性视界传媒 city council voted Monday night in favour of a five-tower residential development in the city centre that will raze existing three-storey rental apartment buildings on site.
The project features 2,686 apartment units, including 491 rental units, a 431 square metre child care centre, 1,440 square metres of ground floor commercial space and a childcare centre, to be developed in five phases.
Council granted third-reading approval following a public hearing.
Donna, a current tenant who didn't provide her last name, told the politicians that "if this goes through I'm going to be homeless, in 性视界传媒, again."
She said she's lived in the area for 32 years. "Where am I supposed to go? Sure, they're offering me a home five years after the towers are built, I'm not moving again. I'm not moving again. People are choosing to die rather than move. My neighbour just passed away because he was afraid of moving. It's getting ridiculous; there's no affordable homes."
"What they're doing is wrong."
Next up was Dea Knight, director of development for Bosa Properties, and James Todd, Sommerville Community Relations Ltd.
"We're really excited to be bringing forward these nearly 2,700 units and about 500 rental units and an additional 221 at our nearby Parkway site, so over 700 rental units in total," Knight said. She added Bosa has been working "really diligently" with Sommerville "to make the transition for all of our tenants even smoother, in advance."
Todd said Sommerville understands that "one of the greatest stressors in life is relocation, and there's no sort-of magic to the work, it just takes the time that it takes.
"We meet diligently with all tenants, during application phases any application that happens is tenant-led with the support of the applicants and with the support of our team along with tenants we work to identify appropriate options for folks that want to work with us. Obviously we wouldn't be able to speak to an individual basis for privacy reasons," he told council.
Before the vote, Mayor Brenda Locke asked Ron Gill, 性视界传媒's acting general manager of planning and development, about the plan to relocate current tenants. Gill said the developer proposes a minimum of 200 replacement rental units to replace 156 existing units at Bristol.
"Those new units will be on Bosa's Parkway site which is directly across from City Hall here on 104 Avenue," Gill told council. As for helping current tenants with "relocation assistance" the developer has hired a relocation coordinator "who is assisting tenants to find options for alternative housing in accordance with city policy. They're also offering a first right of refusal to existing tenants at Parkway, the new rental building, at 10 per cent below CMHC rates.
The owner, Bristol Estates 13301 Holdings Ltd. plans to build this at 13301 - 104 Avenue (13301 to 13355 - 104 Avenue; 13280 to 13362 - 105 Avenue). The 2.6-hectare subject site is currently occupied by three-storey rental apartment buildings along 104 Avenue northwest of City Hall.
A planning report before council has the school district advising the development is expected to house 226 school-age children with 134 students at KB Woodward Elementary School, 54 Secondary students at Kwantlen Park Secondary School with the rest attending private schools, being schooled at home or in different school districts.
If approved, the project's dwellings are expected to be constructed and ready for occupancy "on a phased basis starting in 2029 onward," the report indicates.
Whalley resident Jag Tag, program director for nearby Stenberg College's nursing diploma programs, supports the project. "To see the plan now include one entire rental tower is wonderful and much-needed. So many of our students struggle to find places to rent and to have almost 500 new rental homes built within walking distance of the college, KPU and SFU would be incredible."
"I'm excited to see our city centre become more like a community instead of just a transient place to catch a bus or a train," he said.
Fleetwood resident Jovan Sandhu also supports the project. "We must continue to build new homes so young people like me have options for renting or buying in the communities where we were raised, close to our families as well as our friends," she told council.
Neru Johal, a real estate agent from Fleetwood, said that with land "being such a limited resource, this is exactly where we need to densify. Not just because the government wants us to but because well-planned, vibrant, safe mixed communities is where my clients whether they are empty nesters of first-time buyers want to live in a safe place, and a vibrant place."
Guildford resident Kayla Watson, a member of renters advocacy group ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), opposes the project, "not because I'm against developing, actually quite to the contrary, I think it's necessary for the beautification of cities," she said. "However, there are a lot of low-income people that are being displaced because of this developing."
"All we want is for fairness for the tenants, like they've adopted policies in New Westminster and Burnaby, where they actually help the tenants being displaced by paying their moving costs and finding them a place to live and topping up their rent because they can't afford it, that's why they're in these places you know," she said. "These people are 性视界传媒 residents and they should be looked after. They're doing it in New West, they're doing it in Burnaby, I don't understand why 性视界传媒 can't do it too.
"There's too much homelessness as it is and this is just going to create more," Watson said.
