As the city digs into developing a new local area plan for the Burnside-Gorge and Douglas neighbourhood, nobody is saying it’s going to be easy.
Talk about a balancing act.
The neighbourhood stretches from Chinatown in the south, to Mayfair Town Centre in the north. Blanshard Street is on the eastern side and the Gorge waterway is to the west, running to Harriet Road and the Saanich boundary.
From Rock Bay’s industrial plants and social services, to the car dealerships and businesses along Douglas and Burnside, to the major commercial hub at Mayfair Mall, the diverse area is home to about 18,000 jobs.
It also has about 6,000 residents, many of whom who would like more access to the water and more green spaces, and roads that are more pedestrian- and cyclist-friendly.
“I think it’s a very exciting part of town,” said Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps, noting that the area is brimming with new businesses.
“We are seeing the future of small-scale manufacturing pop up in that area and it’s well poised for the 21st century.”
Jonathan Tinney, city director of sustainable development and community planning, said part of the planning process involves talking to business owners to discover how the city can support them, while fostering elements that residents would like to see.
Traditional home to the likes of gravel and scrap-metal yards, Burnside-Gorge has lately attracted several new businesses and services. It has everything from a boot manufacturer to brew pubs, specialty coffee roasters and pizzerias.
“When we look at the Rock Bay area and look at the industrial areas, there is that diversity,” Tinney said.
“There’s the traditional things we think of with the industrial, Point Ellice scrapyard and other things, but then there are all these other things that are popping up that are harder to define under our old rules — the commercial versus industrial.”
“So, I think, with this plan, there’s a lot of discussions with those businesses that we want to do. We want to understand what their needs are and what the constraints are, and what aspects of the policies are making it hard for them to grow and thrive, and where can we support them, while still maintaining the character.”
With major roads such as Gorge, Burnside and Douglas Street bisecting the area, many people probably think of Burnside-Gorge more as a place they go through to get somewhere else. But those who live there would like to see some of that traffic slowed down and village areas established.
Coun. Geoff Young, council liaison to the neighbourhood, said: “One of the first concerns I heard was: ‘It’s not a complete neighbourhood. We don’t have our local shopping area — our James Bay Square or Cook Street Village, or even Fairfield Plaza — our grocery store service centre that is a common area for the whole neighbourhood.’ So that, I think, is probably one of the major issues.”
But, as Young noted, there are limits to what a planning document can do.
“We can provide the possibility of commercial development but we can’t force it to happen,” he said.
Tinney agreed. “It’s a bit of a challenge,” he said.
“If we’re creating villages that have retail in them, retailers like to be on those busy streets because they have visibility, but they’re a bit tougher for people. So it’s a real balancing act. It’s something we want to engage the community in terms of where their preferences are.”
The neighbourhood has a major social service component and some councillors are worried that it has been a dumping ground for affordable and social housing.
Rock Bay Landing opened in 2010, replacing the Streetlink shelter downtown. The Mustard Seed Food Bank has its home in Rock Bay, as does a bottle exchange. Many of the old motels in Burnside-Gorge are being transformed into low-barrier and/or affordable housing.
As the Capital Regional District looks for a home for a sewage treatment plant, former B.C. Hydro lands in Rock Bay are playing prominently.
Tinney said a sewage treatment plant would be appropriately located in an industrial area.
He added: “There’s real opportunities, if they are designed right, to create new amenities, create opportunities, make them good neighbours, make them attractive and I think the CRD is committed to doing that.
“It’s important to engage the residents up there to make sure we’re getting from them what’s important and relay that to the CRD.”
Helps said a prospective sewage treatment plant in Rock Bay would bring significant amenities to the area.
“Any zoning that would be contemplated for sewage treatment would be a rezoning that would include wastewater, commercial, residential and retail, so bring it on,” Helps said.
“The sewage treatment has a potential to really deliver, arguably much-needed amenities to that neighbourhood.”
But Young said that, despite an active community association, it has traditionally been difficult to mobilize the Burnside-Gorge community over planning issues.
He worries that, when it comes to sewage treatment, local voices might be drowned out by those from further afield.
“I’m very anxious that there be a fair evaluation of the sewage plant site and I’m very conscious that, when the Esquimalt site was being discussed, there was a strong reaction by the city council that was not associated with immediate neighbours,” Young said.
“It was people who were living further away and I’m concerned that a site in the Burnside-Gorge neighbourhood will have difficulty in getting the same kind of interest. Then the decision might not be the best one if that doesn’t happen.”
The city’s first round of engagement on the plan took place last spring. It is now gathering more information, distilling everything it has heard and putting together options before taking them out for feedback.
City planners are offering walking tours and open houses, asking such questions as:
• Where on Burnside, Cecelia or Gorge Roads should new housing and development be considered for a village centre to support services such as a grocery store, bank, bakery, or coffee shop?
• How can Douglas Street, Burnside, Gorge, and Jutland Roads be better designed to support people who walk, cycle, or take the bus?
• How can we support business vitality?
• What other strategies could better support the desire to expand opportunities for arts and creative industry?
• Could housing be considered for any parts of Rock Bay to complement and be compatible with industry?
Helps said there is no question that the plan for Burnside-Gorge is a difficult beast to tackle.
“That’s why we’ve allocated so much time for it. It took us three years to do [the city’s] OCP [official community plan]. It’s taking us a year and a half to do the Burnside-Gorge plan.”
Open houses are taking place on Tuesday from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at Gabriel Ross, 2500 Rock Bay Ave; on Thursday, from 3 to 7 p.m., at the Sandman Hotel, 2852 Douglas St.; and on Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Burnside Gorge Community Centre, 471 Cecelia Rd.
