Oak Bay councillors have given a unanimous thumbs down to a 14-unit condo development on Oak Bay Avenue aimed at the “high-end” market.
The four-storey building, named The Quest, was proposed for 2326 Oak Bay Ave. The site is now occupied by single-family house sandwiched between two multi-storey buildings.
Developer, Large and Co. needed Oak Bay councillors to agree to rezone the lot to multiple-family use and issue a development permit. Sitting as committee of the whole on Monday evening, councillors rejected both.
The issue now goes to a council meeting next week for a formal decision.
In the past three years, The Quest has turned into a condos-versus-trees debate. One solitary Garry oak, more than 100 years old and sitting on the adjacent property, became a lightning rod for opponents. The municipal arborist said its stability would not survive construction and it would need to be removed.
Oak Bay Mayor Nils Jensen said The Quest proposal was just too big and too luxurious at a time when something more “modest” would be more appropriate.
Jensen said Oak Bay needs dwellings to allow older people to sell a family home, move into something smaller and retain a little money to augment a pension. He said luxury condominiums don’t serve community needs right now.
“A lot of our residents who want to down-size cannot find appropriate housing in Oak Bay,” he said. “They have to leave the community and that’s unfortunate because all their social networks and personal histories are here.”
Jensen singled out as something more appropriate The Clive, 1510 Clive Dr., a nearby three-storey building with 17 rental units completed in 2015.
The site of The Quest proposal is now zoned as single family. But the 2014 Oak Bay official community plan identifies the area its in as appropriate for multi-family developments.
Kim Colpman, director of property development for Large and Co., the property owner, said no decision has been made about what to do now.
Under Oak Bay bylaws, the property owner can bring back the same proposal in six months. If the application is substantially changed, council can agree to hear it as a new proposal.
John Tiffany, an Oak Bay resident and member of the group that organized posters, petitions and overall opposition to the project, was ecstatic over council’s decision.
Tiffany said he is not opposed to development on the site and supports a multi-family development as laid out in the official community plan. It just shouldn’t be so big, he said.
“We just didn’t want something that loomed,” he said. “I’m one of the nearby residents and this thing would have had people looking in my bedroom windows.”
