Reliance Properties’ plan to redevelop a seven-acre parcel of land at the north end of Victoria’s downtown took another step forward this week, with a new series of conditions from Victoria city council.
Council unanimously endorsed the latest version of the project, which will see as many as 14 buildings in a mixed-use development on two blocks around the landmark Capital Iron store on Store Street.
But council asked the developer to work with city staff on ways to increase the number of green roofs and rain gardens in the development, to improve waterfront restoration and protection measures, to add opportunities for education and public interaction with the marine environment, and to acknowledge the Indigenous history of the site.
The conditions, suggested by Coun. Marg Gardiner, are not binding and will not derail the project if they are not met, but they did raise concern among some councillors about the message being sent to developers.
Coun. Matt Dell said the conditions should have been raised last year, when council asked Reliance to reduce the height of some buildings and commit to establishing a waterfront pathway that will run the length of the project.
“A year later they come back, and guess what? A bunch of new conditions come out that we’re going to put back on the applicant,” Dell said. “We cannot keep giving the development industry the sign that we’re going to keep adding things every time they come back to us.”
Coun. Dave Thompson said while he thought it was bad governance to start renegotiating terms with a developer at this stage, he was buoyed by city staff’s “reassurance that the applicant can just say no to it or can say, ‘I’ll try to work on it’ but that doesn’t need to lead to delay. I think that the applicant will understand that the amendment doesn’t actually change anything.”
Jon Stovell, president of Reliance Properties, called the new conditions “consideration” items that aren’t expected to result in delays.
Assuming Reliance agrees to work with city staff to consider the new requests, the project is expected to go to a public hearing later this year.
The project, which includes 400 feet of waterfront, is to be built out over the next decade and includes more than 500 residential units, commercial and office space, industrial uses and a potential new home for the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
The plan is to preserve and upgrade three Store Street heritage buildings — the Capital Iron building built in 1863, its neighbour Valhalla Pure Outfitters and a small building on Store Street that houses a pottery store.
Council on Thursday endorsed some minor changes from Reliance, including reduced height of some buildings and slightly smaller public amenities than council had been hoping for.
A public plaza, for example, will be 7,500 square feet instead of 8,400 square feet, and the statutory right of way for the harbour pathway will be reduced to 4,600 square feet from 5,145 to allow flexibility for future building development
Reliance has also reduced the number of green roofs by 70 per cent and is no longer committing to a rain garden water-treatment feature on the waterfront.
Council was enthusiastic about the project, with many saying it strikes the right balance for the area with its mix of commercial, industrial and residential development.
“It is an acknowledgement that as the city densifies, we’re going to have to learn how to get creative and learn how to share that land and have mixed-use,” said Coun. Jeremy Caradonna.
Caradonna said he liked the space for the art gallery, which he said would “pull a lot of the energy that we see in downtown and in the Inner Harbour northward.”
Mayor Marianne Alto called the project “a fascinating combination of trying to create a new neighborhood at the same time as being able to support and nurture light industry.”
“This designs a neighbourhood from the ground up. It sees a very, very large footprint and creates enormous opportunities within that footprint.”
