Two open houses giving a preview of what the Harbour Road waterfront neighbourhood could look like are scheduled this month, with the first one set for today.

The city of Victoria will adopt design guidelines to direct future industrial development along the waterfront and a draft of those guidelines will be on view at the open houses.

The guidelines take into consideration views, neighbourhood esthetics, placement of buildings and landscaping. The goal is to create harmony among the varied uses arising in the neighborhood that includes the Dockside Green development and will continue to have industrial uses.

Today's open house runs from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Victoria City Hall with the presentation portions set for 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m.

A second open house is scheduled for Oct. 13 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. with presentations at 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

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

A multimillion dollar proposal to remake the tired but busy Westbrook Mall in the heart of Langford's city core appears headed to public hearing.

"This is going to be a real people place -- a downtown pedestrian core that we've been envisioning for several years," said Coun. Lillian Szpak, chairwoman of Langford's planning and zoning committee.

Langford councillors have directed staff to amend the city's official community plan and prepare the necessary zoning bylaw to designate property at 730 to 780 Goldstream Ave. to community town centre/pedestrian from the current district commercial.

"We're looking at little shops, specialty retailers and restaurants. We want to have activity and vitality down there," she said.

Churchill Property Corp. wants to transform the mall into about 280,000 square feet of residential, commercial and office space.

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

Saanich residents and council were still debating the future of a major housing development on the south slope of Christmas Hill at press time last night.

Saanich council chamber was packed with residents, most with an opinion on the 103-unit development proposed for a 3.8-hectare site just off the 800-block of McKenzie Avenue at Rainbow Street.

Some lauded the development as being sensitive to the Garry oaks at the site, with a design that played up the natural site rather than simply destroying it to provide needed housing.

But others said the density was just too high for the area. And several didn't like the height of two proposed condo buildings. At eight storeys, they would be the highest in Saanich.

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

A controversial 14-storey highrise that indicates a big-and-tall change in Esquimalt development will go to public hearing, Esquimalt council decided last night.

But council warned developers of three lots at 669 Constance Ave. and 668 and 650 Admirals Rd. that a vote in favour of going to public hearing shouldn't be seen as a guarantee the project will be approved.

"This is a bellwether development. What happens here will very much determine what happens all the way up the street in that area," said Coun. Basil Boulton. "We need a very clear decision based on community input."

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

VICTORIA, BC — Today, a new Development Cost Charge Bylaw comes into effect. The rates are based on a new 20-year capital plan that anticipates continued residential, commercial, industrial and institutional growth for Victoria. The new bylaw replaces old development cost charges (DCCs) that were based on a modest, five-year plan that expired in the 90s. By today’s standards, the old rates are considered extremely low.

A development cost charge is a fee that municipalities levy on new developments to help fund the cost of expanding or improving transportation systems such as roads, pedestrian and bicycle access, as well as water, sewer, storm drainage, and parkland, to accommodate new growth. The fee does not pay for the operation and maintenance of existing infrastructure or parkland, nor does it pay for new libraries, police and fire stations or recreational buildings.

Link to City of Victoria news release for additional information....

Neighbours of a now-closed elementary school in Gordon Head are being asked by the property's owners to think about options such as condos or single-family homes on the site.

Fairburn Elementary School was one of three Greater Victoria School District sites closed in 2003 due to declining enrolment. The site was bought for $4.3 million in January by Mamic Developments Ltd., which then sold the school building and 1.2 hectares of surrounding property to the Maria Montessori Academy in the spring.

The company now wants to develop close to 1.8 hectares of green space around the old school site into a subdivision, although it has no firm plans and has yet to go before Saanich council.

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

Encouraging more rental units downtown should be priority for the city as it drafts a policy that will help govern development in the core, says acting mayor Helen Hughes.

"The vast majority of new condominiums or highrises have no rental in them," Hughes said yesterday, adding the exception is where individual suites are rented out by owners.

With surging downtown growth and predictions for thousands more residents in the core in the next two decades, council is seeking a new format for dealing with "bonus density" -- a tradeoff where developers can build more units into buildings in exchange for public amenities such as art, green space or cash contributions.

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

Four low-rent Esquimalt apartment buildings earlier condemned as unsafe will be revamped into condos.

"Some of us would have preferred a better use of the land, but we can't dictate what an owner does with their property," Mayor Chris Clement said yesterday.

Esquimalt council voted unanimously in favour of allowing the buildings at 928 and 924 Esquimalt Rd., and 912 and 914 Carlton Terr., to be turned into 19 condo strata units.

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

A proposed 16-storey condo will come back to Esquimalt council next month, likely two storeys shorter.

A Vancouver company proposed a 16-storey building -- the tallest in the municipality -- on three lots at 669 Constance Ave., and 668 and 650 Admirals Rd.

Esquimalt's recently revamped Official Community Plan suggests buildings up to 10 storeys for certain areas, including that neighbourhood, as they try to find more areas for people to live in on a very limited land base.

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

Three small Cadboro Bay houses have been torn down and a new 12-unit development will take their place.

Casa Projects Inc. is moving ahead with a three-storey 10-condo unit building with 75 square-metres of office space, and two attached townhouses at Sinclair Road and Penrhyn Street.

Saanich councillors unanimously approved the project that some people in Cadboro Bay said is out of character for the neighbourhood.

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

Mamic Development is inviting the public to an open house on Thursday to discuss development options for its Fairburn project site.

Mamic Development bought the former Fairburn elementary school in Gordon Head in January from the Greater Victoria school district and sold it in addition to about three acres of the 7.9-acre parcel to the Maria Montessori Academy.

It intends to build housing on its remaining land.

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

Major changes to Langford’s affordable housing plan will open new doors for more people, says Langford Mayor Stew Young.

“We’re trying to help out people with different levels of income and conditions,� Young said. Because not everyone can afford the houses Langford makes available through the existing plan launched in 2004 — people who qualify get three-bedroom homes for $160,000 — the inclusion of condominiums for sale and rent marks a key change to the original plan, Young said.

Although Young didn’t expect the new Affordable Housing, Park and Amenity Contribution policy to be completed for another year, the success of the original plan and the support of the development community accelerated the process.

Link to Goldstream Gazette article for additional information...

Link to City of Langford's Affordable Housing progam

New provincial regulations that protect new home buyers from shoddy housing contractors are a big deal to View Royal Coun. Andrew Britton.

It’s why he wants amendments to the Homeowner Protection Act posted on the Town’s website.

Britton said the new regulations, 18 months in the making and that haven’t yet been formally passed in the legislature, be posted as soon as the amendments become law.

Link to Goldstream Gazette article for additional information....

The shovels hit the ground Wednesday, kick-starting construction of Colwood’s first condominium highrise building -- the 23-storey SilkWind on Wale Road.

“We need these types of high density development,� a beaming Colwood Mayor Jody Twa said at the ground breaking ceremony.

There is “more to come,� said Twa.

Link to Goldstream Gazette article for further information....

A neighbourhood association says its fight to save a 28-unit apartment complex next to Beacon Hill Park is part of a larger battle to preserve the city's stock of affordable housing.

The 57-year-old, three-storey complex, called the Emily Carr, is at 200 Douglas St., directly across from the park and a few blocks from the waterfront and Mile 0. It is now the subject of a development proposal by Dallas Point Developments.

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

HONOLULU — Many retired U.S. Navy ships have been turned into museums, but community groups in Honolulu are hoping for what military officials say is a first: turning a decommissioned vessel into a floating homeless shelter.

The 642-foot destroyer tender Acadia was built in 1981.

It sailed around the world several times with a crew of 1,500 before it was decommissioned in 1994.

Link to Globe and Mail article for further information ....

Everything from tourist pamphlets to real estate displays could be housed in a new $450,000 "community information centre" planned for the West Shore.

Colwood and Langford have thrown their support behind the proposed 2,450-square-foot, two-storey building the West Shore Economic Development Association wants to build near the Trans-Canada Highway on Amy Road on a lot to be donated by the City of Langford.

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

British Columbia's housing affordability deteriorated even further during the second quarter of 2007, Royal Bank said today.

 It was part of a country-wide deterioration - the largest and most broadly based since the mid-1990s - driven by a combination of higher house prices, mortgage rates, utilities and property taxes.

The RBC affordability index measures the proportion of pre-tax household income needed to service the costs of owning a home.

 The higher the reading, the more costly it is to afford a home.

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

Developers might soon have to provide more apartments and condominiums that moderate-wage workers can afford if they want to put up taller residential buildings near downtown Seattle.

Mayor Greg Nickels is considering a proposal to raise height limits on residential buildings in the Interbay, South Lake Union and South Downtown neighborhoods — on the condition that developers create some units for people who make too much money to qualify for government-subsidized housing, but not enough to buy one of the pricey condominiums going up downtown.

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

The club of real-estate millionaires across the capital region added 137 new members over the first half of the year - and there's no end in sight for homebuyers willing to lay out more than seven digits for luxury homes in Canada's most temperate climate, according to new report.

It's the fourth consecutive year that Greater Victoria has witnessed a rise in the sale of million-dollar-plus homes, according to the Upper-End Market Trends Report issued today by Re/Max. The 137 sales from January to July was 13-per-cent higher than the same period a year ago, when 128 homes sold for a million-plus, and nearly triple the 46 sales from 2004.

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

Another month and another new record for the average price of a single-family house in Greater Victoria.

August sales powered forward, pushing the average price up by $66,573 from one year ago to $576,632.

The median price in August 2006 was $462,900. In August of this year it was $515,000, the same as July

"The continued strong demand we are seeing is remarkable; so far this year, overall sales are running 13 per cent higher compared to the first eight months of last year," says Bev McIvor, Victoria Real Estate Board president.

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

Stay tuned for further details.

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