Development vs Windfall - Who Pays?

An on-going Beacon feature on land use & planning - to alert, inform, and prompt community action - and to celebrate success!

Members of the James Bay Neighbourhood Association (JBNA) were brought up-to-date on issues of community concern at the January 2008 meeting.

The Transportation Committee reported on its activities and sparked a lively exchange of comment and observations from the membership. Highlights from the report include: More monitoring and better information is required by all users to maintain the agreed-to traffic routes to and from Ogden Point through James Bay. These proposals were developed through a Cruise Tourism Community Initiative and best practices documents from other ports.

The Air Quality Study being conducted by the Spatial Sciences Laboratory at the University of Victoria is still in progress. Computer modeling will not be complete until late May 2008. The study is designed to answer two very specific questions:
- What levels of pollution exist in James Bay - spatially and temporally?
- Can we tell how different (individual) pollution sources are affecting air quality in James Bay?
When the study has been completed – the information will be evaluated by an independent scientist who will analyze the data and make his observations available.

Paul Servos of the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority offered a brief report on plans and projections for 2008;
- over 210 cruise ships are anticipated to dock at Ogden Point in 2008. Newer (less than 5 years old) smaller ships will carry fewer passengers.
- A fleet of 50 shuttle buses will be available to transport passengers from Ogden Point.
- Approximately 20% of disembarking passengers walked from Ogden Point to the down town in 2007. Improved signage and maps, planned by the city should substantially increase this number in 2008.
There are no apparent plans to advise our visitors that James Bay is not a theme park created for their enjoyment.
- The option of using small boats or harbour ferries to move tourists from Ogden Point to the downtown has been investigated but does not appear to be feasible. Conditions of wind and weather make this form of transportation impractical and unreliable.

The evening ended with a detailed presentation on the revised (but incomplete) application for the rezoning of the Crystal Court site on Belleville Street. The Development & Review Committee (DRC) of the JBNA meets with developers to review current development proposals prior to reporting on them at JBNA monthly meetings. The developer also has an opportunity to present his proposal once the application is complete.

In January 2007 the city-sponsored Coriolus report described the practice for city councils across BC of using their re-zoning/approval discretion to obtain local amenities. Benefits to the developer are quantified so that the value granted to the developer is reasonably equivalent to the value-back in community amenities. The intent of this process is to establish a reasonable equivalence of the values of the zoning lift and the amenity received in return, encouraging profitable developments, while avoiding windfall profits. Negotiations are based upon the increase in land-value from re-zoning, taking into account the "start value" and the "end value" of the site.

The developer for the Crystal Court site is requesting a re-zoning lift to increase site-coverage from 20% to an estimated 80%, and a transfer from tourist accommodation to residential.

The initial proposal included a stand-alone satellite gallery, for the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, valued at $1.4 million by the developer. The current proposal for 123 residential units in one 14 and one 10-story tower (estimated at $75 million) suggests public amenities valued at $750,000.

The JBNA have been advised that the City of Victoria will appropriate road allowances in front of this project to widen Belleville Street. Belleville is constricted to 3 lanes of 2-way traffic in this block. Site plans presented by the developer do not indicate how loss of the road allowance will impact the project.

The DRC has not had access to the transportation study which the developer is required to produce for this site. James Bay residents recognize the corner of Douglas and Belleville Streets as a nightmare during tourist season. The intersection handles vehicular traffic funneled in from Blanshard, Coho & Ogden Point generated tourist traffic, tourists and local pedestrians (in and out of crosswalks), horse drawn carriages and buses. As one of the primary access/egress points to James Bay, Belleville Street and the impact of increased traffic is of great community concern.

The JBNA participated with other Victoria neighbourhoods to develop the CALUC process in cooperation with the City of Victoria and the development community. The process is intended to ensure that all parties are working from the same information base during a rezoning process.

The membership and the DRC all realize that it is impossible to do a meaningful report on the Crystal Court project without vital information regarding traffic and site access.

Keep informed with the JBNA website at http://www.jbna.org/ and check out the development-aware site at http://www.vibrantvictoria.ca/.

February Meeting - NOTE EARLY START TIME!!

Join us on Wednesday, February 13th at New Horizons at 6:30 pm to hear Councillor Charlayne Thornton-Joe discuss activities generated by the December '07 Mayor’s Task Force on Homelessness.

The City has recently announced that, for the first time, land will be released from the park inventory to create a facility for supportive housing and shelter beds in the Rock Bay area. What was the consultation process with Rock Bay residents? How would we feel if it was to happen to a park in James Bay?

Our local BC Liquor Outlet is planning to move across Menzies Street, from Parliament Mews to the "elegantly designed boutique condominium" development, VICINO. How will this affect Paul Hadfield’s recently rejected rezoning request for a Beer and Wine Store at James Bay Square? Will it affect negotiations between Hadfield and the city's Legislative Services Office to find a compromise on hours of operation and future land-use?

Does the City recognize the proposed Crystal Court development as a part of James Bay or will this become part of the downtown shoulder?

Join us on Wednesday, February 13th at New Horizons at 6:30 pm for a lively discussion on the changing face of our community.