Area residents continue to raise concerns about a plan to redevelop the Cordova Bay Plaza and build three four-storey buildings.
That includes Colin Millard, who has been speaking out since the initial plans for the plaza were presented in January. Millard, part of the Cordova Bay Village Vision Group, said a Scotiabank is the only business still operating in the plaza, at 5120 and 5144 Cordova Bay Rd., near Doumac Avenue.
Tru Value Foods, formerly the plaza’s main tenant, has closed, but a grocery store is still envisioned as part of the project.
“There’s still going to be a bank, probably going to be a couple of coffee shops,” said Alan Lowe, architect for the Kang and Gill Construction initiative. “There’s been talk that there might be other amenities that would benefit the community.
“People want a walk-in medical clinic there; we’re hoping that will work.”
The plan calls for the 1960s plaza to be replaced by 91 residential units over about 36,000 square feet of commercial space.
The public had a chance to look at revamped drawings for the project at an open house that drew about 200 people this week.
Millard said some measures to deal with traffic issues were added.
“They’ve made several moves in the right direction,” he said, adding that traffic is a big issue for people in the area. “Cordova Bay Road is already overloaded.”
The buildings currently on the site are one storey tall, Millard said, so the proposed scope of the project has been a point of contention.
“Everything around there is one storey,” he said. “The problem that many people have is the overall size of what is planned.”
He said people want a project with a distinct “village” feel, rather than what some have come to see as “overcrowding” at the site.
Despite that, people recognize the need for change at the location, Millard said.
“We’re absolutely not against development,” he said. “That place right now, it’s an eyesore. It definitely needs things happening there.”
Lowe said major changes have been made to the plans since they were first presented.
Building setbacks from Cordova Bay Road have been doubled, and the approaches to the site have been improved, as well, he said.
“We removed all the stairs so the development now is at grade with Cordova Bay Road, so there isn’t a big barrier and there aren’t stairs that you have to go up in order to access the plaza.”
Lowe said zoning for the plan is in place, while Millard said Saanich’s shopping centre zone was created in 1962 and does not fit with the current Official Community Plan.
Saanich Coun. Susan Brice said the project has yet to make its way to council chambers.
“Obviously, it’s in their court,” Brice said. “When they feel they have their project ready to come forward … we look forward to seeing it.”
