Link to letter on the Times Colonist website
James Bay cannot handle the large development
I am all for housing, but having two luxury condos going up almost kitty corner to each other in James Bay seems over the top. How about some three-bedroom family sized middle class affordable condos? Let’s keep Victoria “Peter Pollen beautiful” and try to build within reason height-wise.
The Admirals Inn rebuild is a go but the 205 Quebec St., 507 Montreal St. and 210, 214, 218, and 224 Kingston St. project is still under review. It needs rezoning to allow for the bigger build .
The rezoning is to change a six-storey bylaw to allow a 14-floor building. This is a busy corridor where Montreal turns onto Quebec Street.
City planning officials have opposed the changes three times! The area has a high volume of traffic, from pedestrians, passenger vehicles, tour buses, delivery trucks, cyclists and horsedrawn carriages.
It cannot handle the higher volume 110 units will bring.
It is also considered one of the main routes out of James Bay. I oppose the 14-storey build. James Bay has a few new, or in progress, subsidized housing projects in place as well as high-end condos being built.
Now let’s build for the “missing middle.”
—Lesa Norry, Victoria