Weeks after plans for two highrise towers in downtown Langford were scrapped, another proposal, which could reach the dizzying heights of 22 storeys, has sprung up.
An application has been submitted to the City of Langford to rezone land at 2614-2626 Peatt Rd. and 2622-2629 Sunderland Rd., to allow for the development of two mixed-use buildings.
The residential towers are proposed to be 13 and 22 storeys in height with approximately 317 units, "atop a four-storey commercial, residential, parking podium."
The new proposal is on land adjacent to the recently cancelled Langford Gateway development, which had proposed to build 22- and 18-storey towers on land at Arncote Avenue, Peatt and Sunderland roads. The land assembly is now up for sale pursuant to a court order.
The Langford Gateway site has been at the centre of ongoing controversy, after some houses were demolished and the “hazardous” waste not cleared from sites. Other vacant houses have been left to deteriorate.
Speaking on behalf of the ownership group for the new proposal at Peatt-Sunderland roads, a representative assured the city’s Special Sustainable Development Advisory Committee, history would not be repeated.
All homes are currently rented, with many having longer-term leases, explained the representative. “They will be kept up, and they will be occupied and no demolition required until they’re ready to come forward for a building and development permit,” she said at the Feb. 24 meeting.
At the meeting, a number of locals shared their opinions on the proposed development, including concerns about its impact on traffic and the increase in density.
"Trying to squeeze towers into our downtown core is going to make an already tight landscape feel virtually claustrophobic," said Tanya Sunshine.
Vern Trew, a Sunderland Road resident whose home already borders a development in progress and protected Indigenous housing at the rear, warned his property would be left "orphaned" by the proposed highrise towers.
Facing the prospect of having an 'orphaned lot' with the building's four-storey parkade built next to his property, Trew said multiple attempts had been made to sell his home to the developers, but to no avail. He suggested the developer could purchase his home as land to be used as parking during construction, with it then used as green space for the community after the development is completed.
“Langford does not currently have a bylaw forbidding the orphaning of a lot next to a development,” said Trew, urging the committee to not just consider the impact on his home, but others in the future.
Trew’s concerns echoed those of Stan Schinners, whose ‘orphaned’ home on Bray Avenue was the subject of a similar debate in October.
He reminded the committee that while they had been “sympathetic” to his situation last year, they had assured him they would “learn from that situation."
“I’m hoping you will take that into consideration when you consider Mr Trew’s situation,” he said.
Because the committee had not finished discussing the application, and a motion to extend the meeting beyond 11 p.m. failed, committee members agreed to adjourn to the next Special Sustainable Development Advisory meeting on March 10.
