65 replies to this topic

[Scaper]

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If any of you feel as though you'd like to write Russ Ridley (the developer) a comment about this tower, the email is mailto:comments@themichelle.ca.

The stats we already have are:

41-storeys; 130 meters (427'); lower portion of Belmont Road (road that breaks off Ocean Boulevard which leads to Esq Lagoon); $130 million; 200 units and the architects are De Hoog Keirulf in cooperation with Davidson Yuen Simpson.

One factor in this latest tower debate is the owner claims to want to live in the building upon its completion. Another is that the same team of architects is behind this tower and the two towers proposed (one of which has been flipped) by Letson Holdings who are behind the 17-storey and 29-storey rezonings.

As some have commented, it'd be nice to finally see shovels in the ground or at least some talk of physical activity with one of these projects.

Time will tell.

[Scaper]

Here is a comparison between the 29 story, 105 meter, Royal Roads Place (aproved) and the 41 story, 130 meter, The Michelle, (proposal).

[Mike K.]

Tower far from done deal, says chairman
BY BILL CLEVERLEY Times Colonist staff


A proposed 41-storey residential/office tower project in Colwood — potentially the tallest building in the capital region — is far from a done deal, says planning and zoning chairman Coun. Dave Saunders.
Russ Ridley wants to build a 41-storey, 200-unit highrise on a two-acre site on Belmont Road near Colwood Corners.
Ridley has set up website (http://www.themichelle.ca) for the $130-million project which he calls The Michelle. Conceptual drawings have been brought in to municipal hall and shown to some councillors, but no formal application has been made, Saunders said.
“It’s been reported that this building is coming on line and I’m starting to get e-mails from citizens that they think that it’s already a done deal, that it’s been through the process.
“I just want to assure the public that it is not a done deal and at this point it has not been through any process.”
Ridley could not be reached Friday.
Mayor Jody Twa said 41 storeys is “awfully high.” While he didn’t want to comment on The Michelle directly, he noted that the Ridley project would be in an area far more populated than the 29-storey highrise Colwood approved in May for a site at 1945 Sooke Rd.
Saunders said he thinks The Michelle is too high, but Colwood will look at it, “We are open for business.”
He predicted that if council says no to some of the highrise proposals coming before it these days, the developers will return with even higher ones. [Uh, come again?]

[HOMBRE]

wow that last statement is real victorian, great work guys. I kinda like the building however it does seem sorta high for our standards.

Although i like pushing the envelope, i just don't know how this one is going to look sticking up as it would appear its going to.

[Scaper]

Hey Californian boy!!!

[Mike K.]

If we can deal with 250 meter mountains razed with houses from top to bottom, we can deal with a 130 meter highrise.

[DelsterX]

This would be great news. Although it is a neat bonus having my computer speakers act as a radio. :?

By Edward Hill
Goldstream News Gazette
Sep 01 2006

Proposed 41-storey building could be new location for transmission towers

Radio broadcast towers trapping Triangle Mountain residents in an electronic Twilight Zone could find their way to a proposed 41-storey condo in Colwood - if the building gets built, and if the broadcasters agree.
Those are big ifs, but after six years of hunting for a new home for the two towers, Colwood Coun. Ernie Robertson says the planned 130-metre high 'The Michelle' is the best option available.
"There is no other elevation in Colwood to move the towers," said Robertson, chair of the transmission towers citizens committee.
The Ocean (CIOC), Jack FM (CHTT) owned by Rogers Broadcasting, and Kool FM (CFEX) owned by CHUM Media, broadcast across the Greater Victoria area and beyond from a 58-metre freestanding tower and another guy-wired tower atop Triangle Mountain.
Colwood's transmission tower committee has been working to have the towers relocated since they were erected in 2000, but few alternative locations exist. Mount McDonald, at 406 metres west of Langford, was ruled out because it didn't meet the broadcast coverage area, which extends over the Malahat.
Whether 'The Michelle' presents a realistic alternative for radio broadcast is still unknown. Planned for property on Belmont Road near Colwood Corners, the development has yet to come before Colwood council for first reading, and at 41 storeys, it will likely be controversial on its own.
Transmissions from that building or any structure would have to reach the same audience as from Triangle Mountain, a location used for radio communications and navigation since the 1920s.
See SIGNAL Page A2
Russ Ridley, the developer, said he is open to discussions with the broadcasters for relocating antennas from Triangle Mountain and two cellphone towers from Colwood Corners.
"If they want to relocate, it's up for negotiation," Ridley said. "They would gain one beautiful tower and lose four ugly towers."
Rogers Broadcasting recently offered to co-locate all three radio transmitters to one tower, but Robertson said that would do little to solve the problem of persistent electronic interference in surrounding homes.
In a Aug. 21 letter, the City of Colwood suggested both Rogers and CHUM were contravening their ethical policies by allowing the problem of "harmful interference" to continue.
Nearby residents complain strange poltergeist events: garage doors spontaneously opening or failing, malfunctioning VCRs, TVs, microwaves and computers, and even an electric bed that will open and close of its own accord.
Resident Sharon Noble said many of the problems are a nuisance, but garage doors opening presents a serious home security risk. She said regular visits from Canadian Radio-Television Commission technicians have offered few solutions.
"We get music through the phone sometimes," Noble said. "Often it's so loud I can't hear people talking. It's hard to know what to attribute the problems to."
The towers themselves were erected under a pall of controversy, seemingly sprung on the growing neighbourhood with little notice.
In 2002, University of Victoria public policy professor Rod Dobell issued a report to Industry Canada as to why the public was kept in the dark. Dobell largely pinned blame on conflicting policies and procedures of the regulator Industry Canada, media companies and the municipality, rather than overt collusion.
Tower committee member Nigel Giuliany, and others, though, directly blame Industry Canada for failing to protect the public.
"We've been asking for six years to get relief from harm and they have done absolutely nothing. They have obfuscated and delayed and interpreted the regulations to their benefit," Giuliany said. "Industry Canada is the villain in this."
He doubts the broadcasters will ever move from Triangle Mountain; the towers were built legally, albeit with imperfect public consultation.
"More than 300 people are affected by this, and there is no accountability."

[Holden West]

No doubt at all there will be some sort of electronic equipment at the top of that tower. The challenge will be for the architect to integrate it gracefully into the design and not just plunk a huge ratty bird's nest of junk on top (Camosack Manor, I'm talking to you!)

Older skyscrapers in the U.S. have done a good job of hiding cell phone repeaters and antennas into the facade so that you can hardly see them.

[aastra]

Resident Sharon Noble said many of the problems are a nuisance, but garage doors opening presents a serious home security risk.

Oh well. Could be worse. Thank goodness there aren't any negative impacts on human health, for example.

[Holden West]

On the topic of garage doors and remote control frequencies, my new ceiling fan was changing speeds and turning off by itself. The more I tried using the remote to get it at the right speed the more it acted up. It stopped when I changed the factory-set code inside the remote. It was likely my downstairs neighbour--I was probably inadvertantly screwing with his fan as well.

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[Scaper]

This building should have been 50 stories. So close at 41 when will we ever break the 50 story range?

Unbelievable!!!

I hope this gets aproved. It would be so visable from Jamesbay.

[HOMBRE]

any ideas on the timeline for this project, i would really like to see it go to public hearing.

[Jarrod]

Geez, I think I'm the only one who honestly thinks it a wee bit tall. It's Victoria, I mean, Vancouver is just breaking the 60 mark with no other towers at 50, the closest is 48. Victoria already can't be compared to any other city of 365,000. I dunno, it just seems kinda insane.

[Mike K.]

Nanaimo is currently construction a taller building than this tower (by something like six meters, I think), and Kelowna has a 40+ storey proposal. Both cities are 1/3rd the population of Victoria.

[Jarrod]

I dunno, I think I would be more comfortable with something in the 30 story range. It just is strange for a small metro to have that tall.

[HOMBRE]

its just a number jarrod, things will always seem tall when you look at it.

more importantly is how this building looks in reference to other buildings.

[Holden West]

I'm leaning with Jarrod on this one. It's like they're saying the scale of a building to its surroundings is completely irrelevant. So why not 50, 60 or 70 storeys? Heck, why not just plunk Taipei 101 right there?

[Jarrod]

Numbers, that's what I'm looking at. I know how tall it is, but still. It's just odd. But oh well. I guess I'm turning into a NIMBY. Oh well...I'm not here very long anyway, so I don't really care anymore about anything of this sort. I'm here until I can get out and this can go up and look way out of place even with other buildings its size and I wouldn't care.

[Mike K.]

Height shouldn't be a greater issue than density or footprint.

And just for kicks, Calgary, 3x bigger than Victoria (like Victoria is bigger to Nanaimo), has western Canada's tallest building and substantially more buildings over 130 meters than Vancouver. Vanouver is almost 2.5x bigger than Calgary.

Trust me, if a building was proposed at 31-storeys, people would say they're more comfortable with a building in the twenty's. That's how it goes, I guess.

But what you guys are saying is so long as we slowly creep up to 100-storeys then its all fine? The folks living in Camosack Manor certainly don't mind their home being the tallest building in the immediate area and the highest-set highise in Victoria. And the world still turns!

[Scaper]

We always seem to look at Vancouver and say...well Vancouver is over two million people and they only build thirty and forty story buildings. Well if you look at any other city Vancouver size, buildings in the downtown are in the 60 to 70 story range. Take Seattle for instance, those office towers downtown Seatle would dwarf any thing in Vancouver. Then you look at cities like Halifax that are the same population as Victoria and they have 25 story office towers, where in Victoria we only have a couple at 12.

So when someone wants to build a 30 and 40 story tower in a city Victoria's size...it's about right.

I would rather have five 30 - 40 story towers than have another 5000 units getting ripped through a forest and mountian side.

It's fine you don't care Jarrod but maybe more people will say..I don't care and another mountain gets stripped, and then another and another, and more freeways to feed these huge 20,000 poplulated subdivisions.

It's crazy for people not to care. I do, this is why I fight so hard for my views to be heard and to help make this site a major educational place for people to learn the truth.