In the Gonzales neighbourhood, posters are popping up on poles with a picture of a single family home about to be demolished by an illustration of a bulldozer with a wrecking ball with the words, “City Planners” written on it.
The text of the poster goes like this: “Do you like the look of your neighbourhood? City planners are not happy with it! We have an award winning 2002 Neighbourhood Plan that is meeting the objectives of providing valuable housing opportunities and gentle densification. City council wants to push through a number of aggressive densifying changes that will permanently change your neighbourhood’s character. Reclaim your power to plan the future of your neighbourhood. It has been taken away by city developers that supported your mayor’s campaign.”*
The “aggressive densifying changes” referred to in the poster are the addition of some three-storey buildings along Fairfield Road and the incorporation of townhouses into the Gonzales neighbourhood.
Above these posters, another has been placed. It reads: “It’s easy to oppose densification from your single family dwelling. Got privilege? For every young family that doesn’t get to live here, one must live in Langford and commute. Let’s put an end to this NIMBYism.”
How do we resolve this conflict? In addition to townhouses, Fairfield resident Gene Miller has put forward one concept that might help. He calls it ASH – Affordable, Sustainable Housing. One ASH building is 2,000 square feet and occupies about 40 per cent site coverage on a standard city lot. ASH is small-footprint living – ownership or rental – up to 12 suites, in a modest building that looks like a traditional two-and-a-half storey house with four units a floor (approximately 500-sq.ft., one-bedroom). With less units per floor, larger units could be incorporated to create homes for families.
ASH delivers up to 12 ‘front doors’ – 12 individual, private entrances distributed around the building. This creates a sense of ‘arrival at home’ that lobby-and-corridor buildings of any size cannot provide. Each ASH building looks individual and distinctive, and the house-like scale and appearance go a long way to promoting neighbourliness and a sense of continuity and community on the street and within the ASH building.
Implementing the ASH concept and other forms of gentle density means there will be a significant increase in density in Gonzales. This will create new homes for families. At the same time, the look and feel of the neighbourhood can be retained. Here’s an idea council might want to consider in the future: to save hundreds of rezonings, the City could create an ASH entitlement in the same way we have a garden suite entitlement – on any single family lot an ASH project could be built, as long as there’s a mix of unit sizes and some form of clearly defined affordability in each building.
Victoria is growing. And as the single largest age demographic in the city according to the 2016 census – 25-29 year olds – start to have families, many of them will want to live in Victoria’s established neighbourhoods because they are amazing places. If we want a city that is inclusive and diverse, we must absolutely ensure that neighbourhood plans and neighbourhood residents make room for them.
*NB To put the statement in the poster in context, my 2014 campaign was funded 51 per cent by corporate donations, 49 per cent by individuals – the most even split of any candidate.
Lisa Helps is mayor of the City of Victoria.
