A controversial mixed-used rental housing development on the former St. Andrews School site has been approved by Victoria council, despite strong opposition from nearby residents.
More than two years after it was put forward — and after a public hearing that stretched over two nights with more than 100 speakers — Victoria councillors voted 6-3 Thursday to approve the 209-unit development proposed for Pandora Avenue at Vancouver Street.
The six- and four-storey rental development, by Vancouver’s BlueSky Properties, a division of Bosa Properties, will include 11 units of below-market housing in perpetuity as well as small-scale retail spaces and a large grocery store.
Mayor Lisa Helps called her decision in favour of the project the toughest she has had to make in four years on council.
“It is really challenging to make a decision in favour of a project when there are clearly [people opposed],” she said. “I think there were 83 people from the neighbourhood who spoke against the project quite strongly and another 1,200 or so — not all of them from the neighbourhood — who signed a petition against the project.”
Petitioners’ concerns included the “excessive size” of the building and the shadows it would throw on Mason Street, the effect of the development on traffic, the size of the anchor tenant retail space and a lack of amenities such as green space.
Helps said a key factor in her decision was that a development of this scope is envisioned in the new Official Community Plan and has been part of the North Park Neighbourhood Plan for nearly 20 years.
“The 1996 North Park Neighbourhood Plan envisioned eight to 10 storeys on the Pandora part of the property and four to five storeys on the Mason Street side of the property,” she said, adding that that wasn’t challenged or changed during the Official Community Plan process.
But for Coun. Ben Isitt, who along with councillors Jeremy Loveday and Pam Madoff voted against approval, there were too many residents opposed.
“There seemed to be a wall of opposition from North Park residents,” Isitt said.
He was also concerned about the increased traffic the development will bring to Vancouver Street, which he said should be a “people priority greenway.”
The previous council had recommended sending the proposal to public hearing, which was cancelled at the developer’s request. After consulting with the North Park Neighbourhood Association and holding a number of neighbourhood meetings, the proposal was revised to include 11 non-market rental units, additional bike stalls, raised garden beds and frontage improvements. The developer also scaled back the height along Mason Street to four storeys from six.
