[Update: the Public Hearing will reconvene on Tuesday, September 17th 6pm, details below]
A proposal for a 5-storey building at 1535-1557 Grant Street is going to Public Hearing. Find out more about this rezoning at the GWAC monthly meeting on Monday September 9th (7pm at the Learning Resource Centre under the Britannia Library). Guest speakers will provide background and analysis on this proposal; there will be plenty of time for questions and discussions.
The City of Vancouver has scheduled a Public Hearing to reconvene on Tuesday, September 17, 2019 (starting at 6pm, Vancouver City Hall, 453 West 12th Avenue). Residents can still sign up to speak and express their views to the Mayor and Council before and at the time of the Public Hearing, as well as send in letters (update: the Public Hearing started on September 12th, and Council is still hearing from speakers when it reconvenes, new speakers are allowed to sign up). Further information on this rezoning proposal is available online.
https://council.vancouver.ca/20190912/phea20190912ag.htm
https://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applications/1535grant/index.htm
https://council.vancouver.ca/20190723/documents/p10.pdf
email contact for sending correspondence and to sign up: publichearing@vancouver.ca.
The proposal calls for a building of a height of 5 storeys (maximum 56.7ft.), with 35 market rental units, 23 parking spaces, a Floor Space Ratio of 2.19 (over 4 consolidated lots) with a total floor area of 28,591 sq. ft. (2,656.1 sq.m). The applicant is also asking for full waiver of Development Cost Levies and Community Amenity Contributions. There are no affordable rental or social housing units proposed.
This proposal does not meet the minimum requirements in the the Grandview-Woodland Community Plan for consideration for rezoning in the policies listed in Section 6.4.1; one clear policy is a requirement for a 20′ front yard setback that is not met as the applicant is proposing only a 12′ setback. This rezoning was not supported by the City’s Urban Design Panel (4-3 vote against). The UDP is a board which serves as an advisory body to City Council and staff. There’s a very strong emphasis on providing “affordable market rental housing” in the Community Plan; affordability is mentioned numerous times.
This block on the north side of Grant Street does not have a laneway and the site of the proposal backs directly onto lots that face Kitchener Street. This section of Grant Street is narrow and has a significant slope. If approved, this rezoning has a potential to set a precedent for similar large scale proposals. There’s a petition created by residents around this area that has more information on the rezoning:
https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/stop-the-grant-street-redevelopment-application
The existing RM-4 zoning on the site allows for a maximum height of 10.7m (35.1 ft.)* and total area of 18,939sq. ft. (1,759.5sq. m which is a floor space ratio of 1.45). The Staff Report on the rezoning lists the following proposed starting rents:
* RM-4 Zoning Bylaw on height
4.3 Height
4.3.1 The maximum height of a building shall be 10.7 m, but no portion of the building shall extend above an envelope formed by a vertical line measuring 7.3 m in height at the north property line and a plane formed by an angle of 30 degrees measured from the horizontal and having its vertex at the maximum building height permitted at the north property line.
Grandview-Woodland Area Council 