CD-1 Rezoning: 1613-1625 Nanaimo Street

Statement Watch

Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Austin Norrie, and I'm the rezoning planner for this application coming in under the Grandview Woodland Community Plan. The site at 1613-1625 Nanaimo Street, identified red on the map, is located at the corner of Nanaimo and Gravely Street, which is one block north of East 1st Avenue. The site is currently zoned C1 and is developed with a two-story mixed-use building. The buildings around the site are mainly single-family homes at three stories in height, except for a handful of four-story apartments along Nanaimo and East 1st Avenue. There are no rental tenants living on the property, as the site is owner-occupied. The site is located within the Nanaimo area of the Grandview Woodland Community Plan. At this location, the plan supports mixed-use residential buildings with retail service and or community-serving uses at grade. The plan supports up to six stories in height and an FSR up to 3.2. Projects here require a minimum frontage of 120 feet. The proposal was submitted on March 25th, 24th, 2025. The applicant is proposing a five-story mixed-use residential building containing 23 market rental units. The proposal includes a maximum of 2.8 FSR and a height at 62 feet. Two commercial retail spaces are proposed at grade, and one level of underground parking is proposed, which is accessible through the lane. A virtual Q&A period was held from July 2nd to July 15th, 2025. 22 pieces of correspondence were received. Respondents were supportive of the proposal, given that there's a need for more rental housing in the city, that the proposal would bring retail vibrancy to Nanaimo Street, and that the proposal is an appropriate height, scale, and massing for an arterial street. Responding concerns were related to that the heightened density would impact the neighborhood's character. In response, staff can confirm that the proposed height, density, and scale are consistent with the intent of the Grandview Woodland Community Plan. Another concern was that there isn't enough parking to support the building, as well as the project would create pedestrian safety, automobile traffic, as well as access concerns. Staff can confirm that the proposal will be required to meet the parking bylaw, engineering staff have conditioned the proposal to include street improvements such as new sidewalks a new paved alleyway an improved lane crossing as well as new street lighting in addition respondents expressed the need to preserve local serving retail as they indicated a fondness for the existing vietnamese restaurant on the site The applicant has indicated that they intend to have the existing restaurant returned to the site after project completion. Staff have conditioned the building to require a minimum of 139 square meters of commercial use. The public benefits associated with this proposal includes the development cost levies, which will contribute to just under $700,000. Real estate services staff reviewed this proposal and found that due to the limited land lift, no community amenity contribution payment would be required or necessary. In addition, the site is anticipated to deliver 23 secured market rental housing units, of which delivering secured market rental units is a goal outlined within the Grandview Woodland public benefits strategy. To conclude, this proposal aligns with the Grantview Woodland Community Plan and advances the city's housing targets. Staff recommend approval of this application, as well as subject to the conditions of approval in Appendix B of the report. Staff and the applicant team are available for questions. Thank you.

Statement Watch

Just some comments, if that's okay. Good evening, mayor and council. My name is James Todd, principal of JTA Development Consultants, and I'm speaking on behalf of the property owner as applicant for the rezoning application at 1613 Nanaimo Street. Thank you for the opportunity to present this proposal and for the time staff and council have spent reviewing it. This application is for a five-story mixed-use rental housing proposal with a commercial space at grade. The property is owned by the family behind the existing Song Huang restaurant currently on site, long-standing local business offering a variety of dishes but are known in particular for their beef seven ways. Importantly, the owners intend to return to the site with a new restaurant as part of the redevelopment, continuing their contribution to the neighborhood's commercial and cultural fabric. The residential component is entirely rental housing, helping to add much-needed long-term housing supply in a location while serviced by transit, amenities, and services. I would also like to clarify that there are no tenants currently living on-site. The existing residential space is owner-occupied, so there is no rental displacement associated with this application. From a policy perspective, the proposal aligns with the city's objectives around gentle density, mixed-use development, and rental housing, particularly along arterial streets like Nanaimo and within the preliminary boundary of the Nanaimo Street and East First Avenue village within the Vancouver Plan. The building scale has been carefully considered to fit the context of the area while making efficient use of the site. The project has been thoughtfully designed by Hex City Studio Architecture, who are here virtually this evening and available to answer any questions, architectural or technical. In response to one public comment, the project has been designed with the intent to offer an easement with the adjacent neighbor for a shared parking ramp and underground knockout panel so that in the future, if they wish to redevelop and require access through the parking ramp from this proposal, they are able to use it. Also noting the proposal will follow all requirements for acoustical, separation, noise during construction, and the parking bylaw. In closing, this is a locally owned project, reinvesting in the neighborhood, delivering secured rental housing, and supporting a small business that plans to return and thrive in the site. We respectfully ask for council support of the rezoning application. Thank you for your time. and we're happy to answer any questions.

Statement Watch

Hi, yes. Hi, I'm Travis Hanks, principal architect at Hexody Studio Architecture. So I can address the question about parking. So we do comply currently with the VBBL and the parking bylaw. We chose to limit to one level of underground parking to increase affordability of the units as you... may be aware excavating down and creating concrete parkades below ground is a great expense and also increases the carbon footprint of the building. So it was a choice to limit the parking to minimums. But we are slightly over the minimum required by the bylaw right now.

Okay, thank you. And does any of that accommodate extra gain visitors for the restaurant?

Yes, there are dedicated commercial spaces, accessible.

spaces um and visitor spaces i believe is what was required through the bylaw okay thank you and then i just maybe a question to our staff um presumably i'm just making assumption there was no mention the alley will be maintained that there's no transfer of land around the the alley laneway sorry

Thank you for your question. No, there's no transfer of land in the alleyway. There's just going to be some upgrades accordingly.