The debate about whether a five-storey rental building should be built will likely be settled later this week if the Sept. 12 public hearing wraps up quickly.
But council鈥檚 decision, like many ones about developments, .
Critics, including the Grandview Woodland Area Council (GWAC) and the Britannia Woodland Area Group, call the proposal a 鈥渂lockbuster鈥� while proponents argue the project 鈥� and other ones like it for purpose-built rental buildings 鈥� need support if the city is to mitigate the rental crisis.听 听
The Grant Street proposal, submitted by Stuart Howard Architects on behalf of Britannia Ridge Developments, is in its fourth iteration and has been scaled down from six to five storeys, and from 38 to 35 rental units, in reaction to concerns from the public and feedback from the city鈥檚 Urban Design Panel. Several other changes, including to the fa莽ade, were also made to address concerns.
If approved, the building would be from 1535 to 1557 Grant St. Rents are anticipated to be affordable for households earning between $70,000 and $150,000 annually.
W. Neil Robertson of Stuart Howard Architects believes the building is compatible with what鈥檚 already in the neighbourhood, which include four-storey apartments within blocks of the site. He said the application meets requirements of the Grandview-Woodland Community Plan and has been thoroughly reviewed by the city鈥檚 engineering department to ensure the site will be accessible to emergency vehicles and other service vehicles.
鈥淭his is in keeping with what the plan envisioned for the neighbourhood going forward,鈥� Robertson said, adding the proposal was also dialed back from the maximum allowable height and density specifically to address concerns over it being too big and too imposing.
Critics, however, aren鈥檛 satisfied with the changes. They maintain the site is inappropriate 鈥� the street is narrow and on a steep hill 鈥� the proposed rents aren鈥檛 affordable, fire and garbage trucks will have trouble getting to the property, and there鈥檚 not enough parking.
The site is located mid-block on Grant Street between Woodland and Cotton Drives and there isn鈥檛 a lane separating the homes on Grant Street from the homes to the north on Kitchener Street. The lots are also shorter than typical lots, so they鈥檙e closer to each other than they鈥檇 normally be.
Because of those reasons, Dorothy Barkley, a past president of GWAC, maintains the proposed building would 鈥渙verwhelm鈥� the character homes behind it.
鈥淭his is the wrong project for this location,鈥� she said.
鈥淚n this neighbourhood, people largely believe that there should be the creation of affordable housing, it should be distributed across this city and not just in our neighbourhood, but it should also be site-specific. If you talk to any architect about any project, the first thing they鈥檒l talk about is designing for the location...鈥�
Barkley questions why the city would be 鈥渆ncouraging鈥� the creation of a project that she says is not affordable and which will 鈥渦ndermine鈥� an 鈥渆stablished and well balanced鈥� neighbourhood when it should be encouraging the preservation and restoration of existing affordable housing and multi-family residential homes with rental apartments.
Barkley worries the project will set a precedent and become the first in a series of such buildings. She maintains a lot of rental housing has already been approved or will be going up on sites such as , Pearson-Dogwood and .
鈥淭he city should focus on securing the tenure of existing co-op buildings whose leases are coming up,鈥� she said. 鈥淟et鈥檚 not take down the existing affordable rentals but rather create rules and bylaws that incentivise the restoration and preservation of existing rentals.鈥�
David Hutniak, executive director of LandlordBC, insists not nearly enough purpose-built rental has been approved in recent years, and the city is falling well short of its targets.
He said rental is needed for people at all levels of the economic scale, particularly since buying a home in 麻豆传媒映画is prohibitive for most people 鈥� even for some in the higher income bracket. Most people moving into the city, he added, wind up renting for increasingly extended periods and the city has persistently low vacancy rates.
鈥淲e鈥檝e hardly moved the needle on the vacancy rates and that鈥檚 at a time here now where we have [regulations] on Airbnb, we have the empty homes tax [and] we have the provincial speculation tax,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here are many who thought those three measures would create a flood of rental in the market that would drastically expand the pool and it hasn鈥檛鈥� How are we going to get out of this if we don鈥檛 build a ton of rental鈥�?鈥�
Meanwhile, when the Courier asked Robertson how he feels going into Thursday鈥檚 public hearing, he said:
鈥淎ll that we can do is ensure that we do our due diligence and make sure that we鈥檙e in keeping with all council-approved guidelines, that we鈥檝e listened to staff, we鈥檝e listened to the UDP, and we鈥檝e listened to the neighbourhood.
鈥淓very step along the way, we鈥檝e taken stock of what people have said and we鈥檝e redesigned the project to address all the concerns that we were able to. In that respect, I believe we鈥檝e been quite successful in working with all stakeholders to achieve something that is a compromise that will serve the neighbourhood for the next 60 years or the life of the building, whichever is longer.鈥�
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