149 replies to this topic

[Nparker]

More "heightophobia", but I think this may be the first time a dead artist has been used to justify the fears

...“While most residents of Cordova Bay agree that there is a need for a village, with residences and commercial facilities, and some additional residential housing in the area, few want a dense development with imposing structures, particularly so close to Cordova Bay Road,...the proposal for the plaza site would see buildings almost 50 feet high next to Cordova Bay Road, too high for “an historic low-scale community where Emily Carr came to paint.”...

- See more at: http://www.timescolo...h.pYCsN7jj.dpuf

Edited by Nparker, 19 February 2017 - 08:03 AM.

[AllseeingEye]

/\....I had the exact same thought when I read this article this morning..."Emily Carr? WTF does E-M have to do with this?? She's dead. She won't care". FFS  they're not talking about parking a mega-monolith 100-story edifice here but replacing two s****y 60 year old bungalows and a crappy tawdry run down grocery that way under-serves the current population of the area...

[grantpalin]

I never have reason to stop in the area when passing through, there just isn't anything appealing. Some new developments mean change, but they can also inject life into an otherwise sleepy-looking area. The protests so far are reminding me over the opposition to the 5-floor project in Cook Street Village that was recently approved.

[aastra]

Sure not thrilled with that rendering. Seems like it has no relationship with the street at all.

[johnk]

Mrs johnk mused about moving there when its time to let go of the SFH. My objection was I did not detect any sense of community. To me its a bunch of housing strung along a single road, one way in and out, with no core.
IMO the proposals look good. They could add some density, a few more amenities and a sense of being somewhere.

[Bingo]

Cordova Bay used to be somebody back in the day when the railway ran through and folks picniced at the beach and danced on Saturday night at McMorran's. 

But the community became lost as a destination when Fable Cottage left for Denman Island in 1993.

http://unknownvictor...ds-of-time.html

[Sparky]

The developer pulled out of the public hearing last night at the last minute.

 

The NIMBY's had gathered up a head of steam and had nothing better to do but storm the municipal hall en mass.

[Mike K.]

For real?

Was this this for the commercial project or Duomac?

[AllseeingEye]

Typical. I wonder now how long that crappy Tru-Value will hang about? That place should've been bulldozed 15 years ago.....

[aastra]

That small project looks terrific. Exactly the sort of small apartment building that you should want in a neighbourhood like Cordova Bay.

[AllseeingEye]

That small project looks terrific. Exactly the sort of small apartment building that you should want in a neighbourhood like Cordova Bay.

Are you NUTS? Way too much change...too much, and far too ffffffffffffast! ................Never mind that the neighborhood has barely changed since I used Cordova Bay Rd as my "back door escape" route to drive home to Gordon Head in the wee wee hours from the long defunct "Thatch" nightclub in Royal Oak....in 1980.

Edited by AllseeingEye, 22 February 2017 - 10:09 AM.

[3isenough]

That small project looks terrific. Exactly the sort of small apartment building that you should want in a neighbourhood like Cordova Bay.

Cadboro Bay, Estevan Village, Oak Bay Village, Cook Street Village... All very nice, successful little destination like (families, couples, students etc) will gather to go for coffee, a muffin or what have you. There are newer condo developments of this size with some retail on the ground floor in those areas mixed in with the SFDs. As far as the grocery store development, I do think it will work, living in the area and having children that go to school in the area it would be much more convenient to be able to stop in at a store right there rather than Broadmead, Royal Oak or Keating. Red Barn is great for some things (fruit/veg) but I don't think the majority of families do their regular grocery shops there.

[Bingo]

Cordova needs to re-invent themselves by filming a major motion picture in the community...a movie like "They Came to Cordova"

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxFc_Dx6to0

[VicHockeyFan]

Cordova Bay Plaza is nearly empty now that main tenant Tru Value Foods has closed, but replacement plans for the shopping centre have prompted a long list of concerns from the Cordova Bay Association for Community Affairs.

 

In a letter to the Saanich planning department, the group rejects the project, describing it as too urban and out of scale and character for what should be a community focal point in the beachside area.

 

“It doesn’t have a village appeal,” said association president Larry Gontovnick. The group contends the project looks above grade at Cordova Bay Road, making four storeys seem more like five, has inadequate public meeting space and blank exterior walls, and overpowers existing nearby housing.

 

“The relationship of the proposed buildings to the neighbouring properties and to our main street, Cordova Bay Road, is troubling,” the letter said.

 

- See more at: http://www.timescolo...h.yAn2fDvD.dpuf

[johnk]

We like going to the Beach House for lunch on the terraces but there's nothing else to hold us for awhile other than a walk on the beach. IMO the area needs some sort of core with meeting places like a pub or coffee shop.
Caddy Bay has a good little market, a wine store, a good neighbourhood pub and a Starbucks to grab a coffee outside or take down to the beach. These amenities make it attractive to us but there's nothing like that in CB.

[VicHockeyFan]

Is the gas station site just sitting out the required however many years of fallow?  It seems to me there has to be a better way to deal with these.

[Cassidy]

It seems to me that the gas station lot has been sitting there a good many years longer than a typical gas station tear-down lot normally has to sit empty.

[VicHockeyFan]

The one at Shelbourne and McKenzie and the tiny lot at Uptown are also long-timers.

[G-Man]

The pollution under the gas station in Cordova Bay is much worse than just a normal remediation.

[thundergun]

There's another one ~500m North across from Cordova Bay Elementary @ Fenn Ave. as well that's been idle for a looong time.