In what could be a first for Victoria, the city has narrowly supported moving forward with a six-unit houseplex in a residential neighbourhood that – sort of – won’t include any parking.
If approved at a future council meeting, the Vic West development would be a net increase of five homes on the property where a single-dwelling home currently sits at 633 Belton Avenue.
There’s a recognition that the overwhelming majority of Greater Victoria still sees roadblocks to suitable car-free living, but, for the proposal’s movers, the Vic West site has everything.
The location has a transit route along Craigflower Road half a block away, while a few peddles would connect a cycling resident of the houseplex from their front steps to the Galloping Goose Trail connection around the corner.
“It’s super walkable, there are tons of parks, it’s those basic ingredients of the neighbourhood that makes this work and most neighbourhoods around our region just don’t have those,” said Julian West, founder of Urban Thrive.
Team those aspects with a large bike garage, adding two public electric-vehicle charging stalls on the street and boosting the neighbourhood’s current car-share uptake with a vehicle and memberships for the building’s residents and the application has won a public hearing.
The uniqueness of the concept lies in it having zero off-street parking spaces in a residential area while taking advantage of everything the neighbourhood offers, said Urban Thrive, which is proposing the six-plex alongside Lapis Homes. City staff said Thursday its likely Victoria’s first car-free proposal.
“You won’t find a higher investment of sustainable transportation alternatives per home anywhere else in our region and, as far as we’ve seen, anywhere else in North America,” West said. “It’s the assembly of all those pieces together to make that car-free lifestyle seamless.”
Their waitlist for just a couple of local projects has ballooned above 100 people – representing all demographics, ages, plus families with and without kids. West said the project reflects their values on addressing climate change, relieving traffic congestion and bettering road safety, while it gives options to the fifth of the region living without a vehicle.
“It’s a significant minority of people who already live this way but nobody is building housing for that fairly large segment of the population.”
Councillors, in a 6-3 split, went with an alternate option staff provided around advancing the houseplex during Thursday’s committee of the whole meeting. Those for and against agreed the project was creative and had a lot of upsides, but parking concerns and some Vic West residents opposing it swayed dissenters.
“This is a really fascinating and innovative proposal,” Coun. Jeremy Caradonna said before voting for a public hearing.
The two- and three-bedroom building includes secured adaptable units, yard space and a neighbourhood-reflecting pitched roof - aimed to reduce its mass . The city said it fits with Victoria’s goals for diverse housing types and aligns with objectives in community and neighbourhood plans despite some minor breaches.
The proposal needs parking, height and setback variances, with the latter for protruding stairs and side yard heat pumps. Overall staff said it came in under the site’s envisioned density allotment and called it a sensitive approach to infill development.
READ: Saanich approves city’s first-ever development with zero parking
READ: Greater Victoria residents more likely to cycle to work than other Canadians
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