184 replies to this topic

[Citified.ca]

Citified profile: https://victoria.cit...pandora-avenue/

This project will be the first in the City of Victoria to be undertaken under the newly created Rapid Deployment of Affordable Housing process that delegates approvals to staff.



BC Housing unveils Pandora Ave. affordable rental tower and daycare facility across from Our Place
https://victoria.cit...from-our-place/

[Victoria Watcher]

So what did we get for our $10 million?


I think I saw Kang & Gill way down the list at the Tinto Rocks festival.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 07 December 2022 - 05:50 PM.

[Nparker]

...This project will be the first in the City of Victoria to be undertaken under the newly created Rapid Deployment of Affordable Housing process that delegates approvals to staff...

Does this tower really meet the OCP? Isn't it technically still in North Park being on the north side of Pandora?

 

Also "Rapid Deployment of Affordable Housing" = RDAH. A much better name would be the "Deployment of Rapid Affordable Housing Benefit" or DRAHB, which seems more à propos.

Edited by Nparker, 07 December 2022 - 06:01 PM.

[aastra]

I hate to be a stinker, but all of those past controversies re: downtown highrise developments seem a bit silly now, don't they? Height, shadowing, esthetics, density, traffic, etc.

 

This building will be taller than several other controversial highrise projects (989 Johnson, the Falls, Aria, the Juliet, and a bunch more).

 

If this project is acceptable on Pandora Ave. along the North Park border then why would that slim highrise on Fort Street near Cook Street have been such a bad thing?

 

I'm not necessarily opposed to this project. It seems to have some good aspects to it. But the height of it would seem to indicate yet another head-spinning inconsistency re: the politics and popular attitudes of Victorians.

[Nparker]

...I'm not necessarily opposed to this project. It seems to have some good aspects to it. But the height of it would seem to indicate yet another head-spinning inconsistency re: the politics and popular attitudes of Victorians.

Recent projects seem to show a more consistent trend towards inconsistency.

Edited by Nparker, 07 December 2022 - 06:34 PM.

[Mike K.]

Yes, and not only that, aastra, but it doesn’t require political oversight. It will be approved by staff directly.

It begs the question why we spent decades stonewalling developers that met the OCP and height restrictions, and garnered staff support. Now along comes a 20-storey tower surrounded by low rises and even houses at its rear on Mason, and it will sail through.

[Spy Black]

Is this a joke?

 

Who in their right mind would purchase anything at all in that block with the intention of living in it, or possibly raising a family in it?

The renderings are typically idealistic ... but they seem to be omitting the 60 or 70 mentally ill, drug addicted, and criminally inclined folks that actually call that very block their home 24/7/365.

 

Maybe a more salient question would be "what decent COV Council would actually encourage anybody to purchase a home in one of the most junkie-laden blocks in British Columbia?" ... a block perhaps only surpassed by the few blocks of East Hastings in Vancouver.

 

The goings on downtown currently are beyond comprehension, and only seem to be getting worse every day.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but none of the currently "under construction" or "completed" projects in downtown Victoria have changed anything whatsoever in terms of who's living on the sidewalks and medians, crapping in doorways, and stealing any bicycle left untended for more than 2 minutes.

[Nparker]

It's a BC Housing rental project; no one is purchasing here*.

*except through one's share of the taxpayer funding

[Mike K.]

It also has nothing to do with CoV council, it’s staff that will approve it.

[Spy Black]

Who cares if it's a rental ... you still live there, still have to walk through all the crap and garbage to get out onto the street, and still have to walk or drive your kids anywhere beyond your balcony,  you still have to breathe the air that is (apparently) infected with some of the most uncommon diseases known to modern society.

 

So let's alter the question just slightly to "what decent COV bureaucrat and/or staff would encourage anybody to live in that garbage and disease infected block"?

 

The entire project is utterly ridiculous, and pretty much demonstrates exactly what's wrong with the City of Victoria.

Edited by Spy Black, 07 December 2022 - 08:11 PM.

[Mike K.]

79 of the 111 parking spots will be available to residents. So a lot of people living there won't ever have to walk the sidewalk down below, if they don't want to.

 

111 parking stalls in a BC Housing building, in downtown Victoria, proves how important parking is in residential projects, in downtown Victoria, even.

 

We so often hear now how parking is not necessary, that people can live a car-free lifestyle in downtown Victoria.

[Barrrister]

How poor are you if you can own, maintain and insurance a car these days?

[Nparker]

...The entire project is utterly ridiculous, and pretty much demonstrates exactly what's wrong with the City of Victoria.

Keep in mind the CoV is also being enabled by the NDP's socialist/pro-addiction agenda.

[aastra]

 

The entire project is utterly ridiculous, and pretty much demonstrates exactly what's wrong with the City of Victoria.

 

Does anyone want to make predictions about possible future redevelopments right next door, across the street, and on the Quadra corner? I have a feeling this block might end up being one of the densest residential blocks downtown when all is said and done. But I should clarify: it will be the positive & laudable kind of density that Victoria has been sorely lacking, rather than the negative & deplorable kind of density you find in other parts of downtown.

[GaryOak]

The difference of peoples attitude towards this project is nearly opposite between Reddit and Facebook. I always find it quite interesting.

[aastra]

What's the word on the street?

[aastra]

(by which I mean to say, please elaborate)

[Spy Black]

What will be very handy for the occupants, and confirmed in the render, is they will have the junkie pharmacy and the junkie "shoot-up" clinic right next door for all their opiate needs.

 

And of course, with the hell-hole across the street, both of these "businesses" will (as they do today) have a huge line-up at their doors throughout each and every day, serving Victoria's junkies, criminals, and mentally ill (all without any supports beyond handing them their little vial of methadone or lofexidine, and making sure they don't die while watching them crank).

What a great neighbourhood!!

 

I'm being facetious obviously, as the entire project is beyond insane, the definition of "insanity" being what it is, with the patently obvious optics that all the development in downtown Victoria hasn't changed the homeless, drug, and crime situation one single bit ... means this project is indeed - "insane".

Edited by Spy Black, 08 December 2022 - 06:19 AM.

[Victoria Watcher]

It'll be fine.  People live in 834 Johnson without calamity every night.  Just disruptions every few nights.

[Spy Black]

It'll be fine.  

Well, there are obviously bureaucrats who agree with you, or this thread wouldn't exist.

 

But it's this line of thinking ("it'll be fine") that absolutely boggles the mind, as the sentiment is so disingenuous, and so fails to address the issue (junkies living on your doorstep, and likely wandering your halls) ... I can't even comprehend where such a sentiment ("it'll be fine") comes from.

 

That entire block is a living hell-hole 24/7/365 ... it most definitely won't "be fine".

Edited by Spy Black, 08 December 2022 - 06:26 AM.