Address:
2300 Douglas Street was a proposal to build a six-storey, mixed-use commercial and purpose-built rental development in the community of Burnside-Gorge on downtown Victoria's northern fringe.
The project was to have incorporated a Silver Arrow Cars luxury automobile dealership on the ground floor and offices on the second floor.
An affordable housing component under partnership with Victoria-based housing provider Pacifica Housing was initially touted as offering a 10% affordable housing component for the residences.
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...meanwhile James Bay has been there all along, with port and marina facilities, industry, government offices, hotels & motels, parks and green space, and thousands of residents (in SFDs, lowrise apartments, and highrise buildings) all co-existing within the same compact neighbourhood for many decades.
But aastra! Don't you know that James Bay is an unlivable hell on earth because of [insert your favourite land-use bogeyman here]?*
*it's actually not an unlivable hell on earth, which is why people like it
In that 1971 article the assumption was that you needed to make a hard choice between residential, industrial, or green space.
North American "urban renewal" back then was mainly about tidying things up and making everything more streamlined and generic, and ultimately stripping away a city's unique flavour.
Speaking of industry co-existing with residential, check out this story from 1952 (the street is in Saanich, not Victoria):
Daily Colonist
August 12, 1952
Council Wrangles on Light Industry
A heated argument between councillors and a delegation was fought out several separate times when the delegation protested the granting of a temporary permit for a light industry to be operating in a residential zone.
Council had granted a permit to Herman Vanderbyl, Culduthel Avenue, to use a dwelling to manufacture kitchen sinks.
Reeve Joseph Casey said, "In Saanich a house is no asset. We only make money on industry or vacant land. These people really have a good product and we ought to encourage them."
Cruise ships, though, the largest vessels in the world, you can even see them!
A new proposal has replaced this proposal. The discussion can be found here: https://vibrantvictoria.ca/forum/index.php?/topic/7210-burnside-gorge-2300-douglas-street-industrial-storage/
Victoria's nixing of rental dev north of downtown yields self-storage proposal with light industrial spaces
Four-storey light industrial and self-storage project eyed for 2300-2312 Douglas Street.
Rentals pitched for Douglas Street north of downtown not aligned with Victoria's vision for the area
A proposed 60-suite affordable rental building with commercial spaces below is the second nixed residential project north of downtown.
Luxury auto dealership, offices and rental apartments pitched for Douglas Street south of Bay Street
A six-storey mixed-use development north of downtown Victoria will feature Silver Arrow Cars luxury auto dealership, approximately 60 rentals and offices.
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