809 West 41st Avenue ODP and CD-1 Rezoning

Statement Watch

I'm trying to talk and I can't hear. It's so noisy.

Okay, go right ahead, Nathan.

Oh, okay. Thank you, Chair and members of Council. Yeah, I support the transit-oriented development of the provincial government, but just one block south, at 42nd and Willow, the city planning department approved a townhouse complex instead of a rental apartment. So we have to be consistent. We see in a certain distance of the station, we have to provide rental apartments, not market townhouses. The problem with this site is it's part of the bigger... Huge site bounded by 41st to 37th and Willow Street to Oak Street, which is probably about 16 acres. And this is done separately instead of doing the whole site properly at one time and, you know, splitting it into different parcels just doesn't make any sense. planning perspective and from the way things are done and I just hold on a second here the the traffic report that was produced for the Oak Ridge Transit Center development. It's the 250 pages. Admit that there is going to be very bad congestion. It'd be like downtown Vancouver at 41st and Oak, or even worse, and the whole corridor, Oak Street and 41st. I mean, there's an accident. Every week, there's at least one accident. especially on Oak Street. And it's just going to get worse if the development is not done properly. And as I said, it's not properly done because it's just one parcel out of all big 16-acre site, you know, and that's what the problems are. And as... As Councillor Orr pointed out, there is no 24-7 bus service on Oak Street. There isn't one on 41st Avenue. When you have such a dense number of people, you have to provide 24-7 bus service. Otherwise, people are not going to use the bus all the time. And when they buy a monthly pass, they want to use it every day, 24-7. So, oh, yeah, there is also the three schools along Willow Street, 33rd, 37th, and 41st. And, you know, there's lots of traffic there, and we need proper traffic signals, not push-button signals, but regular traffic signals all around that area. As was pointed out in the Netherlands, 350-page traffic report, and nothing has been done. So we have to mitigate many things to get proper mitigation for the whole area and for Oak Street and 41st. So that's many problems. And unless they are being done, you know, we're going to have big problems in this whole corridor.

Statement Watch

Good evening again, Acting Mayor and Councillor. I'm also the rezoning planner on this file as well. My name is Simon Jay, and this is a rezoning application for 809 West 41st Avenue. Again, staff would like to note that there's a yellow memo attached to this project that provides additional information about the ODP amendment. The site outlined in red is located on the northwest side of 41st Avenue at Willow Street. It is currently developed with a two-story office building known as the Oakmont Medical Center. As already shown with the previous item, the surrounding area is undergoing significant change. The Oak Ridge Center is currently being built and is a multi-tower development with heights up to 52 stories. To the north of the Oak Ridge Center is approved R51 rezoning, allowing multiple towers up to 26 stories. Council just considered and approved the JCC rezoning across the street for 39 and 37 stories. And adjacent to 809 West 41st is the former Oak Ridge Transit Center, which has an active rezoning application proposing multiple towers up to 33 stories. Under the Vancouver Official Development Plan, the site is currently designated as mixed-use low-rise. An amendment to the ODP to change the designation is required to support this proposal. The change is to mixed-use high-rise 2. This proposal is being considered under the Oak Ridge Transit Centre and adjacent sites policy statement. The OTC policy statement provides direction for a residential or mixed-use building up to 6 storeys and 2 to 2.5 FSR. STAFF NOTE THAT THE NEIGHBORHOOD AND THE POLICY CONTEXT HAVE CHANGED SIGNIFICANTLY SINCE THE OTC POLICY STATEMENT WAS APPROVED IN 2015. THE PROPOSAL IS ALSO BEING CONSIDERED UNDER THE TOA RESONING POLICY. THE SITE IS WITHIN TIER THREE OF THE OAKRIDGE 41ST AVENUE STATION TOA WHICH ENABLES EIGHT STORIES AND THREE FSR. The TOA policy also requires a minimum of 20% below market rental, or BMR, and no net loss of commercial space. The proposal amends CD134 to develop a 32-story, 102-meter tall tower with a density of 14.32 FSR. It includes 305 rental units with 20% BMR. AND IT ALSO INCLUDES REPLACEMENT COMMERCIAL SPACE IN THE FORM OF GROUND FLOOR RETAIL, PRIVATE CHILDCARE AND OFFICE SPACE. UNDER THE VANCOUVER CHARTER, CONSULTATION OPPORTUNITIES MUST BE PROVIDED FOR PERSONS, ORGANIZATIONS AND AUTHORITIES AFFECTED BY AN ODP AMENDMENT.

COUNCIL DIRECTOR'S STAFF TO CONSULT WITH THE VSP, CSF, THE MUSKRAM INDIAN BAND, Squamish NATION AND SLAVER TOOTH NATION. The VSB noted there are capacity shortages anticipated at the catchment schools, Jamieson Elementary and Hammer Secondary. The VSB employs several strategies to mitigate enrollment pressures, including reducing out-of-catchment enrollment, relocating district choice programs, adjusting catchment boundaries, undertaking renovations, and deploying portables. No comments were received from other groups by the end of the consultation period. During the public engagement period for the rezoning application, support was expressed for the increased rental housing and a good location close to transit shops and services. Concerns were related to building heightened density and neighborhood livability. Staff have the following responses to the concerns. The neighborhood is currently changing towards a high-rise transit-oriented area, and the heightened density of this proposal fits this emerging context. THE PROJECT IS WELL SERVED BY TRANSIT AND IT IS NOT ANTICIPATED THAT THIS PROJECT WILL PUT ADDITIONAL PRESSURE ON EITHER TRAFFIC OR STREET PARKING IN THE AREA. AGAIN, STAFF ACKNOWLEDGE THE HIGH LEVEL OF CONSTRUCTION IN THE AREA AND THE CONSTRUCTION WILL CONTINUE TO BE SEEN FOR THE FORESEEABLE FUTURE. The anticipated public benefits from this project is $3.65 million, which is approximately $3.17 million in DCLs and $480,000 in public art. Other public benefits include 305 rental units with 20% BMR. THE PROPOSED LAND USE FORM OF DEVELOPMENT AND PUBLIC BENEFITS ARE GENERALLY CONSISTENT WITH THE EMERGING CONTEXT OF THE AREA AND THE INTENT OF EXISTING POLICIES. THEREFORE, STAFF SUPPORT THIS APPLICATION SUBJECT TO CONDITIONS CONTAINED IN THE REPORT. STAFF AND THE APPLICANT TEAM ARE AVAILABLE TO ANSWER QUESTIONS. THANK YOU.

Statement Watch

yes uh good evening acting mayor and council arnold mattis architect applicant we will waive any presentation but we will be happy to answer any questions and with that i'd also like to introduce ian o'donnell who's with us today from alberta who's representing west rich pacific the development developer for the project do you want to say a few words ian Good evening and thank you so much for having us. We could not be more excited to be bringing our first rezoning to the City of Vancouver. And while we have a project around the corner in DPBP 39th Granville, this will be our first significant project potentially in the City of Vancouver. And we're incredibly excited to be investing in Vancouver and bringing a mixture of housing and other amenities to the area. And we are builders. We do not sit on land. We actively build and have over 1,500 units under construction across Canada in many major markets. So looking forward to any questions you may have and just really excited to be in the city of Vancouver and bringing this project forward.

Statement Watch

yes uh good evening acting mayor and council arnold mattis architect applicant we will waive any presentation but we will be happy to answer any questions and with that i'd also like to introduce ian o'donnell who's with us today from alberta who's representing west rich pacific the development developer for the project do you want to say a few words ian Good evening and thank you so much for having us. We could not be more excited to be bringing our first rezoning to the City of Vancouver. And while we have a project around the corner in DPBP 39th Granville, this will be our first significant project potentially in the City of Vancouver. And we're incredibly excited to be investing in Vancouver and bringing a mixture of housing and other amenities to the area. And we are builders. We do not sit on land. We actively build and have over 1,500 units under construction across Canada in many major markets. So looking forward to any questions you may have and just really excited to be in the city of Vancouver and bringing this project forward.