The City of Colwood has cleared the way for the construction of a six-storey condo building with 67 market units on Sooke Road after council approved a rezoning request by the developer.
At its Aug. 28 meeting, council approved a rezoning request for 2324 Sooke Rd., changing it to a comprehensive development zoning, allowing for six storeys and reduced setbacks as requested by developer Land Vision Group.
Land Vision Group said it was seeking the comprehensive development zoning despite staff recommending council approve a Transit Growth Area 1 zoning due to the limitations put in place on the unconventional lot under that zoning.
In a TGA1 zoning, the property would be limited to four storeys and setback requirements would result in reduced underground parking capacity, which in turn would mean the property would not be able to meet the city’s parking requirements, a representative of the developer told council.
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The reduced size of the building in particular would have required changes to the plans, namely removing the seven three-bedroom condo units which are in especially high demand in the community. The developer said they attempted to purchase neighbouring properties to expand the lot size and allow for their planned building in a TGA1 zoning, but the deal was not able to go through.
Council’s debate over the request centred on whether it was fair for council to force the developer into a TGA1 zoning when the Transit Growth Area zoning concept had not been adopted when the rezoning application first came to the city, and whether there was a need for the TGA1 zoning’s requirements for a gentle transition in building sizes at this particular property.
“This has been a big struggle for me personally,” said Mayor Doug Kobayashi ahead of the vote. “I can see the benefits of these three-bedroom apartments right now, I see the benefits of running the sewer lines further along Lynnlark Place … there is a lot of compromise.”
Kobayashi said he feels the developer moved forward in good faith with plans that would meet the city’s requirements without considering the TGA zone changes which were being developed at nearly the same time, and ultimately felt the fair thing to do would be to not judge the request against those changes.
Couns. Cynthia Day and Misty Olsen both said they liked parts of the proposal and recognized the importance of the units it will bring to the community, but ultimately could not support such a large building on such a small lot size.
Tied to the approved rezoning request is an agreement by the developer to extend sewer infrastructure in the area to homes currently served by septic systems, a road dedication along Sooke Road to achieve a 30-metre cross-section, and to provide parking spaces for each unit for no additional fee to the resident.
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