[7:31] Thank you. Welcome everyone to the September 15th, 2026 APC meeting. I'm calling this meeting to order at 701 PM. For our land acknowledgement, we wish to recognize and acknowledge the song he's in casapsent nations on whose territory we live, we learn and we do our work on.

[7:52] Item 2 of the agenda is late items, I'll look to staff to introduce if there are any.

[7:57] There are no late items.

[7:58] Kate, thank you.

[7:59] We'll move on to item 3.

[8:01] Can we get a motion to approve the agenda as circulated?

[8:04] Sean, thank you, seconder, TJ, thank you.

[8:07] All those in favor?

[8:09] Motion carries.

[8:11] Next is item 4, adoption of the minutes from the August 18th, 2026 APC meeting.

[8:18] Turning to the commission to identify if there are any changes or corrections needed.

[8:25] Okay, so can I get a motion to adopt the minutes?

[8:29] Zach, thank you, seconder, Sean, thank you, all those in favor?

[8:33] Motion carries.

[8:35] Okay, we'll move to item five, which is an opportunity for our staff leaves on to provide an update to the commission.

[8:42] Thank you, Chair.

[8:43] It's brief tonight.

[8:44] We only have had one meeting of council special meeting of council since last meeting.

[8:50] That was last night.

[8:52] On the agenda was eight, nine, nine, a squimalt row that was a variance to accommodate the use of a unit in the building for a temporary leasing office for building down the street.

[9:03] That was deferred to understand to a future council meeting, because there were only four members there last night.

[9:20] The annual climate action report was received by Council, and staff was given a job

[9:25] both on my Council, which was great.

[9:28] And the report for the APC structure and establishing by-law bill brought forward that question

[9:36] to Council, whether they wanted to change anything.

[9:39] Council elected to make no changes to the existing APC by-law at this

[9:45] time.

[9:45] Thank you, staff.

[9:46] Are there any questions from our commission at this time?

[9:53] Oh, yeah, go ahead.

[9:57] You said the climate, which report was for received by-

[10:00] Council.

[10:01] The climate action report.

[10:03] And that will go once council seen it goes up on line or.

[10:08] I imagine it does.

[10:09] Yeah.

[10:10] It's on the way.

[10:11] Okay.

[10:11] Yep.

[10:12] It would be on the agenda.

[10:13] Okay.

[10:26] Great.

[10:27] So we'll move on to item six staff reports.

[10:31] The first staff report is item 6.1.

[10:33] Development, permanent application at 846 view field road.

[10:37] I'll turn it over to staff for an introduction.

[10:39] Thank you, Chair.

[10:41] So this is an application for a pre-fabricated bottle

[10:45] and can recycling station, a 46-view field road.

[10:50] It addresses four development permit areas,

[10:54] one natural environment, five business,

[10:58] seven energy conservation and greenhouse gas reduction,

[11:01] and eight water conservation.

[11:04] And if approved by Council, it would have directly to building perm application.

[11:10] The applicant is here online.

[11:12] Thank you.

[11:14] Thank you.

[11:14] Does the applicant have a presentation, or you just hear for any questions?

[11:20] I do have a presentation.

[11:21] I believe the previous council meeting reviewed it, but I'm happy to go through it again.

[11:29] Sure.

[11:29] Please go ahead.

[11:30] I wish you a nice green.

[11:39] So just for these recycled collection points or containers, we've been running them out

[11:48] across BC.

[11:49] They've been a huge success.

[11:52] They're clean, they're safe, they're really well organized and they serve a great purpose.

[11:59] I live right by the one here in Vancouver on August and I can tell you that there's a

[12:03] constant stream of people using it, which is great, it's exactly what we want to

[12:07] courage. The whole process is really quick. You get, you know, you have your app, you get

[12:14] a, you print out your label, you put it on your thing, you get a code that opens the door,

[12:19] it goes in, it's literally a matter of seconds, and then collections are done based on need.

[12:25] So, just a little bit of a little bit about the actual containers and where it's going. So,

[12:32] is convenient, it's accessible, it's controlled, and it's constantly so missed.

[12:38] The proposed location is kind of tucked away, so it's not really

[12:43] including anything, it's really well positioned and easy to find.

[12:50] Yes, it's out of the mainstream of the parking, the regular parking.

[12:55] Our design is super recognizable, it's a small container, it's

[13:02] colors with signage, apple signage, it's really, really clear to to identify.

[13:09] And again,

[13:10] this is the access of a city super simple with the process is really fast.

[13:20] We don't anticipate

[13:20] it to take more than more than a couple of seconds. The support systems of the heaven

[13:26] place. Obviously, there's cameras, internal and external, there's security monitoring for 24

[13:32] seven, you get a one-time pin access, so there's less vulnerability. After you use your code,

[13:39] the door will close, if it hasn't closed automatically. If you haven't closed it, it'll close automatically for you.

[13:45] If it's left open and a long while, go off and some people will be notified.

[13:52] The cleanup response

[13:53] is pretty, pretty big, returner do a great job. They will be transporting and emptying the

[14:00] cleaning the site.

[14:04] And again, their whole goal is to discourage

[14:06] loitering and unwanted dumping. And again, to change up

[14:10] the perception of recycled.

[14:14] So the frequency of the

[14:15] collection will be based on the need and on the volume. So they

[14:20] have sites that they do daily and they have some sites that

[14:23] do, you know, twice a week or weeky. So it's really the

[14:27] premieres one doesn't get as much activity. So that's kind of

[14:34] it empties the empties by container into the truck. It's pretty non-invasive. It's a 20 to 30 minute production,

[14:48] and they're off to the next to be able to collect more.

[14:55] The whole idea of return is to be the good neighbor,

[14:57] So the design committee bit.

[15:00] The review committee will see that we have the standard containers that are really well self-contained, and we hope that you will accept it.

[15:13] Thank

[15:17] you for your presentation, appreciate it. I'll turn to the commission for any questions for the applicant or for staff. Maybe I'll start with Zach, if you have any questions.

[15:27] No questions?

[15:31] Just a quick question about the pin access, it says one time pin access, you have to sign up for something to be able to use the box or is it?

[15:41] Yeah, so it's at base.

[15:43] You will have an app within the count, and that's how you get reimbursed as well.

[15:49] So when you arrive, you'll punch in your account number and it will give you a one time pin.

[15:54] And then, of course, when you drop off your bags, you will get credited to your account.

[15:59] Once they've counted them.

[16:05] Yeah, I just have noted that it looks like the Vic PD's recommendation,

[16:09] is that the unit is visibly and evenly lit with enough illumination

[16:14] to identify faces from approximately 10 meters away.

[16:17] Looks like there's one small light proposed under the awning.

[16:21] Is this single light fixture sufficient to meet Vic PD's recommendations?

[16:25] Or can you comment on that?

[16:28] We've never had anybody ask for more specifically the surrounding areas also have light.

[16:35] It's a pretty strong light that illuminates the openings and it's a pretty clear way you need to go and to deliver your bags.

[16:46] Okay, that's helpful context, thank you.

[16:49] I'll pass it to Sean if you have any questions.

[16:54] Does anyone want to put a motion forward?

[16:56] Zach, go ahead.

[16:57] before the motion that the Advisory Planning Commission recommend the Council approve the development

[17:01] permit application for the installation of a pre-fabricated recycling station at 846

[17:06] view field road to improve access to recycling and continue to reduce waste in a squimalt.

[17:12] All right.

[17:12] Thank you.

[17:13] Seconder.

[17:14] Sean.

[17:15] Okay.

[17:15] I'll call the question.

[17:16] All those in favour?

[17:18] Motion carries.

[17:20] Thank you.

[17:20] The next item is 6.2 development variance permit application for 1340 Sussex Street and 1337

[17:29] Saunders Street. I'll turn it to staff to introduce the file.

[17:33] Thank you chair. This is a development variance permit for the citing of the parking

[17:39] structure at the site below the first story of principal building.

[17:47] So it's

[17:50] That's right, 1.3 meter decrease in distance to the line, so from the allowed 1.8 meters to 0.5 meters.

[18:03] The applicant is here to make the presentation if you wish.

[18:08] Yes, we welcome the applicant to present.

[18:22] Hi. Good evening. My name is Matt Kolek, Director of Development at Inchiporp.

[18:26] We're the developing partners at Belmont Properties, who is the owner of the site.

[18:30] I have with me tonight, Lauren, from Arcade of Sark texture and Chris from LADR landscape architecture.

[18:41] So I'll just do a brief refresher on the site itself.

[18:45] So 327 unit purpose still rental project.

[18:48] I was raised on in 2025.

[18:51] The development permit was issued in April of this year in 26.

[18:55] If we could just hear some of this thing or.

[19:04] Okay, so yeah, I just wanted to briefly touch on the park itself.

[19:08] There's some minor adjustments to the park.

[19:11] So I just wanted to do a quick refresher on some of the benefits.

[19:14] And we're providing as part of the park area.

[19:20] So 1,500 public park space,

[19:24] It's been made tamed by Belmont properties,

[19:28] an access to VIA and I sort of owe you some of the features of the power for the pirate ship.

[19:33] Please structure the sports core open lawn, learning garden, the water fountain, picking tables and the water mister.

[19:44] So essentially what we're requesting today is developing variants to the setback along Nelson Street, which is on the East PL there.

[19:54] So we previously intended to construct the park aid

[19:58] underground with a 1.8.

[20:00] 8-meter setback off of that east property line. We approached the neighbour, the neighbouring base, the west

[20:08] PL, to get an easement agreement for some of the Thai black anchors to essentially construct

[20:16] that west parquet of wall in order to do so you need an easement because the length of the anchors

[20:22] is basically encroaching past the property line. So we are in the communications early with the

[20:29] days at the early stages of the project, following the rezoning, we approach the conversation

[20:36] of the easement. Unfortunately, due to national defense purposes, they didn't want to

[20:42] approve the easement underground. So, we looked at a revision to the park aid and how we

[20:49] could come up with a design strategy to not encroach in the west of property. So, what we did

[20:57] we basically shifted the parking essentially as far to the east as possible to now require

[21:05] those easement or the anchors to pass the property line and require the easement.

[21:14] So the parking is essentially the same, it's just shifted towards the east by 1.3 meters,

[21:20] so that's facilitating the reduction in the parking set back.

[21:25] The law coverage is the same, the partners' law count is the same, the bicycle, the

[21:30] stall, the accounts are the same, so just basically a shift to the east.

[21:37] Chris is just going to explain some of the revisions to the park here.

[21:47] Hi, everyone.

[21:47] Thanks, Matt.

[21:48] So you guys are probably familiar, relatively familiar with the park.

[21:54] The change for the park aid really is affecting the two sides of the Ontario and Nelson

[21:59] street frontages because when we have the outer park aid wall over top of that where we have

[22:07] structure we can't really overlap and have weird differential settlement and things like that

[22:11] particularly with the sport court on the Ontario side and then with the the seating wall

[22:18] structure on the Nelson side. So shifting the park aid over has required some adjustment to those

[22:24] things, which we'll see on the next slide.

[22:27] So just to go through the original design for the park,

[22:31] 44 trees, 53 large shrubs, a couple hundred

[22:35] medium and small shrubs, and then like five or six hundred

[22:39] per annules and ground covers.

[22:41] So a fairly well planted out space with a large lawn

[22:45] in the center, and then a significant playground

[22:49] with leg multi-generational place structures in it

[22:52] of variety of age groups. And then we've got the garden or more intensive educational garden

[22:59] on the right-hand side. Then if we go to the next slide, you'll see this is the revised

[23:04] park design. So you'll see the most significant change happening on the Ontario side,

[23:09] where we actually have an increase in planting area, because that is now where you see that green

[23:15] rectangle of planting that easternmost edge of that is the new park-aid wall location. So all of

[23:22] is actually located off-slab. That has necessitated the rotation and shift of the

[23:30] sport court in order to align it with that wall so that again we don't have a

[23:35] differential settlement issue with it sitting on top of the slab so it ends right at

[23:40] the edge of the slab and the fence is actually right at that parking slab edge line.

[23:45] The playground is generally the same size. It's just been shifted to the east

[23:49] And some of the place structures have been rotated just to allow that to work generally.

[23:54] So also the diagonal path that runs from the building to Sussex has been shifted to the east as well.

[24:04] So everything's just kind of moved over.

[24:06] And then on the east side, so on the Nelson Street side, there's being an adjustment of the design in general of the seating stair, which I'll go back.

[24:16] You can see everything is a little bit more diagonal, and there are no railings, and then on the new one to make it code compliant, and to make it work with the new Parcade Wall location.

[24:28] We now have a railing and a couple of sets or sort of two sets of stairs divided by a single railing, and then the seating on there as well.

[24:36] The one significant elimination, I guess, in the revised park design, is a single tree, and that is actually on the Ontario drive side.

[24:49] We had three trees in, if you look here, three trees in what was fairly narrow strip running up Ontario drive.

[24:58] Because that space got...

[25:00] Bigger, and is all off-slab. We're actually able to sub to much larger canopy trees in for those

[25:07] three trees. So it's a reduction in a single count of one tree, but an increase in tree canopy

[25:12] size. It seems like a good opportunity given that we now have the space to get root zones. That

[25:18] big to increase the tree size because we can. So again, we could shift that back to three smaller trees,

[25:27] but at the moment, I think it makes more sense to do go with the two bigger ones.

[25:30] With time, they'll grow over, hang over the park more, hang over the street more, provide

[25:35] more habitat, and it'll just generally be better for the landscape.

[25:40] You can also see on the revised, not so much the park, but the productive gardening aspect of

[25:49] the project has moved from one of the upper floor paddios or the amenity patio, I guess, to

[25:57] the west side of the building in that ground floor amenity patio space.

[26:05] Same pressed reference images to give you an example or an idea of what's going in.

[26:12] Again, just to reiterate, there's no loss in any of the design elements themselves.

[26:17] So we have the same place structures, we have the same retaining walls, we have the same, you know,

[26:28] instead of three smaller ones in one location.

[26:32] Thanks.

[26:36] The project team for that.

[26:39] I'll open it up to the commission for questions

[26:42] of the applicant or for staff.

[26:45] I would like to start.

[26:54] I guess I have one question for staff.

[26:57] Would the expanded or the shift in the parcade

[26:59] affect any future public realm improvements on Nelson Street?

[27:03] Doesn't look like it, but just helping you to confirm.

[27:06] Thank you, Chair. I don't believe so, no.

[27:10] Okay. Seeing no more questions. Anyone want to put forward a motion?

[27:16] Zach, yep.

[27:19] That's law.

[27:23] The Advisory Planning Commission recommends the Council approve

[27:26] the development variance permit,

[27:27] consistent with the architectural plan provided by our

[27:30] care to start a text including the following variance for the property

[27:33] located at 1340 Sussex Street and 1337.

[27:36] Saunders Street as it has little impact on public interface and

[27:39] no above ground design impacts.

[27:41] or I should say, sorry, limited above ground design impacts.

[27:45] And then Victoria, do I need to read the entire of the zoning

[27:48] byla?

[27:48] OK, you'll add that part in after.

[27:50] Thank you.

[27:52] OK, thank you for the motion.

[27:53] Seconder TJ.

[27:56] I'll open up to a discussion on the motion

[27:57] if anyone wants to add anything.

[28:01] I did a little research.

[28:03] And this one reminded me of when we had a earlier this year,

[28:05] as well, where we moved the line to reduce the set back,

[28:08] basically to zero or something negligible.

[28:11] and I saw the council that I think approved that in June as well and so just for me I guess this is more of a comment for staff I guess if this is coming up more and is there's more development maybe some consideration around a more specific policy for below grade setbacks might be something for the township to consider but just reminded me of what we saw earlier this year which we did approve kind of for the same reasons.

[28:39] I just wanted to say I really appreciated that the amenities that were extensively discussed

[28:47] in the first round are sustained and kept through the process and a lesser developer could

[28:55] have easily eliminated things to make it work and so I appreciate for my seat here at the

[29:02] question that these are things we're maintained and there was good explanation on how things

[29:09] were adjusted. Thank you.

[29:12] Yeah, I think it's in regards to this item.

[29:15] An excavation plan.

[29:17] Most times requires or is in need of a subsurface kind of encroachment agreement.

[29:23] So understanding that that was something that was difficult to obtain.

[29:28] With the neighboring property owner.

[29:30] I support this variance and it's just the reality of development and construction.

[29:35] Thank you.

[29:41] Thank you for the presentation.

[29:42] Yeah, I'll echo what TJ says in that it was a very robust set of amenities for the public.

[29:52] It's just been maintained and looks like you see what kind of larger trees we can put in place there to improve our...

[30:00] I will

[30:06] call the question all those in favor of the motion. Kate motion carries.

[30:13] I believe that's everything on our agenda that concludes today's business. I'll be looking for a motion to adjourn the meeting.

[30:20] TJ, thank you, seconder, Sean. Okay, all those in favor. Motion carries. Thank you.

Advisory Planning Commission on 2026-09-15 7:00 PM

Agenda

Transcript