Capital Daily for Saturday, June 27

A leak in Port Renfrew's water main was discovered Thursday, and crews shut the line down to repair it. That left the community of about 100 kilometres west of Victoria drawing on reservoir water alone, which the Capital Regional District says was already very low.

The CRD issued a water conservation alert, asking residents to use water only for drinking and sanitation, keep showers short, and skip all outdoor use. Reservoir levels are still dropping, and the district warns they could hit a critical low without conservation.

No timeline has been given for when repairs will be done.

Port Renfrew isn't alone in watching the taps this summer. The Cowichan Valley Regional District moves to Stage 3 restrictions on Friday, July 3, banning lawn sprinklers, while the Shellwood and Dogwood systems jump to Stage 4 the same day. All of Vancouver Island is at drought level 4 on the province's five-point scale, with a warmer-than-usual summer in the forecast.

For years, the corner of Foul Bay and Bourchier near Victoria's border with Oak Bay held a two-storey concrete Telus office that Coun. Dave Thompson called "dead space that actually brings the vibrancy of the neighbourhood down." On Thursday, council voted to replace it with a six-storey, 87-unit rental building.

The approval was unanimous, but it wasn't quiet. Coun. Jeremy Caradonna argued the site sits in a designated town centre, where the official community plan expects mixed-use, and that waving through a building with no ground-floor commercial sends the wrong message. He called it a mistake and a missed opportunity, then voted yes anyway rather than block 87 rental homes.

The project comes with one level of underground parking for 61 cars, room for 108 bikes, and an outdoor space with a barbecue area. Residents would land within a block of Fort Street retail, a grocery store, and a rec centre half a block away.

It's one of several housing files moving through City Hall this month. The city also opened a $1-million Community Housing Renewal Grant, funded by Ottawa's Housing Accelerator Fund, to repair existing non-market buildings while provincial money for new ones is paused.