Regional District of Nanaimo directors have unanimously supported a minor boundary adjustment, affecting properties geographically connected to South Wellington, but electorally connected elsewhere. (Image Credit: File photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

redrawing the lines

Minor boundary change supported by Regional District of Nanaimo board

Mar 26, 2026 | 4:03 PM

NANAIMO — Neighbourhood geography has triumphed over lines on a map for 16 properties south of the city.

The Regional District of Nanaimo Board gave its unanimous approval on Tuesday, March 24, to a boundary realignment between Areas A and C, mainly affecting a row of properties on Plecas Rd., just west of the Duke Point Hwy. interchange on the Trans Canada Hwy.

Currently situated in Area C, an expansive boundary which encompasses Extension, Cassidy, and rural areas to the west of Nanaimo, the move to Area A (Cedar, Yellow Point) is one which makes sense in practical terms.

“Those sixteen properties exist on a ridge that is connected to Area C, but it is not connected by a road to the rest of Area C at all,” Lauren Melanson, Area C director, said. “You have to travel through Area A to get to the rest of Area C. There’s no way to get to that portion of Area C, without going through Area A, it makes absolutely no sense.”

Properties currently in a jutted-out section of Area C would be reallocated to Area A under the proposed and widely supported boundary change. (Image Credit: RDN)

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Minor boundary change supported by Regional District of Nanaimo board

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With Regional District support, a majority of the final conditions outlined by the province have been met, and final approval from the provincial government is expected.

Area A director Jessica Stanley said impacts to all residents, on both sides of the boundary, will be negligible, but it’s a move which fosters a better-connected community.

“This is a small number of people, but everyone that I have spoken to was in support. Everybody just wants to be part of South Wellington, and there were some people who thought that they always were. It’s an odd boundary, so everyone was happy that this would change.”

The boundary change is one of three currently on the RDN’s radar and arguably the easiest to complete.

Chief administrative officer Douglas Holmes told directors Tuesday the Area A-to-C change affects a finite number of properties and is a very clear move supported by all involved.

Proposed adjustments to Area F, which could see a municipality created from the communities of Errington and Coombs, is decidedly trickier.

“We’re hoping that the ministry will agree to do an incorporation study,” Holmes said. “That will take a fair bit of technical information to eventually culminate in, we hope, a referendum for a certain boundary that includes financial information and what the world might look like under a new incorporated municipality of some sort.”

Another boundary adjustment affecting Area G for residents in French Creek is also being discussed, however the next steps are not as clear as the other two proposals, Holmes said.

Conversations continue about potentially absorbing French Creek into surrounding municipalities or whether the area can be a self-sustaining municipality.

The City of Parksville will consider the idea during its upcoming Official Community Plan review, while a grassroots community group is advocating for a dedicated municipality.

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