Correspondence from Murray Strome regarding Rezoning Helmcken/Burnside

From: Murray Strome Sent: Monday, September 16, 2019 11:11 AM To: Mayor And Council Email mayorandcouncil@viewroyal.ca Cc: Dave Gawley Subject: ## Rezoning Helmcken/Burnside property

I believe that the Committee of the Whole made the correct decision when it agreed to reject the rezoning application for the above referenced property. I was only disappointed that the decision was not unanimous. However, I am concerned that the Council could choose to go against this decision, which would be a betrayal of the community by the members whom we elected to serve us. I hope this will not happen.

My observation is that Mr. Foord has repeatedly submitted proposals which have not addressed the fundamental issue: the occupancy density he wants is simply too high to meet the desires of the community for a development which maintains the character of View Royal. He seems to be not listening to the community nor the planning staff. In his address at the COW meeting, he spent a lot of time talking about the minor objections of the community concerning parking and safety of the central area, but neglected to make any proposed concessions on the issues of density or building height. Concerning traffic: it is true that much of the problem is caused by residents of the surrounding community, but nevertheless, over 200 more automobiles at this corner simply cannot help the problem!

I believe that it would be fairly easy to create an attractive development which meets the requirements of the current zoning:

“the property is zoned R-1: Detached Residential (Large Lot) and half RM-1: Ground-oriented Multiple-Unit Residential within Zoning Bylaw no. 900, 2014. The R-1 Detached Residential permits a detached residence at a minimum of 1,000 square meters lot size. The Rm-1 zone permits a range of residential uses from a detached residential to townhouse residential, at a maximum building height of 7.5 meters and a base density of 0.6 floor space ratio (FSR).”

Even rezoning to the current OCP suggestion:

“The current OCP designates the site as M-R: Mixed Residential which is described as: Small lot detached houses, townhouses and low-rise apartments up to 3 stories and 1.25 FSR and up to 4 stories and 1.6 FSR for apartment dwellings.”

could result in an acceptable design, where (if I understand this correctly), there could be a mixture of detached houses, townhouses and low-rise apartments (or condominiums) which could be sold with 1.25 maximum FSR and some rental apartments up to 4 stories with up to 1.6FSR. The average density for the whole area would then be considerably less than 1.6.

If I am interpreting things correctly, given the amount Mr. Foord's group paid for the property, it simply may not be economically viable to achieve a satisfactory return on the investment if the property is used strictly for rental. But that should not be the concern of the community nor the Council. Would it make a difference if more of the units were sold rather than used as rental? I realize that there is a need for more rental space in the Greater Victoria Area, but perhaps this is not the place where it can now be economical.

Yours respectfully, Murray Strome, 1275 Burnside Road West, Victoria (View Royal), BC V8Z 1P3