A proposal that would erect several residential towers in the Rodgers Creek of West Vancouver area is set to lose hundreds of rental units supported by a previous council.
On Monday, West Vancouver council voted unanimously to advance an updated proposal for the Beedie Uplands development.
In 2019, the properties at 3861 and 3875 Upland Way as well as 3389 and 3181 Chippendale Rd. were rezoned to allow up to 620 units in a mix of single-family homes, “cluster housing” and apartment towers.
Under that rezoning approval, one of the development lots was required to be built out as rental – up to 275 homes.
Since the rezoning, some of the cluster and single-family homes have been built (28 completed), with another 84 under construction, according to district staff. But none of the previously required rental has been worked on.
Now, developer Beedie Living is asking council to remove the rental requirement altogether and to increase the building height on three of the four towers on the site – from 16 storeys to 20 or 25 storeys.
The new proposal "borrows" density from a district-owned lot in the area for the additional building heights.
Staff recommended that council advance the new application.
More condos would allow empty nesters to downsize, councillor says
Coun. Nora Gambioli, who supported the rental requirement when the previous proposal was before council in 2019, said the new arrangement doesn’t sound good on the face of it.
“It looks like we’re taking a district-owned building that would be fully rental units, and making it disappear, and turning them into strata – very high-end luxury strata units,” she said.
If the new plan moves forward, Gambioli suggested that some of the developer fees be put toward building affordable housing.
With the new Cypress Village slated to be built down the street, Coun. Sharon Thompson said more density built into the area will prompt businesses to go ahead in the village core.
“I think we’re dealing with some very experienced, sophisticated developers that know what’s in demand right now,” she said. “What I see a big exodus of our empty nesters – people who live in older, larger single-family dwellings, and they just don’t have the alternatives here.
“So what I love more than anything is seeing that we are creating larger, more livable … units for people to stay, and then leaving older homes to younger families to come in,” Thompson said.
[email protected]
twitter.com/nick_laba
@nicklaba.bsky.social
Want to stay updated on North Vancouver and West Vancouver news? Sign up for our free daily newsletter.
