Should the City of North Vancouver approve a 13-storey, 100 per cent rental tower to create a new park in Central Lonsdale?
That was the question Monday night in council chambers and the preliminary answer – from Hollyburn Family Services Society, the Lower Lonsdale Business Improvement Area, the Community Housing Action Committee and Generation Squeeze – was overwhelmingly yes.
The 36-metre tall, 225-unit tower, which would be located at the corner of East 17th Street and Eastern Avenue, is desperately needed to stem the exodus of seniors, young people, and middle-class residents from the North Shore, according to Hollyburn fundraising co-ordinator Joy Hayden.
Both Hayden and Community Housing Action Committee chairman Don Peters seized on the age of the five buildings being replaced, which all date back to the 1950s.
“These buildings have reached their lifespan,” Hayden said, underscoring safety concerns of old structures.
Hayden and Peters both said the vast majority of residents who lived in the 55 units have been relocated.
Concerns have been raised over the project’s height and impact on neighbourhood traffic at previous meetings.
With 177 parking stalls, the project exceeds city parking requirements by 42 spots. The extra parking should assuage concerns over the lack of street parking nearby, noted Generation Squeeze volunteer Ginette Holland.
“Many people work on the North Shore but they don’t have the option to make it their home,” she said, suggesting the development could help whittle away the daily bridge traffic.
The project’s floor space ratio – which measures a development’s total floor space against its lot size – is 3.3, which includes a 1.0 density bonus valued at $7.15 million. If the project had been a strata, the city would have expected that money in cash. But rather than a cash contribution, development company Anthem is offering 23 units at 10 per cent below market rates for 10 years as a community contribution.
While council was unanimous in pushing the project to a public hearing, Coun. Don Bell suggested the 23 units could possibly be offered at 10 per cent below market rates in perpetuity.
While the development spans five lots, two of those lots – 1600 and 1616 Eastern Avenue – would be converted into a park. Having previously appraised Central Lonsdale as “park deficient,” the city would buy and operate the park. Because there will be no development on the site, the city would pay about $1 million for the parcel with the cash coming out of previously collected development cost charges. The park would be 18,595 square feet, or about the size of a lakefront mansion.
The tower, which is expected to cover 45 per cent of the site, is surrounded by three- and four-storey rentals as well as a 19-storey strata. The project is intended to be in a transition zone between shorter buildings to the east and the taller buildings closer to Lonsdale Avenue.
The project includes 25 three-bedroom units.
Coun. Pam Bookham suggested city council take a hard look at parking in the area, given the businesses who rely on available stalls for their customers.
The public hearing is set for July 23.
