[Follow-up statement 20-Jan-2021 from WeLoveKits: Unfortunately, Council has voted against a motion to give us a 30-day window to continue discussions with the developer, by a narrow vote of 6-5. The motion to defer the report was moved by Cllr. Hardwick and supported by Cllrs. Carr, Swanson, Bligh, and Kirby-Yung, and we thank each and every councillor for their support. The staff report will therefore go to public hearing. While we would have preferred to continue productive talks with the developer, we are also encouraged by the many councillors who supported us. We therefore are issuing a public call for those who wish to join us at public hearing to stand against this development. If interested, please join our mailing list at www.WeLoveKits.org. ]
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We are publishing this letter to Council with permission from the We Love Kits group. It appears there are positive and good-faith discussions underway between the developer and the community. A City Council decision to allow one more month would likely create good will on all sides and restore a bit of trust in City Hall, including the City’s planners and rezoning department.
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January 17, 2021
Mayor Stewart and Councillors City of Vancouver
453 West 12th Avenue Vancouver, B.C. V5Y 1V4
RE: Request To Defer Agenda Item 6. Referral Report Cd-1 Rezoning: 3084 W 4th Ave & 2010 Balaclava Street From Jan 19, 2021 Meeting To Feb 23, 2021 Meeting
Dear Mayor & Council,
We are requesting deferral of Agenda Item 6. Referral Report CD-1 Rezoning: 3084 W 4th Ave & 2010 Balaclava St. from the Council Meeting agenda on January 19, 2021.
WeLoveKits is a community organization that has gathered a petition of 623 renters and home owners based in the Kitsilano neighbourhood of Vancouver, BC. Collectively, we oppose the current rezoning application for 3084 W 4th Ave & 2010 Balaclava Street.
Over the past year, WeLoveKits has made many efforts to work with City staff and the applicant to explore alternate forms of secured rental housing. Recently, the applicant has expressed a willingness to explore new options for the site that could create innovative forms of “missing middle” secured rental housing. The applicant, James Evans, has experience with innovative missing middle projects throughout the region. The site owners, the Miller family, have owned this property since the 1970s and wish to do a new rental project to replace their existing, aging rental housing project.
So far, a possible solution that has emerged through our neighbourhood collaboration is a secured rental project that is about 50 percent more dense than the current zoning allows, at approximately 2FSR. The building design is both more neighbourly and more environmentally- friendly, and alleviates problems of overlooking and shadowing. While this collaboration has shown great progress, a deferral will give time for the community representatives from WeLoveKits and the West Kits Residents Association, and others, to continue productive discussions with the applicant.
We also note that the present application does not meet Council-adopted MIRHPP guidelines. The MIRHPP guidelines state that a 6-storey building could be considered on an arterial in a RM-4 zone if the site has “a low number of existing tenants – buildings with a maximum of 3
existing rental units” (See attachment, Section 3g). This site has 6 existing rental units and 13 tenants and clearly violates this guideline.
For background, we have attached to this letter relevant information about the project, including our main points of concern with the current rezoning application.
Contentious projects that do not have public support create conflict and mistrust in our communities. Please allow the community the opportunity to continue to collaborate to find an innovative form of “missing middle” secured rental housing that is suitable for the site.
While we do not wish undue delay to the applicant, we believe that a deferral in this case has a better chance to produce a winning solution for our community, the property owners, and for the City.
Thank you for your consideration. Please feel free to email me at info@WeLoveKits.org.
Kind Regards,
Cameron Zubko Founder and Neighbour WeLoveKits
Cc: Paul Mochrie, Acting City Manager
Gil Kelley, General Manager of Planning, Urban Design and Sustainability Theresa O’Donnell, Deputy Director of Current Planning
Yardley McNeill, Senior Planner
Susan Haid, Deputy Director, Long Range and Strategic Planning Dan Garrison, Assistant Director, Housing Policy
Full document below, with attachment and images
WeLoveKits Letter to Mayor and Council Jan 17 2021 Continue reading →