Tower project good for region
The residential-commercial project proposed to be built across from the Mayfair Shopping Centre will have dramatic impacts on the neighbourhood, but most of them are positive. Oakwood Parks Estates is proposing to build two 12-storey residential towers over ground-floor commercial premises on Frances and Speed avenues just off Douglas Street. It would be a huge change for an area in which most of the buildings have a low profile, but the $52-million project has the potential to freshen up that part of the Douglas Street corridor, which is a mixture of single-dwelling residential, commercial and light industrial.
The housing supply is a crucial issue in the capital region, and especially in Victoria, which has a limited supply of land for new residential construction. Apartment towers increase population density without creating more urban sprawl.
The proposal is in harmony with the city’s efforts to get more people walking, cycling and using transit. Residents of the complex will be within walking distance of a variety of shopping and other amenities, and will be steps away from a major transit corridor. Victoria’s downtown core and Saanich’s Uptown Centre are minutes away by bus, and access to the Galloping Goose and Lochside trails is close by.
The project is not without its challenges. The company developing it balked at the community amenity contribution set by the city.
Victoria policy requires developers to make an amenity contribution tied to changes in zoning that increase allowable density, which increases the value of the land. For properties outside the core, city policy calls for an amenity contribution equivalent to 75 per cent of the additional value of the land, as determined by an independent consultant. In this case, the potential increase is estimated at $1.3 million, so the amenity contribution would be $975,000, the largest ever levied by the city. It’s understandable that the developer would seek to lower the contribution.
The company and the city have been talking back and forth for several months about the amenity contribution.
Coun. Marianne Alto wanted council to cut some slack for the developer, suggesting half of the fee be paid up front and half upon completion.
“It’s going to be a very important transit corridor. It’s going to be a very important, highly densified corridor. It’s going to be a very important area for bringing life to that part of the city as we grow into a larger municipality with the restrictions of our boundaries,” she said.
But council has stuck to its guns on the amount, and insists it be paid up front. That’s standard procedure, and to depart from policy could set a precedent that would cause the city difficulties in the future.
It’s a good process. New developments trigger costs for infrastructure, and higher densities put more demand on amenities. Sharing the economic benefit of increased land value is a fair way of protecting the public interest.
Coun. Pam Madoff, who has not supported the application from the outset, is concerned about the impact the complex will have on the existing commercial and industrial uses in the area. The public will have a chance to weigh in on those and other concerns at a public hearing on the rezoning application set for June 23.
Any project of this size should be examined closely to see how it will affect those who already live and work there. But this is one in which the positive impacts outweigh the negative.