A proposed $35-million shopping centre near Victoria International Airport would have a net economic benefit for the Town of Sidney, a study has found, despite protests from existing downtown businesses.
The study focused on the Gateway shopping centre proposed by developer Omicron, which submitted its rezoning application last week. It’s one of three developers racing to get shovels in the ground to build a new shopping centre on the Saanich Peninsula.
Urbanics Consultants conducted the study, which was requested by Sidney council as independent advice.
“The proposed Gateway development does compete with existing retailers to some degree and will inevitably result in some transfer of sales dollars in some retail categories,” it reads.
However, it says, “the project differs from the majority of existing Sidney retailers in a number of ways.”
According to the study, the project would draw $26 million in retail sales that would have otherwise occurred outside of Sidney and generate $11 million for organic growth in retail demand. It would create 157 jobs during development and 222 jobs during future operations. The municipality would get a tax benefit of $316,000, while the Capital Regional District and school board would capture $420,000 annually.
Only grocery stores, liquor stores and pharmacies would experience a net transfer in retail sales, it found, with a net reduction in total sales productivity of about eight per cent.
The shopping centre is proposed for the west side of the Patricia Bay Highway, on four hectares (10 acres) of airport land leased by the federal government.
Not everyone agreed with the report’s findings.
Longtime Sidney businessman Clive Tanner, owner of two bookshops, said he is “sorry to see” that the 100-page report came out in favour of the Gateway development.
“It does nothing at all for the business community,” Tanner said Friday. The tax boost that the new businesses on the airport lands are supposed to give municipal coffers will be offset by declines from established businesses, he predicted.
“They’re going to lose business in Sidney and lose taxes.”
The report contends that the main competition from Gateway would be faced by established grocery stores, pharmacies and liquor outlets, but Tanner said that anything that diverts shoppers from downtown Sidney will have a negative impact on neighbouring businesses.
Omicron will host a community meeting on June 2 at the Mary Winspear Centre, and Tanner said he plans to attend.
“I will tell them that I think they’re all wet.”
The Urbanics report suggests businesses in Gateway will be different from those in town, but Tanner said: “I don’t see any difference at all.” He can’t see the sense of more grocery stores, for example, when he counts three major grocery stores already located on or just off Beacon Avenue and several more in Central Saanich and North Saanich.
There are already five pharmacies in the town.
Omicron’s Vancouver Island director, Peter Laughlin, is pleased with Urbanics’ conclusion and said it’s now a race to see which commercial developer will get project approval first on the Saanich Peninsula.
Also vying for space in the market is the Sandown commercial development on some or all of 4.8 hectares (12 acres) hived off from the former Sandown Raceway, which, North Saanich Mayor Alice Finall said, has an agrology report underway.
The Urbanics report identifies a “strategic advantage” for Sidney if the Gateway project goes forward — and one for North Saanich if Sandown does.
“Not building the Gateway centre would serve to provide additional incentives for the competing centre in North Saanich to be built,” the report says.
“The net result of this scenario would see the same or greater transfer in retail sales away from Sidney retailers, while forcing the town to forgo the municipal tax advantages and potential benefits of an increased retail draw.”
Chief Harvey Underwood of the Tsawout Nation, which had plans for the Jesken town centre on the highway south of Sidney, could not be reached for an update.
The Urbanics study is available at the municipal hall for review and is expected to be posted on the Sidney website this weekend. Council will be discussing the issue on June 6.
“Sandown is obviously moving forward. … There’s only really room for one new retail development in the Peninsula,” Laughlin said. “I think at the end of the day, it’s a straightforward foot race.”
The Gateway lands were approved for removal from the Agricultural Land Reserve in January, but in February, several environmental and North Saanich groups applied to have that decision reconsidered.
