What is happening?
A four-floor flat-roofed apartment building, with a roof deck, is planned at 2304 West 8th Avenue, corner of Vine, on two 50-foot lots. At a height of 45 feet, it will be 10' taller than almost any other townhouse or apartment building in Kitsilano. This building will replace 8 townhouses of social housing, demolished over 2 years ago, with 30 apartments for seniors and paraplegics. It will also include a resource centre for seniors. To accommodate this huge density increase, a major rezoning has been requested by the applicants, recommended by City Planning, and referred by City Council to a Public Hearing on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 7:30 p.m. To date, neighbourhood suggestions to improve the design have met with intransigence from both BC Housing and City Planning.
What concerns us?
The proposed rezoning is from RT-8--a multi-family zone with a maximum Floor Space Ratio (FSR) of 0.75--to CD-1 (Comprehensive development), with a proposed FSR of 2.05. This exceeds even the maximum FSR of 1.45 of the dense RM-4 zoning east of Vine. This increase of almost 3 times the official density is unprecedented in our neighbourhood and inappropriate in the midst of a residential area. The proposal also allows excessive building height, shrinking setbacks, and non-compliance with design guidelines required for all construction in this area. This building will have a negative impact on nearby residents, especially those at Kitsun Co-Op across the lane to the south, who will face what is effectively a 5-storey high wall only 20' from their homes. This building was so poorly thought out that although it is to house seniors and paraplegics, no provision was made for HandyDART pick-up/drop-off, and the main entrance is on a narrow, heavily-used bike route.
This rezoning, if approved, will set a dangerous precedent in Kitsilano. BC Housing is already planning a second dense development at 7th and Vine, on the Kits Neighbourhood House site. How many of the 24 existing social housing sites, or other sites in Kitsilano, will be slated for densification without meaningful neighbourhood input?