22 Jun 2026 Council meeting Housing

Rezoning Application No. RA523 - 2335 Departure Bay Road

Motion
That: 1. “Zoning Amendment Bylaw 2026 No. 4500.253” (to rezone 2335 Departure Bay Road from Single Dwelling Residential (R1) to Three and Four Unit Residential (R5) & Medium Density Residential (R8) with a site-specific maximum Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of 1.0 for the R8 portion of the property) pass first reading; 2. “Zoning Amendment Bylaw 2026 No. 4500.253” pass second reading; 3. “Zoning Amendment Bylaw 2026 No. 4500.253” pass third reading; and, 4. Council direct Staff to secure the conditions related to “Zoning Amendment Bylaw 2026 No. 4500.253” as outlined in the “Conditions of Rezoning” section of the Staff Report titled “Rezoning Application No. RA523 - 2335 Departure Bay Road”, dated 2026-JUN-22, prior to final adoption.
Sources
Agenda itemCity agenda
Staff reportPage 2
Purpose
To present Council with an application to rezone 2335 Departure Bay Road from Single Dwelling Residential (R1) to Three and Four Unit Residential (R5) and Medium Density Residential (R8) with a site-specific maximum density of 1.0 for the R8 portion of the property to facilitate a multi-family development.
Staff report, page 2
Staff recommendation
That: 1. “Zoning Amendment Bylaw 2026 No. 4500.253” (to rezone 2335 Departure Bay Road from Single Dwelling Residential (R1) to Three and Four Unit Residential (R5) & Medium Density Residential (R8) with a site-specific maximum Floor Area Ratio (FAR) of 1.0 for the R8 portion of the property) pass first reading; 2. “Zoning Amendment Bylaw 2026 No. 4500.253” pass second reading; 3. “Zoning Amendment Bylaw 2026 No. 4500.253” pass third reading; and, 4. Council direct Staff to secure the conditions related to “Zoning Amendment Bylaw 2026 No. 4500.253” as outlined in the “Conditions of Rezoning” section of the Staff Report titled “Rezoning Application No. …
Staff report, page 2
DocumentsStaff report about Housing, Land Use & Urban Form, Transportation & Mobility (Conditions of Rezoning)

Sheryl Armstrong Yes

So that development there, like to the north of it, that's owned by the same developer.
Okay. Thank you. Councillor Armstrong. Thank you. Thank you. Um, I don't see anybody here from engineering. I'm just wondering about, we have so many concerns already about departure bay road. We've added more in at the other end where we've added more. I just wanted to know what the impact would be. Especially because the light on Sandringham. Yeah, I'm just really struggling with this. I think it's too many units for the size of the lot.

Paul Manly Yes

Go ahead. Uh, yeah, just a question for you to staff. So the, the, um, 1. 0 FAR is that. I didn't see that as a covenanted thing. Is that I was that guaranteed in the, um, in the proposal.
And then if I was just going to express support for this as well in city plan, this is identified as, as corridor, um, for increased density. It's close to amenities schools, shopping centres. Um, and this is, you know, it's on a transit route. Um, this is where it makes sense to density. And it's not, um, designated as a suburban neighbourhood in our city plan.

Ian Thorpe Yes

Councillor Thorpe. Thank you very much, Chair. Yes. I will likely support this, but I am struggling with it somewhat. I feel the reality is that the dominoes have started to fall in the, uh, departure bay neighbourhood. I did not support the application a couple of weeks back that we discussed. I thought the density was too great. And quite frankly, I sometimes wonder why we bother have zoning, uh, barraged with efforts or attempts to rezone from R1 to R8 or something similar. Uh, so I'm still giving this thought. Um, I concede that I have heard very little community pushback on this one as opposed to the earlier development. Which is good. Uh, I do have a question about the, uh, amenity contribution. Uh, through you, Chair. And my question is. Are my preference would be that 100 percent of the amenity contribution be directed towards park or trail improvements in that immediate neighbourhood. We have the, uh, the small park where kinhut is located. We have the departure bay sports fields, which are reasonably heavily used. I'm sure there's lots of improvements that could be made in those areas. So that's a comment for what it's worth. And I don't know how this, uh, the suggested allocation of the funds was determined. Thank you, Chair.

Erin Hemmens Yes

I see no further questions or comments. I will indicate that I am in support of this proposal one of the resident wrote to us, uh, asking that we rejected. And part of the rationale was that the primary school in a shopping centre just up the street from the property in question. And that in and of itself is my rationale for density in that area. Um, 40 extra cars. That's exactly where we want the cars. We want people to be able to go to school and go to the grocery store without having to get in those cars. So, um, I'm the chair. And this is a bylaw. I can't read it. Kelgo to counsel Manley first.