5833 replies to this topic

[dasmo]

Why not James Bay? It seems well-suited to greater density to me.

Low rise density yes. Arthur Erickson put it best. We need to keep a clean site line behind the parliament buildings. It's also difficult to get out of the bay so it would be better to be full of row houses and low rise mixed use than towers. Again, Towers belong around the Hudson and Mayfair. 

[aastra]

That's why Duet and 200 Douglas were required to be so exceptionally short. In order to keep a clean sightline behind the dome.

 

[dasmo]

Saanich is the municipality that needs to get its act together. All fingers should be pointed there.

 

Consider: all of the growth that happened in the west comms during the past ~25 years could have happened in Saanich. If it had, Saanich's population would be in that ~170,000 range today. And the west comms would be pretty much the same as they were in 1990.

Except that the rural character of Saanich is worth keeping and fighting for IMO. Would much rather have less industrial downtown and less car lots and lube shops downtown than a langfordification of Saanich. That said, all eyes should actually be on Colwood and Langford with a tram link into town for really getting some solid density that could actually create some affordability. All along the rail corridor should be packed with row houses and condos.  Zone it and they will come.  

[dasmo]

That's why Duet and 200 Douglas were required to be so exceptionally short. In order to keep a clean sightline behind the dome.

 

A perfect picture showing the mistake of previous planners..... 

[aastra]

 

Except that the rural character of Saanich is worth keeping and fighting for IMO.

 

Sorry, I didn't realize we were having this discussion back in the 1950s. Come on, the rural character of Shelbourne? The rural character of University Heights? The rural character of UVic? The rural character of McKenzie Ave? The rural character of Glanford Ave? The rural character of Royal Oak? The rural character of Uptown? The rural character of Burnside & Tillicum? The rural character of Cordova Bay?

 

Are we poseurs or are we serious? Saanich is the last place that anyone should want to preserve in the proverbial amber. It's frickin' Saanich! The original bedroom community. A standard-issue suburb almost across the board. It's time for Saanich to get off the couch and stop pointing fingers at everybody else and start carrying some of its own weight.

Edited by aastra, 26 May 2017 - 02:44 PM.

[aastra]

 

...a langfordification of Saanich.

 

Dude, I'm talking about an Oak Bay-ification of Saanich. Is it really such a threatening prospect to make Saanich more like Oak Bay? Would that really be so terribly urban?

[aastra]

 

Except that the rural character of Saanich is worth keeping and fighting for IMO.

 

For sure. Whereas the rural character of the west comms, Metchosin & Sooke can go **** itself. Not to mention the rural character of much of the peninsula north of Saanich.

[jonny]

Except that the rural character of Saanich is worth keeping and fighting for IMO. Would much rather have less industrial downtown and less car lots and lube shops downtown than a langfordification of Saanich. That said, all eyes should actually be on Colwood and Langford with a tram link into town for really getting some solid density that could actually create some affordability. All along the rail corridor should be packed with row houses and condos.  Zone it and they will come.  

 

Are you talking about Central Saanich, or...Saanich?

 

They only thing rural about Saanich are the ditches and the lack of sidewalks. Saanich is super suburban, for the most part.

[Nparker]

...Is it really such a threatening prospect to make Saanich more like Oak Bay?

I am sure the Saanich Police would like the relaxed pace and no longer having to deal with anything more serious than a cat in a tree.

[rjag]

Saanich is a joke when it comes to urban planning. Rural character my a$$, look how they treated VanderKerkhov with his property on Burnside and his justified response. 

 

They have suffered from too many years of 'father knows best' and his team of hangers on. Langford was the result of a lot of the policies of Saanich in the last 30 years....how'd that work out?

[dasmo]

OK OK! those areas for sure! Especially around UVIC and the Home Depot. Nothing to preserve there in terms of character.... However, Not Towers. Not without considering traffic implications. Rez tower at UVIC yes....

[dasmo]

If those areas of Saanich went Oak Bay it might justify the ridiculous house prices there....

[aastra]

 

A perfect picture showing the mistake of previous planners.....

 

Victorians like to reference past mistakes as justification for not doing something right today. Orchard House and View Towers did the crime so therefore the adjacent parking lots must do the time.

[lanforod]

Everyone in this thread seems to be ignoring the UCB. That's the whole reason Saanich isn't as dense as Oak Bay. That whole Saanich West area, west of Wilkinson is very thin density, and is very rural. I wouldn't really miss it if it all changed into suburbs of townhouses and SFH, but that won't happen without an overhaul of the ALR and Saanich's UCB.

[Mike K.]

So here is my question, do cities and developers work to limit supply so prices stay high? Thus increase developer profit and cities property tax revenues?

If there were a conspiracy, I would say it would be more-so on the side of existing land owners, not developers. Re-sales benefit from a strong pre-sale market, as re-sales ride the wave while pre-sales fall fall within the present-day cost to build and deliver that inventory (and it's not cheap).

Developers can turn a profit at any price as long as the cost to build is lower than the price they can sell their units for. If they could be selling and making a profit at $300 a square foot they would be.

As for taxes, it's important to remember that mill rates ensure that taxation levels stay relatively the same as the general value of property rises.

[Nparker]

...As for taxes, it's important to remember that mill rates ensure that taxation levels stay relatively the same as the general value of property rises.

I can vouch for this. For 2017, my property assessment went up more than it ever has in a single year (21%), but the increase to my municipal taxes was only about 4%.

[jonny]

OK OK! those areas for sure! Especially around UVIC and the Home Depot. Nothing to preserve there in terms of character.... However, Not Towers. Not without considering traffic implications. Rez tower at UVIC yes....

I don't envision towers anywhere but by Uptown, Douglas St and yes maybe UVic.

It's very strange that all those many three and four floor apartment buildings were built in the 70's and 80's, but nothing else until about 5 years ago.

[dasmo]

My zone for sky is the limit was Uptown to the Hudson so I had already included Saanich!

[dasmo]

House prices are not set by profit margins. They are set by what the market will pay.....

[G-Man]

I don't usually link my blog outside of my thread but I thought this article was particularly relevant here.
http://www.sidewalki...ome-in.html?m=1