CD-1 Rezoning 324 West 10th Avenue

Statement Watch

Perfect. Thank you, Acting Mayor Dominato and Councillors. So my name is Brian Gregg, and I live at 2528 Alberta Street. I would say about 20 to 30 meters away from this subject rezoning. So I can see it right off my front porch. In fact, it's so close that my neighbor was asked to consider a... crane swing agreement because the crane is going to be that close that it'll swing over his roof so just to provide context I'm very close with that I do want to say I am a supporter of this project subject to some traffic management considerations being taken into account I won't delve deeply into my ideas that I've written down here at length. I think what I'll rather do is submit those subsequent to this meeting to Third Space and to the proponent and through to the city. But I do want to touch on the fact that I have been finding that... due to not only the subway construction, but also to some of the construction activities in the area in general, as well as what's now planned here, as well as at the MEC site and beyond. Alberta Street has become, I would say, the path of least resistance. And the reason being, all of the other adjacent side streets have some form of traffic calming. So if you go to Columbia, it's an exit only near the lane at Broadway. If you go to Yukon, it's been blocked off for effectively the entire duration of the subway construction for staging of equipment and building of the subway station there. If you go to Quebec and Ontario, there's portions where it's completely blocked or one way. There's the park at, for example, at Quebec and 11th. At Yukon, not too far from this proposed project, you can exit in a vehicle, but you can't drive into the neighborhood. That's numerous examples that I've just listed, and that's not all of them. However, Alberta Street has no such traffic calming measures. And so what I've been finding, having lived there for 10 years with my family, is that people have caught on to this, and increasingly it's become a cut through for people that are trying to get from Broadway through to 12th or vice versa. We've also become the key corridor for service vehicles, construction vehicles, and so on and so forth. And I think this is going to be increasingly the case with not only this project if it moves forward, but also the MEC site and others. So I think there's a couple of ways that this could be dealt with. I would actually favor getting rid of all of the traffic calming measures in the entire neighborhood so that the burdens can be shared equally. Or all the streets should have the same traffic calming measures in place so that... No one street is bearing the burdens sort of unequivalently. So those are my ideas in a nutshell. It's become a substantial safety issue, not only for my family and my neighbors, but also cyclists. And I think when this project... hopefully moves forward some some deep thought needs to go into how to make this safe and tenable for the neighbors that have lived there for a long time and will hopefully remain in place so with that I want to offer if the proponent would like to reach out to me or vice versa I will even write them a letter of support subject to some of these traffic solutions being considered thank you

Statement Watch

My name is Phoenix Winter, and I'm grateful to be on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and TTsleil-Waututh people. I am a Vancouver resident, and I live in the neighborhood on the same block that's going to be rezoned, and I'm against the rezoning. believe it'll disturb the neighborhood. It's a bike path. It's got the beautiful old oak trees. People come to the neighborhood that are tourists to walk through the neighborhood, and especially with the Broadway construction going on, people are using the path along 10th and having construction come into that and disrupt. The lanes aren't very big as it is. I don't know how they're going to construct an 18-story tower. the land that's there and what's gonna happen to the bike path what's gonna happen to the people that are walking there and I'm also concerned about the trees and the trees are very very much old mature trees and it would be a real shame to see them come cut down and I understand there's a tree management plan but I don't know what that plan is and it's not very clear to the neighbors and If you take those trees down, you're just going to create a desert. And if you stand right at the corner of Yukon and 10th, you can see the trees coming up above people. And people come and take pictures. And if this rezoning goes ahead, it's going to destroy a very, very special part of Vancouver that's accessible to everyone. So that's what I wanted to say. Thank you.

Statement Watch

My name is Julianne Hills. Can you hear me okay? Yeah. I live immediately adjacent to the... property in question on the east side. So we face Alberta and our suite looks out at the laneway. I have submitted, I am opposed to this project. I submitted about 10 points of concern to council, but I would like to highlight a couple in particular. And it's to do with first of all, parking. There's already heavy congestion and limited parking in this neighbourhood, even for those who own parking permits. I do not believe that the number of lots that has been allocated in this building is sufficient. The reality is that many families and couples have more than one car, and there will be extra cars, there is no doubt. So my question is, where are these people going to park, even if they have a parking permit? My second concern is around traffic and safety. So I have a front row seat to Alberta and to the laneway. And this neighborhood has definitely traffic control issues. I concur with the earlier speaker that with the Canada Line construction... Alberta has become a very noisy street and a spot to avoid UConn off 12th between Broadway and 12th. So we're getting a little bit of a taste of what it might be like. is first of all the proponent is incorrect in stating that there are cars merging out into that block on 10th and that moving the parking to be excuse me to but underneath and behind through laneway access will improve the situation there are no cars merging in because there are no driveways or parking in front of any of those buildings So I just wanted to address that. Excuse me. But Alberta is not a wide street. It has parking on both sides, which is often at full capacity. And then you have people coming up off of Broadway up to Alberta Street. And they're getting stuck in traffic with people coming out of the no-frills parking lot. other cars coming out of the laneway on the opposite side. And I see a congestion there, I would say daily. What I'm concerned about is you're adding 200 plus cars to this area that's already a problem for traffic, safety, and parking. And from my own experience, I know that when I come out of the laneway and I want to turn left or right onto Alberta, I have a blind spot. depending on how tall the cars are that are parked along the west side of Alberta. There's a blind spot. And so now we're adding 200 cars. Of course, they're not all going to be leaving at the same time. And some of them may be taking Yukon. But it's a problem because sometimes you can't see what car is coming in Alberta until you're in Alberta. and right in front of another car. And I hear a lot of honking. I've seen a lot of near accidents. I also am concerned that in the winter months, when it's very snowy and icy, We have a constant background of spinning tires with people who don't have sufficient winter tires. And people get stuck. The cars slide. I've reported this to the police a few times, requesting that the street be closed during that period because I've seen so many cars lose control. And what happens then... is the car is stuck and everyone has to back out, either up and down the street. This is a safety issue, and while it only happens in a short amount of time in the winter, it's still, to me, too risky. Add to that a laneway that's not particularly wide, and you have already homes. There are some houses and some laneway houses whose garages are right on the laneway, so they're going to be merging in and out to get into their properties. Then you have one set of garbage trucks, recycling trucks, coming on the north side of the street one day. Another day of the week, there's another fleet of recycling and garbage trucks servicing the other side of the laneway. You have food delivery trucks. You have other delivery trucks. And it only takes one van or one truck to block the entire laneway access. And so if you add to this any number of cars up to 200, and not to mention during what will be a very lengthy construction period, there will be large trucks coming in out of there. And it's going to be a log jam. I sit at a desk right at that window, and I see it every day. And it's already not ideal. Excuse me. And I see I have a real concern around safety. And speaking of safety, I think about how is a paramedic or an emergency response person going to be able to access our building or other buildings in the area with all of that happening.

Statement Watch

In five minutes? Five minutes to speak. Oh, five minutes to speak. Yeah, so go ahead. Okay. Hi, my name is Melissa Selfie. I live in Vancouver. I'm at 309 West 11th Avenue. It's the alley house that faces the proposed building rezoning, and I'm opposed to the application. I have two children. One's aged eight. The other one's age three. It was extremely difficult to get our daughter into our neighboring school. Currently, there's only one catchment school for both Mount Pleasant West and all of Olympic Village. Even though Olympic Village is 25 minutes walking away, this is the only catchment school. believe that proposal to build the Olympic Village School is not until 2029. Simon Fraser Elementary has one of the longest waiting wait lists in all of Vancouver. My understanding is that in most years there are about 40 kindergarten spots and there's over 120 children applying. This means that Most of these children in our neighborhood are going to overflow schools. They're going to schools as far away as General Wolfe, which is located around 27th and Quebec or Ontario, around there. And in order to get there, of course, the parents will need a car. So more traffic is added. Simon Fraser is complete. I've seen this. It's a capacity. It's built portables. It's done everything it could to accommodate as many kids as possible. If this goes ahead, more children will be in our neighborhood. More children will be going to overflow schools. And as a result, I'm opposed to the application because there's not enough infrastructure to accommodate more children. There are also not enough daycares in the neighborhood. Many individuals are needing to turn to nanny sharing or grandparents are unable to return to work because they are not able to get their children into daycares in our neighborhood or they have to drive to other neighborhoods in order to accommodate their work and be able to return to work essentially. Another concern that I did want to raise is also the traffic situation. I live in the alley, and so I also see, I agree with previous speakers about Alberta being a very dangerous zone. I've seen accidents. I've had trucks almost hit our garage a few times because the alley is very narrow. So I can imagine that this is going to be a hazard during the construction. I've received already a proposal in my mailbox about, a crane company is wanting to negotiate with us because in order to complete this project, they will need to swing a crane over our home. Of course, this is something that I'm concerned about for the safety of my own children. And so that's something that I'm not wanting to agree to. And I think at this point... we're not ready for a project of this scale until these concerns are addressed in terms of traffic, safety, parking, and schooling. We're not ready for a project of this scale. Another, just going back to the parking, I know I only have a minute left. So for the parking situation right now, we park on the streets. We have a permit. We park on the streets. We only have one car. There are hardly any spots as it stands. We find it very difficult to get parking during peak times. Of course, like on the weekends, easier. But during peak times, it is very difficult to find parking as it stands. And there's going to be a lot more cars coming into the neighborhood if this project goes ahead. Our car has been hit a few times because of... lack of space while it's been parked. And I understand that a few neighbors have experienced this as well. That's all for me. Thank you.

Statement Watch

Thank you. Yes, I am a resident. My name is Kathleen Adams. I live at UConn and 10th. So I actually have the wonderful experience of living on a very quiet street because it's closed due to the Broadway subway construction. However, I am opposed, and I am actually someone who might fit the demographic of someone that might benefit from a high-rise tower like this that's being proposed. I'm a renter. I live in a building that has about eight units, and I'm a cyclist. I'm a car owner, and I love to use... I'm also a business owner. I work from my home. I have a law firm, and that is one of the reasons that I chose this neighborhood. I remote operate it from my home because I can get quickly from where I'm at to where I need to go, whether that is court in Port Coquitlam or take the train downtown. When I moved into the apartment this past October and while I was waiting for a permit and moving into the building, there was no nearby parking available for me to put my car, get my stuff up the three flights of stairs. and move into this new home. There was paid parking right across the street. No one's using it for now. But in terms of that in-between period, there truly was nothing available, nothing in the alleyway for me to use. I've found since getting my permit, living in the area, I've experienced what the others have pointed out. Street parking within that one block is usually about 90% full. Luckily, my parallel parking skills are legendary. However, I will say that I have really benefited from living on the zero traffic street of Yukon as opposed to my neighbors on Alberta, 11th, and so on. From a zoning perspective, I don't doubt that everyone involved has done all of their research. It sounds like You've met the Broadway plan. But from a community aspect, I will say that I've spoken with my neighbors who have gotten to know in this eight unit home. And it does truly feel like a community. I speak with my neighbors when I go down and do laundry. I get to see everyone in the neighborhood that has their families. And it doesn't seem like this proposed development, for lack of a better word, really fits. What I do see fitting, as I bike along 10th, as many of us do, is a series of historic homes. The building I live in is nearly 100 years old, and it has a great deal of history. And although I think advancements and the amenities that would come with this sound, of course, very shiny, I would take a moment back to reflect on the current economic status, the current vacancy rates, and the current sales market. I am someone who would potentially benefit from this high rise. And even I'm saying, I don't know if this is the time. I don't know if this is the place. And it could be an overlap with the Broadway subway that's about to go in. An unknown period of time, if this were to be approved, where there seriously could be, as I mentioned, 90% available parking, it could eke over into 110%. I just don't know where I would put my car. And as someone who rents, I don't have the lovely option of using anywhere else, especially, as I said, a business owner who has places to be. So with that, I wish you the best of luck. I hope that you've taken this into consideration. That's all of my submissions for today. Thank you.