Reliance Properties wants to rehabilitate the two warehouses, which date to the 1860s, and incorporate them into a six-storey mixed-use building with commercial space, 47 residential rental units, an internal alleyway and waterfront walkway. Council voted against sending the project to a public hearing last June, but agreed in the fall to move it forward with conditions that needed to be met before setting a date for a public hearing. Since going before council in September, the developer has offered improvements on Wharf Street that go beyond bylaw standards, such as additional street furniture, decorative paving and street lighting, and the location of an electrical transformer in a nearby park that will include enhancements to the area. Those include a public bench, vegetation, a new retaining wall and a sidewalk connection to the park.
Council rejected the project last year in a 4-4 tie, following a public hearing and a discussion about the best way to solve the city’s housing crisis, with councillors Ben Isitt, Jeremy Loveday, Sarah Potts and Sharmarke Dubow opposed to the project. On Dec. 10, council reconsidered the decision and directed staff to work with the developer to address housing affordability. The proposal has not changed from what came before council previously, a staff report says, but the developer indicated they intend make a charitable donation to support homeless youth ahead of a public hearing. The eight councillors who previously voted on the project before a Dec. 12 byelection to fill a ninth seat on council maintained their positions Thursday. A vote in support by Coun. Stephen Andrew, who was elected in the byelection, pushed the overall vote to 5-4 in favour of going to another public hearing.
How should we rethink and remake our economy? Happily, various people and organizations are starting to think about this. Last week there was a front-page article in this newspaper by Lindsay Kines about the work of Project Zero to create a circular economy, with supportive resolutions adopted by both Victoria and Nanaimo councils. A circular economy stands in contrast to our current linear take-make-waste economy, in which we obtain resources, process and use them, then send the waste away, out there somewhere. Think of disposable plastic bags or coffee cups, or any number of other disposable products, up to and including your car and house. There are two big problems with this model, and both relate to nature, and the way nature works.
About two-thirds of those living in a camp next to Royal Athletic Park have expressed interest in moving indoors to Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, but some are hesitant to give up the privacy of a . . .