Vote delayed on Vancouver Chinatown condo plan after meeting hears from about 100 speakers

A hearing to determine the fate of a controversial condo project proposed for Vancouver's Chinatown has ended without a vote after hearing from about 100 speakers.

The meeting of the city's development permit board about whether to approve the nine-storey building at 105 Keefer St.ended at 10 p.m. Monday with a decision to postpone the vote until June 26.

Critics of the proposal, which will include 111 residential and commercial units built on what is now a parking lot, say it ignores the needs of the neighbourhood because it contains only market-rate apartments and no social housing units.

The City of Vancouver says 76 people signed up to speak at the last hearing on May 30, but the board was only able to hear from 48 before time ran out.

The rest were given the chance to speak at Monday's hearing, in addition to another 68 who signed up.

Outside the hearing at city hallthere was a carnival atmosphere, with a jazz band playing to a crowd of protesters.

A statue of George Vancouver was festooned with protest flags and a banner saying, "People over profit,"while another banner stretched across a set of stairs to city hall declared in Chinese and English:"No Chinatown without us."

The project has been in the works since Beedie Holdings Ltd. bought the land 10 years ago.

The city rejected the proposal in 2017 but the B.C. Supreme Court last year ordered the board to reconsider.

Speakers at the first hearing were overwhelmingly opposed to the project, but some Chinatown groups, including the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden and the Chinese Cultural Centre, say they support the project for its potential to increase foot traffic to Chinatown, reversing their positions from six years ago.