Freeze on density transfer has Heritage Vancouver worried
John Mackie
Sun
Robson Ssquare, which could have a ‘calmshell’ roof added as part of a redesign proposed by the provincial government, is on the city’s top 10 list of endangered heritage sites.
A few years ago, the City of Vancouver introduced a density transfer program designed to help save heritage buildings in Gastown and Chinatown.
It meant that if developers restored a heritage building, they could transfer density to other sites, typically adding a couple of storeys to a highrise tower.
The program was an instant success.
“There was a lot of take-up on it,” says Don Luxton of Heritage Vancouver.
“The density was flowing freely and everybody was happy. And then the city decided that the program was generating too much density, it was too successful, and decided to put a six-month freeze on it.”
Six months later, the freeze is still in place. And Heritage Vancouver worries that all sorts of heritage buildings are now in danger, including those in the historic core: Gastown, Chinatown and Hastings Street.
As a result, the three areas have made Heritage Vancouver’s 2008 list of top 10 endangered sites.
Hastings Street, in fact, makes the list twice. The unit (000) block of West Hastings comes in at number eight, while a larger portion of Hastings (from Cambie to Heatley) is grouped with Gastown and Chinatown at number four.
Why?
Because developers are now casting their eyes on Vancouver’s original downtown, which has been economically depressed for decades.
“Concord and some other developers are starting to buy property in that area because it’s cheap,” says Luxton.
“And look at what’s happening with Woodward’s [where 43- and 32-storey towers sold out immediately]. Everybody says it’s not a precedent — yeah, right. Everybody’s looking at it saying, ‘This is what the city is allowing, this is what we should be asking for.’ There’s a lot of pressure, a lot of pressure.”
This is the eighth annual top-10 list, and there are some holdovers. The number-one slot is retained by the Burrard Bridge, where the city has proposed adding “outrigger” bike lanes off the sides. Heritage advocates think it would destroy the art deco structure’s elegant lines. Luxton says the proposal is to go to council in April.
Vancouver’s heritage schools are number two on the list.
“Schools are a real problem, because the seismic mitigation program is potentially going to see about 40 schools destroyed,” says Luxton.
“Forty historic schools, in Vancouver alone. The process is horrendous. They’ve said, ‘We’ll go through a process with the community,’ [but] we have yet to see a process result in a school being saved. It all comes down to the provincial formula [for seismic upgrading], and until that changes, and the province listens to what’s going on, nothing’s going to happen.”
Robson Square isn’t as old as threatened schools like Charles Dickens or General Gordon, but the provincial government’s proposal to build a “clamshell” roof over Robson Street where the public could gather for civic celebrations has heritage advocates aghast.
“It’s potentially hugely disruptive, a terrible thing,” says Luxton.
“It doesn’t really provide any protection over the part of Robson Square where the public would gather, it’s just over the bus lanes. So it’s kind of stupid.”
Luxton sees the Dal Grauer Substation at 970 Burrard as a good example of “demolition through neglect.” When it was built, it was sleek and modern and let the masses peer inside to see its industrial works, but today it’s dirty and dingy and a pale shadow of its former self.
“There has been a plan in place for quite a long time to do something with that, but it’s been stalled,” says Luxton.
“In the meantime, the building just gets worse — chunks have been falling off it. What we’re afraid of is that they’ll decide it’s too expensive to restore and bring back to its former glory, and they’ll do something cheap and nasty to it.”
The 1913 York Theatre (639 Commercial) may be torn down for a townhouse development. Property records show the 500-seat theatre was sold for $640,000 in October 2007.
Ironically, a couple of blocks away, the provincial government has just earmarked $9 million for the renovation of the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, which is a similar size and age. And the city still has $20 million collected for a Coal Harbour Arts Complex that has never been built.
It looked like the historic Firehall No. 15 (3003 East 22 at Nootka) was going to be saved a couple of years ago, but a new council came in and voted 6-4 to demolish the 1913 building, which neighbourhood groups want to turn into a community space.
Now Luxton says the building “is in limbo,” because a two-thirds majority is needed to overturn a previous council’s decision.
A couple of “orphaned” houses in lower Mount Pleasant (an 1899 Victorian at 144 East Sixth and a 1905 house at 304 West Fifth) take up the number nine slot. Their sites would be ripe for redevelopment as the neighbourhood changes.
The list is rounded out by the Heatley Block at 684 East Hastings. The city has purchased the handsome 1931 building and plans to tear it down for a new library. A pair of old houses built in 1893 and 1899 would also come down.
© The Vancouver Sun 2008