District of North Vancouver nixes Braemar homes

District of North Vancouver council has said "non" to a proposed redevelopment of a wooded area at the edge of école Braemar elementary school.

Wedgewood Developments was seeking to buy the unused plot of land from the North Vancouver school district for $2.4 million and build seven single-family homes. But council shot the pitch down in a 4-3 vote Monday night.

The project found condemnation from Calder Avenue residents who argued the area was already inundated with traffic as parents drive their kids to and from the school each day. Other opponents in the neighbourhood fought the development on principle that lands in the public trust shouldn't be sold and that the homes would be too close to the school.

While all of council was sympathetic to the school board's need to raise money - with most of the blame heaped on the province and decisions by previous school boards - the majority on council found it was just not the right project for the community.

"Maybe we can come up with something on the site that is a little smaller and moved a little farther away from the school board for the site but it's tough. It's just not a great piece of property to be developing and attempting to divorced from the day-to-day operations of the school," said Coun. Mike Little.

But Little also had some words for some of the neighbours who came out to argue against the project on the grounds that public land is sacrosanct.

"The neighbours were all coming out and saying they supported this as a park use. 'It was public property. Defend the public. Defend, defend, defend'. And yet when I look at the satellite photos, I can see how many of those neighbours are encroaching on the park, extending their backyards by digging out trees and roots and spaces and extending their backyards into the park and are really just genuinely getting a private benefit out of it. It's very frustrating to see. If you are committed to that being a public space, get off it."

The population of school-aged children will begin to go back up at some point, making school lands too important to sell, argued Coun. Doug MacKay-Dunn before casting his "nay" vote, "Believe me. It will come, as the night follows the day," he said.

Others, however, spoke highly of the proposal and the developer, who has an impeccable record of community consultation.

"It's an excellent proposal. It really is. As far as quality of proposals that come before this council, it's first rate," Coun. Roger Bassam said.

School board vicechair Cindy Gerlach called the council vote "disappointing" and said it leaves a lot of unanswered questions - like where the school board is going to find another $2.4 million to help fund the rebuild of Argyle secondary.

"Because that money was earmarked, we're now going to have to look at finding other ways to raise that money," she said.

The board is still in talks with Wedgewood about whether there could be another proposal.

That portion of the property is untended, making it off-limits to students at the school, Gerlach said, adding the school board is now looking into whether neighbours are using the land without permission, as Little suggested.

Gerlach also expressed frustration the school district must clash with residents when it has a duty to provide education for students across the district.

"I totally get how communities value what's going on in their neighbourhood. I totally understand that, but we also have to look at it in the bigger picture. It's all of North Vancouver for us. It's not just one community," she said.