Dear friends of the urban forest,
This Thursday, August 4th, Victoria city council is holding a public hearing about the proposed “Missing Middle” zoning change.
This unprecedented change could mean a massive loss of city trees — yet with no guaranteed increase in affordable housing.
Please take the time to share your views with city hall.
Details below.
Note that video presentations of up to 5 minutes must be sent in by 2 p.m. Tuesday!
Emails can be sent to mayorandcouncil@victoria.ca
Even a short one can be powerful! See the end of this email for one sent by one of our members.
Missing Middle public hearing Thursday, August 4
Thanks to the Gonzales Neighbourhood Association for permission to forward the following email. (If you would like to contact them, their e-mail address is gonzalesneighbours@gmail.com )
During the dog days of summer and right after a long weekend, Mayor and council decided to hold a public hearing on one of the most important land use policies to face our city since the creation of the Official Community Plan in 2012.
There is a link below to all of the posters that were available during the public information session held on July 12 but we have summarized what Missing Middle is here:
- virtually every residential lot throughout the city will be upzoned for six units and corner lots can have up to 12 townhouse units
- there will be no protection for existing renters
- it is not clear if taxes will go up once lots are developed on a street
- buildings can be as tall as 42 feet
- staff will have authority to approve MM (not council) so you will not be consulted or even know that a development has been approved
The picture below says it all. In this scenario the choice is between green space or parking; and this is a four plex. There will likely be more cars associated with a 6 plex.
The public hearing will be held this Thursday, August 4, 2022 at 6:30 p.m. Tell Council this is an election issue. Two Councillors are running for Mayor this October (Councillor Andrews and Councillor Alto).
You can participate in the Public Hearing in one of the following ways:
- Attend in-person:
Council Chambers, Victoria City Hall, 1 Centennial Square, Victoria, BC
- Submit written comments:
You can provide your submission by email to publichearings@victoria.ca or by mail to Legislative Services, #1 Centennial Square, Victoria, BC V8W 1P6, or drop your submission off to the Ambassador in the City Hall Lobby (entrance off Pandora Avenue). Written submissions will be published on the Council Meeting Agenda if they are received by 2 p.m. on the day of the Council meeting when the Public Hearing will take place. - Submit a pre-recorded video:
Pre-recorded video submissions up to five minutes in length can be submitted and will be played at the Public Hearing. The video is to include:- Public Hearing item
- Your first and last name
- Your home address
- Whether you support or oppose the item
For further instructions, email publichearings@victoria.ca or phone 250.361.0571. To ensure your submission is reviewed and played during the Public Hearing, please submit your video by 2 p.m. the Tuesday before the meeting. We cannot ensure inclusion in the Agenda if it is received after the requested time.
- Pre-register to speak live via phone:
You can pre-register to speak live via phone for up to five minutes. Once registered, you will be provided with a phone number and access code to call during the live Council meeting. To register to speak live and receive further instructions, email publichearings@victoria.ca or phone 250.361.0571. Please pre-register to speak live via phone at the meeting by 2 p.m. the day before the meeting to ensure early registration; however, if you are not able to pre-register by that time you may instead call into the meeting while it is underway. When you pre-register by email or phone, please provide:- Public Hearing item
- Your first and last name
- Your home address
NOTE: If you aren’t able to pre-register, please watch the live meeting as you may instead call into the meeting while it is underway. Call 778-698-2440 then participation code 1551794#. Please only call if you wish to speak to the matter under consideration. You will be muted until asked to speak, and will be introduced by way of the last four digits of your phone number being announced.
Call-in Instructions
-
- Your comments must be relevant to the item being considered at the Public Hearing.
- You will have five minutes to speak.
- Watch the live meeting to hear when your item is under consideration. Note: there is a one-minute delay in the live stream.
- Call in using the phone number and access code we provided you. Say your name when prompted. You will be put on hold until it’s your turn to speak. You will be connected as soon as possible (your turn is determined by the order of calls received).
- When it’s your turn to speak, staff will unmute your call and announce that you are the next speaker.
- State your name and address and the item you are speaking to.
Reminders:
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- Turn off all audio devices of the live meeting when you are speaking on the phone to prevent feedback.
- Do not put your phone on speaker phone.
Short sample letter to council from one CTMN member:
Dear Mayor and Council,
Please don’t forget the trees now standing when you decide about the missing middle, or you could find that what is missing is the cooling, shading, aesthetic, carbon capturing, air purifying and bird singing urban forest.
Further listening
Saving endangered trees and forests under threat from climate change
The Earth’s forests are at risk from climate change, but conservationists have not given up hope. Guest host Anthony Germain discusses efforts to save endangered trees from extinction with Wesley Knapp, chief botanist at the biodiversity conservation NGO Nature Serve; and Alessandro Cescatti, co-author of a recent study published in Nature that looked into how tree resilience to climate change is declining to critical levels.
Listen here on CBC
It is unfortunate that this posting is so negative about Victoria’s Missing Middle plan. In fact, allowing more compact and affordable housing types — multiplexes, townhouses and low-rise apartments — in neighborhoods that currently exclude them certainly will increase affordability and preserve habitat.
AFFORDABILITY
Because they require less land per unit, townhouses cost a third less, and condominiums half as much, as single-family houses. Even if the new units are initially too expensive for lower-income households they increase affordability if occupants of existing lower-priced apartments move into the new units, a process called filtering, and over the long run as they add to the supply of older housing stock.
The academic research is clear, adding more moderate-priced housing increases overall affordability. A good description of this process is Daniel Herriges’ column, “The Connectedness of Our Housing Ecosystem,” (https://bit.ly/3zupfkL ). For more technical analysis see “The Effect of Market-Rate Development on Neighborhood Rents,” (www.lewis.ucla.edu/research/market-rate-development-impacts ).
HABITAT PRESERVATION
Compact housing types displace far less land per household than conventional, single-family housing, and because households located in walkable neighborhoods own about half as many vehicles as regional averages, compact infill reduces the amount of land paved for roads and parking facilities. In total, residents of an urban townhouse or apartment displace about a tenth of the amount of land for housing, roads and parking facilities as they would need with conventional urban fringe development, as discussed in my column, “Seeing the Urban Forest for the Trees” (https://www.planetizen.com/blogs/103026-seeing-urban-forest-trees ).
A good example of the benefits of missing middle housing is the city of Montreal, where multiplexes and townhouses are common. As a result, housing prices are about a third lower than in peer cities, which makes it a heaven for artists, students and workers, and creates wonderful, compact, walkable neighborhoods where it is easy to live car-free, resulting in true affordability. For more information see:
Eric Andrew-Gee (2018), “How does Montreal Maintain its Enviably Low Rents?” Globe and Mail (www.theglobeandmail.com); at https://tgam.ca/2UCexlJ.
Todd Litman (2022), Learning from Montreal: An Affordable and Inclusive City, Victoria Transport Policy Institute (www.vtpi.org); at http://www.vtpi.org/montreal.pdf.
I encourage Victoria citizens concerned about affordability, inclusivity and environmental protection to contact our City Council in support of the city’s Missing Middle initiative.
Missing middle: C’est bon!
It is indeed unfortunate that Todd continues to repeat the affordability aspect to Missing Middle when virtually everyone, including the mayor, says it will not do so. And of course the worry is that current affordable suites in houses will be lost as Missing Middle will incentivize the sale of housing, thus forcing people to then have to compete for a smaller and smaller pool of existing affordable housing.
In addition the notion of filtering has also been debunked. One need look no further than Vancouver to see that 30 years of densification has not lowered the price of housing there. That is because the demand is much bigger than the supply; and the demand will not be going away anytime soon. If Todd truly cared about habitat loss he would be arguing for a true regional growth strategy; one that looks at what we want Victoria to look like in 25 years and then work to creating that vision. Rather Todd argues for increasing growth continually which will only create a region with less trees; less Garry oak meadows; less green space in people’s backyards and further overuse of the western parks we worked so hard to protect.