Esquimalt council has narrowly voted down a developer’s unusual request to add another two storeys to a condo building already being built in the community.
On Tuesday, construction workers were busy building out the seventh floor of the 10-storey Pacific House development at the intersection of Esquimalt Road and Head Street.
West Vancouver-based Lexi Development Group had applied for the two extra storeys at 899 Esquimalt Rd., including 16 more units and increased parking, saying it would help ease the company’s financial burden amid rising interest rates and a 51 per cent increase in construction costs since the start of the pandemic.
The developer had proposed gifting a 999-square-foot two-bedroom unit to Esquimalt as well as upgrading storm drains and both sides of the sidewalk along Head Street as amenity contributions if the extra density was approved.
The company said there were more than 50 letters of support from community members for increased density as of Feb. 8.
But after more than an hour of presentations and discussions on Monday, the proposal was narrowly defeated by a tie at council.
Councillors Tim Morrison, Duncan Cavens and Darlene Rotchford voted against, while councillors Jacob Helliwell, Ken Armour and Mayor Barb Desjardins were in favour.
Scattered applause was heard from some who had attended the meeting.
Councillor Andrea Boardman, who would have cast the tie-breaking vote, was absent.
Armour said developers working on new buildings in the municipality are facing high costs, citing Esquimalt’s public safety building as one example.
Projected costs for that building rose from $42 million to $62.2 million in two years largely due to increased construction costs.
But Coun. Tim Morrison pointed out that Lexi Development Group is the only developer to have returned to council to ask for a density increase after shovels had already hit the ground.
“We don’t do do-overs,” he said. “We move on to the next project.”
The building was first approved as a 66-unit, 10-storey building in 2020.
Morrison suggested that if Lexi Development was facing difficulties in completing the project due to cash flow, it could sell the project to another developer with the financial ability to finish it.
Lexi Development had said in its rezoning application that it might be forced to put the project on hold if a redesign wasn’t approved.
The Pacific House development was also the subject of a curious hoax before the council decision.
Flyers posted in Esquimalt and Victoria over the weekend claimed people could register for a new medical clinic operated by Lexi Developers, the township and a third-party group by emailing council before March 26.
Esquimalt spokesperson Tara Zajac said as of Monday night, council had received emails from more than 140 people looking to register for the non-existent health-clinic partnership.
“It was a bit of an odd occurrence,” she said. “We don’t have the jurisdiction to register folks for a doctor.”
For its part, Lexi Development decried the flyers on Saturday as “calculated to manipulate public perception for undisclosed motives” ahead of the council rezoning decision on Monday.
In a post on social media, it apologized to anyone who had been inconvenienced by the incident and said it would be alerting law enforcement.
