Victoria approves notable downtown development and improved renter protections

During this week’s committee of the whole, Victoria council approved a significant downtown development, greenlit a zoning change for Christ Church Cathedral and approved a motion to strengthen renter protections. 

The first of these matters involves a large property between Chatham and Herald Streets, just off Government Street. 

The developer would like to tear down the patchwork of businesses and sparsely populated residential units on the block and build a six-storey mixed-use development. 

This development would bring 133 new purpose-built rental units to the downtown core, along with accommodations for commercial retailers and restaurants on the ground floor on both Chatham and Herald Streets. 

There would also be a public park plaza on Herald Street and two through-block walkways connecting Herald and Chatham. 

Furthermore, the plans for this development would see the heritage-designated buildings—-the Biggerstaff and Wilson buildings—unaffected by alterations or displacement. 

The six-storey development is intended to remain separate from these heritage buildings, but will be compatible and complementary to them. 

“This is a great thing and I’m very happy to see it start,” said Mayor Marianne Alto, following a debate that was primarily in favour of the project. 

The development was unanimously approved by council. 

The second development that the council looked at was not actually a development permit. It was a rezoning application for the Christ Church Cathedral property, on which the church intends to build a massive mixed-use development. 

The property is owned by the Anglican Diocese of the Islands and Inlets. They would like to modernize the property through the coming years by building a large mixed-use development, which includes housing. 

Their application would see up to four buildings established on the site. The buildings would range in size, from eight to 18 storeys.

The cathedral itself, along with the school and playground would not be impacted by the development of the property.

There was a lengthy debate on the project and the intentions for the property—mostly regarding the height of the intended 18-storey tower. 

Councillor Stephen Hammond said the height of the tower was “just too much.”

Conversely, Councillor Matt Dell compared the intentions for the property to a similar development on the grounds of the Christ Church Cathedral in Montreal. That cathedral features a 34-storey tower behind it. 

“I guess we won’t know how that’s going to look,” said Dell.  

“When I look at this application, I think there’s a lot of potential to make some really beautiful housing buildings that fit the context better.”

The motion to approve the rezoning was approved in a 6-2 vote, with Councillors Hammond and Marg Gardiner opposing. Councillor Chris Coleman recused himself from the vote due to his ties with the church. 

The third notable motion that was passed by Victoria council this week was a council member motion brought forth by Councillors Jeremy Caradonna, Dave Thompson and Krista Loughton. 

Their motion seeks to have City staff explore further options on how to improve renter protections in Victoria, while also analyzing how some measures already implemented by this council have helped. 

The motion would not see any new action implemented but would rather have City staff bring a report back on what could potentially be done. 

Specifically, the motion would have City staff report back on options to improve compliance with some measures implemented by Victoria council to improve rental standards.

Staff would also be directed to look into current provincial laws on pets and tenancy and whether the City has additional jurisdiction to support renters’ pet ownership. 

Furthermore, staff will also look into rent control and vacancy control measures in other jurisdictions across Canada and the potential for creating or incentivizing a rent-to-own program. 

Councillor Gardiner and Hammond alleged during debate that this motion was put forth so close to the local elections so it could be used by those who penned the motion for political leverage. Hammond moved to add an amendment that would have staff report back on this by fall, rather than in a year’s time. 

To this, some councillors laughed, though others, including Councillors Caradonna, Thompson and Susan Kim spoke up saying that this was no laughing matter and proposing joke amendments was bad governance. 

The amendment to the motion was defeated, with only Hammond and Gardiner voting in favour. 

However, the motion on the whole was passed in a unanimous vote.