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1926 church in Fairfield to be demolished for suites

The nearly century-old Fairfield United Church will be demolished and replaced with 15 new rental apartment units over ground-floor worship space and a coffee shop.
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Fairfield United Church, at 1303 Fairfield Rd., will be demolished to build Unity Commons, a four-storey building of market-priced rental over ground-floor space for interfaith worship, cultural and arts activities, and a small commercial cafe.

The nearly century-old Fairfield United Church will be demolished and replaced with 15 new rental apartment units over ground-floor worship space and a coffee shop.

“We had a tough choice to make: either to save the building or to save the church and its congregation,” Nicole Roberts, principal partner of Unity Urban Properties, which is redeveloping the property at Fairfield’s Five Corners, told a public hearing.

“This project has chosen the church and its people. It’s chosen to be a placemaker, to create rental-housing supply and to ensure that the Fairfield United Church will continue to worship and to work in this neighbourhood, as it has done for over 90 years.”

After a lengthy public hearing Thursday, councillors unanimously approved Unity Urban’s proposal to demolish the church at 1303 Fairfield Rd. to build Unity Commons, a four-storey building of market-priced rentals over ground-floor space for interfaith worship, cultural and arts activities, and a small commercial café. (Coun. Geoff Young, who lives in the area, recused himself.)

Christopher Rowe of Low, Hammond, Rowe Architects said saving the church building, built in 1926, was not the most responsible course for the neighbourhood.

“It was estimated that $2 million to $2.5 million was needed for safety and seismic upgrades and that’s before anything addressing the envelope or the attractiveness or the cosmetics of the church could be dealt with,” he said.

“So that was the choice. Do we do a project such as we are proposing, or do we save the building for what we estimated was six to eight luxury condos.”

Several members of the congregation urged councillors to approve the project. Some neighbours, however, worried about the impact on street parking.

But Mayor Lisa Helps said transportation is changing, and not everyone will need their own vehicle in the city of the future.

Helps noted that when the church was built, no one would have imagined hundreds of motorized horseless carriages whizzing by the site.

“I know it’s really, really hard for us to imagine what the future of the city looks like without everyone owning their single-occupancy vehicle — and it doesn’t, for the record, mean that everyone will ride a bicycle,” Helps said, adding that it could mean streets lined with car-share vehicles. “This building and other buildings we approve, we’re building for that future,” she said. “So the parking concern for me is not a concern at all.

“I think this is a phenomenal proposal.”

As a condition of approval, the developer has agreed to designate one three-bedroom unit as affordable, tying rent to 30 per cent of a moderate-income household (currently designated as $85,000).

Councillors Jeremy Loveday and Ben Isitt supported the project, but said they would have liked to have seen more affordability built into it, especially since the church had benefited from years of property-tax exemptions.

“This is a property that has been exempt from paying property tax for nearly 100 years. So I think to have just one unit providing affordability is problematic,” Isitt said.

“Rental housing is better than expensive strata housing, but given, I think, the historic context of this site and the fact that it hasn’t been within the private market, I think a greater degree of affordability should have been pursued.”

There will be 16 underground parking stalls for the 15 units. No parking is planned for the worship centre.

Twenty secure bike-parking stalls will be included on the ground floor, along with an additional 12 weather-protected bike stalls.

bcleverley@timescolonist.com