1030 Denman – Coast Plaza

Coast Plaza Hotel – 1030 Denman Street & Comox Street

April 21, 2011. Public Hearing about Coast Plaza Hotel and Suites future conversion to rentals. This rezoning involves several important issues of costs and benefits for the community. Official information from the City is here. Excerpt of notice  from City: There will be a Public Hearing on Thursday, April 21 at 7:30 pm at City Hall, 453 West 12th Avenue, Third Floor, Council Chamber to consider zoning and sign by-law amendments for the following locations:

Item #2. 1030 Denman Street (Coast Plaza Hotel & Suites): PID 002-982-455; Lot D; Block 59; DL 185; Plan 17575. To rezone from C-5 (Commercial) District to CD-1 District to permit conversion of the existing hotel rooms and hotel facilities to residential (rental) and office uses. The existing Denman Place Mall would remain unchanged, and 314 rental units would be created. The conversion would not occur until the current hotel operator ceases to operate at this location.

March 15, 2011: Council was set to decide on this rezoning in a public hearing today, but at about noon, the item was removed from the agenda, with the tentative date set to April 21. Original council report is here: http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/cclerk/20110215/documents/p3.pdf

March 2, 2011. The Coast Hotel site has an application for rezoning to permit conversion of the existing hotel rooms and hotel facilities to residential (rental), office and retail uses. The existing Denman Mall would remain unchanged.  The owner has proposed to create a total of 314 rental apartment units but the conversion would not occur until the current hotel operator ceases to operate at this location.

The Public Hearing for this rezoning will be held:

Tuesday, March 15, 2011, 7:30 pm
Council Chamber, Third Floor, City Hall, 453 West 12th Avenue

More information here:

http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/planning/rezoning/applications/1030denman/index.htm

Link to Council Report here:

http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/cclerk/20110215/documents/p3.pdf

Key questions for the community are:

• Why is the property owner being given the flexibility to operate as both a hotel and as rental housing – there is no guarantee or requirement that this site will convert to rental housing, so why not leave the existing zoning in place until a use conversion is confirmed?
• Is the amenity package proposed (including commercial space for the West End Seniors’ Network and a $600,000 contribution to the City’s Affordable Housing Fund) appropriate or sufficient for the change in use on the site to create 314 rental suites?
• Should the West End be seeing some portion of the suites reserved for reduced rents or affordable housing?
• Is public access to the significant landscaped open space above the existing Denman Mall something that the neighbourhood and City administration should be requesting?
• Should more changes be required to the Comox Street and Nelson Street frontages of the complex to improve their attractiveness and pedestrian comfort.
• Could the Comox Street driveway area serve better as a sunny public seating and amenity area than as the current driveway area?

February 15, 2011. The City Planning Department has recommended that the application to enable conversion of the existing hotel to residential (rental) and office uses be referred to a Public Hearing. For more information, go the the City’s website or see the Director of Planning’s report.

December 3, 2010. The proposed conversion to rental. We understand that the developer is hoping to present to a public hearing soon. The City has nearly completed negotiations on providing a local community group some space in the project as a part of “community amenity contributions” associated with the proposed change in zoning.

Update

Brook + Associates Inc. has applied to the City to rezone this site to permit conversion of the existing hotel rooms and facilities to residential (rental), office and retail uses. The existing Denman Mall would remain unchanged. 314 Rental units would be created. An Open House was held on June 30. You can still give your comments here.

City staff are reportedly negotiating with the owner regarding the dollar value of community amenity contributions (CACs) which would be then provided to one selected community group (already identified) in return for the “land lift” (increase in value of the property by rezoning). The public may wish to inquire into the nature of these negotiations, as the Council has indicated a desire to provide greater transparency to the public. The rezoning potentially could go to a public hearing any time this fall.

Creation of new rentals could be a good thing for the West End, but our community needs to ask for more information. What are the benefits and costs of this proposal? Will our community lose jobs? Will we gain community amenities? When will this happen? Are there any future risks to the community if the conversion goes ahead?
Here is a poster (Coast Plaza rezoning questions) we handed out to the public at the Open House on June 30. The bottom line is, what are the opportunities for this rezoning to benefit our community? Also, we ask all well-intentioned stakeholders to consider the impacts, whether positive or negative, on the entire community, in the context of many other spot rezonings  being considered.

For more information, see the rezoning application.