West End Residents Association director Christine Ackermann in front of St. John’s United Church. A rezoning application has been submitted that would see the church replaced with a 22-storey tower.

Credit: Doug Shanks

NEWS: Community unites to “vision” a better West End

A group of West End residents gathered in front of the Beach Towers apartment building at Harwood and Cardero streets Sunday afternoon (March 14) to voice their opposition to a rezoning and development application for the site that will soon be submitted to the City of Vancouver. The proposed rezoning for Beach Towers — which consists of four towers clustered along Beach Avenue between Cardero and Bidwell — is the most recent in a series of rezoning applications that has drawn criticism from neighbourhood residents.

A rezoning application for a 21-storey tower at 1215 Bidwell, as well as an application for a 22-storey tower at 1401 Comox Street (currently the site of St. John’s United Church), have raised neighbourhood concerns about a perceived lack of public consultation. They are part of the City’s Short Term Incentives for Rental (STIR) program, a two-and-a-half-year initiative approved by city council in June 2009 that provides incentives for developers to build new market rental housing. Incentives include parking requirement reductions and expedited permit processing.

“What’s happening in the West End is that there’s been a number of rezoning applications because of the STIR program,” says West End Residents Association (WERA) director Christine Ackermann. “[But] the projects themselves aren’t really addressing the number-one concern of westenders, which is affordability.”

WERA is calling for a review of the STIR program to ensure that affordability remains a priority, says Ackermann. She and other WERA members are seeking a meeting with Mayor Gregor Robertson to share their views. “We’re asking for a component of affordability, and [for that affordability to] be measured by income,” she says. “The median income of a [West End resident] is $38,000 a year. Certainly, that person cannot afford the rents that are going to be set for those buildings they’re proposing to put up.”

A comprehensive public-consultation process on the future of the West End is also of concern to residents. WERA hosted a “Community Visioning session” on January 31 as part of efforts to fill the perceived lack of public consultation on the part of the City. A report, compiled with the help of planner Dara Parker, a planner independently contracted by WERA who does not work for the City of Vancouver, outlines neighbourhood priorities identified by residents at the meeting. “In the absence of a formal City process for which residents have long advocated, WERA hosted the Community Visioning forum as a proactive step towards creating a local area plan for the West End,” the report reads. It highlights affordability as the number-one concern raised by residents at the meeting, alongside the preservation of the natural environment, walkability, diversity, community character, safety, and local amenities.

“One of the strongest outcomes from our forum is that the community wants to push for a local neighbourhood plan, and we don’t have one in the West End,” says Parker. “I’m not sure that the City knows exactly where it’s going without that piece.”

Parker acknowledges that there hasn’t been development in the West End in 15 years, so virtually any changes might feel dramatic to some residents. “Realistically, in planning any community, there’s going to be decision-making trade-offs that have to be evaluated,” she says. “It’s virtually impossible to get everything you want, or to have everyone be happy all of the time. I saw some acceptance of that within the... forum.”

Parker hopes the plan that could come out of the report will help residents move toward a more collaborative approach to community engagement, and away from good guy/bad guy or citizen-versus-developer-style dichotomies. “My impression is that the City of Vancouver’s effort is a genuine one to create more housing opportunities, diversify housing typologies for people,” Parker says. “Yet I understand that very legitimate fear that this new rental housing will be unaffordable for many residents who want to live and stay in the community.”

West End resident Randy Helten refers to West End community plans from the 1980s as useful templates from which a contemporary plan could be established. “I think the most important thing was the very process used to create the [1980s] plan; it was a transparent, comprehensive, well-thought-out official process,” he says. “The 46,000 current and future residents of the West End deserve nothing less today. Why was it possible then but not possible today?”

WERA’s Community Visioning report will be posted at WERA.bc.ca. More information on Helten’s and other resident’s initiatives can be viewed at WestEndVision.ca.