Arthur McInnis has written more than 30 letters to the City of Victoria voicing his opposition to the proposed Bayview Place development before it breaks ground on Vic West’s historic Roundhouse site.
He is not the only one concerned about the impacts of the ambitious rezoning proposal set to come before council at a public hearing before the end of the year.
McInnis, Victor Mattu, Linda Casano, Don Gordon and Holly Olson form the core of the group People for Sensible Rezoning. They have collected more than 1,400 signatures on a petition opposing the development.
The 1,500-unit Roundhouse at Bayview Place development, proposed by Ken Mariash at Focus Equities, is a comprehensive reimagining of the 20-acre space within Catherine Street, Sitkum Road, Esquimalt Road and Kimta Road, bisected by the E&N Railway.
The project’s rezoning proposal envisions nine towers ranging from 18 to 29 storeys and 76,000 square feet of commercial space, condos, hotels and 156 below-market rental units. It is the second phase of the project, with the completed Hillside development directly to the east.
While People for Sensible Rezoning has held almost all aspects of the proposal under scrutiny, they are most concerned about how the towers will negatively impact the character of Victoria’s skyline and how it will overwhelm the site’s history.
“It’s a beautiful small city, and that doesn’t mean we’re small-minded or against development, but there needs to be some rough proportion to what is being done,” McInnis said. “This is so out of proportion and out of character with what the city of Victoria is, and that’s at the heart of what’s troubling us.”
But while the opposition is gaining traction, Mariash said he is not concerned. He said he received more community backlash when the now-completed Hillside development was in its planning stages.
“It was just a war and makes this look like a conversation,” Mariash said. “To get this kind of development into the minds of people here, it was hard.”
The development’s higher towers will surpass the 25-storey Hudson Place One in height to become what Mariash called the tallest buildings on the Island.
With so many tall buildings condensed into one square block, McInnis fears it will alter the character of the city’s skyline, offering a different and “overly developed” impression of the city for those coming into the harbour.
The Roundhouse site has been recognized as being of national historic significance as a reminder of Canada’s rich steam railway heritage. The site is also located in the vicinity of a historic Songhees site and was used by the Lekwungen people for thousands of years before it became industrial lands.
Mariash said he will be investing $25 million to preserve and revitalize the historical buildings, and will be adding empty train cars in the outdoor public spaces as an outdoor museum.
But the group still fears the history contained within the one-storey historic buildings will be suffocated by adjacent skyscrapers.
“History gets pushed over all the time and especially more recently,” Casano said. “We need to protect what we have. We need to celebrate our history and Canadian culture. We need to celebrate the things that brought us together, and the things that cause divisiveness as well. It’s all part of respect for who we are.”
Mariash has been working on the Roundhouse property since the late 1990s and claims to have revived it from the “slum” and “wrong side of the bridge” industrial area it once was. This will be the second time he’s seeking rezoning approval on the site.
In 2008, a denser five-tower development was approved to break ground on the south end of the site bordering Kimta Road. But Mariash said the zoning included rigid design guidelines and restrictions that made it impossible to achieve a viable development permit.
He added development on the north end of the site adjacent to the Roundhouse buildings was always in the plan, but it was not included in the 2008 rezoning proposal and was intended to be the project’s third and final phase.
The recent rezoning proposal combines phases two and three, which is why the sketches are grander than what was originally advertised, said Mariash. He added taller, slimmer buildings will allow for a less imposing building mass, more usable community spaces and more sun into the buildings.
But the group said there hasn’t been enough awareness in the community about the changes to the design, and Mattu said many members of the community still believed they were getting the original five towers when he approached them with the petition.
“All we did was inform people,” Mattu said. “We’re not in the business of convincing people. It’s about power of information and once information came, (the opposition) started to take off.”
Mariash disagrees. He said he’s sent out more than 8,000 invitations to meetings and presentations about the development, adding “no project has ever had as much participation and consultation.”
While council voted to move the development forward at the May 4 committee of the whole meeting, councillors asked Mariash to reduce the density to a 4.4 floor space ratio instead of the 4.75 pitched in the proposal, among other requests.
Mariash said he has listened to everything council and staff have asked for. The decreased density removes approximately 400 units from the previously pitched 1,900-unit plan.
The proposal will now come before council in what is sure to be a heated public hearing as those for and against the development get the chance to voice their opinion. It marks People for Sensible Rezoning’s last chance to catch the city’s attention before it’s too late.
“We’re going to keep informing the public and see where this falls, and it’s fallen,” Mattu said. “The story’s picking up steam because people are finally getting informed. If people want these nine towers, then we can live with it. What we can’t live with is people not being informed and this development being pushed through.”
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