We are families and neighbours
We love this place. We love its big trees, its safe streets and the sense of community. Our kids and elders thrive here. We welcome newcomers to this neighbourhood, we support and we welcome development that respects our community’s values. Some of us are young, some of us are old. Some of us have lived here all our lives and some of us are new arrivals. We are united in our love of our community and our desire to keep it vibrant and liveable.
Townhouse development raises issues around trees, density, affordability
(article from Focus on Victoria)
As an intense wave of high-density development sweeps through Victoria, Heritage Advisory Panel Chair, (Pam) Madoff is troubled by what she sees as a common attitude about new projects, the mistaken view that there is no such thing as bad development. Says Madoff: “I really care about what’s happening to this city.”
What's at stake
We Support Balanced Density
The developer and its lobbyists (self-described housing advocates)
have misrepresented this development proposal as all or nothing: either 18 townhouses or 4 single family houses. Both options would necessitate removal of the same amount of trees. Those who oppose this project are being described as obstructing housing for families and are labelled as NIMBY, classist or worse.
In reality, many neighbours and opponents of the project would support greater density on the site, such as a scaled back version consisting of one row of townhouses with added density for up to 12 units. A number of Oaks could be retained and one of the 100year old Copper Beech trees, and families would have some room to roam. Apparently, the other Beech (the south one) had a root fungus that is not treatable.
The current proposal has 4 token “below market” units of which only two are suitable for families, plus two one-bedroom units. The project is not “affordable housing”, notwithstanding that it was initially promoted as such by the developer to gain support.
We support the BCGEU Affordable housing initiative which
is elaborated here https://www.affordablebc.ca/.
Densification by itself will not make housing affordable. A concerted effort is required.
This was discussed by BCGEU’s Executive VP Kari Michaels here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0AdVezfbvs
Aryze at work clearing trees for another condo project in Fairfield
Aryze at work clearing trees for another condo project in Fairfield
The developer and its lobbyists (in the guise of housing advocates)
have painted this project as all or nothing: either 18 townhouses or 4 single family houses.
Both options would necessitate removal of the same amount of trees, and anyone who opposes this project is obstructing housing for families and are NIMBY classist or worse.
In reality most of this neighbourhood and opponents of the project would support greater density on the site, such as a scaled back version consisting of one structure with up to 11 units which would retain many of the older trees such as at least one of the 100year old Copper Beech trees.
This project has 4 token “below market” units only two of which are suitable for families. The project is not affordable housing, notwithstanding that it was initially promoted as such which created division in our community.
We support the BCGEU Affordable housing initiative which
is enumerated here https://www.affordablebc.ca/.
Densification by itself will not make housing affordable. A concerted effort is required.
This was discussed by BCGEU’s Executive VP Kari Michaels here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0AdVezfbvs
Get Involved
Together we can succeed in keeping our community vibrant
