Plans to develop commercial space, a daycare and 171 units of condominium and row housing on Happy Valley Road sailed through Langford's planning and zoning committee this week.

"I think this is a wonderful, wonderful idea. Top notch," said committee member and Langford Coun. Winnie Sifert.

While Esquimalt residents were lined up to oppose a 14-storey highrise with 109 units on the same day, not a single person spoke in opposition to this Langford development when it was presented to the committee. A public hearing is yet to be held on the Langford proposal, which also needs council approval.

Link to Times Colonist for additional information....

Esquimalt council will decide the fate of a 14-storey highrise Monday, after receiving an earful last night from many residents opposed to the controversial development.

Speakers lined up at the microphone at last night's public hearing into the project, with many forcefully speaking against the development on Constance Avenue and Admirals Road.

"It's an objectionable development," said Robert Craig, to loud applause from the crowd.

But as the evening wore on, several people spoke in favour.

Doug Grant said Esquimalt keeps its head in the sand while other municipalities move forward and increase their tax base with development.

Link to Times Colonist article for additional information.....

Criminals better start reading the fine print before they think about breaking into the city's apartment buildings.

A new sign by the front door of Saint Joseph Apartments on Humboldt Street says the building is part of the Victoria Police Department's Crime-Free Multi-Housing Program. It's the first within city boundaries to receive such a designation -- two complexes on Dominion Road in Esquimalt led the way by earning the "crime-free" label in late August.

Another 67 buildings, representing 3,972 suites, are going through the certification process with the police program, modelled after a successful initiative started in Mesa, Ariz., in 1992 that has spread to close to 2,000 cities around the world. Both New Westminster and Surrey are operating the program successfully.

Link to Times Colonist article for further information.....

Vancouver developer Michael Alston is bucking the condo trend and turning his attention to rental units in his first business foray in Victoria.

Alston has purchased the heritage Lewis building at 566-570 Yates St. and plans to create 12 high-ceilinged rental units on the upper floors while renting out the ground-floor space to retailers where Steamers Pub now operates.

In a city where strata units are commonplace, and one can almost count the number of rental units built in the last decade on two hands, it is unusual.

Link to Times Colonist article for further information....

Ian Vantreight will take a new environmentally friendly development plan to Central Saanich next week, saying it's a chance for the municipality to "think outside the box" when it comes to development in the largely agricultural community.

The fifth-generation farmer wants to build a $150-million housing development on about 13 hectares of land on Wallace Drive, between Amity Drive and Newman Road on the North Saanich/Central Saanich boundary. But in order for the 31 single-family homes, 92 townhomes and 141 condominiums to go ahead, the municipality's Official Community Plan would have to be amended to allow such intense development in the area.

Vantreight has floated the idea by councillors previously, and received mixed reaction. He's hoping a new plan that calls for "natural synergies" between the development and the adjacent working farm will get a better reception.

Link to Times Colonist article for further information.....

Colwood has issued a development permit for another couple of phases of the Royal Bay housing development. The phases include 174 single-family homes, up to 80 townhouses and a two-lot neighbourhood centre.

The development area will be a mix of single-family houses and townhouses adjacent to a proposed secondary school site and includes a neighbourhood park.

It will involve building a new Latoria Boulevard, including bike lanes that will eventually link to a new village centre.

Link to Times Colonist article for additional information....

Liberal Leader Stéphane Dion yesterday endorsed Victoria's strategy to fight homelessness and vowed that a government under his leadership would be a partner in the battle.

Dion, who held a morning round-table discussion on homelessness with civic leaders at the Victoria Foundation, admitted surprise that an estimated 1,200 people are homeless or at risk in Victoria.

"Incredible," he said.

But Dion said he was impressed to see the community united behind Mayor Alan Lowe's task force, which intends to find 1,550 housing units for the homeless over the next five years.

"When you have a plan, like the mayor has a plan ... the federal government must be part of the plan," he told the Times Colonist editorial board.

Link to Times Colonist article for further information ......

Average house prices in Greater Victoria are expected to top $600,000 next year, but the sticker shock won't put off buyers, say analysts with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Figures released yesterday at the federal agency's Victoria Housing Outlook Seminar indicated residential construction and sales in both the capital region and the province will continue at above-average levels, pushing new and existing home prices higher in 2008.

The rate of that increase is expected to slow to six per cent next year, however -- down from 12.1 per cent forecast for 2007, and the 17.7 per cent recorded in 2006. That dovetails with the Canadian Real Estate Association's predictions yesterday that national sales volumes would slow next year.

Link to Times Colonist Article for additional information......

A Victoria councillor wants to make it tougher for landlords to evict tenants from apartment buildings so they can build condominiums.

Coun. Helen Hughes said this week the city needs to protect tenants from losing affordable apartments at a time when there's significant market pressure to demolish older rental buildings and replace them with condominiums.

She singled out two James Bay apartment buildings -- one on Douglas Street and a second on Michigan Avenue -- that have been purchased by owners wanting to demolish the structures and put up condominiums.

Link to Times Colonist article for additional information ......