Referral Motion – 500 Dunsmuir/388 Abbott

Yeah, thank you. Thanks for staff for, you know, quite a thorough sort of... Answers to all of our questions. I did move the amendment for the alternative recommendation. So if you want to go to the amendment queue, it's just. I'm just going to put you on the amendment queue, counselor. Please go ahead. Yeah, I'm moving the alternative recommendation as an amendment to wait for the higher buildings review. I don't think we should rush this. I think this would set a precedent, but I think considering the high number of public interest in this, Matter, I think we should wait for the higher buildings policy review instead of approving this because this is quite a bit higher, 315 meters. And, yeah, we'd just like for that to happen.

Do you have a seconder? Councillor Maloney, thank you. Councillor Kirby Young?

Yeah, so the height's an interesting one because the project was presented as potentially being the tallest building in Vancouver. We do have the intersection of the taller buildings policy review happening. We also have a signature site at the heart of downtown, bookending Granville Street, which council is fully committed to revitalizing. We do need more hotels in the city. It makes sense to me for density, and quite pragmatically, we're hearing that there's a NAVCAN regulation, which, unless there's some incredible negotiation and design work that's going on, is not going to allow the ability to build to the proposed height and the extra, forgive me if I don't have the numbers right at the moment, but the extra 10 stories or so. So it's a bit of a moot point, I think, from that perspective, from height, because it's actually not... permitted from a practicality from a NAPCAN perspective. So if I take all of those things on balance in terms of revitalization for Granville Street and downtown, supporting the goal for additional hotel capacity, the delivery of a full social housing building, and I know that at 25 stories, which is turnkey to the city, I know we've ascertained that that does provide sort of a balance of mix of tenures. I just want to continue to emphasize that point. for neighborhood residents. I am comfortable with proceeding so I will not support the amendment to refer it. Thank you.

Thank you very much, Councillor Maloney.

Thank you. May I ask a point of information through the chair to staff? I'd just like to know how long have the proponents owned this site?

Approximately. Approximately.

I DON'T KNOW.

OKAY.

OKAY. THANKS VERY MUCH.

YEAH, I'LL LET COUNSELOR ORR SPEAK FIRST. THANKS.

Thanks. Yeah, just to Councillor Kirby-Young's sort of point, I mean, I agree with all of that. I mean, I do think this area does need some sort of revitalization, and I do think that the social housing is absolutely much needed, and we can go through with all of that. That can all happen once we finish the... tall buildings review so i i do agree with all those things but i just don't think we should rush and i think we should we should wait for this and and do it right and um you know and we could still have all those those those uh other benefits that come along with those things i don't see why we have to do that um uh today i think we can we can just pump the brakes a little bit thanks counselor maloney uh yeah thanks um i'm gonna support this amendment because

This is the largest project in Vancouver's history and it would go ahead before the height policy is finished. And also when I was asking questions of the applicant at the start of the public hearing, they were very open about the fact that this project won't go ahead unless economic conditions change. And what that means is either costs decrease or housing prices go up. So that's what's required to make this a viable project, which on my reading of the advice that I'm getting may not happen anytime soon. And as we've heard, the proponents have owned this site for 20 years. So for me, taking a bit of a delay for the height policy to be finished and to look more into the The aircraft requirements for clearance, I don't think that's too much to ask. So I don't see the rush.

Thanks.

Just one quick closing comment. I found it interesting. I haven't heard some of my colleagues in the chamber before say that we could wait on affordable housing or a new child care facility. I think that's the first time. And that does seem to be an acute need in the city as well. So I was neglected to mention that point earlier, but felt compelled in hearing the conversation around the chamber. Thank you.

Councillor Maloney.

Thanks. Yeah, I'd just like to clarify that one of the things that I was thinking about over the weekend in relation to the social housing that will be built is how sad it is that the requirement for this social housing to be built...

is going to require more people being tipped into the homelessness because of the increasing gap in between incomes and the cost of housing. So with respect, I'm not sure that talking about this social housing, if it would completely negate the negative impacts for our housing crisis, from the required increase in housing costs for this to go ahead is I just don't know how to deal with that. But anyway, I think I've said enough on that. Thank you.

Councillor Meiszner. Yeah, thanks, Mayor. I was just listening to the comments from my colleagues. I think maybe there's a bit of a misunderstanding around this project based on what I just heard. The social housing component is not displacing anybody. And the development on Georgia is also not displacing anybody. It's a parkade. So this is a net new benefit of 237 social housing units on the Abbott site. I feel based on the assurances we've got from staff around the requirement for the occupancy of that social housing to come first gives me a lot of motivation to move this forward. I don't think we can afford to wait to deliver 237 social housing units. in our city. Obviously, we're in a housing crisis, and those units are very badly needed, and I don't want to support any effort to slow the delivery of that social housing down. So I will not be supporting the amendment. I think we need to move forward with the delivery of the social housing, which is going to come first, and I'll just remind all the councillors of that. Thanks. Thank you, Councillor Orr.

Yeah, I agree. There is an urgent need for social housing across the city. So I will remind my colleagues that the social housing initiative to do that was voted down. And that would have allowed 20-story housing, social housing across the city. And my colleague was concerned that it was too far west. But then I also hear comments that we're warehousing... social housing in one area, and that's kind of a contradiction. And I do think, you know, I appreciate the staff's comment on looking for the one-third, one-third, one-third, but, you know, as it stands now with what's in the referral report, I'd The social housing is great, but the definition of social housing is fundamentally broken if it means 30% of the hills. I know that's not what this project is. It provides a little bit more affordability. But I do fundamentally believe that if we are losing 167... sro units we should have 167 units um at the deep affordability rate which is the shelter rate and we don't have that we have at best 47 units um that's 120 that we're missing so so we are actually losing uh deep affordability here um in my mind so um yeah thanks for the robust discussion thanks great thank you seeing no one else in the queue um

I'm going to call the vote. A reminder that any council member participating virtually whose video is disabled will be marked absent for the vote pursuant to section 14.13 of the procedure bylaw. Clerk, can we please go to the voting panel? And council, can you please register your vote?

Mayor, it's Councillor Zhou here. Can I have a vote assisting in opposition, please?

Yeah, you sure can. And just so we're clear, we are voting on the amendment.