CD-1 Rezoning 8530-8550 Cambie Street
Motion 43 · Council Meeting, July 29, 2026
Summary
- A large mixed-use development is proposed at 8530-8550 Cambie Street (currently an automotive dealership) near Marine Drive, rezoning the site from industrial (I-2) to CD-1.
- The proposal includes two 43-storey towers, one 10-storey building, and one 7-storey building connected by a three-storey podium, delivering 1,000 rental units in total.
- 20% of residential floor area would be below-market rental units, secured through a Housing Agreement; the development also includes commercial space, two levels of industrial space, a childcare facility, a seniors centre, and a privately owned public space (POPS).
- The site qualifies for residential use on regionally designated Employment land under the "Metro 200 m clause" because it is within 200 m of the Marine Gateway Canada Line station and within a Frequent Transit Development Area.
- The surrounding area is undergoing significant change, with Marine Gateway's 35- and 26-storey residential towers immediately to the north and ongoing redevelopment in the Cambie Corridor.
- Staff recommend approval in principle, finding the application consistent with the Vancouver Official Development Plan, Metro 2050 Regional Growth Strategy, Cambie Corridor Plan, and Marine Landing Policy Updates.
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Transcript
48 segments
Okay, so item 15 was approved on consent. So item 16, we have CD-1 rezoning 8530 through 8550 Canby Street. Before we begin this agenda item, if anyone believes they have a conflict of interest, now is the time to declare it. Does anybody have a conflict? This item does have a presentation, and we do have team members here to present the item. Someone wants to waive it. Great. Councillor Bligh seconded by Councillor Meiszner. Any discussion? All in favour say aye.
Aye.
That passes. So thank you very much. Would the applicant like to make a presentation?
Okay. Council, you do have up to five minutes to ask questions. Are there any questions from team members?
Yeah, I just have a few questions on, you know, the site being near the transfer station and, you know, sort of what has been done around to sort of mitigate any concerns around noise, you know, potential obviously odor from the transfer station, traffic concerns with dumpsters pulling in and out of there, just general concerns around the proximity to that. Anything?
Good morning, Council. Matthew Young, Employment Lands Planner. We did require the applicant to hire a technical consultant to study the livability impacts from noise, odor, and vibration, and to identify any sort of mitigation measures. So those mitigation measures, for example, with the odor, the building siting, the installing sort of filtration systems on the air intake for the residential units, those are... being conditioned, those are requirements for the rezoning. Okay, thanks.
And then maybe a question for housing. Just a little bit on, I think maybe there was a similar application the other day, but on unit turnover rents in the below market units may be re-indexed to 10%, less the citywide average market rent by unit type. Just sort of for the public record, just to go over why that is.
Our housing staff will answer that question. Thank you.
Hello, Molly with Housing. I believe your question might be referring to the rental development relief program. This project did not come under that program. It was a negotiated CAC that got us to the 20% floor area at a 10% discount.
Right. No, I knew it wasn't under the relief program, but it sort of is a way to kind of... I wouldn't say mimic that, but sort of get to the same results of that program by negotiating the CAC?
Yeah, so the large sustainable site policy allows for the recognition of the diversity of these sites across the city and the different priorities. This one is an employment land site. And so as such, in order to support project viability, we worked with the applicant and negotiated this level of affordability, which housing supports.
I was just interested to know, will the existing interim bike lane on Canby Street along the frontage of the development be upgraded?
Yes. Yes, engineering has provided conditions that they'll be upgraded, required separated bike lane.
Great. And will there be any measures incorporated into the development to encourage residents to use the SkyTrain rather than driving or to at least facilitate that choice?
Yes, within the design of the proposal, there is a high street that bridges Marine Gateway 1 to Marine Gateway 2.
Right. Thanks very much.
Thank you.
Yeah, just a quick question on this project that I know that there were some very early discussions surrounding the fact that this was on employment categorized under the regional growth strategy as employment lands. I presume that all of that business in relation to Metro Vancouver is all clear and clean. We don't need to go back for any decisions, I assume.
Thank you, Council, for the question. Matthew Young, Employment Lands Planner. Again, this application qualifies for the Metro 200 meter clause, which allows residential unemployment land. So there is no need to redesignate the site to general urban. So Metro Vancouver Board does not need to approve this application.
Very good. Okay. And I just heard of it at a higher level. We've seen a Marine Gateway become this... rather substantial neighborhood expanding with obviously lots of density surrounding the Canada Line station. But it does lack for, I think, outdoor and community amenities in the area. Is it possible to sort of just touch upon how that will be ultimately addressed? Of course, I brought forward the motion to try and to have a pathway along the Kent Avenue. I don't think that's moving forward quickly right now, but I'm sort of curious where we're going to be able to sort of accommodate some of this population that's coming into that neighborhood over the long term.
Thanks, Councillor Klassen. My name is Tina. I'm a senior plan in the rezoning center. I think your question is related to outdoor space and interconnectivity. This site, while it's coming in under the 200-meter clause for the Metro Vancouver Regional Growth Strategy, it's also part of the marine landings policy updates. So this site and this surrounding area is captured in that policy, and that really emphasizes the importance of open space, interconnected open spaces, throughout the lower part of the Canby Corridor and through Marine Landing. So I think as new developments come forward, we anticipate a lot of new projects contributing to that as a form of a community amenity.
And just in, again, sort of thinking long-term here, is there going to be more available access to the waterfront on the Fraser River, for example?
I think so. I think through the marine landing policy updates, that is those, the pedestrian and bicycle connections through and around this area are anticipated. Also, I would add that there is open space on this particular site as well being offered for public access as well.
Okay. And I know that the major transit hub for the buses is going to be fully built out to that area there, which means that there's going to be not only a lot of buses going back and forth, but a lot of employees going back and forth. Are we going to make sure that pedestrian and other sort of traffic safety are kind of key in terms of how we develop that neighborhood?
Absolutely, yeah. I think that there is an intention for improvement of the bus barns area, which would imply more people, more buses, and through that, an opportunity to further enhance and upgrade safety and road networks.
Okay. Thank you. And no updates yet on any of the Kent Avenue rail right away at this time, right?
uh that i don't know um it's okay i can i can refer the question to engineering thank you very much okay thank you that's my question sir thank you very much counselor fry yeah um i mean this is a remarkably complex project there's a lot of heavy lifting that this project's doing with the context to industrial land and obviously housing and um Curious, and just lifting off some of Councillor Klassen's questions, how has the connectivity for, because it's not a very pedestrian-friendly area, it's not especially human-friendly right now, and so how does this expression kind of foster good planning and good connectivity for people as far as connecting to Marine Gateway number one and so forth?
Thank you for that question. I'm Mehdi Ainifar, the development planner.
The pedestrian access through that high street is one of the main features, I would say, to access and facilitate that walkability to the station and that surrounding amenities there. And there's also some improvements to the pedestrian interface along Canby with the industrial, small-scale industrial and the interface with Canby Street.
However, I do still acknowledge that the environment around it is quite industrial. And even though there's improvements, there's still going to be that feeling of an industrial area around it.
So... And further to that, where does the responsibility of the applicant to design some of this... And where does it begin with the city to meet them with some of that?
In terms of just pedestrian activity on site, the central muse is part of what's been required by the plan. And also the area surrounding the privately owned open space and the access to that. And that's all served by the applicant and maintained by the applicant. and there's SRW clauses as well.
It's publicly accessible, but privately owned, yes.
Right, okay. Great, and then just this is more of a broad question. Specific to the changes to this land use, I recall a few years ago we had a similar application just to the east of Marine Gateway on Marine Drive, or there was certainly some interest around that. Are we seeing a change as a result of new transit-oriented area legislation that's going to enable more of that kind of mixed development where it wasn't before?
Thanks, Councillor Frey. Yes, I would say absolutely. We're seeing this site being an opportunity for new development, especially in its co-location with the SkyTrain. But you're right. Yeah, we do see a lot of applications come forward along Marine, along Canby and Yukon, et cetera, in this area.
And when we, obviously this includes some industrial, and are we very, like how is the thought process to the inclusion of industrial and what kind of industrial it is that is conducive to human habitation?
Matthew Young, Implement Lands Planner. So this site being in South Vancouver, you know, it's one of the few industrial areas that have sort of large parcels. It's located close to transportation corridors like YVR and Delta Port. It makes it very strategic for those kind of large format last mile distribution centers. And that is the intent of the applicant for the ground floor industrial to be those kind of tenants. With respect to the co-location, the Vancouver Building By-law does allow for co-location, but it depends on the hazard level of the industrial uses. So normally heavy industrial uses such as like heavy manufacturing is not allowed to be co-located with residential, but medium hazard industrial, for example, warehousing can be co-located. uh with residential subject to uh vancouver building bylaw mitigations and that's why uh early on in the rezoning process we actually require the applicant to retain a building code consultant to actually work with dbl our building reviews branch and vancouver fire rescue services to make sure that whatever they're proposing actually makes sense it's safe um and yeah and it still retains that functional industrial space while allowing for that safe and liberal residential
And when we talk about last mile distribution and the operational side of that, obviously a lot of this is moving into 24-hour space. Do we contemplate how that integrates with people's life?
Yep. And that's why we asked the applicant to actually retain a noise and acoustic consultant to make sure that the noise levels are acceptable and to propose any mitigation measures that would address those impacts.
Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay. Would someone like to move a motion? Great. Councillor Fry, uh, seconded by Councillor Klassen. Council, is there any discussion?
Councillor Meiszner? Yeah, thanks.
I'll be quick. Um, I am very supportive of this project. I think, um, it's a great project. It's never really made sense to me previously how, uh, Marine Gateway, which is a really successful community, um, just to the North, um, was able to be built. Uh, and, and this wasn't, and I know that, um, there's been some policy shifts and different things that have happened that have allowed this to come forward. But this is an ideal location, I think, for 1,000 units of rental housing right next to the Canada line, 20% of below market, child care facility, senior center, two levels of industrial, so really replacing what's there, and just adding housing on top of that, which I'm supportive of. So... I'm excited to see this move forward, and I think that it's going to help complete that community at Marine Drive Canada Line. There's going to be a pedestrian bridge that connects from the existing shopping area that's there to this new development. So I just think this is a great thing to see happening at this station, so I'm fully in support. Thanks. Thank you, Councillor Claston.
Yeah, just really quick as well, echoing a bit of what Councillor Meiser just said, very supportive of this project. But if you could tell by the nature of my questions, we are very quickly building a brand new neighborhood that abuts our industrial land, our heavy industrial, and I mean in terms of warehousing, truck use, and what have you. And so livability is at risk if we don't think about how we're going to be able to support You know, thousands of new residents are going to be coming into a neighborhood who simply want to go for a walk at night or ride their bikes in place or go for an evening jog. This is a place that's not terribly conducive to that, and I know that the long-term planning for the Kent Street transfer station is to move it, and ultimately that will add to some of the, I think, overall sort of quality of life in the area. But the... The considerations that staff and City Hall really needs to think about is over the long term how we make sites like this a part of a more complete neighborhood, and that's why... Ultimately, when we look at things like the Kent Avenue Rail right away as potentially being an active transportation pathway to connect both people going to work and also just recreating in the community. And again, we're sort of pushing the boundaries here a little bit, but this is a decision that I'm happy to support and look forward to seeing this neighborhood evolve. We'll always be keeping one eye on how we make it improve the livability of Marine Gateway over the long term. Thanks very much.
Yeah, as I stated earlier, this really is a remarkable project that does a lot of heavy lifting. I mean, it's 1,000 units of rental housing with 20% below market. The senior center, the daycare center, the park, it is quite remarkable. And the connectivity to the existing shops and services at Marine Gateway obviously is going to be a great asset. to the new residents, but also to support those businesses at Marine Gateway. I do think that, you know, and to Councilman Classen's point as well, I think that there is some broader thinking around what the area planning for this part of town is going to look like, ultimately, because I think that, you know, as we start to evolve the amount of density that we're seeing here, it will require a little bit more placemaking and a little bit more thoughtful kind of considerations around how this is a community beyond just the confines of the actual built form, but how it extends into the streets and neighborhoods and all those other pieces that make communities work. But really, it's a big deal, and it's funny that we sort of just slide these in now without a big public hearing or a big foo-for-all, but this is a pretty significant project, and I'm happy to support it. Thank you very much.
Okay, I'm now going to call the vote. If we can please go to the voting panel.