MAPLEWOOD Village may be getting a 61-unit townhouse project, depending on the outcome of a public hearing slated for Sept. 10.
Located just west of Seymour River Place and south of Mount Seymour Parkway, the project would include five three-storey buildings placed between Kenneth Gordon Maplewood school and Maplewood Farm.
The Anthem Properties proposal breezed through first reading at a District of North Vancouver council meeting July 15, although a few councillors expressed misgivings about the project's esthetics.
"It just looks like a barn to me on the side," said Coun. Lisa Muri.
"They look like barracks to me," Coun. Robin Hicks said. "I much prefer some variety in buildings in height and shape."
The design for the roof could also stand improvement, according to Muri. "These developments are going to be with us for a long, long time. I guess I want some sense of timelessness to a lot of these designs," she said.
If approved, Anthem Properties would redevelop seven lots to build townhouses ranging from 947 to 1,668 square feet - 49 of the townhouses would be two-and threebedroom units.
Allowing the redevelopment would boost the land value by approximately $525,000, according to the district. That jump means the developer would pay the district $395,000, or 75 per cent of that increase.
Maplewood Village is one of the district's four town centres slated to absorb the lion's
share of growth in the municipality over the next two decades. Each of those centres is slated to attract young people with a high-density mix of shops and affordable housing, but Maplewood Village should be a little different, according to Coun. Roger Bassam.
"It is one of our town centres. .. but it's one of the ones that's not very well-defined," Bassam said. "I just have this intuitive sense that there's much more opportunity in Maplewood given its proximity to the Second Narrows Bridge, given its proximity to some of our industrial (land), that we can do perhaps something a little bit different, a little bit better."
Nearby residents have expressed concerns that 34 trees might be removed for the development. Preliminary plans account for the loss by adding 90 new trees on the site's perimeter. The project includes 115 underground parking spaces.
The development would be 15 metres from Maplewood Creek.
