Oliver residents are expressing concern after a public information session on Saturday gave them a glimpse at plans for two high-rises being proposed in their neighbourhood.
The proposed development by Greenlong Construction would see a 48-storey tower built along Jasper Avenue and 115 Street with a 37-storey tower to the north.
There would be commercial space on the ground floor with residential above it; parking would be below grade.
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“The big ideas, I guess, are to reactive Jasper Avenue with some ground floor commercial and active frontages,” said Kim Petrin, urban planner with Stantec, which is working with the developer on the rezoning application.
Petrin said the lane in between the two towers would also be utilized.
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“We’re looking at reimagining the lane to be a living lane so looking at having uses fronting onto the lane, some live-work opportunities with some commercial wrapping around into the lane,” she said.
However, some residents were not too happy to see what was being proposed.
Andy Netzel has lived in Oliver since 2004. He is concerned about the impact the tall tower would have on his property.
“The two buildings being proposed take away the view of our existing high-rise, completely take it away, both sides. That’s going to drive down our property values incredibly,” he said.
Netzel said he is not against development but he does not think it should come at the cost of the owners in his building.
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Arlene Sittler is also opposed to the proposal for a variety of reasons.
“Their construction is going to block this alley – what will that do for services and emergency access?” she said.
“If they’re going to be building there and they’re going to be doing construction on the Imagine Jasper Avenue Project, what is traffic going to be like?”
Sittler said she is concerned about the pace of development happening around Jasper Avenue.
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“The density of the area needs to be considered. There’s a lot of new buildings going up or planned to be going up already and I don’t think we need another vacant lot.”
Meanwhile, fellow area resident John Moyse expressed concern about the height of the buildings.
“It’s too high a density, too high of a building to put in this location,” he said.
“I’m not opposed to a lower development… it doesn’t need to be as high as these, as dense as these are going to be.”
Petrin said, based on the concerns, Stantec will review and re-evaluate the height of the buildings and assess sun and shadow impacts.
“A lot of what I’m hearing… is concerns around parking, traffic, visitor parking. We need to look at how that’s going to work. Height has been an issue that’s been expressed, so we have to look at how height relates to the street and to the neighbourhood and to the shadow impacts. We definitely have to do that type of technical analysis as well.”
Area councillor Scott McKeen said there are many things to consider when it comes to development in the downtown and Oliver area.
“Buildings and the way streets are laid out. The way buildings engage the sidewalk, contribute to creating a great vibrant street or a sterile street that maybe has great utility for parking and stuff,” he said.
Petrin said it would take roughly one year to submit a rezoning application to the city and then approximately one year after that to complete a development application.
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