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Tofino council reviews proposed housing project

Council voted 5-1 to give first reading with Coun. Sarah Sloman the only vote in opposition.
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Tofino’s municipal council is mulling over a development application that includes 25 housing units at 521 Cypre Crescent. (Image from District of Tofino council agenda)

Tofino’s ongoing housing crisis has the town’s municipal council and staff feeling a little more lenient about density laws and parking requirements when reviewing applications from developers.

During their Feb. 21 regular meeting, council voted 5-1 in favour of giving first reading towards a potential three-storey building with four commercial retail units on the ground floor and 25 housing units on the top two floors on a 0.39 acre lot at 521 Cypre Crescent.

The property is currently zoned for one single-family dwelling.

An existing house on the property would be demolished to make room for the new development, which would include a cannabis store on the ground floor. Parking would be located adjacent to both Cypre Crescent and Malon Lane with a total of 21 stalls.

The applicant, Mike Holekamp, spoke during the meeting’s public input period and said he had grown up around Tofino working on the ocean.

“Some of the best memories that I have of my childhood were spent in Tofino,” he said. “As a result, I feel a deep connection with Clayoquot Sound and the people I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know and call friends.”

He added he co-founded the Daylight Cannabis shop, which currently operates on Industrial Way and would be moving to the new development, if approved.

“Tofino always felt like home to me and I would never do anything that I thought would negatively impact the community. While I recognize that change is always hard in small communities, I want everyone to be aware that we worked really hard at designing this project…We designed this with Tofitians in mind.”

The project’s architect Maris MacDonald also spoke during the meeting and said he “grew up embedded in town” and paid for his undergraduate and graduate degrees by working as a whale watching guide and at the Common Loaf Bakery.

“I can still remember when there was just one stop sign in town at First and Campbell and it was a big deal when a second stop sign was added at Fourth street,” he said.

He said it is important for Tofino to pursue the right type of housing and that more multi-family developments must be created.

“As with most communities around Vancouver Island, Tofino faces challenges around long-term, affordable housing. This type of housing is critical if the community wants to maintain its current capacity let alone facilitate any growth,” he said.

District planner Peter Thicke explained that the project “generally aligns” with the town’s guiding documents, like the Official Community Plan and Vision to Action.

“There’s always the question of limits to growth that comes up anytime we consider increasing density. Staff are of the opinion after reviewing relevant policy as well as the project in question that this is actually a fairly reasonable proposal in line with many of our guiding documents,” he said. “Although we regularly kind of bandy about the idea of limits to growth, this is one of the more supportable projects that is currently under consideration.”

He noted though that the site’s current zoning is capped at two storeys and a single family residential with a secondary suite.

He added the cannabis retail use is well-suited for the area and that “nothing within the current cannabis retail policy that prevents this use from being considered,” though he noted the cannabis store’s frontage would face Cypre Crescent, rather than Campbell Street.

He said a traffic impact study would need to be conducted, adding the area does not currently have a loading zone and one of the retail units is slated for a potential restaurant.

“We’ve already seen some issues with restaurants not having loading zones in other areas of town causing significant congestion, traffic issues as well as safety issues for pedestrians and other motor vehicle drivers. This is something that staff would need to see resolved prior to second reading,” he said.

Coun. Ali Sawyer asked about the residential units potentially being used for nightly rentals and Thicke responded they would be prohibited.

Mayor Dan Law spoke against allowing one of the commercial units to be a restaurant.

“Restaurants are generally labour rich….It takes a lot of employees to run a restaurant,” he said. “Is there something in council’s prerogative to be able to say ‘Listen, if you put in a restaurant it kind of negates all the benefits of adding high density housing because you basically increase the need for that housing.”

Coun. Kat Thomas asked how the restaurant would affect the parking, noting people who park at restaurants tend to stay longer.

Thicke acknowledged concerns around pushing parking into residential areas, but suggested the incoming downtown pay parking program could ease congestion.

“At this point, staff are starting to take the approach that mandating minimum parking may be not actually that useful,” he said. “Although this is not necessarily a perfect application, I think it’s one of those situations where we have to be wary that the perfect is often the enemy of the good and that some good progress at the cost of maybe some particular things is actually better than no progress at all.”

Duncan McMaster expressed concern around providing just 21 parking spots for 25 units.

“It’s a really congested area already,” he said. “I think that’s just asking for trouble.”

Coun. Al Anderson expressed concerns around the potential restaurant-use, suggesting the loading zone would need to be addressed, but spoke in favour of the housing being offered.

“I think this is the kind of density that we need in Tofino to achieve some of our affordable housing goals,” he said.

Coun. Sarah Sloman objected to the height.

“I find the aesthetics of it completely overwhelming,” she said. “I think with the height of the building, that’s going to really negatively impact the gateway feel to our downtown core.”

Sloman also expressed concern around parking and the lack of a loading zone, “I just feel like the whole thing is a little bit too big,” she said.

Coun. Tom Stere said he was in support of the project.

“The OCP and many of our guiding documents are very clear about support for this project and many of the aspects. When I look to all of those, this is a very, very supportable project,” he said. “This is the type of growth that I would like to see.”

He added the housing’s affordability would be a crucial piece of the project moving past second reading and that council would have the right to refuse any further advancement if a sufficient water supply is not met.

He noted concerns around parking but suggested there are ways to mitigate that, pointing to the district’s multi-modal transportation plan.

“I do recognize the issues around parking, but I’m much more concerned about parking people than I am vehicles,” he said. “To park cars instead of people is a backwards way of going. We have to provide the infrastructure where cars are not necessary.”

Mayor Dan Law also expressed concern about the proposed height.

“This is going to be one of the first buildings that people see coming into town, it’s very large and it will be very imposing and we do have to make sure that the developments that we do allow in Tofino in my mind, add to the charm of Tofino instead of eroding it,” he said, adding he was not in favour of allowing a restaurant and that a loading zone would need to be added.

Stere responded that the applicant and staff had heard council’s thoughts “heard loud and clear” and would likely come to second reading with changes.

“If the applicant has not heard and met the requirements that have been stated clearly in this council meeting, at second reading there is an opportunity once again to have a conversation,” he said. “This is a potential 25 unit residential that I think we need to be looking at the bigger picture on this.”

McMaster agreed.

“I have lots of concerns, but we need housing,” he said. “But, if those concerns aren’t satisfied, it won’t get done at second reading.”

Council voted 5-1 to give first reading with Sloman the only vote in opposition.



andrew.bailey@westerlynews.ca

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Andrew Bailey

About the Author: Andrew Bailey

I arrived at the Westerly News as a reporter and photographer in January 2012.
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