Holborn Properties’ plan to redevelop a six-hectare Little Mountain site and replace 224 units of social housing with 1,800 units of mostly market housing is drawing fire from residents in the lead-up to a June rezoning hearing with Vancouver City Council.
Riley Park South Cambie Visions (RPSCV) spokesman Allan Buium told Business in Vancouver that his group is not filled with not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) activists because members support redevelopment of the site, which is bounded by Main Street, Ontario Street, East 37th Avenue and East 33rd Avenue.
“Our group has never been opposed to the redevelopment of the site. The NIMBY term does not exist here,” he said. “What we’re concerned with is the level of density for the area.”
Holborn can develop about 1,000 units without going to Vancouver city council for approval to build more units.
Buium said RPSCV would be OK with the city granting Holborn approval to build about 1,200 units.
“We also have a problem with height. The majority of people don’t want the buildings to go past eight storeys. Holborn’s latest presentation had buildings that went as high as 14 storeys. Originally, it was 16 storeys, so it has come down.”
Amenities are another bugbear for Buium, who is taking part in an advisory group that includes representatives from Holborn and others.
That group is meeting weekly and attempting to iron out some differences before the project goes to council for rezoning approval.
The area has amenities given that it is across from Queen Elizabeth Park and near the Hillcrest Aquatic Centre. But he argues that both facilities are destination sites for people across Metro Vancouver.
The Hillcrest Aquatic Centre, for example, was built for the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics and was an official venue for curling and wheelchair curling. It now has an indoor and outdoor pool, an ice rink and a gym.
“We’re concerned about having a community centre facility – meeting rooms, space for the arts such as a place for pottery or other crafts, child care facilities and seniors facilities,” Buium said. He knows that development is expected to ramp up on the other side of Queen Elizabeth Park, where land speculators have driven up prices on Cambie Street by buying 10 adjacent homes last year in anticipation of loosened density restrictions. “If you create that density on Cambie Street, the pressure on amenities is even going to be greater than it is at the present time,” Buium said.
No one from Holborn Properties was available for comment by press time. •
