Sidney council has approved a 140-unit rental building on Beacon Avenue at the Pat Bay Highway, with 28 units to be rented at below-market value.
The five-storey apartment at the northwest corner of Beacon and the highway will be built on one of the last vacant lots in the municipality and will help provide housing for the town’s workforce, said Mayor Cliff McNeil-Smith.
“This is an important housing development for the community. It is the second time in a generation that purpose-built rental housing has been developed in Sidney with below-market rental units,” he said.
A five-storey mixed-use building at 9818 Fourth St. opened in 2019 with 56 rental units, 28 of which rent at below-market rates.
Twenty-eight units of the project at 2180 Beacon Ave. will be rented at 20 per cent below-market value for 20 years.
Council approved a zoning amendment and development permit at a meeting last week.
Coun. Steve Duck, who opposed the development permit, raised concerns about the level of noise residents would experience because of the highway.
“I fully agree with my colleagues that we need rental housing, but I also think about livability and the proximity to the highway and the noise that this is going to encounter,” he said. “I would continue to encourage the builder and the developer to give some thought to making that a more livable space.” Staff told councillors there are no provisions available to council to enforce measures to mitigate sound inside the units for residents.
Elements of the building itself are subject to the B.C. Building Code and cannot be made a requirement by council, staff said.
Council will need to approve a bylaw to enter into a housing agreement with the property owner before a building permit can be approved.
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