Approving more density around Tillicum Centre will be the topic of discussion Monday night as council continues to examine how to best execute the development of urban nodes.
Developers were seeking approval of a rezoning application to allow for a four-storey, 21-unit apartment complex to be built at the corner of Albina Street and Maddock Avenue.
Saanich is currently looking at building dense centres – Tillicum being one of them – and in June approved a 104-unit residential building two blocks away from Monday’s proposed apartment.
When that building was approved, traffic issues along Albina were a hot topic among neighbours who complained that the infrastructure in the area, namely parking and pedestrian safety, was not adequate to handle significant growth.
“The way we should act, in my view, is to create a really good master plan saying what our expectations are, and to see how things are melding together, how we’re going to try to minimize traffic,” said Coun. Vic Derman before Monday’s meeting. “Unfortunately we haven’t done that, and so we wind up looking at (projects) as one-offs, which I personally think is less than productive … We have to be very careful, as we put density there, that we get it right.”
Currently on the properties where the project is planned are two single-family homes on Albina, and the remnants of a duplex on Maddock that was destroyed by fire in May 2010.
kslavin@saanichnews.com
