Site Context Photo: 305 Anya Court (Attachment 4)
Photo showing the existing driveway and hedge area at 305 Anya Court where the garage is proposed.
CITY OF VICTORIA DENSITY BONUS POLICY STUDY
b) The site’s land value under the base density permitted in the OCP.
Otherwise, the rezoning will not be financially viable for developers.
- A fixed rate CAC target should be applied to smaller, typical rezonings. We recommend that: a) The fixed rate be set at $5 per square foot of additional floorspace¹ permitted over the greater of the OCP base FSR or existing zoning FSR (the existing zoning for some sites allows greater density than the base OCP density). b) Projects that include at least one floor of upper floor office space should be exempt from CACs as the inclusion of a significant office component will impact the ability of the project to provide any CAC. c) Projects where the City requires new rental apartment units or the replacement of existing rental apartment units (either on-site or at an alternate site) should be exempt from CACs as the rental housing component will impact the ability of the project to provide any CAC. The extent of the impact will depend on the details associated with the rental housing component (i.e., number, size, parking, rent rates). d) Rezonings of sites in the Small Urban Village designation should be exempt from CACs (unless the density exceeds the 2.0 FSR identified in the OCP) as rezonings of these sites to 2.0 FSR will not increase the value of the property.
There may be smaller rezoning applications where the developer determines that the fixed rate CAC target is inappropriate and in those cases, the developer should have the option of requesting a negotiated CAC (at the applicant's expense).
If the City implements a fixed rate target CAC for sites outside the Downtown Core Area, we have the following suggestions to consider as part of the implementation: a) The City should ensure that all stakeholders (community/neighbourhood associations, property owners, real estate industry professionals, developers, etc.) are aware of the CAC policy and how it relates to the OCP and planned amenities in the City. b) The City should identify neighbourhood-specific amenities to fund with amenity contributions. CAC funds should be clearly earmarked to specific public amenities within the neighbourhood in which the development takes place. Pooling funds into a City-wide fund does not allow the neighbourhood receiving new development to gain from the amenity contribution. The Local Area Planning process should identify and the specific amenities needed within each neighbourhood. c) In order to achieve the density identified in the OCP, some projects may need to include an additional level of underground parking. The cost of an additional level of underground parking can impact the financial viability of a rezoning. The City should examine the opportunity to reduce off-street parking requirements. If parking requirements can be reduced, it will improve the economics of rezoning and redevelopment for some projects.
The City should monitor the CAC program:
¹ The $5 per square foot CAC on the additional permitted floorspace is equivalent to a maximum of about $1 to $2 per square foot of overall gross project floorspace depending on the OCP designation and the existing zoning.