Headline:
By Mark MacDonald
of the Business Examiner
For chemainus.com
NORTH COWICHAN – The developers of WestVista Terrace believe their project is nearing the finish line.
On Wednesday, November 19, the 600-unit mixed use residential project next to the Trans-Canada Highway and near the new Cowichan Hospital, is up for third reading by North Cowichan council.
Proponents John and Elaine Lichtenwald are hoping their Official Community Plan (OCP) Amendment Application is accepted and the project will be returned to the Urban Containment Boundary it was included in four years ago.
WestVista Terrace (then called Bell McKinnon Northwest) was designed over seven years ago to conform with the award-winning North Cowichan Land Area Plan, but a later version of council moved to introduce a new Official Community Plan, which halted the WestVista (then called Bell McKinnon Northwest) project.
WestVista is 31 acres in total, and includes multi-family housing units – townhouses, clusters and affordable housing – a hotel, a light industrial/commercial component, and a possible elementary school, and is 500 feet from the new $1.6 billion Cowichan Hospital. North Cowichan’s own forecasts call for 1,208 living units needed by 2025, and there are 600 on the WestVista property, ready to go when approved.
“For my wife Elaine and I, this land is not just a project. It represents eight years of our lives and commitment to this community,” John Lichtenwald says, recalling a discussion with a North Cowichan planner eight years ago who told them they could build townhomes and rental housing on the property they were considering buying.
“That moment changed the course of our lives. We trusted those words. We trusted this municipality.
“We purchased the land from Bob Hershey with full faith that we would be able to create something meaningful for North Cowichan,” he adds.
“But then the urban containment boundary – the same boundary we bought under, the same boundary in the award–winning Land Area Plan – was reduced during COVID.”
The Lichtenwalds have been in the real estate and development world for decades, but he says the situation with WestVista is something new.
“We have never once seen an urban containment boundary shrink after a purchase. It was shocking.”
Lichtenwald says he finds it mystifying that North Cowichan Mayor Rob Douglas in particular has been so determined to fight against the development. He suggests the only thing that can offset North Cowichan’s standing as the second most expensive municipality in B.C. in terms of administration cost per capita – $145 – is development, and the municipality is in desperate need of new housing. He adds the municipality has posted negative growth of 0.4 percent since 2018, and if new development doesn’t arrive, those costs only have one option for revenue – existing homeowners.
If North Cowichan council refuses to allow WestVista to move back within the approved Land Area Plan boundaries and the owners are forced to sell (Lichtenwald says they are incurring $70,000 per month in financial carrying costs), all of the projected $60 million in tax revenue that would be created by the project by Year 25 would be lost to North Cowichan.
Lichtenwald says if Cowichan Tribes purchases it, for example, all tax revenue would be lost.
The Lichtenwalds have signed a memorandum of understanding with RavenStone Construction of Duncan to be the main sub-trade contractor for the project.
The First Nations owned company provides employment for Indigenous workers, and owner Dan Williams is excited about the project, as is the Khowutzun Development Corporation which they partner with on other projects. The developer says Khowutzun was shut out of major contracts on the new Cowichan Hospital, so approval of BMNN is an opportunity to right a serious wrong.
The Lichtenwalds are hoping for a positive vote from North Cowichan council Wednesday.
“After everything we have invested, complied with, and contributed, council will see the vision that so many planners, consultants, and staff worked tirelessly to build alongside us.
“Elaine and I truly believe in this project, that it can help solve the housing crisis and be a walkable, safe, beautiful neighbourhood for generations.”
TOMORROW: NORTH COWICHAN STAFF HAS WARNED COUNCIL ABOUT THE IMPLICATIONS FOR EXPANDING THE URBAN CONTAINMENT BOUNDARY. READ THE WHOLE STORY ON CHEMAINUS.COM ON TUESDAY.