What a beautiful place! The Regional District of Nanaimo stretches from Deep Bay, North to Cassidy in the South: Almost 43 kilometers by the crow flies. With 204,000 hectares in total, by far the vast majority in forests, development hugs the littoral: Qualicum Beach, Parksville, being seaside resorts.

Population in 2003 of the RDN is 134,475. Come 2026 it will be 219,231 by conservative estimates. It could go as high as 277,173. Most of the population is, and will be, within the Urban Containment Boundaries. Whatever the pressure may be there is enough land within the UCB's to accommodate the 25 year extreme projection.

Nanaimo's UCB accommodates some 76,736 (2003) today expecting to grow to 124,136 by 2026, although, in view of the 2001 census results, this is in doubt. Nanaimo's UBC encloses 88.19 square kilometers. Thus come 2026 there will be a gross density of less than 640 dwelling units per square kilometer, which is hardly urban at all.

The point is there is no pressure to develop areas outside the UCB except good planning dictates that development concentrate in the downtown crescent of Nanaimo. Indeed, whole 47,000-population growth for the next 25 years could be accommodated in Nanaimo's downtown crescent, but common sense, of course, would mitigate against that!