Controversial Commercial Drive tower development discussed at public hearing
CBC
A controversial plan to redevelop the Safeway location on East Broadway near Commercial Drive was discussed at a public consultation at Vancouver city council Thursday night, with more than 120 people registering to speak.
Redevelopment at 1780 East Broadway has been in the works for years with a number of past rezoning applications and withdrawals, city planner Simon Jay said at the beginning of Thursday's public hearing.
Westbank Projects Corp/Crombie REIT, on behalf of Snowcat Property Holdings Ltd. has applied to build three purpose-built rental towers, ranging in height from 36 to 43 storeys, near the Commercial-Broadway SkyTrain station—an area that consists mostly of single-family homes, duplexes, low-rise apartments and retail buildings.
WATCH | Commercial Drive tower development faces city hearing
The proposed towers would have more than 1,000 rental housing units, with units equal to 10 per cent of the residential floor area available at below-market rent.
The plan also includes retail space, including a grocery store, office and commercial space, a city-owned child-care facility, and a public plaza running parallel to the SkyTrain station.
During Thursday's hearing, which ran for about four hours, resident Taylor Curran urged council to approve the project, saying it will deliver much-needed rental housing.
"Building new housing does impose costs on existing residents and it does change the neighbourhood, but the cost of blocking new housing is so much greater," he said.
Zakir Suleman of the community group No Megatowers at Safeway said housing should be built on the site, but the plan to dedicate 10 per cent of floor area to below-market housing falls short of the city's 10-year housing targets.
"We do need to build on this site, we do need to densify this neighbourhood. But the proposal as it stands is unacceptable in the amount of affordability it brings in for future generations," Suleman said.
Peter Waldkirch addressed council holding an accordion, saying even larger towers have been approved in Burnaby and Surrey.
"I actually think it's completely kind of bizarre and backwards that we're building and approving taller, bigger, denser, more housing in the suburbs than we are here in the core of the city," he said. "That doesn't make sense to me."
He then voiced his support for the project with a song he called The Happy Megatowers Polka, which he sung to the tune of The Happy Wanderer.
Prior to the hearing, Adam Abti, who grew up in the area, told CBC News that he supports the towers.
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