Email dated September 2, 2020 from Chris Stewart, Subject: Council and Committee Information - View Royal Website - Contact Us Form

From: Chris Stewart Sent: Wednesday, September 2, 2020 4:19 PM To: Mayor And Council Email mayorandcouncil@viewroyal.ca Subject: Council and Committee Information - View Royal Website - Contact Us Form

You have received an email from Chris Stewart via the View Royal website contact us form

Topic: Council and Committee Information Name: Chris Stewart Address: 22 Erskine Lane, Victoria, BC, Canada

Message: Re: 9 Erskine Ln Development

Hi,

I am writing today in regards to the development proposal on 9 Erskine Ln that will be discussed at Council on September 15th.

I would like to start by stating that I am not anti-development and recognize that something will be built on that site but we have numerous concerns about the project as it is currently being presented to council.

Nature - This is one of the few sites in View Royal that has a mature forest and their current proposal is to effectively clear cut the entire lot. This is simply unreasonable and uncaring of the developer. They are proceeding in this fashion to keep their costs as low as possible and have no consideration for the devastation that they will do to this site and to our neighbourhood as a result. They need to submit a plan that preserves as many of these trees as possible. Please note that there are numerous protected Arbutus and Garry Oak on this site.
Parking garage - Further to number 1 above, in order to preserve as many trees as possible on this site, I would propose that Council not approve any proposal that has a single level parking garage in the design. In order to accommodate parking for the proposed 370 units, a single level parking garage would cover the entire site and require all of the trees to be cut down. Ideally this development should have a 3 level or, at the very least, a 2 level parking garage to minimize the footprint on the site thus preserving as many trees as possible. If the garage was positioned as far as possible to the rear of the development (on the border of 2 Erskine) then they could preserve many trees along Erskine and Watkiss thus preserving some of the beauty of the site.
Traffic - I would sincerely hope that council would be open to reducing the total number of units in the development as currently proposed. With 370 units proposed, we are expecting there to be well over 450 additional vehicles in that development alone. This does not include the development at 7 Erskine which is also going to be apartment buildings. The number of cars on our quiet lane is going to be horrific after these two developments complete. As the parents of young children and as the owner of a daycare this is of great concern to us as we frequently like to walk in the neighbourhood.
Overall Size and height - Could council not restrict the overall height of the proposed buildings to a max of 3 or 4 stories and reduce the overall number of units in order to create a development that, combined with multi-level underground parking, would preserve and blend into the forest rather than decimate it? This would also go a long way towards minimizing the traffic impact by reducing the overall number of vehicles. 2151 West Burnside is a beautiful example of a development that really worked to blend into nature. I would love to see something similar on 9 Erskine.

Thank you very much for your consideration of our concerns in this very important matter.

Chris and Nancy Stewart