Applicant’s Statement – Alan Lowe Architect Inc.

February 20, 2018

Town of View Royal 45 View Royal Avenue Victoria, British Columbia V9B 1A6

Attention: Mayor Screech and Council

Re: Rezoning Application – 280 Island Highway, View Royal, B.C.

Your Worship Mayor Screech and Councillors;

We are pleased to submit this rezoning application for your consideration.

The two properties located at 242 and 244 Island Highway are presently zone detached esidential R1-B. We wish to seek a rezoning to the RM-3 Mixed Residential zone with an allowable density of 1.5:1.0 and an additional 0.1 density with the provision of 80% underground parking. We hope to build a four storey, 37 unit wood framed building with one level of underground parking. We are proposing a variety of unit types from 538 square feet to 933 square feet units.

We are proposing a mix of 16 two bedroom and 21 one bedroom units in this development. The parking requirements within your bylaws require us to provide one parking stall per unit and an additional 0.5 parking stalls for each additional bedroom. The parking requirements for this proposed development would be 45 parking spaces. We are also proposing to provide secured bicycle parking for 48 bicycles for this development. We feel that it is important to balance the dependence on automobile use with alternate modes of transportation. The Island Highway also has transit service that is accessible.

This property is well situated along the Island Highway where higher density developments are envisioned in your Official Community Plan. These properties are located within the mixed residential development permit area. There are existing ground oriented multiple unit residential zoning and community commercial within this neighbourhood. The OCP approved in 2011 shows that this corridor along the Island Highway is suited for higher density housing. We feel this proposed development meets the guidelines for the mixed residential zoning.

Through this development, we will enhance the Island Highway street appeal by removing the driveway crossing and access from 244 Island Highway. This will create a more pedestrian friendly street frontage.

This property is also unique in that it is located next to a lane as well as a pedestrian walkway enjoyed by the community. We are proposing to enhance the laneway and create a pedestrian friendly sidewalk next to the lane instead of the painted demarcation on the lane as the pedestrian walkway. Our access to our parking and the underground will be along the lane, to the north end so that there will be plenty of space for turning. The existing retail store to the west of the lane is situated very close to the property lines at both the Island Highway and the lane. We are also sloping the surface/under building parking area slightly down towards the east side of the lot so the parking spaces are slightly below grade and are screened by a landscape strip adjacent the walkway from Suzanne Place to the lane.

The building is designed with the front entrance facing the Island Highway. The top floor is stepped back at the corners to create roof decks and to bring the scale of the building down. Our building is within the building height of 13.5 metres allowed in the RM-3 zone. With the different materials and colours on this building, we feel it will be a welcome addition along the Island Highway.

The construction of this project will take about 18 months to complete and will create jobs within the community.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Yours truly,

Alan Lowe, Architect AIBC Alan Lowe Architect Inc.