A purpose-built rental building near downtown Victoria that has been in the works for five years will not be going ahead any time soon.
Victoria city councillors, following recommendations from staff, voted 7-2 in favour of rejecting Nelson Investments Inc.’s plan to build a 19-storey 266-unit rental apartment building at 937 View St. in the Harris Green neighbourhood during a committee of the whole meeting on Thursday.
Councillors had the option to refer the project back to staff, who could then continue to work with the applicant, but instead opted to reject the proposal outright. Only councillors Ben Isitt and Marianne Alto voted in favour of seeing the project referred back to staff.
Designed by dHK Architects, the building would be comprised of 107 studio units and 159 one-bedroom units. It would feature community amenity space on the ground floor and two additional amenity spaces on level 19 including an outdoor north-facing terrace. No vehicle parking stalls would be provided but 290 long-term bike parking spaces would be provided for tenants.
The project was first proposed as a 14-storey building back in 2017 and has undergone numerous revisions since then in an effort to comply with city guidelines and requests. The latest revision made a number of design changes that included increasing the maximum height from 27 metres to 60.15 metres and the number of allowable storeys from 9 to 19, a new ground floor residential amenity space and the removal of a green roof.
dHK Architects, in a letter to mayor and council, on behalf of Nelson Investments Inc., said the proposal will provide much-needed rental apartment units in the neighbourhood.
“The location is within walking distance to jobs supporting the downtown core businesses and service industries while also providing access to the many amenities of downtown Victoria. All suites offer modest and efficiently designed layouts and include custom-designed built-in storage and furniture modules to maximize the useable area of the suites,” the letter reads.
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Despite a lack of rental apartments in Victoria — CMHC data shows Victoria only added 2,723 units of purpose-built rentals between 1991 and 2021 — city staff recommended council reject the application for a number of reasons. The city’s Advisory Design Panel also recommended council vote against the proposal.
“The building lacks cohesion and does not provide a sensitive response to the Heritage Corridor,” a staff report reads, which goes on to say “given the longstanding nature of the application, it is therefore not recommended the applicant be directed to prepare an alternate design.”
The subject property is currently a parking lot that is located next to the 19-storey View Towers building and across from the Harris Green Village. Bordering the property on the east, council has approved a six-storey, purpose-built rental building. Council also issued a development permit for a 13-storey building is has been approved immediately to the south of 937 View St.
Staff, in their report, said the impact of the Nelson Investments’ proposal would have a “detrimental impact on shading of the public realm” and hinder access to sunlight, views and open skies.
“Although the proposed form is less slab-like than its neighbour, the height and scale of the building would exacerbate negative impacts on views to the sky and access to sunlight,” it reads.
Prior to voting, Charlotte Wain, senior planner with the city, told councillors that the property is not suitable for a tall building largely because of all the other proposals around it, including plans for a public plaza nearby.
“The negative shading implications on the public realm and proposed plaza to the north suggest that the property is not a candidate for a tall building.”
An artist rendering of a proposed 19-storey apartment building at 937 View St. (dHK Architects/City of Victoria)
Coun. Stephan Andrew said the applicant has “gone too” far with the proposal.
“I think that the building has become too imposing on the street, doesn’t fit the form and character of what we originally approved and therefore, I support declining it,” he said, adding. “If the applicant decides they want to come back with something different, that is their opportunity.”
Coun. Jeremy Loveday called the property a “challenging site” and said the proposal isn’t an “elegant” solution.
“I think the livability and design concerns that have been raised by staff are significant and are a reason to not send this project forward today,” he said.
Meanwhile, Coun. Geoff Young felt that the proposed building is too dense for the property it would be situated on.
“The building is just trying to squeeze too much into this rather small lot. It is creating unacceptable adjacencies between buildings and the developer simply has to accept that he can’t squeeze as much building on this site,” said Young.
Coun. Charlayne Thornton-Joe said that based on staff recommendations, she couldn’t support the project in its current proposal. She also said she has heard concerns from downtown residents who oppose the entire project.
“I think that sends a clear message that this one is not ready,” she said.
Isitt said given the need for rental housing in the city, he would rather see the project referred back to city staff, who could then work with the applicant, rather than it being rejected outright.
“I think it is getting closer and I think that with substantially more generous setbacks on at least two sides, I think this application could be ready to go to a public hearing,” he said. “I won’t be voting in favour of declining but I do think the main staff alternate recommendation of mirror revisions and moving it forward is also unacceptable because of the livability impacts.”
Alto said while she doesn’t believe the application is ready to move forward in its current form, she also doesn’t think it should be rejected completely either. She said she believes there is still a “possibility” that the project could work for the property, but believes it needs more revisions before it can be viable.
“I do think that there are aspects of this that are very supportable. Not the least of which is the rental tenancy portions and the volume of units are really important as well,” Alto said, adding. “I am not as troubled by the height, I think there is a portion of downtown that deals with height like this.”
An artist rendering of a proposed 19-storey apartment building at 937 View St. (dHK Architects/City of Victoria)
Nicholas Pescod
