Colwood’s future Royal Beach development has moved one step closer to reality and, thanks to an offer by its developer, the community will see more park space than originally planned.
The development’s master parks plan was endorsed at a special council meeting on Wednesday (April 26) by a vote of 6-1 with Coun. Cynthia Day opposed. The most significant change to the plan was a portion of the area’s north-western corner, which was originally earmarked for residential buildings, is now set to return to parkland zoning.
Development co-owners Seacliffe Properties and Reliance Properties made the offer following a lengthy public input session at the start of the special council meeting, drawing praise from council and applause from the residents gathered in council chambers.
The move also addressed one of two points in the development’s plans staff were asking council to seek clarity on. The second was the developers’ plans with regard to the construction timeline of a village plaza element in the development.
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Under the current wording of the previously approved development agreement, the developer would be required to build the plaza – included as part of the parkland requirements for the property – within 12 months of the approval of the overall parks plan, or concurrently with any development of area eight within the development.
Council and staff said during the meeting their interpretation of the wording was the plaza was to be constructed within whichever milestone came first, but the developer argued it would be more beneficial for the community if the plaza was constructed in parallel with the commercial spaces, which are set to ultimately feature adjacent to it.
Given the apparent need to discuss the matter further, council unanimously approved a direction to staff to unlock the previously finalized development agreement and begin discussions with the developer to reword the construction timeline requirements around the plaza feature and return to council with an amended development agreement for approval, which would clarify those requirements.
During Wednesday’s meeting, council also debated a motion which would have also amended the development agreement to make geotechnical assessments carried out throughout the subdivision process subject to an independent peer review performed by the city.
Couns. Kim Jordison and Day argued in support of the motion and that the review of geotechnical assessments was in the best interest of the safety of citizens and was prudent given the situation at RidgeView Place, formerly known as Danbrook One, in Langford. RidgeView Place was evacuated for the second time on April 24 after concerns were raised about the engineer-certified remediation of previously identified structural faults in the building.
As Jordison and Day were the only councillors in support of the motion, it failed, with those opposed arguing it was highly unusual for such engineering work to be subject to peer review, and concerns over what benefit it would bring for the additional cost to the taxpayers.
With the parks plan approved, the project will move into the detailed design phase leading to the actual construction of park and amenity spaces in the area.
The plan calls for a total of 19.45 hectares of park space in a series of parks linking Latoria Boulevard to a waterfront public plaza, an amphitheatre for performances and presentations, play areas, nature parks and a scramble trail up to the viewpoint at Gratton Lookout.
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