Victoria’s city council has opted not to approve an application to construct a 12-storey hotel on the site of the historic, burnt down Plaza Hotel.
Instead, the City staff will have to go back to the applicant and work with them to amend the application so it adheres to current guidelines, bylaws and policies.
The initial application was rife with issues that go against the City of Victoria’s Old Town District guidelines and Official Community Plan, and would have required numerous amendments to City bylaws in order to be approved.
The largest issue with the application was that the Old Town District of Victoria has a height restriction of five storeys, or 15 metres, and the hotel’s application proposed a 12-storey building with four levels of underground parking.
Additionally, the proposed building did not align with the Old Town’s building aesthetic guidelines, and was described by City staff as being a “monolithic building that does not reflect the historic context.”
The proposed hotel would have needed to include a cornice line, parapet and use vertically oriented windows rather than square windows to meet the aesthetic guidelines.
One concern of Councillor Matt Dell was that the City’s guidelines, height restrictions and bylaws may restrict the economic viability of the hotel being proposed.
The City’s position is that the onus is on the applicant to propose something that is within all these restrictions and guidelines, and is still economically viable.
Ultimately, City staff recommended the application be declined, as it had many issues that did not align with Victoria’s Old Town guidelines, the Official Community Plan or the height restrictions in the area.
Councillor Jeremy Caradonna moved that the option be considered to send the application back to staff for further consideration—his main issue being that the Old Town District guidelines should be modernized so the area doesn’t become “stuck in time.”
In this consideration, Mayor Marianne Alto made an amendment to the motion on the table to eliminate the height restriction, saying she has less of an issue with the height of the proposal than the aesthetic of the building.
“No offense to the architect, but this is a boring building,” said Alto.
Another amendment was also added to the motion’s option to refer this back to staff that would call for an economic viability analysis of the proposed building. However, this amendment was defeated, with the reason being that this would be on the applicant’s shoulders.
Though many of the councillors stated they were conflicted with the proposal and the motion to refer the application back to staff, this motion ultimately passed.
Councillors Krista Loughton, Susan Kim, Stephen Hammond, Caradonna, Chris Coleman, Marg Gardiner and Mayor Alto all voted in favour of the motion to refer back to staff to work with the applicant further.
Meanwhile, Councillors Dell and David Thompson voted in opposition.
Next steps will have staff revisit a number of criteria with the applicant laid out by the city council, and bring the matter back to the council chambers once the issues have been appropriately addressed.
