Our Concerns

Concerns about the Quest

August/2023

The Quest does not supply the housing Oak Bay needs or the province is mandating. The OCP mandates that “multi-unit residential development… will provide more affordable and inclusive housing in transition areas between commercial areas and established neighbourhoods ..”.(p.180) The provincial government also is promoting more affordable housing for the “missing middle”.

Complete non-compliance with the existing building by-laws put in place to protect the neighbours and streetscape. The Quest is so non-compliant that instead of seeking variances the planner proposes to create a whole new zone specifically tailored to the needs of the Quest without regard to the surrounding residences. No consideration is given to the adjacent properties. The OCP emphasizes that infill housing should be designed to minimize the impact on adjacent properties. (p.180, 12) This is just common sense. The Clive is an example of modifying the building to fit the neighbourhood. The Quest, with its height, set-backs, and blasting is an example of the damage done when no effort is made to minimize the impact.

Height - The architect estimates that the Quest would be 15 feet higher than its neighbour York House and 6 feet higher than the Newport without the usual set-backs to reduce the impact on the neighbours. Infill housing, wherever it is located, should be of a reasonable height with appropriate set-backs.

Set-backs - the Quest requires reductions in the set-backs required by the current RM4 zoning (currently governing 4 storey buildings) to be reduced from between 45% to 59%.

Setback Min. Allowed (RM-4) Quest Difference

Front (feet) 35 19.1 -15.9 45%

Rear 35 14.2 -20.8 59%

Side 20 10.1 -9.9 49%

The combination of a high building with reduced set-backs is serious shadowing, loss of privacy, and views of the neighbouring properties. No consideration is given to the neighbours and neighbourhood.

The lot is a small one and not suitable for a building the size of the Quest.

Hamilton House 45,900

The Clive 11,989

Newport 21,057 (next to Quest lot in the West)

Quest 10,582

York House 14,391 (next to Quest lot in the East)

Massive Building - Floor Area Ratios - The FAR measures the mass of the building to the area of the lot. The current zoning by-laws set a FAR of 1 as the maximum. The architect arrived at a FAR of 1.88 for the Quest by exclusions (driveway entrance?) to reduce the area of the first floor by 134.5 sq m less than the second floor. We do not have a measure of the FARs with exclusions for the comparable buildings. Thus to compare apples to apples, the following FARs are calculated using the basic (OCP) formula (coverage x #of floors), The larger the FAR number, the more massive the building is in relation to the lot.

Building FAR

Hamilton House 1.05

The Clive 1.44*

Newport 1.19 (adjacent to the East)

Quest 2.06 (or 1.88)**

York House 1.09 (adjacent to the West)

* The Clive has a large ground level parking area on the first floor that is not fully walled. If this large area was excluded the adjusted FAR for the Clive is likely to be considerably less than 1.44.

** 1.88 is bad enough to make the point.

As a matter of interest the FAR for the Oak Bay Beach Hotel is 1.73

Parking - Current zoning requires that developments such as the Quest have two parking places per unit plus one guest parking spot per four units. The Quest would have fifteen units and only fourteen parking spaces. None for visitors. All new developments should have at least enough parking for all the residents. This especially applies to the current single family home areas where streets are already crowded with on street parking.

Blasting - The buildings surrounding the Quest lot have no basements. The reason is that they are on stone. If the Quest lot is similar to the neighbouring lots, it has a massive amount of rock. To create a parking lot twelve feet deep from lot line to lot line over almost the entire lot would require months of blasting. It would be one of the largest blasting projects undertaken on the avenue west of the Village and yet no comprehensive study has been done. How much rock is there?. Who pays for the likely damage to neighbouring homes and infrastructure? How many truckloads of rubble will be removed? Will blasting result in Oak Bay Avenue being

closed from time to time? And many studies suggest a variety of serious potential health hazards (just ask Google). There must be limits on blasting in residential areas. This is a BIG DEAL.

Disruption during construction - There is no access to the Quest lot from the side or rear. The lot is too small to be of much use storing building materials, equipment and the autos of the trades. Oak Bay avenue will be seriously disrupted for up to two years as it will have to provide the only access for cement trucks, machinery, etc.

Mass - The Quest is a very large building with very small set-backs. It will cause shadowing, loss of privacy, loss of view and will loom over the neighbourhood and Oak Bay avenue.