Council wants Songhees project design revised
A plan to build a seniors housing and assisted-living complex at Bayview Place in Songhees has been sent back for design revisions in the face of concerns raised by neighbours.
Council split five-to-four on the look of the proposal by Element Lifestyle Inc. to build the fivestorey Aquara Seniors Residence at 90 Saghalie Rd. The company plans 50 condominiums, 76 units for independent and assisted care, and 35 licensed care units in the complex.
Neighbours want to see the building terraced along Kimta and Tyee roads as specified in Songhees design guidelines, but Mayor Lisa Helps argued that would almost certainly mean a loss of units.
She urged her colleagues not to send the project back to the developer.
“I know that more terracing means less units, and I don’t think we need less units,” Helps said, adding that an unintended consequence might be the building being moved closer to neighbouring buildings.
She was supported by councillors Margaret Lucas, Chris Coleman and Marianne Alto.
Councillors Pam Madoff, Charlayne Thornton-Joe, Geoff Young, Jeremy Loveday and Ben Isitt voted to send it back for design revisions and review by the committee of the whole and the advisory design panel.
City staff had recommended issuing a development permit. Zoning for the site was approved in 2013, and no height or setback variances were being sought.
Staff noted that the proposal is generally consistent with applicable design guidelines, except for the fact that the proposed building is not terraced back from Kimta and Tyee.
The guidelines say that the building should be terraced in a minimum of 2.4-metre increments along Kimta and Tyee to soften its impact.
Instead, the developer proposed to step back the upper floor fronting Kimta by 1.4 metres and the upper floor fronting Tyee by 6.6 metres, as well as using extensive glazing on the upper floors and darker accent colours to visually break up the long south-facing wall.
Residents of neighbouring buildings, including Bayview One and the Promontory, wrote to complain they were “blindsided” by the proposed height of the seniors’ complex, which they say has increased dramatically from what was first envisioned, primarily due to the 18-foot overheight ceilings on the main floor.
Staff say the proposed building falls within the maximum height allowed under the zoning.
Young said the trend to overheight storeys in proposed developments can be challenging for neighbours. “I’m sympathetic to the developer who has come forward within the exact technical parameters of our zoning, but I’m also sympathetic to those people behind who are getting a building which is different in some ways from what their sort of layman’s view might have been,” he said.
Madoff said it’s important a development meet the spirit of design guidelines, even on difficult sites. “I think the terracing is something that was seen as very significant and how it could have been done in a way that might not have been over-dramatic, but at least would have given the building a more graceful form,” Madoff said.
But Alto said the proposed design “is a better-looking design than the walls of three- and fourstorey townhouses and condominiums that sit in front of it.”
Alto stressed that the developer is not asking for any relaxation of city zoning and development requirements. “There are no variances on this application. This is an application that gives dedicated housing to a part of our population that is growing and needs these types of options.”
Loveday noted that the new units will be very expensive and “unaffordable for the vast majority of Victoria residents.”
“There’s an argument that we need housing at this end of the spectrum, as well, but I’m not as motivated by the need to get these done right away at the cost of not having the design right,” Loveday said.