A New Battle for Chinatown

A New Battle for Chinatown

Kerry Gold, on June 3, 2017

Beedie Group is seeking special rezoning for the site to allow an extra three storeys. In exchange, they are offering 25 units of low-to-moderate-income housing for seniors. The seniors would be housed on the second floor, above a retail level that could include bars and restaurants. The proposal also offers Chinatown groups a 10-year lease on a cultural space.

BC Housing would fund the seniors housing, and only one-third would be truly affordable, says urban planner and adjunct professor, Andy Yan. He also sees the seniors housing as acting as a noise buffer between the ground-level retail space and the expensive condos above.

“The question is, does this project deserve the additional height and density?” he asks. “Remember this is a rezoning, not a development application. It’s not as if this [developer] is kept from developing the land. He could build outright to 90 feet, so long as he stays within the design guidelines of Chinatown. That’s important to note.

“It’s the perversity of the Vancouver real estate market, where seniors’ social housing is being used to justify three stories of luxury penthouses. And the accompanying rezoning could actually destroy more affordable housing than it creates.

“It completely increases the surrounding land value because there will be those who will say, ‘now I can build to 120 feet.’”

A recently released city memo says that it wants to maintain culture and character in Chinatown. And yet, those spaces already exist, Mr. Yan says. What the area needs is truly affordable housing for its low-income population, not luxury condos.

“If the city wants social connectedness, it is already there. You grow it – you don’t stomp on it with 120 feet of high-end condos.”

There is also the question of why taxpayer dollars should help fund a developer’s profit margin.

Original article here