Living in Fairwinds

Fairwinds is the planned residential community on the Nanoose Bay peninsula, built around a golf course with a marina at Schooner Cove. It was designed as a whole rather than accumulated over time, and that gives it a consistency and a set of rules that the rural ground around it does not have.

What a Planned Community Means Here

Fairwinds was designed before it was built. Roads, lots, the golf course and the phases were planned together, which produces consistency that a rural area filled in over decades cannot have.

For a buyer that consistency is the product. Maintained surroundings, neighbours held to the same standards, and a predictable environment are the reasons people choose a planned community over ordinary land.

The cost is autonomy. Design standards and covenants govern what may be built and altered, and that is genuinely different from owning rural acreage where the constraints are zoning and little else.

It also sits inside a rural peninsula rather than a town, so the setting is forest, water and golf rather than shops and streets.

Housing and Design Standards

Housing here is newer than the surrounding area and ranges from detached homes on the course and in the forest phases through to attached and patio style housing in the more compact sections.

Design standards govern exterior appearance, materials and often landscaping. Renovations and additions go through an approval process rather than simply a permit, which is the mechanism that keeps the community looking as it does.

The premium here is for the setting, the amenities and the consistency rather than for land. Anyone whose requirement is acreage is looking at the rural peninsula around it instead.

The rest of the area, for comparison:

• LantzvilleA separate district municipality north of the city that stayed rural on purpose.
• Brechin HillThe rising ground above the Departure Bay terminal, close to downtown.
• CedarRural acreage and farm ground south of the city, toward Yellow Point.
• Central NanaimoThe middle of the city, with older housing and the best transit coverage.
• Chase RiverSouth of the centre, around Colliery Dam Park and the older mill ground.
• Departure BayThe ferry terminal, the beach and the established streets above them.

Strata, Covenants and What to Read

The form of ownership varies across the community, and the first question on any listing here is which one applies. Some property is strata and some is freehold with covenants registered on title.

Where strata applies, the bylaws, the depreciation report and the fee history all matter as much as the house. Where it does not, the covenants and design guidelines still govern the property and are equally worth reading before an offer.

Amenity arrangements, including any club or facility membership attached to ownership, should also be established clearly rather than assumed from the marketing.

The Marina and the Setting

The marina at Schooner Cove gives the community moorage and water access on sheltered boating ground, which is a substantial part of the appeal for owners who keep a boat.

The wider setting is the Nanoose peninsula: forest, coastline and quiet, with Nanaimo and Parksville both a manageable drive in opposite directions. It is a rural location with a planned community inside it rather than a town.

Who Fairwinds Suits, and Who It May Not

Fairwinds suits a buyer who wants newer housing in a maintained setting with golf and moorage attached, who values consistency in the surroundings, and who is comfortable with governance over their property.

It suits less well anyone who wants to do as they please with their land, anyone whose requirement is acreage, and anyone who would find design approvals and fees an irritation rather than a protection.

If the setting appeals but the rules do not, the rural peninsula around it offers land without covenants. If services matter more than the amenities, Parksville and Nanaimo are the two towns either side.