CD-1 (776) Text Amendment 828 Cambie

Statement Watch

Thank you for taking my call. Hi, my name is Owen. I'm a Vancouver resident who opposes the amendment. I understand the need to add more hotel spaces because of the upcoming FIFA World Cup. That's maxed out hotel capacity. But I just feel like this is not the place for it. In Vancouver, we already have a slow housing market, especially in my district of Vancouver. um and if you do this you're meeting people selling features of having a view and impeding them on selling in general because they will be you know subjected to construction for you know up to the next few years um not to mention will also be subjected to more construction whenever the vancouver art gallery breaks ground on georgia and canby um with the extra construction that uh would happen with this project and the already ongoing construction on uh bd streets and the current uh residential project in question um our street is already very congested and would not be able to handle more traffic coming in from a future hotel project you know adding in a protest that has been happening every single sunday lately um in my district it's virtually impossible to leave your apartment on a sunday afternoon if you need to get anywhere with a car and frankly as a homeowner uh you know we shouldn't have to deal with this um issue um There are parts of West Georgia Street that are three lanes wide with hotels, and they can handle the hotel traffic. On Robson, it's a single-lane traffic as well as Beebe Street. The current amount of lanes can't support the current traffic at peak times, and it certainly wouldn't be able to support another commercial hotel like we already have the Hotel Blue on Cambie Street. I moved here five years ago, and there has been constant construction in this area, and for once as a homeowner, I feel like we deserve less noise and less congestion in a desirable spot in the city. Yeah, and it's not the right move and not the right priority for the area that I live in Vancouver. Thank you so much for taking my call and I appreciate it.

Statement Watch

Actually, I was on the list, but I guess I came late and signed up. First off, my name is Sean Cassidy. I am a resident of the city. And in context to this project, I worked for a developer. We had two buildings. right beside it, okay? And we actually own the Georgian Court. I was working for an investment bank, and back in the day, we financed the Georgian Court. So I know this project very well. It creates an enormous amount of density to the neighborhood. I think you have to look in the context of what is beside BC Place Stadium, and it's going to basically dwarf BC Place Stadium. The hotel is across the street, the Hampton. You've got the Georgian Court. They're all in context to the stadium. When I studied planning at UBC back in the day, we worked on the BC Place Stadium, doing some work in terms of the density flow around the stadium as a school project that was inputted with the City of Vancouver Planning Department. So the amount of density that's coming in this area, I know that there's another project coming up on Cambie Street Hotel. My understanding is that this is the second or third density increase since the initial development permit that was given by the city of Vancouver. So what is the use for? And further, the Catholic Church sold this property to Ani Development, which is Amicon, back in, I guess, about seven or eight years ago, maybe 10 years ago. So the amount of money the Catholic Church has lost on the up-zoning by the city of Vancouver has been enormous. So one has to question the whole economic around this, plus the mass and density. And I don't think any of the councillors here have really looked at this project. Further, how many councillors are absent here? Four councillors missing. One councillor who never comes to chamber, okay? He lives in Kelowna, apparently. So this has become comical.

Sean, please note, we actually have counselors online this evening. We have one counselor. Three counselors online. And so just to watch your comments.

Well, I don't see them, so I didn't know they're online.

No, and I appreciate that you can't. And we're not in the business of commenting on people's personal certificates.

The job of a counselor is to come and do the job here, okay?

And we have three counselors online. You have four members, four in council here in chambers. So I just wanted to note that because I know it's not visible to you that we have them here.

Can you ask me if I'm from the city of Vancouver? Is Councillor Montague from the city of Vancouver? Does he live in the city of Vancouver?

We're not getting into this. This is not the purpose of the public hearing. The purpose of the public hearing is to focus...

I know the purpose of the public hearing. I've spoken to this thing numerous times.

This is a public hearing. We are focused on the application and not getting into other comments on other issues.

Sure. The application is a done deal, okay? I already know it, right? So I just look around. I see one, two, three, four.

I have a point of order. I think the speaker should focus their comments on the merits or non-merits as they see of the application, not on adjudicating counselors or suggesting that it's a done deal because we have an obligation to hear all speakers. Yes, agreed.

Correct, okay. Word is word, and it's already known, okay? There's one councillor sitting in this room right now that's been pushing the deal.

Chair, if this speaker can't focus on the application, then I would like you to please terminate their speaking.

That's what you like to do all the time, Councillor Meiszner, right?

So, Mr. Cassidy, we're not here to debate with councillors.

I've made my point. No, listen. I've made my point about the density of the mass. None of you have looked at the project. I watched Councillor Meiszner looking at it five minutes before this vote.

Sean, that's not the project. That's a different project.

So, Mr. Cassidy, we're here to debate the merits of the project. You had time to present your debate, your perspective on this item. We're now done. Fantastic. I already know the outcome. Thank you. Are there any other speakers, clerks?