In November 2006, the District convened a "Facilities Charette" which was attended by representatives of the Municipal Council, Police Board, Municipal Staff, Advisory Planning Commission, local School District, Greater Victoria Public Library, local First Nations, architectural community, and citizens-at-large. 

The Facilities Charette Report  outlines the details and outcomes of this process.

The purpose of the Charette was to:

1. Engage the greater community in a broad-based discussion about the District's various facilities issues and challenges;
2. Brainstorm and "vision" creative ideas about potentially acceptable facilities scenarios and options; and,
3. Discuss and prioritize appropriate next steps and actions on the part of the District.

The principal outcome of the Charette was the general endorsement of a particular "scenario" of how the District's major facilities might be sited and prioritized in the future so as to better serve the needs of the community.  In summary, the scenario endorsed at the Charette, and subsequently endorsed by Council in January 2007, would provide for:

• The Municipal Hall to remain in its current location in Saanichton.
• The Library/Cultural Centre complex to remain at its current location in Brentwood Bay.
• The main Fire Hall complex to be relocated to the Keating area so as to provide better coverage and response times, and possibly be co-located with the Police Department and the Public Works division either at the current Works Yard site or in a more appropriate location in the Keating area.
• A "satellite" Fire Station to be located in the Saanichton area, possibly at the site of the current Municipal Hall.
• Mixed uses (such as housing; commercial parking; retail commercial; et cetera), including the possible involvement with the private sector, to be further explored as a potentially valid option in any future re-development of the existing Municipal Hall complex.

A further outcome of the Charette was Council's endorsement of a set of priorities to address the District's various facilities needs and challenges.  In summary, these priorities to be as follows:

• "Public safety" to be the highest priority, meaning the structural integrity of the buildings that house the Fire, Police, and Public Works functions.  This includes the concept of a new main Fire Hall possibly co-loacted with the Police and Public Works Departments at the current Works Yard site or in another appropriate location in the Keating area.  Of paramount importance within this first priority is to be the addressing of the main Fire Hall issue.
• The second priority, although not mutually exclusive of the afore-noted highest priority, to be the re-development of the existing Municipal Hall complex in its current Saanichton location.
• The third priority to be issues related to the Library and Cultural Centre, recognizing that if the Cultural Centre leisure and recreational programming is located in any future Municipal Hall re-development, it would free up a potentially earlier opportunity for the expansion of the Library Branch.

In terms of the suggested next steps in the process, the Charette recommended that the above described scenario and concepts be further refined, with the first priority in 2007 to be given to the main Fire Hall / Police / Works Yard component.  Refinement of this particular concept must also include the development of a general implementation plan, potential time-lines and order of magnitude of costs, combined with the commencement of a communications strategy including public process and input.