The City of Victoria is moving forward with a development permit for a residential building with no parking spaces on the site of a downtown parking lot.
At Thursday's (Oct. 24) committee of the whole meeting, council voted unanimously in favour of the proposal for a six-storey rental development on the site of a current parking lot at 837 Broughton St.
The 42-unit building calls for zero residential parking space, though the requirement is 25, and zero visitor parking spaces while the requirement is four. The developers, Fort Properties, appealed to add a mid-block crosswalk at the building to further promote a car-free lifestyle.
Coun. Marg Gardinier called it a "very unusual" proposal, but she did like the design.
"I like the fit and form, it fits. It's not overboard with other plans with the city [despite] the variances and the design does not copy the historical buildings nearby but it does reflect some elements and complements them and I found that very appealing with this application," she said.
Coun. Dave Thompson said the building could prove to be a positive for Victoria's downtown, by bringing foot traffic to local businesses, and there will be no displacement as construction starts.
"I'm glad to see what I think is going to be unanimous council support for a car-free, parking-free building. Maybe it's because we're all recognizing that 40 per cent of downtown households are already car-free. This building is very walkable, it's bikable, it's got the Fort [Street] and upcoming Blanshard [Street] protected bike lanes nearby, frequent transit," said Thompson.
The plan still needs to gain approval in a council meeting at a later date.
