Why Not Expand Fernwood Village Square?
Just a short blog post for you today. I know the articles have been a little sporadic, but that is summer for you. Hopefully as we get closer to fall, I will have more time for writing.
You may have heard about a new development coming to the Fernwood Village. Just west of the square City Council has reviewed a new development at 1276-78 Gladstone Avenue. You can read the Times Colonist article on the project here. I think that it still needs to get final approval with Council, but it has passed the Committee of the Whole.
I have long advocated for expanding the commercial extent of our urban centres, in particular some of the smaller ones like Fernwood Village and Haultain Corners. We are very fortunate in this City to have such a richness of small urban nodes. This is mostly due to our now extinct streetcar system, however going forward these small commercial areas provide opportunities for us to ensure easy access to services for those that don’t want to rely on cars. The challenge is that for some of these villages there isn’t room to open new stores so new commercial space needs to be added. While this project, in particular, only extends the commercial footprint by one lot, I think it actually gives us a lot of potential to increase the size of Fernwood Village and the Fernwood Village Square specifically.
The proposed project at 1276-78 Gladstone is not without controversy. Though small compared to many of the developments we have seen downtown, at 19 units, it is a big change for Fernwood Village. That said, the area has seen significant development with all of the new affordable housing units being built along the west side of the Vic High property. There was also a somewhat recent addition to the village at its east entrance along Gladstone at 1310 Gladstone, which is right next to the little grocery store. The new project is also controversial in that it does not provide parking for the units, but I think this is both fine as a housing option in the city; and beneficial for my idea here. The building is five storeys in total, though it will present as three storeys from the street. In addition to the three residential floors, there is a basement level and roof access points that extend higher than the three storeys. The outside is brick-clad and it has a modern look to it. There is a commercial unit on the front that is currently planned as a bakery or cafe. It is both the addition of this commercial unit and the fact that the house next door has been converted to commercial that I think that my plan would be beneficial. If you want to see more specifics on the project you can go the the Victoria Development Tracker and look at the plans here. So what is my idea?
With the addition of this building, the city has an opportunity to expand one of the most popular public spaces in the city. Anyone that goes through Fernwood Village will have noticed the great public square that is currently framed by a set of small businesses to the north and the Belfry Theatre to the south. The square is often used for events and even when it isn’t purposely activated, the benches have people sitting enjoying the space. It is hard to imagine Fernwood without its square (though as I said in a previous article, it hasn’t been there all that long). Given that this project does not require parking and therefore a parking entrance and it would appear that the property next door also doesn’t have off-street parking, I think there is an opportunity to make the square bigger. Now, I do realize that there is a large-ish parking lot at the end of the road that is used by the businesses that front the square. I think that there are ways that we could still add significant space to the square and still accommodate access to that parking lot. While I do see cars in the spaces there, I can’t recall ever seeing one of them enter or exit it. I have done up a rough outline of the space that you can see below. In my suggestion we could expand the brick paver section of the square right the west lot line of the new development. To ensure vehicle access to the parking lot, a laneway could be indicated through different coloured brick pavers and outlined in bollards. With this extension, there would be a loss of about seven parking spots, however the completion of the new Victoria High School has increased the public parking in the area significantly, so on balance there would still be a net gain in the area. I think given the low amount of traffic accessing the parking lot, the laneway would effectively feel like part of the square as well.
Increasing the size of the public space in Fernwood Village would allow for more large events such as the very popular FernFest to occur. It could also potentially increase the square’s viability for things such as more regular markets, as there would be much more room for vendors. In the potential new space to the north of the Vic High property, I can envision a series of benches or tables that would take advantage of the large shade trees there. As I have said, when you visit the square now during the day, you can sure to see the benches being used by people reading books, or having a conversation. Creating even more seating would make the square even more of draw for those that live and work in the area and of course for all us, like me, that just love visiting the space. One definite benefit I could see is that it could provide some room for students of the newly renovated Vic High to mingle with their neighbours. I have included a few photos of what the area looks like now and I think that it is pretty clear that having increased people space, instead of parking for a few cars would be of great benefit to the area.
Let me know what you think about the idea. Could Fernwood Village Square do with an extension? Or is there something else we could do with the space, let us know in the comments.