City of Vancouver rejects proposed Chinatown condo at 105 Keefer Street

Afterfive proposals over three years, a proposed development at 105 Keefer Street has been rejected by the City of Vancouver's Development Permit Board.

In a 2-1 vote, the board decided the application a nine-storey tower with 100 per cent market housing and ground level cultural space did not meet technical zoning requirements for design aspects.

It's the first time since 2006 that the permit board has rejected an application.

The city's chief planner, Gil Kelley, and chief engineer, Jerry Dobrovolny, voted to reject the proposal, with assistant city manager Paul Mochrie voting against their motion.

"Because this is such an important site, withsuch design significance to Chinatown, and because I feel that the application has not met the design test in my view, I'm going to support the motion to refuse the application," said Kelley, who was the last to speak on the matter.

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TheChinatown Action Group, one of the associations in the area publicly opposedto the development, applauded the decision.

"We're over the moon that the [permit board]finally put a stop toBeedie'sprofit-driven development and, instead, protect low-income residents. However, this is just the first step. Our elected leaders andBeedieneed to get on with building what has been called for all along: 100 per centlow-income housing and a public and free community space," said organizer Nat Lowe in a statement.

Earlier this year, a proposed 12-storey tower,with 25 units reserved for low-income seniors,was rejected by city council.

Weeks later, a new plan was submitted that was only nine storeys tall, complying with zoning regulations for height.

Rejected on design guidelines

While city staff acknowledgedthe new proposal met height requirements based on the 2012 Chinatown community plan passed by council,and admitted they had no authority to force Beedie to include social housing in any proposal, they ultimately concluded the design failed to satisfy contextual needs for the area.

The landis currently a parking lot, but is directly adjacent to theSunYat-SenClassical Chinese Gardenand north of the Chinatown Memorial Plaza.

"To meet the design test, they need to listen to and engage with the community more closely than they have so far," said Kelley.

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Developments are rarelyrejectedoutright by the permit board, raising some concernsin the planning community over thedecision.

"It was wrong for city council to change zoning to allow towers. I personally think this building is too tall, given the character of Chinatown. But this is the zoning,"said Michael Geller, an architect and planner who used to sit on the permit board's advisory panel.

Mochrie, the only member of the permit board in favour of the application, expressed some reservations aboutthe role being played by the permit board.

"The application meets the requirements of the existing zoning.... The limits on our jurisdiction are very intentional, in the decisions that we, as unelected officials, can and should be making."

Possible options open toBeedieinclude resubmitting the proposal after further design tweaks, going back to negotiations with the City of Vancouver around a land swap, or even taking legal action.

"I'm sure [Beedie] would explore legal solutions," said Geller, although he cautionedthat "very few developers want to resort to legal action against the city, especially when they're planning to come back with applications in the future."

The BeedieGroupdeclined to comment on their future plans.