City of Powell River council has approved a development variance permit allowing an increase in height for a building at 7024 Tofino Street to be known as Pacific Point Lofts.
At the May 6 council meeting, councillors considered a recommendation to permit the maximum building height restriction of 13.5 metres to be increased, allowing less than a 100-square-metre portion of the building to be constructed to a height of not more than 14.7 metres above the average grade on the property.
Council had received an email from resident Rocky Wong, who stated he lives within 200 feet of this project and wanted to express his objection to allowing the variance.
“This building already takes away most of my ocean view and allowing this variance will take away the rest and decrease the value of my house substantially,” stated Wong. “I do not feel it is fair for this project owner to prosper from my loss.”
Councillor Rob Southcott said the change was described to council at a committee of the whole meeting in April. He said the main difference is the height increase, which amounts to about four feet.
“The plan as it is has been approved and is already pretty high,” said Southcott. “I’ve been down there a number of times to look at this, including before, when the whole line of trees was taken out, which is about two years ago, I think. Though the building is going to be fairly large, for many reasons that we have reviewed, it is a very worthwhile project.
“This is not a huge change. It’s a change to the design of the upper part of that particular building. The upper part is going to be a bit larger and it’s going to be a little bit taller as well, but in my view, that isn’t a significant enough change to be concerned and it will benefit the overall project. I support it.”
Councillors share views on view
Councillor George Doubt said he’s had an opportunity to tour the building and climb up the stairways to get to the roof and see what is going on.
“I was struck that the deck is quite a bit smaller than I believed,” said Doubt. “I looked around the building and they have gone to considerable effort to avoid having any views out the windows that go back toward the Toba Street area, which is overlooked from the top parts of the building.
“It seems reasonable to me; I don’t have any of the concerns I thought I might have. It looks like it will be a good development and it looks like quite a bit of care has been taken to preserve the privacy of people in the neighbourhood. It’s going to be a positive addition to the neighbourhood.”
Councillor Maggie Hathaway said she did not want to ignore Wong’s email, who claims that allowing this will take away his view, and that is a concern.
Councillor Cindy Elliott said she studied the diagram, and the area of the building to be heightened is completely covered by trees on the backside. She said the only direction of view that would be affected is that of the trees.
“What is happening is the entire development is affecting this person’s view and it isn’t this one little section we are looking at right now,” said Elliott. “The development is allowed to go forward and it is not going to be tall everywhere; only in this one spot. If it’s the development itself he is taking issue with, then that is not what we are here to address. We are talking about the variance for this one section, which, as far as I can tell, is hemmed in by trees.”
Doubt said the addition is not going to affect views noticeably, in his opinion.
Councillor Palm said he is supportive of the developer and the thought process that has been followed in improving the livability of this area.
Council voted unanimously in favour of the variance.
