as CARA reps as needed

Vice President (currently vacant)
• Assists the President; assumes duties of the President as needed

Secretary (up for election)
• Issues notices and keep minutes of all organization meetings
• Maintains custody of non-financial records and documents
• Files the annual report and other required non-financial filings
• May act as co-signer for banking transactions
• Coordinates advertising for meetings as required

Treasurer (currently interim)
• Primary signing authority and approves all expenditures.
• Receives and deposits cash associated with CARA
• Maintains financial records; presents financial statements for AGM and Board meetings
• Applies for grants from Saanich and others on behalf of the Board

Communications Officer (currently interim)
• Monitors CARA’s email and notices; brings to the Board for action
• Posts information of interest to Carey Area residents to the website and social media platforms

Directors-at-Large (3 positions vacant)
• Participate in analysis, planning and actions pertaining to Carey Area issues and CARA activities