Showing posts with label urban conservation - Saanich. Show all posts
Showing posts with label urban conservation - Saanich. Show all posts

Monday, August 2, 2021

How Much Tree Canopy Is Enough -- cont'd. (Part 2)

An affordable housing project completed in Saanich two years ago is an example of how a neighbourhood can succeed in keeping green-space and tree canopy even as the landscape is burdened with new infill housing. Mt Douglas Housing Society, which provides quality apartments for low-income people age 55+, included gardens, paths and benches for residents as part of its new development, a building which was added to their meadow-like property beside an existing apartment building. Adjoining neighbourhood home-owners had succeeded in getting the  proposed construction pushed back from the property line, and its height reduced. Trees and hedging are now flourishing around the two apartment buildings and providing the privacy and noise buffer which makes urban living tolerable.






In this case the municipality listened to the neighbourhood (a quiet well-treed residential area with a lot of dedicated gardeners) before giving the building project the go-ahead. One can only wonder why other municipal councils in the CRD can't do the same: be responsive to existing residents as well as the newcomers awaiting provision of either "affordable" or high-end housing.

The neighbourhood succeeded in transmitting the message "not in my face", and renters who enjoy the ambience of the new development were blessed with their own "back yard", which includes space for wildlife, private vegetable plots and musical gatherings held under a willow tree. A green margin surrounds the clean quiet well-managed buildings, and a high standard of life was secured for all stakeholders -- even the neighbourhood deer.