Sunday December 29, 2019 ~ COLWOOD
by Mary P Brooke ~ West Shore Voice News
A presentation about the Royal Beach development was heard by a full audience at a special meeting of Colwood Council at city hall on Monday evening, December 16.
Georgia Desjardins, Asset Manager, Seacliff Properties Ltd and Niall Paltiel, VP Planning with Keycorp explained various aspects of the land use proposal that outlines the need for some rezoning that would be accommodated within the Official Community Plan.
Over a period of at least 20 years, the buildout would include a civic space at the waterfront, housing, commercial space and possibly a new Colwood City Hall.
Desjardins said that a big aspect of the planning will be to incorporate the expected impacts of shoreline changes due to climate change. Traffic solutions and appropriate parking space provisions will be addressed, she said.
Paltiel covered off how the buildout will affect residents now and into the future — what the city and public will get out of this rezoning, and what the waterfront development will look like through to 20 years from now. He outlined a gathering space, rustic trails, an ambient theatre space as well as mixed-use areas (i.e. residential and commercial). Overall, Royal Beach will be an open public realm with low maintenance spaces and a unique experience for all ages and levels of mobility within an area developed with housing, commercial and institutional uses.
Commercial and mixed-use would be closest to the waterfront, with higher-density homes further up from the beach (perhaps 6-storeys in height) and more traditional single-family housing backing onto Metchosin Road (2 to 3 storeys).
Similar styles of public space developments — such as a Kitsilano Beach in Vancouver, Whiterock, James Bay and Dallas Road in Victoria, and in Sidney — were studied. There will be gathering spaces, plazas for picnics, sitting areas, First Nations art, a trail network connection, and children’s play area. “This is the public’s area, and we want to make sure it has spectular use for the community,” said Paltiel.
About 50 acres of parks and trails (valued at about $20 million) will be dedicated to the City within Royal Beach.
Paltiel proposed to Colwood Mayor and Council that programming can happen early on, making it a vibrant area once rezoning has happened and the Metchosin/Latoria intersection is in place.
=== NOTES:
This article was first published on page 3 of the December 20, 2019 print-PDF issue of West Shore Voice News.
The City of Colwood says the Royal Beach proposal includes a significant increase in the number of residential dwellings and non-residential floor space. Staff have requested absorption studies for both Royal Beach and Royal Bay Latoria South to confirm that Colwood has the capacity for the proposed amount of floor space.