Link to letter on the Times Colonist website
Scale back development plans in Victoria
Victoria city councillors, please follow Saanich councillors’ lead. They listened to their residents, scaled back the Quadra–McKenzie plan, are rethinking six-storey buildings in residential areas, and will consult more on development plans. Please do the same.
The new draft Official Community Plan (OCP), Victoria 2050, envisions four-storey projects in most areas of the city, allowing even more density; six-storey and taller projects in transit hubs.
In Victoria, this means mid-rise buildings up to 10 storeys if 200 meters or less from a bus exchange and mid-rise/townhouses up to six storeys if between 201–400 meters from the bus exchange.
The draft OCP proposes to streamline the rezoning process, reduce rezoning applications and speed up the pace of housing development.
Why, then, did Victoria city council approve a mixed-use 14-storey tower in a James Bay residential neighbourhood? It requires changes to zoning, the OCP, a public hearing to accommodate it.
It exceeds the provincial criteria for density, height and building type in transit-oriented areas, and now the refreshed OCP. It must not proceed.
It is simply too much and inappropriate for the current and future site context. It will create major transportation and safety issues that will not be addressed with bike lanes, EV charging stations and a lit crosswalk.
It is past time city councillors listened to residents who have been opposing this development for four years; see www.toodensenosense.ca for more information. NO to rezoning. NO to accelerated growth and density in the proposed OCP.
—Debra Andersen, Victoria