Vancouver city council this week approved the city’s first co-housing project on East 33rd Avenue in a controversial rezoning.
The way was cleared Wednesday evening for the new three-storey, 31-unit condo project when council approved a rezoning from single family (RS-1) to comprehensive development (CD-1).
The Cedar Cottage Cohousing Corp.’s proposed development is the first approved under the city’s new affordable housing interim rezoning bylaw, Mayor Gregor Robertson wrote in his blog yesterday.
“Confronting the challenge of housing affordability has been a top priority of my work as mayor, and it’s encouraging to see early progress after the steps we’ve taken to enable innovative and affordable housing projects like this one,” Robertson wrote.
“Vancouver needs affordable housing that fits with our neighbourhoods and makes our city more livable for everyone, especially seniors, students, and young families. This co-housing project is another creative step toward meeting that need.”
Not to be confused with co-operative housing, co-housing is an affordable housing approach that reduces development costs by shrinking private living areas and providing larger common areas, like a large communal kitchen, meeting rooms and gathering areas. They appeal mostly to families.
The project was not without its detractors. Councillors Elizabeth Ball and George Affleck voted against the project, and some homeowners in the area spoke against it, saying the three-storey building was too big and dense for a single-family neighbourhood, would add too much car traffic and would change the character of the neighbourhood.
Due to some of the concerns expressed, the project must still go before an urban design panel to rework the building’s design.
As reported last month in Business in Vancouver, co-housing projects have already been built in Burnaby, Langley and North Vancouver.
