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By Steve Weatherbe
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TWO Victoria-area churches have recently run into
opposition to their development plans.
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church in the heart of
the downtown area ran afoul of new height restrictions intended to preserve
the historic ‘Old Town’ retail-tourist district’s
heritage look; while Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church found local
residents questioning its interest in moving out of downtown Langford to
undeveloped land to the west.
St. Andrew’s was founded in 1866, and its
membership has included some early premiers – and the fabled Dunsmuir
family of coal tycoons, who built the Nanaimo and Esquimalt Railway. The
current building was built in 1890. The congregation’s development
plan would retain it, but replace the adjoining Kirk Hall, built in the
1950s, with a nine-storey office, residential and retail tower.
“We’ve been talking about it for 10 years,
and planning it seriously for well over two years,” says church
member Jim Kempling. “We’ve put a lot of blood, sweat and
tears into it.”
Talks with developers and building management firms
led to the realization that any development under nine storeys would not be
worthwhile.
“We need a floor and a half for our own needs
(offices and a meeting hall) and a half floor for retail.”
With the city’s height restriction of 15 metres
equating to five storeys, “we are left with just three storeys to
bear the economic load. It’s not enough. We’d end up sinking
$10 million of our own into it,” says Kempling.
Nine storeys would provide an annual income of $50,000
to $100,000, which St. Andrew’s sorely needs.
“We’re facing half a million dollars in
repairs to the basic structure, the roof, the windows, the organ, over the
next 10 years.” That’s a lot for an aging, shrinking membership
of 500 families to bear, says Kempling, and some may simply move to a
different church, “where their money and efforts go into doing the
real business of the church – helping those in need, for
example.”
The church already provides meals for the city’s
poor and homeless, and hosts public interest talks, fundraisers and
concerts. Without the revenue from the proposed tower, Kempling says the
church’s survival is threatened, ironically, by regulations intended
to preserve heritage.
A downtown United Church closed more than a decade
ago, with the Victoria Conservatory of Music taking over its building.
“Now they are having a hard time maintaining it,” says
Kempling. “These old buildings are costly to run.”
But city council rejected the proposal out of hand.
Pam Madoff, the leading defender of heritage values on city council, said
“The value of Old Town is not simply relegated to the value of
individual buildings. It is the value of the district as a whole; and a
great part of that value is the scale of that particular area.”
The St. Andrew’s presentation noted the presence
of several oversized buildings near it; but these, counters Madoff,
were built either before the height restrictions came into effect, or are
across Douglas Avenue, outside the bounds of Old Town.
Meanwhile, in suburban Langford, one-storey Our Lady
of the Rosary church faces different problems. Its 1950s structure is too
small for its Easter and Christmas masses, says its pastor Father Paul
Szczur.
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Accordingly, it is considering two alternatives: a
move west of town to a several-acre site on Irwin Road; or a new building
to the rear of the current church. “Nothing has been decided,”
he says. “Nothing is happening at this time.”
A rezoning application has, however, been made by a
group called the Westshore Life Enhancement Foundation for the Irwin
Road site, to accommodate the church, a hall, a school and an assisted
living facility.
The location has stirred controversy because the
Langford planning department considers Irwin Road in its present condition
inadequate for the additional traffic, reports the city’s Matthew
Baldwin. In such cases the applicants usually shoulder the costs of needed
upgrades, he says.
There has also been concern that the church would draw
traffic to Humpback Road, which currently provides the only access to
Irwin. Humpback Road is legendarily tricky: it is windy, narrows in places
to one car width, and features signs advising drivers to honk their horns
before proceeding.
Baldwin says different access will be forthcoming when
a large residential development to the east, Westhills, expands to Irwin at
some future date.
Father Paul says the parishioners, who number about
500 families, have voted in favour of developing behind the current church.
But nothing can go ahead without the approval of the Diocese of Victoria.
Diocesan spokesperson Leah Mackenzie confirms that
either of the alternatives envisaged by the parish need the approval of
Bishop Richard Gagnon and several diocesan committees.
As well, a strategic planning committee has only
recently begun its task of forecasting the diocese’s needs in terms
of population shifts and spiritual needs.
Father Paul, who is new to the parish and relatively
new to Canada, describes the issues raised by the various proposals as
“a learning and very interesting experience. This is really new to
me, to have to manage this kind of thing.”
March 2009
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