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Council should listen to the neighbourhood

This evening, Victoria city council will debate the fate of Bosa/Blue Skies’ proposal to redevelop the St. Andrews school site at Pandora Avenue and Vancouver Street.

This evening, Victoria city council will debate the fate of Bosa/Blue Skies’ proposal to redevelop the St. Andrews school site at Pandora Avenue and Vancouver Street.

What once was called “huge pushback” from about six Mason Street residences became more than 1,200 petitioners and hundreds of people who came to two council hearings. The last hearing ended about 2 a.m. When was the last time a controversial development hearing in Victoria went for two nights and drew such numbers?

Granted, while a substantial minority (45 of 128) spoke in favour of the project, they were clearly from the business community and outside of North Park neighbourhood. And they included the UVic Design Club, which seems of late to attend every large development hearing to deliver practicum-like lectures about the merits of developer proposals.

North Park neighbourhood — not just Mason Street — showed a united front opposed to Bosa’s plan for a 35,000-square-foot grocery store and a traffic plan affecting Vancouver and Mason Streets.

The real test for city councillors is whether they listen to the neighbourhood, as they did with Topaz Park, or go with the money and those aspects of the official community plan that favour developers, as opposed to sensitive transitions and people-priority greenways and cycle routes.

Jenny Hyslop

Victoria