The Cambie Corridor Neighbourhood Association is seeking a judicial review of Vancouver city council’s unanimous approval in July of a large-scale housing project that will not include below-market rental homes.
The association filed a petition Aug. 8 in BC Supreme Court that requests council’s July 8 decision to approve Sightline Properties Ltd.’s rezoning application for 230 market rental units be quashed or set aside until another public hearing is held.
At issue is the scale of the project—two six-storey buildings and two three-storey townhouses—and the fact that it will not include below-market rental units on the property at West 29th Avenue and Ash Street.
The property is located in the same neighbourhood as BC Children’s and Women’s hospitals and falls under the city’s the Transit-Oriented Areas (TOA) rezoning policy, which council adopted in June 2024 and allows for increased density.
That policy is what the association questioned in its petition, noting that a minimum 20 per cent of the net residential area is to be provided at below-market rates for proposals where 100 per cent of the residential floor area is secured rental.
But residents heard at the public hearing and read in a staff report that below-market units wouldn’t be offered in the development. The site falls under what staff described as the Tier 3 King Edward Station transit-oriented area, which means it's within 800 metres of the station.
“Staff have conducted a pro forma analysis confirming that the proposal would not generate sufficient land value lift to support the inclusion of below-market rental housing on this site,” the report said.
“In particular, the existing zoning for this site [RM-8A] already permits greater development potential than for the majority of sites zoned R1-1 in the Tier 3 King Edward Station TOA, reducing the incremental value typically associated with a rezoning in this area.”
The same report said no community amenity contribution is required by the developer, which was a decision staff based on “the value of securing the 230 rental housing units.”
Bill 47
During the hearing, which generated 185 letters from residents opposed to the project, people argued the proposal was inconsistent with the Cambie Corridor Plan and did not align with community visions.
Those in opposition were also concerned with the provincial government’s direction on transit-oriented areas (Bill 47), as well as the developer’s use of the new rezoning enabling policy over the existing Cambie Corridor Plan.
The petition noted Sightline Properties Ltd. was issued a development permit in September 2022 for 46 three-storey stacked townhouses, but did not proceed with the project. The new proposal came after changes to provincial and city legislation regarding increased allowable density for neighbourhoods near transit stations.
The petition argues council’s decision “to depart from the [transit-orient area] policy and [community amenity] policy in this case was unreasonable.”
“The [transit-oriented] policy frames the [below-market rental] requirement as a mandatory minimum and does not state that there may be an exemption from this minimum [below-market rental] requirement for any reasons,” the petition said.
“In the circumstances, the burden on the council to justify its departure from the policy and waive the [below-market rental] requirement was high. Council cannot meet this burden.”
Studio $1,902 per month
At the same time, the project generated 66 letters of support, although few were residents of the neighbourhood, according to information supplied on the city’s website at the time of the public hearing.
The staff report provided a table showing estimated costs of renting an apartment in a newer West Side building. For a studio, it’s $1,902 per month and a one-bedroom was listed at $2,306 per month.
A 622-square-foot, three-bedroom unit would cost $4,434 per month.
The estimates were based on data from the October 2023 CMHC rental market survey for apartments in purpose-built rental buildings completed in the year 2014 or later on the West Side.
The concerns raised by petitioners have not been tested in court. As of Friday, neither the City of Vancouver nor Sightline Properties Ltd. had filed a response to the residents’ court action.
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