Victoria council's last-minute tweak to Harris Green development approval concerning for some

A massive development project that would bring 1,500 badly needed rental units to downtown Victoria got a tentative green light from city council this week, but a last-minute amendment that was narrowly approved is causing some controversy.

Councillors voted 5-4 to require the developer of the Harris Green Village project – which would be home to Vancouver Island's tallest building if built as planned – to reduce the number of parking stalls for some of the proposed buildings from one stall for every two units to one stall for every eight. 

Councillor Marg Gardiner was one of those who voted against the proposal.

"Not only may (it) affect this proposal, but it may affect many going forward," Gardiner said. "It's very worrisome. This is virtue signalling."

Developer Starlight Investments, which will also own and operate the buildings if they are constructed, first proposed plans for Harris Green Village four years ago.

Councillor Jeremy Cardona pitched the parking amendment for environmental reasons.

"We want to be ensuring that we are building a car-light city," he said. "We're densifying the city with people and with units, not with more cars."

Some of Cardona's colleagues worry the timing of the change sends the wrong message to developers.

"The process for this particular application went on for a couple of years," said Councillor Chris Coleman.

"We're now negotiating or renegotiating at the very last second."

But Mayor Marianne Alto says the decision isn't binding. The developer could come back and negotiate with the city over how many parking stalls it's willing to reduce.

"The process allows for council to make a final decision regardless of the outcome of whether or not the applicant determines they can accomplish any of those things," Alto said.

Starlight wouldn't comment, other than to say it's reviewing council's decision and what it means for the viability of the project, but industry experts say the way the amendment was rolled out likely won't be well-received.

"The timeliness of it is really unfortunate for the applicant," said Kaeley Wiseman of Wiser Projects.

"It's also unfortunate, kind of, for the optics that the city is putting out."

Plans called for construction on the project to begin this summer, but that now seems less certain, according to Councillor Matt Dell.

"It would be devastating for the city if this project did not go ahead," Dell said. "This is a massive investment in our downtown core."

A decision on if it will be built should come sometime in the next several weeks.

With files from CTV Vancouver Island's Robert Buffam