A smaller-than-expected response to Monday’s (May 15) public hearing for a bylaw amendment for the two-tower, multi-residential building planned for Oxford Street in White Rock signalled that most residents have become reconciled to the project.
Greatest concerns of those who spoke related to the lack of infrastructure in the city to support it, and potential snarling of traffic in the Oxford Street/Thrift Avenue area as a result of increasing the number of units.
Some 60 people were present at council chambers to voice opinions on the amendment to the Nautilus project (formerly the Elegant project) which had been approved by the council of the day in 2017. The two towers, on a shared two-storey podium, will be located on the hillside just south of the Evergreen Campus of Care and west of White Rock’s water utility plant on Goggs Avenue.
As planning and development services director Anne Berry explained, the current changes are planned for the second tower only, which will increase from 43 units to 125, through reconfiguration of the floor-plan, without any change to the building height or overall floor area.
Trina Scott, who lives at the intersection of Thrift Avenue and Oxford Street, noted traffic in the area is already dangerous.
“I realize we’ve all come to the conclusion that…this is a done deal, but the traffic on Oxford is bad now.
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“It is absolutely getting impossible to get out from our street…there’s been a number of accidents there because of this. I cannot imagine, with so many more cars on that street that it’s not going to get impossible.
“Before we go increasing it any more, we have to look at that infrastructure.”
In exchange for the reconfiguration, developer Rick Mann has increased an orginal offer of $2.32 million – in a voluntary community amenity contribution to the city – to $2.5 million.
Based on an additional 82 units for project, extra development cost charges – if approved – are calculated at $1.46 million, of which “the municipal portion would amount to $922, 701,” Berry said.
READ ALSO: White Rock council grants development permit to two-tower Oxford Street project
Those who spoke in favour included real estate representatives who said the reconfiguration to a majority of two bedroom and two bedroom and den units were more marketable and potential residents who said the units were more affordable in a time of housing shortage.
But infrastructure and traffic concerns were still a sticking point for those opposed in written submissions – which include a 34-signature petition for a traffic signal at the corner of Oxford Street and Russell Avenue – and for White Rock residents who spoke against the amendment in person.
Retired civil engineer Scott Robinson – who noted he has been the project manager for a number of highrise buildings – said he had “some serious concerns from a technical point of view.”
“I do not believe the city of White Rock has sufficient infrastructure to support the increase of the number of highrises that are going up, and now we’re increasing it with this project,” he said.
“I see problems with getting adequate medical and hospital facilities, problems with fire and police, and the major concern I have is the roads’ ingress and egress. I just do not see our ability to design and construct roads that will handle this in the long run.”
Daniel Fung, one of the principals of the organization that penned the traffic impact assessment commissioned for the project, said that the additional 82 units for the building would generate some 30 trips during the a.m. peak hour and the same in the p.m. peak hour.
“It’s about one trip for every two minutes,” he said.
But Scott said such estimates don’t represent what is already happening with regard to traffic congestion in the area.
“Yes, there are lulls at different times, but, generally-speaking, it’s very dangerous,” she said.
The bylaw amendment will return, most likely at the June 15 meeting, for third and final readings.
alex.browne@peacearchnews.com
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