3483 replies to this topic

[Victoria Watcher]

in fairness langford has some bare (forested) land though.  in the city you have established neighbourhood groups that want to be heard.  and want to oppose most everything.  

 

does langford even have community associations?

 

there is one at bear mountain i see.  http://www.bearmountaincommunity.com/#

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 02 October 2019 - 05:43 AM.

[Mike K.]

Aside from subdivisions, consider the high density housing Langford is building in established SFD neighbourhoods. The municipality is rapidly densifying along its major corridors.

[Victoria Watcher]

Aside from subdivisions, consider the high density housing Langford is building in established SFD neighbourhoods. The municipality is rapidly densifying along its major corridors.

 

and that's really where the city and saanich should too.  almost nobody will resist higher density along mckenzie shelbourne quadra bay fort etc.  these are the least desirable streets for new sfd's.  just look at some of that existing stock yuck.  tear it down and build some real buildings.

[Mike K.]

And they're moving in that direction, albeit very, very, very slowly. And Shelbourne has its own densification/development plan where the municipality has described what it wants. But still, the proposals making their way through the system are crawling along.

[Victoria Watcher]

well saanich is alo putting shelbourne on a road diet so i'm not sure where that's all going.  and a developer tried to put in hundreds of housing units right at shelbourne and mckenzie but has perhaps given up over all the saanich "wants".  you can't say you want more housing then seize upon a big housing proposal to get stuff for the municipality too.

 

 

 

Facing increased development cost charges imposed by Saanich, a rich community amenity package and the desire to have some affordable housing options on site, Vancouver-based Wesbild is tweaking its project and crunching numbers to see if there’s a way to make the mixed-use development financially viable.

 

 

“When you keep layering on costs, when do you say ‘uncle?’ ” asked Steve Forrest, Wesbild’s senior vice-president of real estate. “To be clear, we are not there yet. We are really just trying to value-engineer to make the numbers work.”

 

 

https://www.timescol...osts-1.23804291

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 02 October 2019 - 06:24 AM.

[Nparker]

Wacky socialist idea of the week:

Victoria city councillor Jeremy Loveday has put forward a motion to provide affordable housing to artists.The motion would see staff make the goal of creating housing for artists part of the Victoria Housing Strategy...

https://www.cheknews...artists-611226/

So if a person chooses a known, low paying profession, the taxpayer is beholden to subsidize this choice?

[rmpeers]

Wacky socialist idea of the week:
So if a person chooses a known, low paying profession, the taxpayer is beholden to subsidize this choice?

Brilliant. I take back everything I ever said about our council being useless and wasting their time on goofy pursuits. Here ar last we have a brave voice speaking up on the most pressing issue facing our city.

[aastra]

Why not simply advocate for density, reduced development fees, & faster approval times? You know, measures that would benefit everyone across the board? No need to waste effort trying to designate or categorize people by their current (but not past or future) professions, their current (but not past or future) hairstyles, their current (but not past or future) favorite sports team, etc.

[Nparker]

Why not simply advocate for density, reduced development fees, & faster approval times? You know, measures that would benefit everyone across the board? ...

Because despite the fact that all CoV citizens are equal, some are more equal than others.*

 

*with apologies to George Orwell

[Midnightly]

for some reason i remember hearing talks something like this (maybe not with living but a artist hub of some sorts) for the old maritime museum location... after millions are spent seismically upgrading it...

[Mike K.]

Artists are not known to follow the mob, so to speak. Communities of artists grow organically and often emerge out of areas where the public wouldn’t have considered desirable or necessarily cool to live, but artists did, and they would quietly start clustering in small pockets out of sight and out of mind.

A City coming up with an artist-you-go-here plan, or even some kind of a bursary or rental subsidy will get mired down in so much bureaucracy that it will be another policy behemoth.

Loveday, himself an artist, has moved to Esquimalt. Does he feel he was pushed out by not having an opportunity to buy a home in the CoV?

[aastra]

Dude, housing in Victoria is expensive. Have you ever heard of an expensive city having a flourishing and diverse artistic scene?

[Mike K.]

No, which is why it’s always so surprising when the Juno’s don’t end up in Prince George.

[snub]

Gee, I wished I lived in Victoria since I'm an artist of sorts. I draw two pensions. OAP and CPP. Grand total of $1077.00 per month. Glad I'm not renting.

[Victoria Watcher]

Wacky socialist idea of the week:

So if a person chooses a known, low paying profession, the taxpayer is beholden to subsidize this choice?

 

wacky to you but just a dandy idea to all but one councillor.

 

 

In terms of what the policy would look like in action, Loveday cited the example of a building with an art school on the first floor and rental-housing units above.

“If the artists below desire, they would have first right of refusal on those units,” he said. “So this could give our staff a policy rationale for accepting and recommending a project like that to us in the future.”

He said qualifying artists would still have to meet income thresholds. “This won’t be putting artists to the front of the line,” he said.

But Coun. Geoff Young argued that’s exactly what the policy will do.

“If the motion means anything, it means that if you are a server or a plumber’s apprentice and you have such and such an income, you get put lower on the list than someone who qualifies in some way as an artist,” he said.

Young, who was alone in opposition, also questioned the practicality of the plan and how the artists will be selected.

 

 

https://www.timescol...ists-1.23973987

[Nparker]

The inmates long ago took over the asylum.

[Mike K.]

This sounds like something that will end up before the courts, if the City grants any special leniences for the facility that it wouldn’t grant for any other form of private housing.

[Nparker]

Apparently the city of Vancouver has a similar policy. I'd be curious to know if anyone has tried to challenge that through the courts.

[rmpeers]

It's a classic example of having a city beset by a number of pressing issues, but councillors who don't have the ability, skill, or political will to address them, so instead they cook up an initiative that no one is asking for and grandstand about that.

One assumes the councilor lives in a very privileged world if he sees this as a priority.

[Victoria Watcher]

i suppose the argument is "we won't have any art if artists can't afford to live here" and it's as garbage as "there will be no music/tv/film when anybody can make and distribute it freely (via digital means)".  ya well there's never been more in the history of the world.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 11 October 2019 - 07:09 AM.