Condo owners in an aging North Vancouver complex are asking the city to upzone their land in hopes of increasing its property value for future sale.
On Monday, city council received a document from a committee of residents and owners living in the Cypress Gardens community.
The committee said it’s asking council to direct planning staff to work with the committee to explore zoning and bylaw amendments that support redevelopment of Cypress Gardens, located immediately north of the Westview Shopping Centre.
The committee said its goal is to increase land value for the more than 100 individual owners and ensure meaningful tenant protections for renters on the property.
The complex has 177 total units (113 townhomes and 64 apartments) on 9.5 acres, under an unconventional common-law strata agreement that was previously grandfathered in.
Over the past 15 years, there have been several attempts by some of the owners to sell the property. Two have failed in court.
One offer was made in 2011 for $63 million and another was in January 2022 for $192 million.
In the more recent case, owners in favour of the sale argued that the complex – built in 1962 – is nearing end of life and will require millions of dollars in repairs in the near future.
Owners opposed to the sale said selling the property would mean losing their homes, and that they wouldn’t be able to find comparable housing on the North Shore.
At the time, the judge ruled that not enough of the owners voted in favour of the sale.
Request 'completely beyond' what city normally does, councillor says
In its current pitch to council, the committee of residents asked that the city consider a broader community plan for the area, which could potentially include the adjacent Westview shopping plaza. That would add another five acres to the total redevelopment area.
But David Brun, co-chair of the committee, said they had not yet been in contact with the shopping centre nor have they been in touch with a potential developer.
Adding density is critical to selling the property, he said.
“To provide the hybrid owner-residents the opportunity to stay on the North Shore,” Brun said. “It also means that there can be density bonusing that allows developers to provide opportunities for renters to relocate and to eventually return to their neighbourhood.”
Coun. Don Bell said the request is “completely beyond” what the city would normally do.
“But you might discuss that response,” he said.
Mayor Linda Buchanan said this is typically something that is done through the process of staff creating a master plan, as opposed to staff planning with the residents of the complex.
But there is potential for a special study to be done, depending on staff’s capacity, and a developer would need to be involved, she said.
“I encourage you and some residents who are part of this committee to have that conversation with our staff on what would be important next steps moving forward,” Buchanan said.
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