Acres of Ogden Point parking lot could become one of Victoria’s largest development projects, featuring a hotel, stores, cruise-ship and other marine services, parks, walkways, and maybe even a home for the Maritime Museum of B.C.
Next week, the Greater Victoria Harbour Authority will unveil some of its ideas for what Ogden Point could look like in 30 years. The authority is looking for input on how the site, which now serves as a cruise-ship terminal, should evolve.
“We have a plan that is getting to a point where we think we have a good foundation now to get into the details,” said Mark Crisp, senior associate with design firm Stantec, which has been contracted to put together the harbour authority’s master plan for Ogden Point.
“It’s hard for people to imagine anything from a diagram, so we jumped ahead a bit to say this is what we are thinking and hopefully they can relate to it a bit better,” he said.
The drawings are considered very early stage. There’s no target for the number or kinds of buildings that will be on the site, or rules about where to put them.
“This has the potential to be one of the largest projects in Greater Victoria,” said harbour authority chief executive Ian Robertson, noting that Ogden Point is pretty much a blank canvas.
Robertson said the images are a reflection of input from the first part of a consultation process that began in April 2015. There will be several more meetings and open houses with key stakeholders, First Nations, the James Bay community and the broader public before Stantec develops a final master plan. The goal is to have it complete by the end of this year.
Work so far has earned the approval of the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce.
“We applaud this initiative, and the fact they are getting on with things,” said past chamber president Frank Bourree. “I think they are going in the right direction.”
Marg Gardiner, president of the James Bay Neighbourhood Association, said meetings between her group and Stantec have been positive, though residents remain concerned about transportation to and from the cruise-ship terminal, emissions from cruise ships and public access.
She said the association would like to see a commitment that consultation with the community will continue throughout the 30-year build out.
Robertson said while cruise ships will be the anchor of any re-designed Ogden Point, plenty of space is available for commercial and retail tenants, First Nations cultural and retail opportunities, exhibition space and industrial use.
He said the cruise industry has suggested the site be built for the community — if residents like it, cruise-ship passengers will like it, too.
Crisp said the current design envisions a community gateway to allow people easy access to the site and encourage cruise-ship passengers to walk into the city.
“We want people to feel [Ogden Point] is an extension of the community as much as it is part of a working harbour.”
Dreaming up a new Ogden Point is one thing, but making it a reality is quite another. Neither Crisp nor Robertson would estimate the cost of a build-out over the next 30 years, though they expect it’s in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
Robertson said government funding may be available for work on the piers, and development partners will be sought.
The goal is to increase revenue through tenant lease payments. The harbour authority requires significant funds to keep up its facilities — it estimates it will need to invest $60 million over the next 25 years to upgrade current facilities, to say nothing of putting money into the Ogden Point project.
“It’s important we are generating revenue to create a surplus to invest,” Robertson said. “This whole vision gives us that.”
Ogden Point, which has four piers able to handle massive cruise ships — it expects 227 in 2016 and is the busiest cruise ship port of call in Canada — is home to a number of businesses, including Helijet, the Breakwater Café & Bistro, Ogden Point Dive Shop, Pacific Pilotage Authority and the Victoria Harbour Ferry Co.
Named for Peter Skene Ogden, an official with the Hudson’s Bay Co., it was once a bustling industrial site home to fish processing, canning, cold storage and a grain elevator.
The elevator was dismantled in 1978, and in 1990, B.C. Packers shut down its cold storage fish plant.
An open house to discuss the Ogden Point master plan is set for Feb. 18 at Ogden Point, 185 Dallas Rd. Pier B from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m.
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