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Managing density / urban development


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#481 aastra

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Posted 06 June 2017 - 05:05 PM

 

...today’s condo construction boom didn’t happen by accident.

 

Orchestrated by city planners, Victoria has been undergoing a transformation for decades.

 

http://www.cheknews....-growth-326685/

 

It really does make you wonder where Victoria would be today if not for the clear-cut plan to make it all happen.


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#482 aastra

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Posted 06 June 2017 - 05:08 PM

 

^ Can I creatively interpret that poll as indicating favour for greater density outside of the downtown core...

 

I think the question is asking if people would be open to allowing denser development as versus continuing with the sorts of developments that we're familiar with.



#483 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 06 June 2017 - 05:13 PM

http://www.cheknews....-growth-326685/

 

It really does make you wonder where Victoria would be today if not for the clear-cut plan to make it all happen.

 

It's good that they did not mess around with things like a boarded up Checkerboard building for the last 20 years, that's for sure.


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<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#484 Jackerbie

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Posted 07 June 2017 - 01:58 PM

http://www.cheknews....-growth-326685/

 

It really does make you wonder where Victoria would be today if not for the clear-cut plan to make it all happen.

 

Council would probably be directing staff to do a study



#485 sebberry

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Posted 27 June 2017 - 03:42 PM

Shellie Gudgeon posted this article to her facebook page:

 


The lesson from Grenfell is simple: stop building residential towers

 

How many times should we say it? Don’t build residential towers. Don’t make or let people live in them, least of all families. They are antisocial, high-maintenance, disempowering, unnecessary, mostly ugly, and they can never be truly safe. No tower is fireproof. No fire engine can reach up 20 storeys, period.

 

Towers are again raising their heads across the urban landscape, creatures of egotistical architects, greedy developers and priapic mayors. We gasp at their magnificence, their extravagance, their sheer height. Yet like Grenfell they are alien creatures in a British city. They do not converse with their context, they thumb their noses at it.

 

 

[...]

 

https://www.theguard...oidApp_Facebook


Victoria current weather by neighbourhood: Victoria school-based weather station network

Victoria webcams: Big Wave Dave Webcams

 


#486 Nparker

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Posted 27 June 2017 - 03:43 PM

Was she at least mocking the article?



#487 sebberry

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Posted 27 June 2017 - 03:46 PM

Was she at least mocking the article?

 

Capture.JPG


Victoria current weather by neighbourhood: Victoria school-based weather station network

Victoria webcams: Big Wave Dave Webcams

 


#488 aastra

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Posted 27 June 2017 - 04:23 PM

 

That is the true message of the Grenfell tragedy.

 

Indeed, it's time for the UK to legislate a hard 8-story cap on all exceptionally flammable firetraps.


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#489 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 02 July 2017 - 02:31 PM

http://www.timescolo...cies-1.20862672

 

If the Greater Victoria region were an animal, it would be small but flabby, and likely unable to climb a flight of stairs without stopping to groom itself and breathe — perhaps like one of those overfed house cats lolling about the Internet.

 

 

 

Anybody know what that article is all about?


<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#490 Bingo

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Posted 02 July 2017 - 03:45 PM

http://www.timescolo...cies-1.20862672

 

Anybody know what that article is all about?

 

Sure, it's about someone campaigning to become Victoria's next mayor.



#491 aastra

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Posted 03 July 2017 - 12:24 PM

Anybody know what that article is all about?

 

I read it as a rather long-winded admission that the author doesn't realize how physically small Greater Victoria is compared to most other Canadian metro areas.

 

 

And Greater Victoria, roly-poly spreading out on its soft South Island sofa, is too small and sparsely populated overall to see those efficiencies.

 

Greater Victoria is not spread out. The extent of the CMA is about as narrowly defined as it could possibly be. Hence why the average population density in Greater Victoria is so much higher than in most other Canadian metro areas.

 

CMAs:

 

Victoria: 368,000   |   696 sq. km   |   avg. 528 per sq. km

Calgary: 1,393,000   |   5,110 sq. km   |   avg. 273 per sq. km

Edmonton: 1,321,000   |   9,439 sq. km   |   avg. 140 per sq. km

Guelph: 152,000   |   594 sq. km   |   avg. 256 per sq. km

Halifax: 403,000   |   5,496 sq. km   |   avg. 73 per sq. km

Kelowna: 195,000   |   2,905 sq. km   |   avg. 67 per sq. km

Kingston: 161,000   |   1,939 sq. km   |   avg. 83 per sq. km

London, ON: 494,000   |   2,662 sq. km   |   avg. 186 per sq. km

 

Moncton: 145,000   |   2,559 sq. km   |   avg. 57 per sq. km

Oshawa: 380,000   |   904 sq. km   |   avg. 420 per sq. km

Ottawa-Gatineau: 1,324,000   |   6,767 sq. km   |   avg. 196 per sq. km

Quebec City: 800,000   |   3,409 sq. km   |   avg. 235 per sq. km

Regina: 236,000   |   4,324 sq. km   |   avg. 55 per sq. km

Saint John, NB: 126,000   |   3,510 sq. km   |   avg. 36 per sq. km

Saskatoon: 295,000   |   5,891 sq. km   |   avg. 50 per sq. km

St. John's, NFLD: 206,000   |   805 sq. km   |   avg. 256 per sq. km

Windsor: 329,000   |   1,022 sq. km   |   avg. 322 per sq. km

Winnipeg: 778,000   |   5,307 sq. km   |   avg. 147 per sq. km

 

http://www12.statcan...ndex.cfm?Lang=E


Edited by aastra, 03 July 2017 - 12:25 PM.

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#492 aastra

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Posted 16 November 2017 - 01:20 PM

In Victoria the only thing that will generate more controversy than a new highrise apartment building is a new lowrise apartment building (CSV, Northern Junk, Rockland, etc.). Even though almost 30% of Greater Victoria's dwellings are apartments in lowrise buildings (fewer than 5 stories):
http://www12.statcan...2016005-eng.cfm

 

In the city proper the numbers are higher, as we would expect. ~50% of the city's dwelling are apartments in lowrise buildings (fewer than 5 stories), ~18% are apartments in buildings taller than 5 stories, and ~14% are detached houses,


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#493 Jackerbie

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Posted 16 November 2017 - 02:15 PM

Yes, but my low-rise apartment building was embraced by the community, faced zero opposition, was considered an architectural gem at the time, and didn't displace old woman Parker or any on-site trees, otherwise how would it have ever been built 30 years ago? /sarcasm


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#494 Nparker

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Posted 16 November 2017 - 02:22 PM

...didn't displace old woman Parker...

No relation.


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#495 Nparker

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Posted 09 December 2017 - 10:01 AM

I defy anyone with even half a brain to make it through all of this letter in today's T-C without shaking their head in disbelief.

...Look at the forest of cranes downtown, where 4,000 condos are under construction. To me, it seems as if we are turning into New York and are definitely not retaining our neighbourhood character...

Notice the use of the word "condos" not residences. The usual NIMBY attempt to suggest that building condos somehow doesn't create homes. Also, aren't a good number of these 4000 units not purpose built rentals? It's absurd to suggest that Victoria is turning into New York. We're barely keeping pace with Kelowna. And what exactly is the definition of "retaining our neighbourhood character"? Should Rock Bay have retained its character of contaminated soils? Should we be preserving the character of hundreds of hectares of surface parking lots? Should Townline have preserved the character of the abandoned department store and unused, crumbling parking structure? When exactly is a neighbourhood complete and no further changes can ever be allowed?


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#496 aastra

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Posted 09 December 2017 - 10:52 AM

 

...Look at the forest of cranes downtown, where 4,000 condos are under construction. To me, it seems as if we are turning into New York and are definitely not retaining our neighbourhood character...

 

So.... the city must be flush with cash, right?

 

(crickets chirping, because it's actually a period of crisis and scarcity)


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#497 aastra

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Posted 09 December 2017 - 10:55 AM

There's much more being built in Victoria than there is in Kelowna. Kelowna just allows taller buildings. You could take half of the buildings built in Victoria in the past ten years and put them in Kelowna and Kelowna would instantly have a legitimate & dense downtown.



#498 Bingo

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Posted 09 December 2017 - 11:03 AM

You could take half of the buildings built in Victoria in the past ten years and put them in Kelowna and Kelowna would instantly have a legitimate & dense downtown.

 

I'm sure Nickel Bros would be up for the task.



#499 dasmo

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Posted 09 December 2017 - 11:04 AM

New York? I don’t think they get out much. Victoria is a city not a neighbourhood. BUT... they do have a point. The OCP’s are BS. Spot zoning everything is BS. Just rezone the city proper.
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#500 Nparker

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Posted 09 December 2017 - 11:05 AM

There's much more being built in Victoria than there is in Kelowna...

I wasn't being literal when I used Kelowna as an example. The CoV has less chance of becoming New York than Kelowna has of becoming Victoria.



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