Tsawwassen Springs wants to go smaller.
Delta council gave preliminary approval Monday to an application by the Tsawwassen Golf and Country Club Ltd. to shrink the size of condos that would be built in the final two phases of development. The smallest units would be just 538 square feet.
“The applicant has indicated that they wish to reduce the minimum unit size as they have found that there is a demand for smaller units,” states a report to council. “During the sales of the apartments in the first two phases, their sales team learned that many potential buyers were interested in purchasing smaller and thus less expensive units than the smallest one bedroom and den units offered at the time.”
The first two phases, which included 136 condos, have been completed while a third phase, a six-storey concrete structure that is to have 90 units, is now under construction. The fourth and final phase is for a four-storey building with 63 units.
If approved, the rezoning application, which must still go to a public hearing, would see the total number of condos over the four phases at 289 units, down from the 296 that would had been originally permitted under the current zoning for the site, according to Delta planning staff.
It’s not the first time the size of condos at Tsawwassen Springs have been modified. In 2010, council agreed to allow the addition of more than 50 units to the development after developer Ron Toigo came back with an application to create smaller units. At the time, he said a big reason for the change was due to the HST, a tax that would not apply to smaller, less expensive units.
Bordered by Highway 17 and 52nd Street, the original development received approval in 2008 after a lengthy public hearing.
Although the number of condos could be going down, the development, overall, could grow even larger because more recently Toigo purchased an adjacent property with the intent of taking most of it out of the Agricultural Land Reserve to build 60 townhomes.
The additional townhouse plan is still in the application phase.
Developed by Talisman Homes and Shato Holdings, Tsawwassen Springs will have about 500 housing units, from condos to single-family, when all phases are completed in 2018. It also features an 18-hole golf course, banquet facilities, Pat Quinn’s Restaurant & Bar and other amenities.
