Shorter is better.
That was the consensus among City of North Vancouver council Monday as they unanimously approved a 40-foot-tall development in the 700 block of West 15th Street.
Council shot down the three-lot proposal in 2016 after neighbourhood outcry greeted a six-storey proposal on the site at Bewicke Avenue.
“You’ve listened to everybody, so thank-you very much for that,” said Coun. Holly Back in praise of the developer.
Robert Durrant, a strata president in a neighbouring building expressed concerns about the development’s height but Back suggested he and the developer could likely come to an amicable conclusion, particularly given that they sat next to each other at the meeting.
The four-storey building is set to include 52 apartments overtop of 3,300 square feet of ground level commercial space.
It’s a good project, but it should also be the last of its kind, according to Coun. Rod Clark.
“What we need in the City of North Vancouver is affordable rental housing, and this does not address that at all,” he said.
In the future, Clark said he planned to push for a higher percentage of rental units in all new developments.
The price for a one-bedroom condo in the new project will likely be in the neighbourhood of $450,000, according to Clark.
“Which sounds like a lot, but that’s what you pay these days.”
Back agreed, suggesting that $700 per square foot is “actually on the low side.”
Clark was also somewhat heartened by the lack of protestations among neighbours, noting he got no emails before the meeting.
“We don’t have anybody here jumping up and down saying it’s a bad design or it’s not going to fit in the community except for the one gentlemen next door.”
Coun. Linda Buchanan also praised the developer for dropping the project’s height and removing rooftop decks from the design.
“I appreciate that you have really listened to the community,” she said.
The project is located in an area that is moving away from, “auto-orientated uses toward more village scale,” according to a city
staff report.
However, the project is set to boast 73 residential parking stalls and 10 commercial spots, exceeding the city’s requirements on both fronts.
The developer is set to pay the city $953,350 in density bonus payments. That money is earmarked for the city’s civic amenity and affordable housing reserve funds.
