What began as a debate at city hall Tuesday about a proposed 400-foot tower intruding on views of the North Shore mountains turned into a political battle over the need for rental housing.
In the end, the ruling Vision Vancouver council voted 6-3 to allow provincial Crown corporation PavCo to build a 40-storey residential tower on Pacific Boulevard, between Rogers Arena and B.C. Place Stadium.
The approval, however, hinges on PavCo making the entire building "secured market rental housing," as successfully requested by Vision Coun. Raymond Louie during the debate.
If PavCo doesn't want to go that route, the option is to build a bulkier 300-foot tower with the same square footage. PavCo hasn't hired a developer, still has to submit an application to the city's development permit board and would need the proposal to be reviewed by an urban design panel.
Before the corporation does any of that, it has to decide which of the two heights best suits its plans for the site and the mix of housing it wants; the first three floors will be for commercial use.
Rehana Din, PavCo's chief financial officer, told council the corporation is not opposed to rental housing for either option, but noted it was a long way from finalizing a detailed proposal.
Din told reporters after council's vote that PavCo's original proposal was for a 300-foot tower. But in February, council allowed for the incorporation of three tall towers in the city's Northeast False Creek Plan; developer Concord Pacific has yet to submit a rezoning application for the other two towers, which could reach 425 feet each.
"What we [originally] put forward to the city was the 300-foot option," Din said. "They asked us to look at a 400-foot option. We were fine with either. We'll have to take a look back now to see how we feel about this change."
When the Northeast False Creek Plan was approved, senior city staff said the towers—which are proposed to be located near a new intersection at Georgia Street and Pacific Boulevard once the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts are demolished—would create a more interesting skyline.
Kevin McNaney, the city's project director for Northeast False Creek, said at the time the grouping of the towers would "create a magic moment in the skyline" and help the neighbourhood "sing in terms of urban design."
The three towers, however, will intrude on three of the city's own designated view cones or corridors—two looking north on Cambie Street between 10th and 12th avenues, the other looking north from Queen Elizabeth Park.
Louie pointed out the iconic Sears tower downtown and the Marinaside building in Yaletown already poke through one of the view cones. Also, the view cone further up Cambie would make seeing the towers difficult because trees obstruct that view, Louie argued.
Mayor Gregor Robertson said allowing the 400-foot tower, with market rental housing, was "a reasonable trade-off." He picked up on Louie's point about the view cones, noting traffic lights already impede some of the view of the North Shore mountains.
"They're a much bigger incursion than this tiny slice of building adds," said Robertson, also mentioning the trees alongside city hall block "a good chunk" of the view. "So are these view corridor advocates calling for those trees to be cut down to ensure that the full view corridor is available for public viewing? I think we need to be reasonable about this."
Robertson was referring to more than 1,800 people who signed a petition to oppose the towers being allowed to intrude on the view cones. A coalition of neighbourhood groups also sent a letter to council in opposition to disrupting the views.
Melody Ma, who has led the "Save our Skyline YVR" social media campaign, described the council debate as "political posturing," with Vision Vancouver turning it into a view cone versus affordable housing debate.
"If they were truly for affordable housing, they would also mandate that the 300-foot option also be 100 per cent rental housing," Ma said in the council lobby after the vote.
Even so, she added, she questioned who will be able to afford what will likely be expensive rents, if PavCo chooses to build market rental housing. She accused Vision of "privatizing our views."
Green Party Coun. Adriane Carr, who along with NPA councillors George Affleck and Melissa De Genova opposed Louie's market rental housing condition, said she had no confidence rents would be affordable in the tower.
"What we need in this city is affordable housing, not just build, build any kind of housing," Carr said.
She said Vancouver has always been known for its views of the mountains. She agreed with Robertson and Louie that the proposed towers don't "intrude that much" on the view cones.
"But I think it's like death by a thousand cuts," she said. "You start intruding here, you start intruding there and it sets this precedent for the intrusions."
Affleck accused Louie of "sugarcoating" and "deflecting" the real issue of tower heights and mixing it with rental housing.
"If we continue, potentially, to poke into these view corridors, we are in fact tampering with the beauty of our city over the long term," he said. "It's dangerous for us to do this."
Vision Coun. Kerry Jang said the number one issue facing the city is housing and creating more of it. Jang said all Vision was doing Tuesday in calling for market rental housing in a 400-foot tower was giving PavCo an option.
"Why close off any options?" he said. "To simply say no at the outset means you don't stand for housing at all."
NPA Coun. Elizabeth Ball was not at the meeting and Coun. Hector Bremner cited a conflict and did not participate in the debate.
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