City planning staff, BC Housing, Beedie Development Group and concerned Chinatown residents all joined the fray at city hall last week to debate whether the city should allow a 12-storey mixed-use building to be built at 105 Keefer Street.
After nearly four years of public consultation and five open houses, the Beedie company unveiled its plan to build 106 market housing units, 25 social housing units targeted to seniors and space for commercial use.
The property is currently under HA-1A (Chinatown historic area) zoning, which limits building heights to 90 feet. Beedie is seeking rezoning of the district to CD-1 (comprehensive development), which would allow buildings to go up to 120 feet.
“As a result of feedback from the community, the proposal before you will deliver a high-value community benefits package and elevated quality of architecture and urban design, which this gateway site rightfully deserves,” said Beedie Development Group president Ryan Beedie in a statement to council. “The opportunity for these community benefits simply would not exist if the project was developed under the allowable 90-foot height.”
Opposition to the proposal is fierce, however, with a petition signed by over 2,500 people asking council to reject it.
The main worry for Chinatown residents is that with each new residential development, the neighbourhood will become increasingly gentrified, raising market rent prices and squeezing some residents out of the area.
“We’re protesting this development because there’s 110 market units, so it’s a huge development that will gentrify the neighbourhood,” said Beverly Ho, an organizer of the Chinatown Concern Group. “If it’s approved by council and it gets built, it will inevitably raise the rents in the area and displace a lot of the low-income community – many of whom only speak Chinese, and can’t afford to live anywhere else.”
The Beedie Development Group’s main response to criticism has been to stress the proposal’s community benefits package, which includes 25 social housing units for low-to-moderate-income seniors, a new street-level seniors’ culture space, new commercial space for local business and expansion of the Chinatown Memorial Plaza in front of the property.
BC Housing is negotiating with Beedie to purchase all 25 social housing units at cost. While it aims for 100% of the units to be made available for low-income seniors, city policy requires that only 30% of the units must be rented to households with incomes below housing income limits (HILs), a measure of income required to pay average market rent prices.
The price for the social housing units is under negotiation, but the current HIL rent price is $963 per month for a studio, according to BC Housing. Prices will need to be much lower to be considered affordable for seniors who rely on social assistance from the provincial government – which is currently set at $1,491 for single seniors or $2,317 for a couple.
Another area of concern is the cultural significance of 105 Keefer Street, located near several key Chinatown cultural sites. It is in front of the Chinatown Memorial Plaza, which commemorates Chinese railroad workers and veterans, and is 150 metres from the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Vancouver and 300 metres from Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden.
