The prospect of a 100 per cent rental building on East 18th Street triggered an unusual reaction in council chambers Monday: agreement.
The neighbours agreed with the developer who agreed with council who agreed with each other on every point but one: parking.
The six-storey, 96-unit development would come with 46 underground parking spots, as well as 10 stalls for visitors, which is likely not enough in an area where cars end up bumper to bumper in jockeying for a space, according to neighbour Gloria Webster.
“There’s no parking on those streets,” she said.
The total of 56 parking spots exceeds the minimum requirement of 48 stalls.
Coun. Pam Bookham echoed Webster’s comments about the “low parking ratio.”
“I’m concerned about people’s ability to get to work,” she said. “It’s one thing to provide the housing, but that’s one of several needs that people have.”
Located a stone’s throw from Lonsdale Avenue, the building’s residents will be near the SeaBus, which will hopefully begin operating with greater frequency in 2017, said Coun. Linda Buchanan.
“It allows people to actually live in the communities (where) they work,” she said.
The new project will replace the 31-unit walk-up currently occupying the site adjacent to St. Georges Avenue. The swap presents a quandary, Mayor Darrell Mussatto observed. While the city will gain 65 rental units, the 1960s-era apartment offered the lower end of market rents, the mayor said.
“That’s going to be a challenge for us,” he said. “How are we going to house these people that are making minimum wage and ... still want to live in our community?”
Ten units in the new developments – including one three-bedroom unit and a pair of two-bedroom units – will be priced at 10 per cent below the city’s average rental rates for the next decade.
The project received the “full and enthusiastic support” from Phil Chapman of the Community Housing Action Committee.
The new development is an important measure in replacing the city’s rental stock, according to Coun. Rod Clark.
“It goes a little distance to replacing the rental stock that’s under threat in Lower Lonsdale, the traditional three-storey walk-ups,” he said.
While Clark noted senior levels of government frequently come in for criticism at the council table, he praised the provincial government for amending the building code to allow for the construction of taller wood-frame buildings.
Coun. Craig Keating stressed that municipal governments – who get “eight cents on the tax dollar” – are forced to address a nation-wide rental problem.
“Canada is the only G8 country that still lacks a national housing strategy,” he said. However, the East 18th Street project sets a “new standard,” according to Keating.
“If this is economically feasible, then the other ones that are going to come down the pike are absolutely economically feasible.”
The building’s height of 62.5 feet is appropriate, according to Coun. Don Bell, who has decried large developments creating a canyon effect on Lonsdale Avenue.
Bell noted the possibility the city may lose a huge portion of their aged rental stock in the next few years.
The elimination of “progressive tax policy” has largely deprived Canadian cities of purpose-built rental over the last 30 years, said David Hutniak, CEO of Landlord B.C.
Hutniak praised council for taking a long-range view.
“Too often citizens are so caught up in their own self-interest, they fail to recognize that their elected officials have a responsibility to make decisions that are in the best interests of the broader population,” he said.
The project provides “desperately needed rental units,” said Justin De Genova.
“The numbers … are adding up to a win for just about everyone here.”
The rental building also won approbation from frequent council-watcher Ivan Leonard, who has been critical of several city developments.
“I’m really impressed by this building,” he said. “You never expected that one, did you?”
The project needs one more vote before adoption.
