Summary of “public benefits implementation tracking” for West End Community Plan (to year end 2020)

Nearly three years ago, West End Neighbours starting asking the City to provide a public update on implementation of the West End Community Plan (WECP), which was adopted in 2013 (click link for the information we sought). The West End has seen a vast amount of demolition, demoviction, tenant relocation, construction, disruption, and change. The City is starting now to talk about upgrading amenities as part of the benefits of the WECP and is beginning to seek public input (see our previous posts). But as of today, no report has been provided to the public, though we understand from the planning department that something has been nearly read since May 2021.

This has not been announced or publicized by the City, but we have discovered this summary table and extracted it from from two rezoning reports for two tower applications going to a Public Hearing October 12, 2022 (see “Two more West End towers headed to Public Hearing October 12 (Tues): 47 storeys (1157 Burrard at Davie), 49 storeys (1450 West Georgia at Nicola)“).

These resonings are massive towers and give City Council and the public an opportunity to focus on implementation of the WECP. Not only the staff but also Council and the residents of the West End should have the opportunity to consider these two major rezoning requests in that context. We lament the fact that the City has not yet provided such a report to Council or the public as the date of this public hearing on October 12.

Many questions arise, but for now, we share this here.

wecp-wecp-public-benefits-table-1450wgeorgia-rezoning-report-p64-12-oct-2021Download

Initial questions to consider.

Some initial comments and questions. What is the basis for the population growth numbers? These numbers show the net gain. How many dwelling units have been lost? How many people have been renovicted?

The number of housing units completed or under construction requires a context in order to be interpretable. This should be compared to at least two figures: Number of existing housing units demolished, number of market strata constructed.
What fraction of collected CACs and other relevant fees have been used for community benefits thus far. What is the total amount?

Two more West End towers headed to Public Hearing October 12 (Tues): 47 storeys (1157 Burrard at Davie), 49 storeys (1450 West Georgia at Nicola)

Locations of 47 and 49 storey tower proposals in West End, going to Public Hearing October 12, 2021

(Update #2) On October the 1450 West Georgia tower was approved by Council, with Clr Swanson and Hardwick opposed. The 1157 Burrard rezoning final vote will occur in the Council meeting on October 19.

(Update #1) A Public Hearing on Tuesday, October 12, 2021 will look at TWO major towers in the West End, made possible by the West End Community Plan (adopted in 2013). How to West Enders feel about them? Are then in line with the West End Community Plan? Are residents getting enough back in return for the huge in height and density enabled by the WECP. WEN has been calling for an implementation report for a few years now. Nothing has come yet, but the planning department says it’s coming soon. West Enders are encouraged to review the proposals (particularly the two “referral reports” and then share their views with City Council in writing or by speaking. All details are on the meeting agenda.

One is a 49-storey (497 feet) mixed condo/market-priced rental tower at 1450 West Georgia (location W Georgia and Nicola), and the other is a 47-storey (469 feet) condo tower at 1157 Burrard Street (current site of the community garden at Burrard & Davie).

Below are the two items. Anyone interested is encouraged to review the PDFs of the referral reports. Further details of the rezonings can be found in the referral reports and at ShapeYourCity.ca. You are encouraged to write or speak to Council if you have any comments or concerns. Are the heights and designs appropriate? Has adequate consideration been given to impacts on the neighbourhood (views, shadowing, traffic, benefits, etc.)?

Public hearing full agenda – https://council.vancouver.ca/20211012/phea20211012ag.htm

Item 2. CD-1 Rezoning: 1450 West Georgia Street

• Summary and Recommendation 
• Draft By-law – Zoning and Development 
• Draft By-law – Sign 
• Referral Report dated September 7, 2021 

Item 3. CD-1 Rezoning: 1157 Burrard Street

• Summary and Recommendation 
• Draft By-law – Zoning and Development to Rezone CD-1 
• Draft By-law – Zoning and Development 
• Draft By-law – Sign 
• Referral Report dated September 7, 2021 

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CD-1 Rezoning: 1157 Burrard Street – (West End) Current site of Burrard & Davie Community Garden site in the West End, 47-storey condo, 469 ft height, 13.37 FSR (exceeding the Higher Buildings Policy of 375 ft). By having a “community garden” on the site, this developer has saved millions of dollars in property taxes (putting the burden on other taxpayers) while the land value skyrocketed (there are rumours also that garden users had to sign an agreement that they would never oppose future development plans on the site). The height is far above what was originally envisioned by the already-high “Higher Buildings Policy” adopted under Vision Vancouver. Enabled by the West End Community Plan, adopted in 2013 under Vision Vancouver.

• – 289 units, 271 parking spaces
• – $10.6 million cash proposed as Community Amenity Contribution (CAC), cultural amenity space
  – 1,466 sq. m, 37 childcare spaces
• – Issues – significant shadowing, impacts

More information: https://shapeyourcity.ca/1157-burrard-st

Related coverage:

WEN – https://westendneighbours.wordpress.com/2019/03/20/47-storeys-proposed-1157-davie/
CHW – https://cityhallwatch.wordpress.com/special-topics/higher-buildings-downtown/expert-analysis/davie-burrard-in-west-end/
From 2011 – https://cityhallwatch.wordpress.com/2011/09/09/375-tower-at-davie-and-burrard/

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CD-1 Rezoning: 1450 West Georgia Street (West End) at West Georgia and Nicola, a 49-storey, 497 ft mixed condo/market rental tower (162 rental / 193 condo), FSR 14.14. Another one being enabled by the West End Community Plan. $8.9 million cash is proposed as the Community Amenity Contribution (CAC) – supposedly all for amenities in the West End. This needs follow-up. Below is a review of the referral report by a core member of WEN.

More information – https://shapeyourcity.ca/1450-w-georgia-st

Introducing the ‘Imagine West End Waterfront project’

The Imagine West End Waterfront team has shared information with WEN regarding consultation on the “Imagine West End Waterfront” project.

The team is working with the Vancouver Park Board and the City of Vancouver on a project looking at the future of “the West End’s iconic Salish Sea oceanfront parks, beaches, and streets.” The project is just getting underway and will be ongoing for the next two years.

Opportunities to get involved include participating on a project Community Advisory Group, taking part in an on-line discussion (Community Conversation), direct interviews, and activities the team will be organizing in the community and project area.

As a project, Imagine West End Waterfront will engage residents, businesses, organizations from the West End and across Vancouver to create a high level plan for the area that:

• Supports Vancouver’s commitment to reconciliation and decolonization
• Improves neighbourhood connectivity and access
• Upgrades services, facilities, and infrastructure
• Accommodates anticipated population growth and increased demand on the area
• Restores shoreline habitats and supports the ecological revitalization of the area
• Addresses climate change, sea level rise and improves the resilience of the area

The West End Community Plan (approved in 2013) identified potential needs for long-term improvements to the transportation system, parks, and public spaces in the area to support the growth in the West End. The project study area overlaps a network of parks and streets that make up a total of approximately 95 acres (38 hectares).

The project will also be working closely with Indigenous rights holders (Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations).

For e-mail contact, please write WestEndWaterfront@vancouver.ca. Project managers are Jordan McAuley, Park Board Planner and Sam Khany, City of Vancouver Senior Transportation Planner.

The project website is at vancouver.ca/west-end-waterfront.

Poster

imagine-west-end-waterfront-poster-sept-2021Download

City to launch public process on ‘West End Community Hub Renewal Plan’ (West End Community Centre, King George Secondary School, Joe Fortes Library, other civic facilities)

Google aerial view showing subject area for “West End Community Hub”

The West End Community Plan was adopted by City Council in November 2013. One key feature of the plan was using the significant revenues expected from new developments enabled by the plan to improve public amenities, with 10,000 new residents originally expected over the 30-year life of the plan.

That’s why it’s nice to see that now in 2021 a team has been created at the City of Vancouver named “West End Connect” (W.E. Connect) and there are plans in store for public consultation to launch on September 21, 2021, for planning on what is now being called the West End Community Hub (see timeline for plan development below, right).

Some people received an e-mail on August 23, 2021 from “West End Connect” at the City of Vancouver (see below for a copy of the text).

It includes this link to the City’s public input portal: https://shapeyourcity.ca/weconnect.

West End Neighbours encourages residents and groups to check in on this project from time to time, sign up for updates, and get involved.

Excerpt from W.E. Connect web page:

To support this renewal, the City of Vancouver, Vancouver School Board, Vancouver Public Library, and the Vancouver Park Board are seeking input from the community to reimagine the site that currently houses the West End Community Centre, King George Secondary School, Joe Fortes Library, and other important facilities. This work will build on directions from the City of Vancouver’s West End Community Plan and the Vancouver School Board’s Long Range Facilities Plan.

The result will be a document that details a shared vision for the future of the buildings, programming and outdoor spaces at the site.

Revised rezoning application: 36-storey tower at 1065 Harwood and 1332 Thurlow (Bosa/Henriquez) . Virtual open house ends 31-May-2021. Public comments.

Rendering – subject tower is on the left. A separate revised application is likely to come soon for the tower on the right. Image Henriquez Partners Architects.

For details see https://shapeyourcity.ca/1065-harwood-street-and-1332-thurlow-street

HAVE YOUR SAY on this proposed 36-storey tower, one of two twin towers at 1065 Harwood and 1332 Thurlow.

Deadline at this public comment phase is May 31, 2021. To see previous public comments and responses, click on the “Ask a Question” tab at the bottom of the Shape Your City page. (We have excerpted some further below, for the record.) To send your comments, click on “Send Your Comments” on Shape Your City.

The proposal is for the development of a 36-storey residential building (including roof access, mechanical and outdoor area) [up from 33 storeys in previous application].

There is a narrative behind this revised rezoning application.

Upon request from the developers in the fall of 2020, Council changed the West End Community Plan to save the developers from potential huge losses due to tougher market conditions for luxury condos and stagnated presales. Their previous profit model was broken. This application is coming back now with changes to 100% rental, three extra storeys, 16 feet more in height, an increase from 10.46 to 13.1 FSR, and an increase from 157 to 288 units.

This revised rezoning application includes:

• 288 rental units (with 231 market rental units and 57 below-market rental units, totalling 288 units) [versus 59 luxury market condos units and 98 “social housing” units in previous application, totaling 157 units]
• A floor space ratio (FSR) of 13.1 [up from previous application at 10.46]
• A floor area of 21,033 sq. m (226,400 sq. ft.)
• A building height of 96.3 m (316 ft.) [up from 91.4 or 300 ft.]
• Building height sought is 36 storeys [up from 33 storeys]
• Seven levels [up from five levels] of underground parking with 151 vehicle parking spaces, 11 accessible spaces, 534 Class A bicycle parking spaces and 15 Class B bicycle parking spaces.
• The application is being considered under the “Criteria for 100% Secured Rental and Below-Market Housing as an Alternative to Inclusionary Social Housing” in the Burrard Corridor.

NOTE: A rezoning application was submitted in 2017 for the same site. The application was withdrawn in 2021.

If you missed the deadline of May 31 to post your Q&A, you can still contact these people:
Applicant: Kyle Wright, Project lead, Bosa Properties, Tel 604-801-7023, kwright@bosa.com

Rezoning Planner: Thien Phan, City of Vancouver, Tel Phone 604-829-9225, thien.phan@vancouver.ca

After May 31, the question portion online is closed, but comments can still be submitted via emails or phone call to the rezoning planner.

WEN comments: The developers abandoned their first attempts to build condo towers on these lots because they couldn’t make enough money on presales. Now they are trying to construct high-end buildings they will likely market to high-end renters and charge high-end rent. Details will come out in a few months in the staff report to City Council, a referral report seeking to go ahead to a Public Hearing.

Are developers offering anything to the neighbourhood? That is not clear at the moment. It appears to include no public benefits, common areas or greenspace.

Existing buildings at these sites are two storeys. Many (most? all?) existing tenants have been evicted for the development, which was enabled by the West End Community Plan. Developer Bosa and architect Henriquez Partners Architects had previously filed a rezoning application for this site (north tower). The original proposal, withdrawn in April 2021 was for a 33-storey tower, with the rezoning sought to change from RM-5A (Residential) to CD-1 (Comprehensive Development), including 59 market residential units on floors 18-33 [ave 3.8 units per floor], and 98 “social housing” units (under the City of Vancouver’s fraught definition – see “An update on Vancouver’s bizarre definition of ‘social housing’“) on floors 2-18 [ave. 5.8 units per floor]. The original proposed floor space ratio (FSR) was 10.46, and proposed building height 91.4 m (300 ft.), with five levels of underground parking having 157 vehicle parking stalls and 197 bicycle parking spaces.

West End blanketed by proposed changes to Rental Housing Stock Official Development Plan (Public Hearing tonight 10-Dec/Thurs)

Areas in the West End affected by the staff proposed changes are coloured in dark green. What are the real implications? How many sites are affected? What are the risks to housing security?

It has just come to our attention attention that an item going to the Public Hearing tonight, Thursday, December 10, 2020, basically affects zoning across about 90% of the West End. City staff have prepared an item entitled “Amendment to the Rental Housing Stock Official Development Plan” which they refer to as a “minor amendment” and yet 13 neighbourhoods across Vancouver are affected, including most of the West End. We can vouch for the fact that there has been absolutely no outreach from the City to the West End regarding these changes.

If the staff really aim to get item #7 (CD-1 Rezoning: 349 East 6th Avenue) approved, the wisest thing might be for Council to only allow the changes for that one specific site. And as the City is in the midst of a citywide planning initiative known as Vancouver Plan, include the other areas in consultation on the citywide plan.

What are the implications of the proposed changes in the West End? There has been no analysis. Are there risks for existing renters? How many sites are affected? Could the proposed changes result in more renovictions or displacement?

Reference:

https://council.vancouver.ca/20201202/ph20201202.htm

6. Amendment to the Rental Housing Stock Official Development Plan

• Summary and Recommendation 
• Draft By-law – Zoning and Development 
• Draft By-law – Official Development Plan 
• Referral Report dated October 20, 2020 

Zones affected: RM-2, RM-3, RM-3A, RM-4, RM-4N, RM-5, RM-5A, RM-5B, RM-5C, RM-5D, RM-6, FM-1). West End is in bold.

Here is what staff are recommending.
THAT Council approve the application to amend the Rental Housing Stock Official Development Plan (RHS ODP) By-law and to amend the RM-2, RM-3, RM-3A, RM-4,
RM-4N, RM-5, RM-5A, RM-5B, RM-5C, RM-5D, RM-6, and FM-1 District Schedules of
the Zoning and Development By-law, to allow for one-for-one replacement of existing rental housing units required by the RHS ODP on another site, that was subject to the RHS ODP before it was rezoned to allow for replacement housing and that is adjacent to the contiguous area of the zoning district of the site that requires the replacement housing, generally as presented in Appendix A and Appendix B of the Referral Report dated October 20, 2020, entitled “Amendment to the Rental Housing Stock Official Development Plan”.

There are potential risks with what staff are proposing. Could it open up the West End to the buying, trading and selling of protected rental stock between different sites with different district schedules? Perhaps.

The big point is that staff are asking Council to approve changes to zoning in the West End without having done the slightest public consultation and analysis of impacts, including threats to housing security for all.

 

55-storey tower planned for Haro Street (overlooking Robson): Online open house 14-Dec-2020 (Mon)

The UrbanYVR website, which follows developments in Vancouver, reported on December 6, 2020, that another big tower is planned for the West End, enabled by the 2013 West End Community Plan.

This one is on Haro Street, between Burrard and Thurlow, just a block south of Robson Street.

55-storey tower planned for Haro Street site overlooking Robson
https://www.urbanyvr.com/55-storey-tower-city-view/

The proposal includes:

• One 55-storey tower
• One 15-storey tower
• 42,000 square feet of retail space
• A 49-space daycare
• Total 516 units (450 strata condo and 66 rental units)

Two virtual open houses are planned.

Monday, December 14, 2020 – 12 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Monday, December 14, 2020 – 6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.

To attend, please visit the website and sign up. The proponents have created a project website (www.1045harostreet.com). Please visit here if you wish to join the online open house. The project team will provide a presentation followed by a moderated question and answer session. Note that this event is one is organized by the proponents to get early input. The rezoning open house by the City will come later. See the screen grab of the project timeline below. More project information will be available for download from this website on Dec 14.

The current main building on the site was formerly a strata condo building less than 30 years old. The owners were bought out and the building converted to rental. UrbanYVR says that in 2017, the strata component 1045 Haro Street sold for $164,750,000 (BC Assessment).

This proposal is made possible only as as a result of the West End Community Plan, which allows for building heights up to 550 feet in “Burrard Corridor E”  (p. 50 of West End Community Plan).

Proponents include Intracorp, Forseed Group (no website, but appears to be Shanghai-based; according to D&B, it has 4 employees and sales of $1.23 million) and CM Partners (Singapore-based equity firm, which also bought into the Grouse Mountain Resort).

The architect is not yet announced. The promotions appear to be organized by Pooni Group, one of a special breed of real estate consulting firms and rezoning fixers.

WEN writes Council opposing proposed changes to West End Community Plan (Burrard Corridor) November 24, 2020

Two zones in Burrard Corridor (West End Community Plan area) where developers want City to waive CACs and DCLs (CoV report)

This important topic goes before City Council on November 24, 2020.

West End Neighbours has sent a letter (full text further below) to Vancouver City Council to oppose what planning staff are recommending. Other residents are encouraged to provide their comments to Council about this staff proposal (see our Council contact page, and also use the City’s agenda page).

Kenneth Chan of Daily Hive has written an overview of what staff are proposing: Excerpt – 

“Downtown developers could be given option to build rentals instead of social housing,” by Kenneth Chan, 20-Nov-2020 (Click here – https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-west-end-burrard-corridor-temporary-flexible-rental-housing). Excerpt: City of Vancouver staff are taking a “glass half full” approach in a bid to move forward stalled major market residential tower redevelopments [note – this means strata condo] in downtown Vancouver’s West End that are currently mandated to include a social housing component. In a report, city staff are recommending city council to permit a temporary policy of considering rezoning applications for 100% secured rental housing ... Financial community amenity contribution (CACs) requirements that would be required for a condominium development project would not apply... Furthermore, the path of a secured market rental project with at least 20% below-market rents could qualify for a waiver of citywide development cost levies…

• Council agenda – https://council.vancouver.ca/20201124/regu20201124ag.htm
• Council report – “Criteria for 100% Secured Rental and Below-Market Housing as an Alternative to Inclusionary Social Housing in the Burrard Corridor of the West End Community Plan” https://council.vancouver.ca/20201124/documents/r5.pdf
• West End Community Plan – https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/west-end-community-plan.pdf

LETTER FROM WEN TO CITY COUNCIL, 23-Nov-2020

Dear Mayor and Council:

It was with some surprise that West End Neighbours learned of Agenda Item 5 to be considered at Council’s meeting of November 24, 2020: “Criteria for 100% Secured Rental and Below-Market Housing as an Alternative to Inclusionary Social Housing in the Burrard Corridor of the West End Community Plan.”

West End Neighbours has been involved with development issues in the West End throughout the consultation process on the West End Community Plan (WECP) and its adoption by Council in the fall of 2013. The proposal to adjust the application of the provisions of the WECP to address requests from the development industry is not something that West End Neighbours supports.

The summary in the staff report makes it clear that “development uptake” on the 30 year term of the WECP has been faster than anticipated. If current economics mean a modest decrease in the current “development rodeo” in the West End then that should be considered a positive situation, not something to be manipulated for the benefit of property purchasers who jumped to participate in a hyper-inflated real estate market.

The proposal as presented includes the substitution of market and below-market rental units for truly-affordable and highly-needed social housing. The proposal is fundamentally flawed, and it is surprising that the concept has made its way to a Council agenda package. Developments approved in the Burrard Corridor, some of which are under construction, will create social housing units that are owned by the city. The current proposal would waive Community Amenity Contributions and allow the creation of privately-owned below market rentals. These types of housing are not interchangeable – they are fundamentally different.

1116-1140 Pendrell Street, 18 storey condo tower planned near Nelson Park. Public input deadline Nov 16.

1116 Pendrell rendering by applicant

 

Public input is sought on a development application, with the “virtual open house” online ending Nov. 15, 2020 (Sun), and the official deadline for public input via the website being Nov. 16 (Mon). [*But see note below.]

This application would mean demolition/eviction of an existing 16-unit rental building and an existing 43-unit strata condo building. It would result in two 3-storey buildings with a straight one-to-one replacement of the 16 rental units (so no increase in rental units, and no constraints on rental prices), plus an 18 storey tower with 109 strata condo units. The proposed condo tower does not really comply with the current zoning and design guidelines for the West End. 

Our post is just two days before the deadline for input, but this may still be a good opportunity for West Enders to look not only at this specific proposal, but also at how the City of Vancouver is (1) communicating with West End residents and (2) implementing the West End Community Plan. Whatever you think about this particular project, it shows how the the WECP, adopted in 2013 under Vision Vancouver, now allows the city to largely circumvent public input and has moved development decisions far away from public scrutiny and direct monitoring and accountability by our elected officials on City Council. All considered, has the WECP enabled good developments that benefit the community? And on top of that, the City is currently engaged in Vancouver Plan, a citywide planning process. Since the planning department is at the center of all this, what are the implications if the West End experience is extended to the entire city once the Vancouver Plan is eventually adopted?

Here is the official project info (including rational, maps, renderings, and a 3D video), plus the form for public input, on the City of Vancouver’s virtual open house page:
https://shapeyourcity.ca/1116-pendrell-st

DEVELOPMENT APPLICATION – 1116 Pendrell St (DP-2020-00054)

• The site is currently home to a market rental building with 16 units and a strata residential building with 43 units. Both would be demolished to make way for the new project.
• Skyllen Pacific Real Estate Ltd. has applied to the City to build two 3-storey buildings (16 units total, market rentals) and one 18-storey strata condo building (109 units).
• Height of condo tower 53.3 m (175 feet)
• The net FSR is 3.025 for all three buildings on the combined site, which includes 2.75 FSR plus 0.275 FSR as a 10% heritage transfer bonus from an undisclosed site. The FSR of the tower if counted alone is not stated.
• Four levels of underground parking with vehicular access from lane.
• The official site says that “under the site’s existing RM-5B zoning, the application is “conditional” so it may be permitted. However, it requires the decision of the Development Permit Board.”  (Click here if you care to read the fine print of RM-5B zoning.)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

CONTACTS

• Visit vancouver.ca/dp-board to learn more about the new “virtual” Development Permit Board process and participation options.
• Contact Payam Fouladianpour, Project Facilitator, regarding this specific application:
  604.873.7663 or payam.fouladianpour @vancouver.ca
• Contact Mayor and Council if you have concerns about the implementation of the West End Community Plan: Click here.
• Contact Council and/or the four-member internal Development Permit Board if you have concerns about the consultation process for this application: dpb.info@vancouver.ca

*Note: The official deadline for public input via the website is Nov. 16 (Mon), but nothing can stop concerned residents from contacting Mayor and Council, members of the Development Permit Board, and the project facilitator any time right up to and including the DPB decision date three months later, on Feb. 8, 2021 (Mon). Below is a summary of the application, plus a bit of commentary.

OUR COMMENTARY

Unit in Westbank rental tower at 1770 Pendrell on Craigslist at $4,975 a month, $2,125 above the proposed rent when rezoning was approved

(Updated 27-Jul-2020) It is important to follow-up on major developments to see how they are performing for residents and the neighbourhood.

A [correction] 19-storey tower proposal for a luxury condo at this specific site in 2007 (original address 1754-1772 Pendrell, now 1770 Pendrell) set off a chain of events like a firestorm. That brings us to today.

The “Save the West End Town Hall Meeting” held by a former residents’ association at the then Coast Plaza Hotel in April 2008 was attended by over 500 people. The unanimously-adopted resolution included request to the City to put a moratorium on new tower construction. At the meeting, Councillor Tim Stevenson, appealing for more votes to boost his civic party (Vision Vancouver) from a minority to a majority in the 2008 civic election, asked for votes and promised to fight for the requested moratorium. Vision Vancouver ended up with a huge majority in the election. Eventually this tower proposal was dropped but many more kept popping up. Amid the controversy, West End Neighbours was created and launched a petition in 2009, and garnered over 13,000 signatures by 2013, calling on the City to put an end to spot rezonings and instead to develop a comprehensive plan through meaningful consultation. Mayor Gregor Robertson put a hold on rezonings but only while the Community Plan process was underway. The West End Community Plan, eventually adopted in November 2013, no longer permitted new towers along Denman Street in this part of the West End (but opened the door wide open for towers of virtually unlimited heights and densities along Georgia/Alberni, Burrard/Thurlow, and Davie Street, and reduced tower separation restrictions, among other changes). Meanwhile, the Pendrell site had been quietly purchased by Westbank Projects Corp (CEO Ian Gillespie), and the tower proposal came back to life, this time as a rental building, with the 21-storey concept grandfathered in for supposedly having been in play before the West End Community Plan. Local residents filed a petition in B.C Supreme Court to stop the project, and lost. See a more complete history here, plus links to previous WEN articles further below.

One justification for the Council approval of the rezoning at the Public Hearing of July 13, 2015, was that this building would provide much-needed family-oriented rental housing.

However, as of today, July 24, 2020, with the building now open for occupancy, a three-bedroom unit is listed on Craiglist at $4975 a month, far above the proposed rent of $2850 that was indicated to City Council to justify the rezoning in 2015.

https://vancouver.craigslist.org/van/apa/d/vancouver-d255-brand-new-3-bedroom-in/7155829510.html

It is important to note that City of Vancouver staff worked hard to justify this Westbank rental building in their June 2015 Report to Council:
http://former.vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/cclerk/20150623/documents/p5.pdf

The table that staff included outlined the “proposed rents” by the applicant (Westbank/Henriquez) for the project (see red circle for 3-bedroom units at $2,850):

 

 

If you pull out a calculator, you will find that at $4975 a month, the three bedroom unit currently listed on Craiglist is $2,125 ([correction] or 75%) higher than (nearly double!) the proposed rent of $2850.

Note that from the trees in the photos, this unit is at a lower level (perhaps 6th floor) in the building. Higher floors will be renting at higher prices, floor by floor, up to the twenty-first floor. And parking is $200 extra (or $230 to park your Tesla).

One might be justified in concluding that the City gave Westbank a deal far more lucrative than planning staff told Vancouver  City Council, the public, and taxpayers.

Our municipal government is trying to respond to the need for more rental housing in Vancouver by using a number of programs, incentives, and deals with developers. But this specific case is just one example showing that follow-up reviews are needed, and that the City needs to take a closer look at the costs, benefits, and effectiveness of those programs.

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Follow up questions. Did the promised Community Amenity Contributions get paid? What are other units in the building being rented at in 2020?

Reference: (Proposed tower in Vancouver’s West End divides community, Carlito Pablo, Georgia Straight, 8-Sep-2015) Excerpt: These 26 units will be replaced with an equal number in the development, with rents 20 percent below the West End average. This means that new residents in these homes will pay $761 a month for a studio, $961 for a one-bedroom, $1,565 for two bedrooms, and $2,428 for three bedrooms. The remaining 152 units will be rented at market rates. A studio will go for $1,250, one bedroom for $1,550, two bedrooms for $2,200, and three bedrooms for $2,850. According to a staff report, “when compared to home ownership costs, these rents would provide a more affordable alternative to home ownership.” Staff also advised council that the project “would make a significant contribution towards the City’s overall affordable housing goals”.