26 May 2025 Council meeting Housing

Rezoning Application No. RA504 - 335 Third Street (Part 3)

Motion
That Council direct Staff to secure a restriction on driveway access from the property to Wharton Street and Georgia Avenue as a condition of “Zoning Amendment Bylaw 2025 No. 4500.236”, prior to final adoption of the bylaw.
Minutes, page 8
Sources
Agenda itemCity agenda, whole meeting
Staff reportPage 2
Purpose
To present Council with an application to rezone 335 Third Street from Single Dwelling Residential (R1) to Residential Corridor (COR1) to facilitate a multi-family development.
Staff report, page 2

Council’s motion differs from staff’s recommendation

Staff report, page 2
DocumentsStaff report about Housing, Land Use & Urban Form, Transportation & Mobility (Policy Context)

Sheryl Armstrong Yes

I've heard numerous concerns from different people. I also share concerns about the time of day. It was done. In the actions. If. An access. I'm for the project, but I'm not for the access I'll be quite blind about that. Was there any public consultation around this access owner? Just from what the study did. Sorry I missed the question through. Your worship. Was there. Was there any public consultation? Around the access points, or was it just around the project itself? Because I know at the previous application that we had, there was a lot of concerns which I shared about accessing off of Georgia and Morton versus officer.
And councilor thank you. I understand where you're coming from, Hover. From my perspective, I think the third street is safer. It's not going on to a very steep hill. It's. Not putting traffic through a residential neighborhood with ditches and no sidewalks. And as I said earlier, this council had no problem putting thousands of vehicles, new vehicles from the three new developments on metro drive onto metal drive. And we heard that this is going to be a complete street, too, so I don't. See any difference between the two. I think, as a matter of fact, I was the only one. That actually voted against that one at that time because of the number of vehicles. So for that reason.

Janice Perrino No

Thank you, you, worship. The struggle that I'm having. Is. I have some family that live in this area, so I've been using both third and Howard quite a bit recently. And both roads are busy. My concern. Is that staff? Give us. Their best direction. That they think is the safest, and I'm very hesitant. To change it. Not that I don't disagree. That. This is maybe. Going this direction is the better way. I struggle with making changes. On staff. At the final hour. After so much work and dedication to whether or not uncertain. I'm very much against going against staff. Who've spent. Serious time reviewing this at length and deciding what is the best and safest way for the traffic to go through. And so now we're going to change it on them because we feel it's better. Not that. I can see you, Mr. McGregor. I get it. I understand. Both of those roads, both Howard and. Third are busy roads.

Erin Hemmens No

Hemmens. And then councilor Thorpe. Thank you, worship. I'm. Not going to support this. I said this at our first reading that I have a really difficult time. I'm not a traffic engineer. And so when the traffic engineers come and say, this is where we think it should go. It's hard for me to question that, even though I'm hearing clearly. From the neighborhood, the people who live there, that it's going to be a burden. Density always comes with pinch points. And this is exactly where we want density. It's close. To university. It's close to downtown. It's close to the hospital. Yes, yes. Wharton is this? I've spent quite a bit of time in the neighborhood. It's this beautiful, sleepy little street. With. Yes. No sidewalks, big ditches. I don't know who planted the garden in the ditch. It's one of the most beautiful gardens they've seen in the Nimo. I'm also considering that capital project on third and. If we don't go with staff recommendation here, we're likely looking at changes to that and. That will have cost implications. My understanding that includes moving a bus stop. I understand from the traffic assessment that trying to get people to go left and right is nearly impossible because of that hill. And people coming down that hill as it crests. Fits. William, we don't want people kind of stopping and having to turn left. So that makes it the opportunity being a right in and right out the road width. I understand from the assessment. Will have a very difficult time accommodating the medians that are required to accommodate that right in and right out. I love seeing the cat stream protected and even enhanced with Council Getzelbrock's motion. So when I take it in context, by all measures, this fits. I say that acknowledging that density comes with pinch points, and it's not always comfortable and I really want to thank the community for coming out and sharing their experience with us. Thank you. Thank you.

Leonard Krog No

Acknowledge that. Obviously, when we have a room full of interest citizens, our remarks are somewhat directed to the people in the audience. And I want to explain why I won't be supporting. This. I live in a street my wife and I have for 42 years. Same house, 1600 cars. A day. Plus go up and down that street. Raised our kids there. Understand the frustration and concerns. The buses go down it. Their brakes wake me up every morning. I accept that as part of the joy of living in the neighborhood, I do. The Nym was a changing and growing community. We have a shortage of rental accommodation. Not every development gets approved by this council, but many of them do. What I have learned, both doing a little bit of personal injury law in the old days and having been in this council now for six and a half years, is that every time you create. Another access by road onto another road. You're creating another opportunity for more accidents and risk. To the public. The reality is that shifting traffic. Onto one road as opposed to creating another. Access Road onto Third street is with respect to the concerns that have been raised. The safest approach from a traffic safety perspective. I'm conscious of the fact also that this council received an incredible number of emails and comments about the building of the apartment building at the end of Beach Drive, the last property on the left is you descend Brecken Hill to the ferry terminal. It was going to be a neighborhood disaster. There would be accidents. That's a neighborhood by the way, that has no sidewalks either. The building has been finished. The building is completely occupied. And candidly, and I don't. Mean to be disparaging. We haven't heard a peep from the neighborhood. There have been no concerns raised by it. It fitted into the neighborhood, and it is. A more substantial building than the one that is proposed here. So for that reason, as much as I appreciate your concerns. None of us have a right to, how shall I say, a certainty of. Neighborhood for the whole of our lives and the time we live there. We have to consider the generations that follow us, our own children. I suspect there are many parents in the audience. Their children will need a place to live it. May well be in one of these apartments so they can be close to their parents or family. I have no idea. But I accept the fact that many of my fellow citizens are looking for housing. This is not that substantive development. I have driven in the area myself to check it out. I don't take these decisions lightly without considering everything. And it's for that reason that I'm not prepared to restrict and go against the recommendation of traffic engineers and people who are familiar with the area. There is a time as councilors prino and. Thorpe and councilor Hemmens. As I've also pointed out, we have professional staff. That's why we do it. A decision that runs counter to that would be what I will call a political decision, not a decision based on what I will call the sensible approach of the experts who know what they're doing. Traffic engineering is not some new study that dropped out of the sky into the university curriculums. A couple of years ago.

Ben Geselbracht Yes

I respect that, Councilor Gesselbrock. Thanks through your Mayor. This is a tricky one for me, and I think it is really important. When staff make the recommendation and. Follow that most times on this particular one, just the amount of change that we're putting in much higher level of density right in the spot we're going to be redoing. Third Street. We can figure out how to accommodate an entrance into that area. And without having to dramatically change the flow through on an already very established neighborhood. And so it just seems to me that. We can accommodate the neighborhood. And put an access in that will work off of Third street that is going to be completely new anyhow, and so traffic flow and pattern will get used to whatever that's going. To be there, so I'm inclined. To support the motion on the floor. Thank you.

Questions and answers

Councillor Paul Manly
Speaker identificationConfident
Yes

asked
So I'm just curious. About what the thinking was around that. And when this George Avenue greenway got extended pass
City staff answered
forth. Thank you through your worship to Councilor Manley. I'm happy to touch on a bit of it. And then maybe I'll turn some of it over to Mr. Rose, manager. Of transportation, if that's okay. So with respect to. I guess, conceptually, the consolidation of properties and development of properties to the West. It's possible. In fact, community plan would likely support that. But those properties were rezoned. To r five, which is the small scale multi unit. Housing zone in June of last year. So whether or not those redevelop over time. They are likely to, but. I would, and it's impossible to predict. The future for sure, but I would expect that they would probably develop under existing zoning. At the r five scale, consolidation would be challenging. In the current development climate. And they do have additional density potential. Under the existing zoning that the province. Required of local governments last year. The access onto Georgia, the spur there. And the extension of the Georgia Greenway. Maybe I'll ask Mr. Rose to speak to. That. Thanks.
City staff answered
Thank you. So I think that the continuity of the Georgia greenway was actually part of the heroin neighborhood. Plan as well. And so I think whether it's explicit to the Georgia greenway or not, I think having that permeability through the block is quite desirable. As for how it's achieved, that was something that wasn't fully fleshed out to this point in the discussions, but there have been some preliminary discussions about how it could be facilitated and sort
followed up
of get close to accommod. Accommodating usable grades. Because. It's not usable. As discrete with the grade as it is,
A guest answered
right? No. It sort of comes up almost like a ski jump as you go south. And so it would be very difficult to grade that out to make it
followed up
A functional road. Okay. I'm curious about whether there was any other consideration for. There's a 15 meters setback for the wetland as part of the zoning. Is there? Other consideration for protection of CAT screen related to that in
J. Holm
Speaker identificationConfident
answeredDirector, Planning and Development
The plan, though. Through your worship. I can speak to that. So the concept was evaluated based on the development permit area requirements in the zoning bylaw, setbacks that apply to the property. Obviously. Should the zoning be approved and the property develop in the future? There would be development permit considerations at that time. So. The appropriate setback would be applied through the city zoning bylaw and the development permit area requirements that apply to the property. At a future stage of development review. Should the property be rezoned

Councillor Sheryl Armstrong
Speaker identificationConfident
Yes

asked
Seaward. Any questions to the delegation? Councilor Armstrong. Thank you. You said that. Your client originally wanted to put the access on to third, and it was city staff that
A guest answered
said. No was any rationale provided at the time. Yes, the rationale is in the master plan. And Mr. Rose could possibly comment on this as well is that access should be to secondary streets wherever possible. And the redesign and construction of Third street made it much more difficult. Plus, the safety concerns related to coming down the hill westbound. Could provide some challenges there. So from a transportation
followed up
Perspective, they said, no, we can't go. To. I guess my concerns are that the hill actually going on to Howard from Georgia, those are much more dangerous. And also the fact that. The safety concerns for those residents on Warton, Georgia and Foster weren't taken into consideration. Because. There's no sidewalks, and we're going to put all those extra vehicles in which then increases. Their safety issue. And secondly, the third street has not received council approval yet. It may or may. Not. So again, I want to approve this, but I just can't approve an access onto that.

Councillor Janice Perrino
Speaker identificationConfident
No

asked
That helps. Thanks. Thank you, Councilor Prino. Thank you, you, worship. And just a question through you to Mr. Seabird. So you said civil engineering design. At the end of that, the submission of the access assessment at the time of development permit application. Is that what you were referring
A guest answered
to? Yes. I didn't. Wasn't sure if I. Got the wording right. Sorry. No, that's why I wanted to emphasize that instead of. Doing another access assessment at DP Stage is how it's worded. In the new number four. We're seeing the access studies be done. That technical data is now, there it would then go on to a civil
followed up
Engineer to design that road. Okay? At the development permit
A guest answered
Application. Is that right? Correct. That part is right, yes. Okay. Thank you. But I also want to emphasize, and we're also asking for that design to be at Warton, Georgia, intersection because of what the access study has said and that staff said they did not support an access