A waterfront condo project that's been in the works for a better part of a decade got its development permit approved this week.
Council has approved Mission Group's Aqua project, which will see three condo towers get built in phases.
Mission Group VP Luke Turri says they were pleased with reactions in the room.
"We thought the feedback from the meeting was overwhelmingly positive, but really this approval validates work that our team has done, really over the last ten years on this project," he said.
Mayor Colin Basran was the only vote against it, and says that while the project itself has many positives, he was concerned with the size of the condos.
"For myself personally, I just felt like the massing and the bulk of the buildings was too much for a site particularly in that location, so close to the water," he said.
Construction phases for the 12, 14, and 16 storey buildings will be dictated by how quickly those units sell.
Turri says there's a lot to do between now and the groundbreaking.
"A number of the technical items, the final permiting steps. So the next steps moving forward is working with the city on the foreshore approval work, on some of our technical issues around subdivisions and that sort of thing," he said.
"Moving forward, we'll be working through a more detailed design, the building permit process, and a sales campaign."
Though his vote was against the project, Basran says he still thinks it's the right type of use for the land.
"You have to look and really see the Official Community Plan and how it's evolved. A project like this has been envisioned for this area for a number of years."
Both men agree that a key component of the design is a redevelopment of the waterfront area, which will also include a new boat storage building and public boardwalk.