NORTH COWICHAN – WestVista Terrace is nearing the finish line.
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 can get return 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 within the award winning North Cowichan Land Area Plan (LAP), but a later version of council moved to introduce a new Official Community Plan (OCP) specifically to stop 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 under construction $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 LAP — was reduced during COVID.”
The Lichtenwalds have been in the real estate and development world for decades, but he says “we have never once seen an urban containment boundary shrink after a purchase. It was shocking.”
It’s mystifying why North Cowichan Mayor Rob Douglas in particular has been so determined to fight against the development. The only thing that can offset North Cowichan’s standing as second most expensive in B.C. in terms of administration cost per capita – $145 – is development, and the town is in desperate need of new housing. The town has posted negative growth of 0.4 percent since 2018, and if new development doesn’t arrive, those costs only have one option for payment – existing homeowners.
If North Cowichan council refuses to allow WestVista to get back within the approved LAP boundaries and the owners are forced to sell (they are incurring $70,000 per month in financial carrying costs), all of the projected $60 million in tax revenue created by the project by Year 25 would be lost to North Cowichan. If Cowichan Tribes purchases it, for example, all tax revenue would be lost to the North Cowichan municipality.
The Lichtenwalds have signed a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) 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 (KDC) which they partner with on other projects. KDC 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, “that 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.”
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