At 1960 West 7th Ave (Kitsilano) yet another Broadway Plan rezoning for 20-storey tower, renoviction of mature rental building. Online Q&A March 13-26. Shadow studies incorrect (yet again)

The City of Vancouver is holding an online Q&A and comment period for a 20-storey tower proposed at 1960 West 7th Avenue from March 13-26, 2024. This rezoning application proposes to take down yet another mature rental building in the Broadway Plan area.

The rezoning proposal includes a tower design with 183 rental units, with 20% below market (using the City’s definition). A building height of 65.0m (212 ft.) and a FSR of 6.5 are proposed, along with 63 parking spaces on three levels of underground parking. Displaced tenants who wish to return (after new building construction) would have an opportunity of renting one of the 20% below market rate units. This application has many similarities to the tower proposed a few blocks away at the site of another rental building at 2175 West 7th Avenue.

The shadow studies included with the proposal are incorrect. This is hardly the first time that incorrect shadow studies have been published for public review by City Planners. Similarly incorrect shadow diagrams had been submitted (and published for Public feedback) for 2535 Carolina St. and 557-569 East 10th Ave, 2175 West 7th Ave, 1477 W Broadway, and 523-549 E 10th Ave, to name a few.

Compare the direction of the shadows from the applicant’s diagram (left) with the NOAA Solar Calculator (right) for March 21, 10am. For convenience, we’ve overlaid the purple line from the NOAA Solar Calculator on top of the applicant’s shadow study to allow for easy comparison. Note that while the applicant also lists Sept 22nd as a time, in fact, the shadows are slightly different on the fall equinox (as Earth’s orbit around the sun is slightly elliptical and not 100% circular).

The City included a rendering of the proposal (on the rezoning information sign and their webpage) where it appears the sun shines from the north around mid-day. It might also be worth looking at the rendering and noticing that there really isn’t much of ‘a podium’ in this design (this ‘podium’ is simply a slightly wider base over the bottom few storeys that differs from the depictions of large podiums in the Broadway Plan document). The developer behind the project is Gracorp and the MCMP Architects are the designers.

Further information about the rezoning proposal can be found online at the following webpage: https://www.shapeyourcity.ca/1960-w-7-ave There are over 30 active rezoning applications in the Broadway Plan for residential tower developments, these are plotted on our interactive map:

1960 West 7th Avenue (rental building on site would be demolished as part of the rezoning)

Context map

1960 West 7th Avenue (on the left)

Rendering on rezoning proposal. The sun appears to be shining from the north at mid-day (note: around the summer solstice, the sun does shine north of the meridian but only very early in the morning or late in the evening (after sunrise or just before sunset).

Applicant’s shadow diagram (left) and NOAA Solar Calculator (right) for March 21, 10am (showing the direction of the shadow). Note that while the spring equinox is on March 20th, we’ve set the NOAA value to March 21st so that it is the same as the applicant’s indicated time

NOAA Solar Calculator showing the direction of the sun on March 21 at 10am