Vancouver city council has approved a rezoning application for a contentious housing development next to one of the region’s busiest transit hubs.
The approval comes after nearly a decade of proposals, pushback and debate for the site adjacent to the Commercial-Broadway SkyTrain station.
The approved plan will see a Safeway supermarket and large parking lot redeveloped into 1,044 rental homes in three towers with heights of 44, 38 and 37 storeys.
A rendering of the trio of proposed towers for Commercial and Broadway in Vancouver.
City of Vancouver
The approval comes about a month after a public hearing that saw about 100 people turn out to speak, with passionate feelings on both sides.
On Tuesday, the proposal passed, with Mayor Ken Sim and most councillors in support. COPE Coun. Sean Orr voted against the rezoning, while Green Coun. Pete Fry abstained.
“I worry that we are giving the developer double the height and we’re not seeing the public benefits that we could be seeing at the site,” Orr said during the debate.
Under the rezoning approved Tuesday, 10 per cent of the rental units will be held at the citywide average of market rates, while the remainder will be leased at going market rates.
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During the public hearing, the affordability of the rentals planned for the development was a key point of contention for project opponents.
Critics called for the development to mirror rules under the Broadway Plan, which require 20 per cent of units to be held at 20 per cent below market rates.
ABC Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung said the city simply needs more rental housing of all types.
“These are not condos that are going to stay empty,” she told council.
“These are rental homes that people are going to live in. They’re not affordable for everybody, but they are more affordable than other options.”
Some supporters argued that the project actually doesn’t go far enough, noting that it is adjacent to the hub of two SkyTrain lines and the busy 99 B-Line bus route.
It’s an argument that appears to have held sway with the mayor and councillors.
“It’s by the third busiest transit hub in the region, so it just makes sense that we build there,” Sim said.
Councillors also approved an amendment aimed at maximizing public access to a 12,000-square-foot courtyard space in the project.
The decision comes after years of back and forth and controversy about a development at the site.
Previous drafts that faced local pushback were focused on condos rather than rentals, and included a version with two towers, the tallest of them 24 storeys, and a 2022 version that envisioned a pair of towers with one reaching 30 storeys.
That version nearly made it to a public hearing in 2022, but was sidelined by the 2022 municipal election.
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