The District of West Vancouver has received a rezoning application for a new 8-unit townhouse development, commercial building, and a new restaurant and office. The new development will be located at the Salmon House restaurant site at 2229 Folkestone Way.
Key features of the proposal are:
8 three-bedroom townhome units of approximately 2,040 square feet, a two storey commercial building of 9,232 square feet, 16 underground parking stalls in the residential building, 6 visitor stalls and 24 surface level parking stalls for the commercial building
Public realm additions including pedestrian connections, a new sidewalk extension west along the northern side of Skilift Road, and extensive landscaping.
A modest outdoor gathering space with a bench, 21 secure and 8 short-term bike parking stalls are also included in this proposal. To the north, west and east of the site there are multifamily buildings including apartments and townhomes, known as Panorama Village, that was developed in the late seventies and early eighties.
The property is located at 2229 Folkstone Way, north of the TransCanada Highway and fronts both Skilift Road and Folkstone Way. The site is currently developed with the Salmon House restaurant and offices.
According to the District of West Vancouver report, the application is proposing a development compaitble with surrounding residential neighbourhood and will provide “missing middle” housing as identified in the OCP. “The proposed development would offer three-bedroom townhomes and responds to directions in the OCP to promote diversified housing in the community,” the report notes.
A traffic and parking study was commissioned by the applicant for the proposed redevelopment project. Staff has concluded that the proposed development is not expected to have a major traffic impact and will be able to be accommodated by the existing road infrastructure.
To improve roadway sightlines at the driveway to the site, the study recommends that the vegetation east of the driveway be trimmed and on-street parking west of the driveway on Folkestone Way be always prohibited. As the subject site is also located within a “controlled area”, and the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure (MOTI) will be required to approve rezoning of the subject site to accommodate the proposal.
Anything will be an improvement over current appearance of this site. Hopefully the proponent will also undertake to properly maintain their North Property boundary/sidewalk area on Folkestone Way where they currently fail to maintain it in keeping with the neighbouring properties.
Also, the NW corner of Skilift and Folkestone is shameful in its appearance.
Finally, something needs to be done to reduce the impact of parents driving their children to and from the nearby Private School, creating a chaotic condition for Residents trying to gain East Bound access onto Skilift from Folkestone Way due to continuous traffic created by the above parents.
Don Weber
3 – 2278 Folkestone Way
West Vancouver