The public will finally have a chance to weigh in on the 10-acre Roundhouse project in Vic West after Victoria city council unanimously voted to move the long-planned development to a public hearing.
With only minor amendments to the plans submitted for this week’s committee of the whole meeting, council agreed it was worth putting in front of the community.
Given the time it has taken, Mayor Marianne Alto suggested the public hearing should happen by no later than Jan. 18.
In the works for more than 15 years, the project now proposes nine buildings ranging in height from 10 to 32 storeys, renovated and restored heritage buildings, 60,000 square feet of commercial space, and a public amenity package that the developer values at $74.6 million and comprises items requested by council, including an onsite daycare. The revised proposal includes 30 fewer residential units than earlier proposed, for a total of 1,870.
When Focus Equities, the proponent behind the Bayview development and Roundhouse project, presented its plans to council in May, it was proposing nine residential towers ranging in height from 18 to 28 storeys with nearly 1,900 residential units — 16 per cent of which would be below-market-price rental units — 76,000 square feet of retail and commercial space, and 40 per cent of the site devoted to publicly accessible amenities. That proposal was generally accepted by council, though it sent the developer back to work with city staff to reduce the density on site and explore the possibility of adding a daycare, creating amenities for kids and ensuring the heritage buildings are maintained and adapted for new uses.
Ken Mariash, principal of Focus Equities, said he had no problem with the minor tweaks council made to the project plans Thursday — extending daycare for 20 years instead of 10, ensuring there would be park and playground space, adding scooter infrastructure and procuring a noise-exposure forecast for the site.
“Child care is something I believe in anyway. Whether we say it’s going to continue or not, it’s going to continue. It’s got to be done. It can go forever as far as I’m concerned.”
Mariash estimated Focus Equities spends about $1.5 million a month in carrying costs, and changing plans added about $9 million to his bottom line.
“We still had to change a thousand pages of drawings and everything else, which takes about six months,” he said, noting some city departments don’t understand that you can’t take more than a decade to do a big project. “It will bury you.”
Alto said the project would be nothing short of “transforming” if it is ultimately given the green light in January.
“It has been a long time and perhaps that’s good in the sense that this is a significant — and should it be adopted — an iconic and remarkable showpiece for this part of the city,” she said. “It is, in fact, something that will be transformational. This is a vision of the future, which is inevitable.”
Mariash, who has said he doesn’t expect to turn a profit on the Roundhouse project given his monthly carrying costs, said he was pleased to hear the mayor characterize the project as transformative.
“This will be wonderful for the city because it’ll change the character of the entry and it’ll look like something important.”
Mariash said he expects the public hearing to attract a mix of those who like the idea of a grand development on the western entrance to the city and those who fervently oppose more development.
While some are dead-set against the development of the Roundhouse, Mariash said the more people that come to the on-site sales centre to look at the grand plan, the more he’s able to convert.
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