Glen Korstrom
Van. Courier
B.C. Supreme Court on February 16 ruled that the City of Vancouver’s proposed rezoning of a site on Pendrell Street near Denman Street is OK to proceed.
That opens the doors for Westbank to build a proposed 21-storey, 178-unit market-rental tower.
Six West End residents had tried to block the project by appealing to the court for a judicial review of a rezoning decision in which Vancouver city council voted five to three to convert three adjacent lots to the CD-1 zoning that would allow the project.
LandlordBC CEO David Hutniak told Business in Vancouver that the court’s decision was great news because people complain about housing becoming unaffordable in the city and this is a way to alleviate that concern.
“We have such a chronic shortage of purpose-built rental in Vancouver and we’ve had a huge gap of 25 or 30-plus years from building it [in the West End],” he said.
“We need to get this cycle going again of building new stuff, which becomes affordable in seven to eight years.”
Mayor Gregor Robertson was also elated.
“This is a very positive step for both the West End and affordable housing in Vancouver,” he said.
“This new development provides 178 new rental homes, including 26 at below market rents, in a neighbourhood with one of the lowest vacancy rates in the city. This is the type of housing Vancouver needs and we are pleased that it can now proceed.”
Residents who took the matter to court were concerned with the site making the area too dense, blocking views and otherwise disrupting the neighbourhood.
© 2016 Vancouver Courier