City of Victoria councillors will vote Thursday on whether or not to go ahead with rezoning exclusively single-family-zoned neighbourhoods to ease the city’s housing crisis.
The city’s plan, according to Mayor Lisa Helps, adds more “missing middle” options like townhouses in low-density neighbourhoods.
“Council is considering rezoning the entire city to make more room for families in Victoria,” said Helps.
That means people like Sean Leitenberg, who is selling his home in the 1600-block of Richardson, and his neighbours, or developers, wouldn’t have to go through the expensive and time-consuming process of public hearings to densify single-family homes into townhouses — a process which can take years.
Leitenberg’s home, and three others selling in the neighbourhood, are priced at approximately $1.8-million.
But he and the other owners want to see the new owners densify the properties.
“I’d like to see a complex built there, with affordable housing,” he said.
“We’re talking about an acre of land with only four families living on it. So when you put that into perspective, that we could be having 80 families living on that as opposed to four. It really, you know, pushes for the need for this missing middle housing.”
Helps said the focus of the city’s rezoning plan is to keep families living in the city.
“The only thing that missing middle is looking to do is make it as easy to build a six-plex or a townhouse as it currently is to build a single-family home. Again, the key purpose is to make more room for families in the city,” she said.
On Thursday, Victoria councilors will vote on the rezoning change.
If approved, residents will have their opportunity to tell council what they think at a public hearing as early as late June.
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Mary Griffin
