Vancouver’s development permit board to vote again on Chinatown condo development

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The City of Vancouver will decide Monday whether to approve a controversial condo development in the heart of Chinatown, after a court ruling that ordered planning officials to reconsider the project.

The city’s development permit board rejected a proposal in 2017 from Beedie Holdings to build a nine-storey mixed-use building at 105 Keefer St. But the company has been fighting that decision ever since.

In December, a B.C. Supreme Court judge ordered the city to reconsider the proposal, concluding that it failed to provide adequate reasons for its decision.

The project has been controversial since its inception, with opponents arguing that the building would be out of character with the historic neighbourhood and holding it up as a symbol of gentrification. They also say the proposal lacks social housing or community amenities.

Supporters, including many business owners in Chinatown, have said the project could address the neighbourhood’s state of decline and the lack of local residents.

Groups opposing the project say the proposal does nothing for people in the area who need housing the most.

“We would like to see 100-per-cent social housing at welfare and pension rates,” said Jade Ho of the Vancouver Tenants Union, an organization that advocates for renters’ rights in B.C.

An earlier version of the building included 25 social-housing units, but they were removed by Beedie because the proposed height was three storeys more than permitted under the Chinatown zoning bylaw.

A major concern for opponents such as Ms. Ho is that this sort of project would raise property values and make the neighbourhood, which many low-income residents and seniors call home, unaffordable.

Meanwhile, Ms. Ho said, some affordable and culturally appropriate grocery stores that long-time Chinatown residents rely on are starting to move away because they cannot meet rent in the area.

“It’s creating a situation like a food crisis as well,” she said.

There’s also been an influx of unhoused and precariously housed seniors who struggle to find an affordable and safe place to live, according to Beverly Ho, operations manager for Yarrow Intergenerational Society for Justice, a group supporting youth and low-income immigrant seniors in Chinatown and the Downtown Eastside.

“We’ve seen that the newer condo developments have not really benefited the seniors that we serve. It’s important to have housing for all incomes, for all people,” she said.

Rob Fiorvento, Beedie’s managing partner, said in a statement that the company is grateful for the opportunity to reapply to the board. He said the project, as proposed, will bring much-needed housing to the area.

“We continue to believe the 105 Keefer project will provide many benefits for Vancouver’s Chinatown, especially given the focus on revitalizing the neighbourhood,” he said.

Last week, several organizations, including the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden Society, the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Vancouver, the Vancouver Chinatown Merchants Association and the Vancouver Chinatown Foundation, sent a letter to the development-permit board in support of the proposal. They said the neighbourhood is losing legacy businesses at an alarming rate.

“We’ve been struggling the last five years,” Lorraine Lowe, the executive director of the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, said in an interview. “We’re staring at this empty parking lot. So I don’t know what is being displaced; clarification on that would probably be helpful.”

She added there are very productive discussions already taking place between the city and legacy organizations regarding more housing for low-income seniors in Chinatown, and that there is other work happening to that end.

“I don’t feel this one particular location at 105 Keefer would be an issue, knowing that there are other … low-income senior housing projects in the neighbourhood being anticipated.”

Jordan Eng, president of the Vancouver Chinatown Business Improvement Area Society, said the neighbourhood has seen social disorder, anti-Asian vandalism and mischief happening over the past few years. He said the project would help bring in vibrancy and foot traffic back in the area.

”It’s one step in bringing life back to the neighbourhood,” he said.