Post by John Zeger on Oct 27, 2004 13:37:20 GMT -5
When is a commercial zone not a commercial zone? When its the C-7 zone downtown. This area is coloured red for commercial on the Official Community Plan Generalized Land Use Map but don't be fooled into believing that it really means commercial in the usual sense of the term. The C-7 zone allows for residential buildings up to 44 meters (about 11 storeys) and you can bet your boots that developers will take full advantage of that height allowance. The purported reason for the C-7 zone (Central Business Commercial) is "to designate and preserve land for the orderly development of the financial, retail and entertainment, government and cultural core of the city." Included in this C-7 zone are the Lofts Downtown, an 11 storey luxury highrise condominium with units selling between $250,000 and $500,000 with a penthouse at $900,000. Very affordable, isn't it! I have also heard that a developer is planning on putting a highrise on the site of the old Kokopeli restaurant. Yet another potential view blocker! But why do we need highrises in this area in order to carry out that purpose? This can just as well be accomplished by lowrise structures such as the Cannery Lofts described elsewhere on this board. Does it sound to you like the planning department has just put one over on us? Because if you look at that OCP Land Use Map thinking that only the area coloured in brown for high-density residential can be developed as such, you're wrong! Now the area coloured red for commercial must be included in the mix. A funny use of the word "commercial," isn't it?