Attachment 12 - Community Workshop Session Summary Report

296 Eltham Road & 242 Helmcken Road Community Workshop Session Summary Report

Summary Report written March 8th, 2022

Event Date: February 28, 2023 Time: 4:30 pm – 6:30 pm Location: Lion’s Cove Conference Room – 290 Island Highway, View Royal Attendance: 24 members of the public signed in (30 total in attendance). Comments: 14 comment sheets and 10 emails were submitted.

Meeting Purpose:

1. To present the proposed development application materials to the Community.
2. To provide an opportunity for the public to ask questions about the proposal.
3. To provide an opportunity for neighbours to comment on the proposal.

Notification: In accordance with the View Royal policies:

Invitation Brochures

Invitations were delivered to neighbours within a 300m radius of the site.

Newspaper Ad

A newspaper ad was placed in the Saanich News - Wednesday, February 15th, 2023.

Attendance: 24 members of the public signed in for the meeting with a further 6 who accompanied them to make a total of 30 members.

The following Project Team members were in attendance:

Project Team presenters included:

• Tim Ankenman, Ankenman Marchand Architects.
• Jeffrey Sengara, Client Representative.
• Ron Warrington, Client Representative/Contractor
• Nick Warrington, Client Representative/Contractor

Overview: The Community Workshop meeting was held in an Open House format at the amenity/common house room located at the adjacent Lion’s Cove complex. Meeting participants could browse the display boards and engage with the project team directly.

The participants were invited to submit written comments to the Project Team to be forwarded to the View Royal Planning Department. 14 comment sheets and 1 email were received – Attached.

A brief presentation was provided by the applicant’s Architect (Tim Ankenman) at 4:30 pm followed by a question-and-answer period. This was carried out through an in-person workshop.

The key themes of the evening included:

• Introduce the Design Team and Property Owners to the neighbouring community.
• Share the proposal to develop 14 townhomes on the property.
• Provide information about the planning process and local development policies.
• To accommodate a diverse range of residents – moderate income earners, young families, downsizers, and age-in-place.

Public Dialogue: (Summary of questions/statements asked in the exit surveys c/w answers).

Q1: Is Sustainability Important to you (ie, sensitive building methods, reducing energy consumption, dual-flush toilets, wastewater, heat recovery systems etc.)

Q2: Are residential uses appropriate for this site (other uses such as commercial are not an appropriate use)?

Q3: I believe that it’s very important to have a wide variety of housing types that are appropriate & affordable for seniors, downsizers, first time home-buyers and families View Royal.

Q4: I believe the Architectural style and design is appropriate for the area.

Q5: Do you feel that this project is heading in the right direction?

Comment Sheet and Email Summary

Participants were invited to submit comments for a one-week response period after the meeting. 14 comment sheets and 1 email was submitted. As noted, the vast majority of the respondents are either in favour of the proposal, or are neutral. Only three respondents do not favour the proposal.

While the majority of the respondents were in support of the proposal, some concerns were expressed, particularly relating to traffic volume and movement. A summary of the comments and concerns include:

• We need to ensure that the ability to turn left out of Eltham Road is retained.
• I am new to this area therefore have not experienced all future disadvantages. So far there haven’t been any bad ones, however, there can and will be with the addition of all the extra traffic to come, etc. Living it is believing it!
• Please provide easy access to the underground parking for each unit, allowing access from the unit.
• Respondent had multiple comments
  1. It is important to me that we move the dial toward a more diverse demographic in View Royal, particularly not focusing on an aging population. Do what is necessary to make family homes affordable, which in this case might mean reducing parking, recognizing that would be a condition of ownership in the building. A 1 car family, with plenty of other transportation options. Please encourage BC Transit to improve route 46 service to Westshore to be all day service. Do young families have two cars? Some choose not to drive at all.
  2. I also think some units with smaller square footage might be entry points for people, if it reduces the buying price. Maybe those units don’t have more than 1 parking stall? Maybe those units would have rent ceilings if being purchased as an investment property.
  3. Please no gas in the building. Abide by the provincial principle of Zero Carbon Step Code (ZCSC) whether or not the town has mandated it.
  4. Please protect any trees that you can, even if it is a little difficult.
  5. Please provide adequate secure bicycle storage, including space for extended bikes for cargo bikes and kid extensions.
  6. Please provide adequate storage for trash and recycling. If a strata is saving milk jugs, pop and alcohol refundables, the Bottle Depot will facilitate that, but they require space to establish two 4x4 receptacles to access with pallet jack, if the strata wants them to pick it up. Also, soft plastics and Styrofoam, to say nothing of the required food waste as all these items are banned from the landfill. Usually residents take their items to London Drugs, but sometimes there are champions in the complex that will collect and take it, but it has to be approved to be stored somewhere to accomplish that.
  7. Try again to incorporate car-share. Couldn’t it be combined with the Royale? Couldn’t Lions Cove and Ashley Gate participate?
  8. Explore the roundabout option. It might be too close to the light at the corner of Island Hwy and Helmcken, causing a backup within the circle at certain times. Definitely make the right hand turn from Island Hwy to Helmcken a hard right. Please require the town to do a traffic study that includes all new construction impact from the Westshore that might come through on Island Hwy.
  9. Finally, for Lions Cove consider the impact to residents of Ashley Gate and Lions Cove as they attempt to go East on Island Highway. It will be difficult to cross traffic to go left on Helmcken, particularly at peak times. It is not advisable to come out on Eltham and turn right to use roundabout below the E&N bridge, because that would unreasonably increase traffic through the school zone down and back up again. At this time, with the lane configuration on Island Highway at our SE corner (between us and the Daycare on Isl Hwy), we an R in an R out, heading West on Isl Hwy. Eltham exit allows us to exit left and left again to go East on Isl Hwy. More efficient would be a turn lane on Isl Hwy at our SE corner, removal of the restrictive island, traffic calming effort on Isl Hwy on the downhill heading west so we can cross traffic and go left. All this construction could create a bottleneck when factored together. Your residents and store customers in the Royale will also encounter a difficult time egressing to go left on Helmcken without a middle turn lane on Helmcken. Is that a possibility? We need you to advocate for a solution with the town of Viw Royal to arrive at a solution for traffic flow for all the construction they are approving. Also of consideration would be the possible relocation of the sliding gate located at our E corner. It might be better placed preventing access to and from Eltham. Where it is now is LC property and only accessed by Lions Cove. The entrance to Eltham is Ashley Gate property. I’m sure you and the town engineers can think of some solutions to this.
  10. That is all I can think of at the moment. I do want to thank you for going the extra mile with the grocery store tenant. Please consider your refrigeration components to be climate friendly as you build out that aspect. I know you want to be a green dot for a sustainable market.
• This development seems too dense for this street. Eltham Road is already busy & parking is very difficult. Not everyone can walk & we need a vehicle going in & out of Eltham. There is already a lot of traffic & getting in & out is very frustrating. Would like to see something at Eltham & Helmcken to make it easy to turn left onto Helmcken.
• Please do not reduce your parking spaces. We have a definite parking problem on Eltham Road.
• Turning left on Eltham onto Helmcken. Visitor parking for townhouse complex, as Ethan Road has few visitor parking due to two businesses on street. Too much density and more traffic.
• I worry about parking. Too much density, too much traffic. I worry about accessibility to turn left onto Helmcken from Eltham Road. Do you have 30-34 parking spots underground?
• Respondent had multiple comments
  1. Suggest fewer parking spaces (now 2 per unit) in favour of 1 per unit plus 1 or 2 car shares in order to cut emissions. Encouraging use of bikes, public transport.
  2. Eltham/Helmcken intersection very busy, especially for left turns. Possible improvements: roundabout on Helmcken OR allowing LEFT (and right) turns on to Island Hwy from Lion’s Cove and Ashely Gate – would require light on Isl Hwy or roundabout.
  3. Concerned about increased encroachment with cars (doing turnarounds) & pedestrians through Lions Cove and another 203 years of dust, noise, congestion.
• I feel the traffic issue needs more attention from our government to consider the access issue. That needs lights, signs, and maybe some more electric vehicles.
• There is a concern about traffic flow, especially a left turn.
• Respondent had multiple comments
  1. Concern with the removal of 9 trees & only maintaining 1.
  2. Contractors drive large vehicles, including propane that can’t park in parkade during construction.
  3. Large concerns with traffic flow exiting Eltham Rd onto Helmcken & parking on Eltham Rd. Already difficult to maneuver into Lion’s Cove, and for emergency vehicles to access Lion’s Cove. Please email me a PDF of the plans as displayed at the Workshop.
• Respondent had multiple comments
  1. Concerns around OCP/FSR density with 20 units on a 2-lot-size parcel addressed going to 15 only.
  2. Underground parking is a must.
  3. Turning left on Eltham, without a light, is a major concern. Lions Cove & Ashley Gate residents have gated egress/entrance to Old Island Hwy, so adding 20 x 2 = 40 cars & the service vehicles (delivery & waste removal included) will place a bid load on such a short street as Eltham.
  4. Green Space is at a premium, and a common central courtyard area green space for children to play safely is a necessity. I like the idea of a rooftop garden.

Conclusion:

The meeting length and format were sufficient to provide all community participants an opportunity to learn about the project, ask questions, and make the comments they wished to provide that evening as well as subsequently online and mail. Our Team’s take-away from this event is to explore vehicular traffic movement on the corner of Helmcken Rd & Eltham, and to potentially reduce some of the unit sizes making the units more affordable, with perhaps fewer parking stalls to allow more trees to be saved. Otherwise, we are confident that the project overall, received strong community support.