Parksville council has approved two bylaws that will facilitate a future residential building at the Wembley Mall.
The proposed five-storey building's preliminary design shows 70 residential units, with retail space on the ground floor.
Council gave third reading to an official community plan amendment and a zoning and development bylaw amendment that would facilitate the proposed mixed commercial residential building during its April 23 meeting.
“Strip malls, I think, are a thing of the past and if we have the opportunity to put housing above a development, I think I’d go with that nine times out of 10,” said Coun. Joel Grenz.
Coun. Mary Beil said she supported the amendments “with some reluctance”, in particular because of traffic concerns brought up at a public hearing earlier in April.
“I also do appreciate that any development of this nature will take some time for it to get started, for it to move forward and other development going on in the area will have been completed by that time,” she said, referring to a traffic impact assessment that is expected to be conducted for the rezoning application.
Coun. Amit Gaur said he is thankful to the people who came to the public hearing with their concerns.
“I have been in opposition to this, as the mayor and council are aware, primarily based on the traffic issues in the area and this is what we heard loud and clear even from the public," he said. "I did not really hear opposition on any other issue, other than the safety and just the increasing amount of traffic.”
Mayor Doug O'Brien said part of the reason he supported the bylaw is because the owner has “shone a light” on the future phased approaches planned to improve the rest of the mall property.
In March, council received a presentation on a mall master plan that includes a possible revamp of several parts of the mall, highlighted in a drawing submitted to council's agenda, including the section home to several small businesses, north of the Canadian Tire, as well as the parking areas on either side.
Two small parcels in the south end were also highlighted in the drawing, close to where the proposed residential building would be built.
The zoning amendment bylaw allows for residential use at Wembley Mall by creating a "sub-zone" for the new building.
The planned development and the mall will have the same owner, and a separate subdivision application will look at splitting the property into two parcels, according to Blaine Russell, director of planning and building.
The OCP does envision residential for the site, so the project requires an OCP amendment because of a provision meant to encourage downtown revitalization and give it a “head start” in terms of multi-family developments.
City staff feels the majority of existing multi-unit residential lands, including those in the downtown, have been developed, according to a report by Blaine Russell, director of planning and building.
The OCP amendment was carried with Gaur opposed, while the zoning and development amendment was carried with Gaur, Coun. Adam Fras and Coun. Sean Wood opposed.
