416 replies to this topic

[amor de cosmos]

does anyone have any pics of models or drawings of this project? (besides the lousy one that was in yesterday's tc)

[Ms. B. Havin]

Editorial in T-C today re. highrises in Langford: [url=http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/comment/story.html?id=9f5e11ad-8eae-4ef3-ae3f-85926e08a1b9:eadcf]Editorial: Highrise boom poses challenges[/url:eadcf]. Thesis: "West Shore towers set to rise in isolation, but infrastructure, planning not keeping pace." Excerpt:

Highrise development has many advantages. The Bear Mountain highrises will include 653 units on 20 acres, with green space, a spa and restaurant. That's about 10 times the number of people the site could hold if developed as a typical single-family suburb.

Density is good. It reduces land use and, ideally, cuts vehicle use as people have shorter distances to travel to work or shopping.

But some kinds of density are better than others. The ideal goal is a compact community, in which people can live without travelling great distances, supported by high-quality public transit made possible by the concentrated population.

On that basis, these suburban highrise projects are less positive. They are not integrated into transit planning and demand residents use cars for almost every daily errand.

See full article for more.

[hungryryno]

Langford seems to be the perfect definition of building for today and not for tomorrow

Goldstream Avenue is already overcrowded and at times you have to wait several lights just to get through Jacklin or Peatt Roads.

Millstream / Vets Memorial is a joke from Millstram Village through to Langford Pkwy. (AVOID AT ALL COSTS ON SATURDAYS and RUSH HOURS)

[UrbanRail]

Notice the part about infrastructure planning not keeping pace.

There is that arguement that in order for transit to work (especially LRT and commuter rail), there needs to be high density. So why are we still building suburban projects that have no room for future transit routes?

[VicHockeyFan]

By —Anna Kemp
news@mondaymag.com

Jul 18 2007


Tower reaction mixed


This week, Vancouver developer Robert Quigg unveiled plans for four condominium towers on Bear Mountain that will range from 27 to 45 stories.

Langford city councillor Lillian Szpak was quoted in the Times Colonist as calling the 653 unit plan an “architectural wonder” and an “environmentally friendly development.” But Zoe Blunt, one of the tree-sitters protesting the Bear Mountain Resort, says calling the development environmentally friendly doesn’t make it so.

“What they’ve done up there is basically mountain top removal,” says Blunt. “They are terra-forming the whole mountain. It is not environmentally friendly . . . it is damaging greenspace, widlife habitat and drinking water.”

Bear Mountain also announced this week that they are selling their condos on a global market.

“I think condo buyers would be surprised to know what is really going on,” says Blunt. “They don’t know that native cultural rights aren’t being respected. They aren’t aware of the environmental damage. I think buyers should know about the opposition in the community.”

Dale Sproule, director of real estate at Bear Mountain, objects to opponents’ criticism. “We don’t just develop according to our own needs, we work very hard with all levels of government and abide by the rules.”

Having just returned from Dubai, Sproule says that people want to come here for the same reasons we want to go to Hawaii. “We’re green, blue and relatively financially secure,” says Sproule.

[gumgum]

If BM was a passenger vehicle, it would be a Hummer. And it would be keyed from bumper to bumper.

[amor de cosmos]

By —Anna Kemp
news@mondaymag.com

Jul 18 2007


Tower reaction mixed

....

Bear Mountain also announced this week that they are selling their condos on a global market.

“I think condo buyers would be surprised to know what is really going on,” says Blunt. “They don’t know that native cultural rights aren’t being respected. They aren’t aware of the environmental damage. I think buyers should know about the opposition in the community.”

....

The natives have had plenty of time to do something from what I've read. Last fall when the construction people came across that cave the natives went apeshit saying it was a sacred etc etc so Stu Young invited the Songhees chief over for dinner to work something out & got no response. Why didn't the natives bring it up 5 years ago? If people could hear both sides they'd find that there wasn't much more the Bear Mtn people could have done. From what I've read the natives were the ones who didn't want to work anything out.
http://www.canada.co... ... 5c62355551

I also want to know what became of the old abandoned copper mine that was on the south face of Skirt Mtn 100 yrs ago.

[Mike K.]

The towers will increase in height by six floors each, so the first will be 25-storeys followed by 31, 37, and finally 43. I'm not sure why the media keeps referring to the height of the last tower as 45-storeys.

[jack]

The towers will increase in height by six floors each, so the first will be 25-storeys followed by 31, 37, and finally 43. I'm not sure why the media keeps referring to the height of the last tower as 45-storeys.

Because the height from the bottom of the building to first residential floor is 2 stories. The numbers you have quoted are residential stories. So the overall height of the building are 27, 33, 40, 45.

I have been up there and the site and views are going to be spectacular!

[Mike K.]

Because the height from the bottom of the building to first residential floor is 2 stories. The numbers you have quoted are residential stories. So the overall height of the building are 27, 33, 40, 45.

Ah, ok that makes sense. But you meant 27, 33, "39" and 45, right?

[amor de cosmos]

The towers etc etc

....
I have been up there and the site and views are going to be spectacular!

i've been up mt finlayson & the view was spectacular. some people say the view from mt finlayson is ruined by the bear mtn development but i didn't think so. with 4 big towers like quigg is planning i wonder how it will look. hopefully they won't block the view very much.

[jack]

Because the height from the bottom of the building to first residential floor is 2 stories. The numbers you have quoted are residential stories. So the overall height of the building are 27, 33, 40, 45.

Ah, ok that makes sense. But you meant 27, 33, "39" and 45, right?

Yes, you are right 39.

And the vineyard aspect is an interesting concept and will give some of those homes a nice back drop or view, other then looking at another set of homes.

[aastra]

If the buildings are beautiful then the end result could be beautiful. If the buildings are ugly...

[amor de cosmos]

*never mind* ignore pls :-P

[Mike K.]

Here's a hint of what the first tower will look like. In front of the tower is the cantilevered restaurant overlooking the city to the south.

[amor de cosmos]

here's the Capella page on Quigg's site:
http://www.quiggcape...om/#/bear-mtn/3

definitely looks world-class

[Ms. B. Havin]

^ I don't usually comment on Western Comm. sites, but the photo above bugs me. Maybe I'm overreacting (quite possible), but here's what it is:

This building is a rip-off of Frank Lloyd Wright in how it cantilevers out, but it doesn't have the geographical justification of something like Fallingwater (despite being on a mountain -- it's not the same thing at all, geographically and in terms of setting). A cantilevered construction like that is very "Frank Lloyd Wright." So it bugs me is that this architect takes something essential or substantial (Fallingwater's cantilevered "hoveringness") and turns it into a trick or simple style device: "Oh look, a Frank Lloyd Wright-style building."

I might not have minded so much if the other parts of the building were up to snuff, but seriously: look at it! Except for the cantilevered thing it has going on, it's dead in the (absent and very much not falling) water. Boring boring boring.

[Mike K.]

Are you sure? It's being built on Players Drive above an area that has already been developed. I might be wrong here, but the location isn't actually in the Highlands but SFDs that BM wants to build will fall outside of the boundary and within the Highlands. I'm pretty sure this is a development 100% within the Langford border.

[aastra]

That tower is still much better looking than Soaring Peaks.

[amor de cosmos]

I might not have minded so much if the other parts of the building were up to snuff, but seriously: look at it! Except for the cantilevered thing it has going on, it's dead in the (absent and very much not falling) water. Boring boring boring.

i thought that was what west-coast design was all about, clean & simple. so boring it's cool?