785 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

Oddly enough, former mayor Peter Pollen's family is involved in this development (they own the land) and today the City announced they will name a park in his honour.

 

VICTORIA, BC — This month the City will dedicate an expanded waterfront park honouring former Mayor of Victoria Peter Pollen. This park will embody Pollen’s vision that the harbour should be accessible for all residents.

 

The area currently known as Laurel Point Park – now a three-acre park space expanded with land recently transferred from the federal government – will become Peter Pollen Waterfront Park.

 

“A lot of the way Victoria looks and feels today can be attributed to the vision and leadership of Peter Pollen,” said Mayor Lisa Helps. “I had an opportunity to meet Peter shortly after being elected and was moved by the passion and dedication he still had for public access to the harbour and the importance of public spaces. It’s fitting that we name this waterfront park in his honour.”

[baconnbits]

Don't mind that.  I have thought for awhile that some of the cities parks and plazas should be named after those that shaped it. i'm not a fan of David Foster Way for example.... 

[Nparker]

...The area currently known as Laurel Point Park – now a three-acre park space expanded with land recently transferred from the federal government – will become Peter Pollen Waterfront Park....

And 99% of people will still refer to it as Laurel Point - or is that Peter Pollen Waterfront Park @ Laurel Point, Breakwater District?

Also when did we start naming things after old white guys again? Isn't that just asking for trouble in the future?

[Citified.ca]

An artist's rendering of 1025 Johnson Street, a mixed-use affordable rental tower envisioned to include a state-of-the-art No. 1 Victoria Fire Department fire hall.

 

Master-planned community with new Victoria Fire Hall No. 1 and affordable housing seeks approval for public https://victoria.cit...public-hearing/

 

Significant progress has been made on the rezoning and development permit applications that includes a relocation of Victoria’s No. 1 fire hall to a state-of-the-art emergency services facility and the creation of 130 affordable rental homes.

 

Identified as an infrastructure investment priority a decade ago, the seismically vulnerable Yates Street complex, which serves as the City of Victoria’s largest fire station, is on-track for replacement as part of an innovative mixed-use proposal by Victoria-based developer Jawl Residential on behalf of Dalmatian Developments.

 

This Thursday Victoria councillors will have their first opportunity to review significant updates to applications that were approved to move to a public hearing at a February Committee of the Whole meeting. Council tasked staff with working to meet a series of conditions prior to the public hearing, including housing agreements to secure 130 proposed affordable rental homes on title, a phasing plan for the orderly and timely delivery of amenities, and statutory rights-of-way for public spaces on the property including a large public plaza and increased perimeter setbacks.   

 

“We have been working toward the transition of this property from its current uses into a mixed-use community for more than a decade and we’re extremely proud of the proposal that is going before council this week,” said Dave Jawl, director of Jawl Residential and Dalmatian Developments. “Since council last heard about this application, our below-market sale of an affordable rental building to Pacifica Housing has received final approval from BC Housing and we have worked closely with city staff to create an updated package that I think truly shows our commitment to delivering an innovative project that responds to the City’s most pressing needs - affordable housing, improved public safety and welcoming public spaces in the downtown.” [Full article]

[Nparker]

 

...increased perimeter setbacks....

Ack! Whatever for?

[G-Man]

I would bet the setback would be for a consistent boulevard treatment for the whole block.

[Nparker]

I would bet the setback would be for a consistent boulevard treatment for the whole block.

You mean like the consistent boulevard treatment along the south side of the 1300 block of Vancouver Street? 

[G-Man]

Exactly.

[Nparker]

So the sidewalks along the border of this project will be widening and narrowing at random?

[aastra]

 

Ack! Whatever for?

 

Because downtown Victoria is becoming too much like downtown Victoria. Nobody wants that.

[Mike K.]

The below paragraph is, in my opinion, the biggest take-away from the conversation with Jawl:

 

Unlike traditional multi-phased development efforts, Jawl’s concept for the project (currently dubbed Johnson|Cook|Yates) will front-load a series of significant amenity contributions in the first phase, yielding a departure from the norm of long-term build-outs that typically stack amenities on a phase-by-phase basis. And Jawl’s construction oversight of the new fire hall means the City of Victoria will effectively de-risk its investment from cost overruns and construction delays by handing the responsibility to a seasoned developer for a guaranteed $33.7 million price.

 

 

This is huge in a city where a bridge went staggeringly over budget and blew years beyond its deadline, where a swimming pool cannot got off the ground and where a public harbourfront walkway has only minimally progressed since it was announced years ago.

[IPH]

There is a symbiotic relationship there, though.

 

1) The City of Victoria has an official community plan that outlines what it would like various parcels to look like as the city grows.

2) A landowner responds to that plan by requesting a rezoning

3) The City's fee structure yields a 75% kickback to the City for the value uplift realized through that rezoning

4) The City now begins to collect higher taxes based on the new highest usage of that land

5) The landowner then pursues development, passing on the added costs to future residents and leaseholders

 

With every taxing of the rich you're really taxing the middle class who are the consumers of the product created through development, which costs more due to the added costs of doing business. The City then charges each one of these consumers a tax for the property they purchased, realizing a significant increase in revenues from a parcel of land that may have brought in $40,000 in taxes prior to a rezoning and redevelopment, and now brings in $400,000. And taxes, of course, are an ever-growing demand put on residents and businesses.

 

The biggest fear among developers in Victoria is not the bureaucracy. They can handle the bureaucracy just fine, that's their job and they're incredibly efficient at what they do. What keeps them up at night is whether or not the costs of doing business in Victoria get to a point where the consumer of their product will become too financially exhausted to make a go of purchasing their inventory. Are we there? Some say we're getting close.

Excellent point Mike!  On top of all those taxes the City also charges for thinks like:

• Public meeting notices
• Rezoning application fees
• public hearing fees
• DCCs
• CACs
• building, plumbing, & electrical permit fees
• boulevard & frontage replacement costs on every project regardless of the condition or damage 
• water, sewer & storm connection fees
• etc

A large part of the public and many of those on council view this as only impacting the so called rich developer.  But these costs all get passed onto the end user regardless if they rent or buy or the developer wouldn't build anything.  These costs along with higher labour, materials, land, insurance costs etc. all contribute to why housing is so expensive. 

 

Given the current pace of real estate sales in Victoria its hard to believe that consumers may be headed to a point where they become too financially exhausted to purchase new development inventory.  But like we've seen in previous housing downturns, if we get there it may be quite abrupt and that definitely can keep one up at night!  

[Nparker]

 

...A large part of the public and many of those on council view this as only impacting the so called rich developer.  But these costs all get passed onto the end user regardless if they rent or buy or the developer wouldn't build anything.  These costs along with higher labour, materials, land, insurance costs etc. all contribute to why housing is so expensive...

No! You've got it all wrong. The only reason the cost of housing is high in Victoria is capitalist greed. Surely 89% of council can't be wrong.

[spanky123]

^^ The market dictates the price. If a developer goes over budget they don't simply get to go to the consumer and ask for more money. They make or lose based on what a buyer is willing to pay.

[spanky123]

Right, the public plaza.

 

One of the issues the Downtown Residents Association has raised is the lack of public/green space in downtown Victoria. This proposal will include a public green space/plaza fronting onto Yates Street.

 

Wasn't it like 100 sq ft?

[spanky123]

Why does it matter if some landowners make some money if it benefits the city? Who cares and I am a landless renter. I could care less. We need to be doubling the density in lots of spots in and around downtown which could mean some lucky people make some money. They still get to pay capital gains tax and we get needed density.

What would be a tragedy would be to underbuild the city just because we don't want some landowners to make money. Talk about punching yourself in the face out of spite.

 

C'mon G-Man ,you know you are misstating my comments. I have said countless times that I have no issue with anyone making money. All I want is for them to pay into the CAC's and amenities that are required. Despite the Green and NDP 'anti-wealth' policies, a Green and NDP Mayor and council have left millions, if not tens of millions of dollars on the table (in recent years) by waiving contributions that developers knew they would have to pay when they asked to have their properties rezoned. That money could be paying our police department and funding the reserves we need for affordable housing and infrastructure. 

Edited by spanky123, 08 October 2019 - 05:42 PM.

[Mike K.]

Wasn't it like 100 sq ft?

It’s around 3,000 square feet, I believe.

[intheknow]

Wasn't it like 100 sq ft?

[intheknow]

10 feet by 10 feet?!? Nope it’s the same size as Fort Commons, 250m2.

[tedward]

No! You've got it all wrong. The only reason the cost of housing is high in Victoria is capitalist greed. Surely 89% of council can't be wrong.

 

^^ The market dictates the price. If a developer goes over budget they don't simply get to go to the consumer and ask for more money. They make or lose based on what a buyer is willing to pay.

 

Yeah, how is that NOT "capitalist greed"?!? What do you think a "market" is but a tool of capitalism? 

There is literally no other factor in the high cost of housing other than "greed" because this is the system that society has agreed to use to allocate land.  Manipulating the market with things like zoning and density regulations is still part of the system and at it's root, greed on the part of landowners who want higher resale values and return on their investment. Greed makes people want to move to where they can make the best living so population in a limited geographic area increases.

So what? Why are we even discussing this? The system is not going anywhere anytime soon.