Correspondence from Glenn and Hilary Russell regarding Eagles Nest Development
Residents living across from the proposed site who argue the development is too large and will destroy the neighborhood feeling.
Eagles nest development
From: Hilary J
Sent: Saturday, September 14, 2019 9:13 AM
To: Mayor And Council Email mayorandcouncil@viewroyal.ca
Subject: Eagles nest development
To the View Royal counsels:
My husband and I live across the street from the proposed development at Helmcken and Burnside. As I have said before, we don’t oppose development but we do oppose careless development and we oppose development that doesn’t fit the area.
I have spent a lot of time driving around the CRD. Every day I drive through Victoria, Saanich, View Royal, Oak Bay, and Esquimalt. I see new development everywhere but the big difference is all the developments fit the neighbourhood. The proposed development does not fit. It’s too large. I have not seen even one 8 story build outside of downtown in any of my travels. None of them. Every single one I have seen maxes out at 3 or 4 floors. A building and complex the size that has been proposed large is way too big and destroys the privacy and neighbourhood of the entire area. There isn’t the space here for something that large. It’s so congested already that this will destroy the area. With the amount of growth there is no way for them to say traffic won’t be affected. As well, those shadow studies are so inaccurate - they don’t take into account the fact that building and trees are different and they also only did them at specific times of the day and year. You can’t put an 8 story building up and say it won’t change the sun or lighting that the adjoining properties get. There is just no need to add that many units to this area.
I’ve spoken to many people and everyone says the same thing: smaller units like this is not what people want. They want homes (larger condo or townhome) they can have a child in and not feel cramped. These types of buildings become a stepping stone and therefore become transient in nature. Transient buildings do not have community buy-in and those of us who do have to suffer the consequences. Those of us in the area love the neighbourhood feeling and this destroys it. Down at the bottom of Camden there is a development and you barely see it. It has been tucked right in, it didn’t destroy anyone’s view, and it fits the neighbourhood. Just because the density numbers “fit” what can be done doesn’t mean it HAS to be done. There is no reason to make it that dense. The community expressed that we don’t want that type of densification and the developer has done nothing to address it. He merely changed the configuration of his buildings. He should have listened to what we said and changed his plans. Even with less densification it’s a profit - evident from literally every other mid-size development. Why he doesn’t listen to the community to get our buy in is beyond me. I spoke with him several times and find him to be incredibly arrogant about the process. He has no ties to the community and tells us to move if we don’t like it, as if it’s just that easy. That clearly shows that he truly does not care about those of us who live in the area and it’s disgusting to us that someone like him can come in and bulldoze his way through View Royal in that way. We took a lot of offence to him pushing us to move if we don’t like the size of his building, and I’m sure others did too.
This area has not felt the full affects of the eagle creek units. After the first building started to populate I noticed a significant difference in traffic trying to get through the round-a-bout bear VGH. So once the second building fills up, it’ll be even more noticeable. Then add the Eagles Nest proposal and it significantly impacts those of us who live here and who have made it our community.
He told me this will be at least a 3 year project. That means for 3 years we have to battle construction workers for our own parking, deal with the dust and grit from the site and the extra wear on our homes from it, deal with the traffic from dump trucks and letting them in and out, congestion from the construction, the heat pump will need extra cleaning because of the grit, the reality that our foundation along with those in Hidden Oaks will most likely shift, and so on. There is nothing positive for us in this. And then when it is completed, we have more congestion from the extra units. It’s just too big. A smaller project would decrease the time line and less time for us to have to deal with the construction mess and the inevitable extra work for us home owners with regards to cleaning and maintenance. They don’t have to go with the maximum permitted and counsel has the ability to make him change his plan and better reflect what the community wants to see.
We elected counsellors who we felt listened to the desires of the community and hope that they do and don’t cave to the demands of a developer who has no ties to the community. Please take this into consideration when they return. This is just too large and affects too many people in a negative way.
Kind Regards,
Glenn and Hilary Russell
6 Helmcken Road View Royal