Link to letter on the Times Colonist website
James Bay, Old Town deserve equal treatment
James Bay is Victoria’s oldest neighbourhood, one of the oldest West Coast residential neighbourhoods, and home of the Songhees First Nation.
It is as important as Old Town for Victoria’s tourist industry with Francis Rattenbury’s 1898 Parliament Building, Emily Carr’s 1863 home, the Steamship terminal, Inner Harbour, the iconic Empress Hotel, Fisherman’s Wharf and Beacon Hill Park.
Construction of towers in the 1970s prompted grassroots preservation efforts including city funding assistance to owners of heritage-designated homes and the Victoria Heritage Foundation grant program. The current building boom is again taking a toll on James Bay’s beautiful buildings and streetscapes.
In the May 9 Times Colonist article, “Victoria council sends downtown hotel plan back for revisions,” Coun. Jeremy Caradonna stated, “Old Town is rare and precious… we need to be extraordinarily cautious in how we treat redevelopment in that historical conservation area.”
He opposed a 12-storey hotel development because there was too much “that stands outside of the Official Community Plan, of design guidelines, of height, of density.”
Coun. Krista Loughton said this project could set a precedent council would not be able to turn around from.
Why are these standards not being applied equally in James Bay, where a rezoning to enable a 14-storey mixed-use tower in a residential area is set to go to a public hearing?
Councillors: Vote no to this rezoning. Do not set an irreversible precedent. Save historical James Bay as a residential treasure for future generations with affordable housing, heritage protection and green spaces.
—Yasmeen Hinton, Victoria