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Victoria’s Old Town not facing personality crisis, developer says

Victoria’s Old Town is alive and well, and not under threat or facing a historic personality crisis, says a local developer who has restored many of the city’s historic buildings.
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Construction continues at the Customs House site in downtown Victoria on Jan. 11, 2019.

Victoria’s Old Town is alive and well, and not under threat or facing a historic personality crisis, says a local developer who has restored many of the city’s historic buildings.

“I think it’s much ado about nothing,” said developer Chris LeFevre, whose LeFevre and Company has been active for decades restoring historic buildings in Old Town.

LeFevre was responding to an open letter to city councillors from more than 50 prominent Victorians — including former politicians, heritage planners, neighbourhood representatives and academics — who say there have been signs of late that “the heritage program in Old Town is slipping out of balance.”

They say the city has to resist a move toward “facadism” — the practice of just preserving the facade of a heritage building as a nod to heritage — and not allow developments to exceed the 15-metre height limit in Old Town or include additional density.

LeFevre called this an overreaction:“There’s some concerns, obviously, and an awareness and a bit of a concern when you see the Customs House building. You say: ‘I hope this isn’t a regular occurrence,’ and I’m sure it won’t be.”

The group concerned about Old Town’s future says that faced with “unsubstantiated claims” by developers of prohibitive costs to rehabilitate heritage buildings, council might be tempted to permit height and density bonuses that go beyond existing regulations.

Allowing additional height and density is “a very potent method to boost a project’s bottom line,” the letter says.

“But when granting exceptions to the rules becomes the norm, when every exemption becomes a de facto new baseline for future proposals, there is a real danger of undermining the very strategic goals that the system of policies and regulations was established to achieve.”

LeFevre counters in his own letter to council that every project is fraught with hidden costs and overruns that no third party could foresee.

“Small subtle height variations can be applicable in any zoning category of the city. This is site specific and small often means unnoticeable! ‘Token measures’ of preservation are better than nothing if they help the longevity of a building and respect Old Town guidelines and heritage,” LeFevre’s letter says.

He says the suggestion that the heritage program in Old Town is slipping out of balance is unsubstantiated.

“Anybody looking at where Old Town was 30 years ago to where it is today will actually have to be pretty proud of what’s taken place. And I don’t say that for the sake of my own vanity. I say that for the sake of all the buildings that have been regenerated in a very nice fashion.”

LeFevre’s past projects to restore and revitalize heritage buildings include the New England Hotel, 1312 Government St.; the B. Wilson Building, 536 Herald St.; the Morley Soda building, 1315-1317 Waddington Alley; and the Oriental Hotel, 550-552 Yates St.

LeFevre was the first to participate in the city’s Tax Incentive Program that offers a 10-year tax holiday to encourage regeneration of heritage buildings.

The open letter from the more than 50 citizens going to council Thursday asks it to consider three recommendations “to forestall the irreversible erosion of the character of Old Town”:

• Respect the 15-metre height limit in Old Town, as mandated by the Official Community Plan and Downtown Core Area Plan.

• Require a third-party review of a development pro forma (as a standard practice) to back any claims of financial need when considering requests for the relaxation of regulations or rezoning applications.

• Support the maximum retention of historic structures and fabric, in preference to “facadism” and similar “token measures” of conservation.

bcleverley@timescolonist.com