With the West Shore business community expanding steadily, the Chamber of Commerce is trying to get a handle on where capital is coming from and how it is influencing the community.

To do this the WestShore Chamber of Commerce is conducting a study with the help of Royal Road University graduate student Debbie Nussbaum. The project focuses on companies with holdings in the West Shore and looks at where they are from and what their money brings to, or takes away, from the community.

B次元官网网址淚t was raised by one of our directors who was a tenant and was going around looking for space and was appalled at how he was treated, even as a prospective tenant,B次元官网网址� said Chamber CEO Dan Spinner. B次元官网网址淗e had an ultimately good experience but he started off with a couple of really bad experiences. And he was paying pretty much top dollar for a commercial space.B次元官网网址�

The survey started last summer with interviews with commercial tenants. It then moved on to analyzing who owns what in the West Shore and talking to the owners about their plans and approaches. Now the survey is focusing on property managers.

Nussbaum is looking at demographics, relationships with primary commercial owners and other avenues shedding light on her overall look at the long term socioeconomic impact of large scale, non-resident commercial investment in the community. The ultimate goal is to create a map story of major commercial properties in the three communities on the West Shore with the largest populations: Colwood, Langford and View Royal.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 highly interesting,B次元官网网址� Nussbaum said. B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檝e been talking to politicians, IB次元官网网址檝e been talking to property developers, some property owners B次元官网网址� and IB次元官网网址檓 getting interesting perspectives coming back.B次元官网网址�

WestShore Chamber of Commerce has around 600 members, and expects to reach 700 by the end of the year. The information from the survey will be used to see if there are any trends or patterns emerging in how the business community on the West Shore is moving forward.

While local money generally has more value for a community, Spinner is avoiding the assumption that local necessarily equals better.

Whether the money and management for developments and business is coming from within or without there is the potential for it to be a highly positive presence in the community, Spinner said. By the same token, bad business practices are bad business practices, regardless of where they originate from.

B次元官网网址淔rom a community engagement, shared values point of view, youB次元官网网址檙e more likely to make more progress with local owners,B次元官网网址� Spinner said. B次元官网网址淏ut that doesnB次元官网网址檛 automatically mean that thatB次元官网网址檚 true.B次元官网网址�

Spinner said itB次元官网网址檚 lucky the three biggest projects on the go on the West Shore (Capitol City Centre, Westhills and Royal Bay) are locally backed projects. He said in those cases itB次元官网网址檚 a good thing, especially considering Royal Bay was almost bought up by an out-of-province landholding company that would have likely sat on the property as an investment.

a large landholder whoB次元官网网址檚 really just taking dollars out of the West Shore,B次元官网网址� Spinner said. B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 glad we got the capital, IB次元官网网址檓 glad we were able to develop whatever it was, but if theyB次元官网网址檙e not engaged B次元官网网址� in the community and itB次元官网网址檚 just strictly dollars and cents, IB次元官网网址檓 not sure necessarily thatB次元官网网址檚 in our best interest.B次元官网网址�

The report, which wonB次元官网网址檛 be completed until the end of March, will come with some specific recommendations. The information will ultimately be used as a platform for the Chamber to use moving forward.

One idea is to create something like a landlord of the year award to promote positive community-minded business practices.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 a phenomenal area,B次元官网网址� said Nussbaum. B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檝e met a lot of really good people, and IB次元官网网址檝e learned a lot of very interesting information. WeB次元官网网址檒l see how it all washes out.B次元官网网址�

The information will also be presented to the planning departments of West Shore municipalities to help them make decisions in regards to developments and other business issues.

B次元官网网址淚t certainly will help our councillors and our planning staff have just that extra perspective on their particular town,B次元官网网址� Spinner said.