BURST
A massive development in the city of North Vancouver would have towers four higher than the area’s height restrictions and double the allowable density.
If approved by city hall, the project would significantly change the residential community to the east of Lower Lonsdale.
The first two phases of Wall Financial Corporation’s “The Trails” project mostly include elevated townhomes, which are in compliance with the community plan for the Moodyville neighbourhood.
But Wal has applied to the city to amend those rules for the next stage of its development to more than double the floor-space density and increase the maximum building height from 15 metres to 55 metres.
Melissa McConchie is raising two children in Moodyville, originally a single-family-home neighbourhood perched above Vancouver Harbour that is now the site of several large, multi-unit, mid-rise developmentss.
“It’s the construction fatigue,” said McConchie, a member of the Moodyville Community Association. “We support the need for more housing, but building a highrise in an area that’s supposed to be a mid-rise community is not appropriate.
“And we don’t have enough infrastructure to support this growth. Local school capacity is severely overstretched.”
This is the latest proposal that could majorly transform Metro Vancouver’s skyline. Several taller-than-usual skyscrapers have also been proposed in some Vancouver neighbourhoods, including in downtown , False Creek , and the Downtown Eastside .
The Trails project would include nine buildings with a total of 926 units. The developer has applied for the smallest to be just 400 square feet (37 square metres) and the largest three-bedroom at 1,120 square feet (104 square metres).
Wall’s proposal argues the additional height and density would allow for “a greater variety of open spaces,” as well as increase affordability by constructing more units in taller buildings, up to 17 storeys.
It said the project would include a daycare, 62 below-market units, and an expansion of an existing park.
On its website , North Vancouver City Hall said the project requires an amendment to the community plan for the height and density changes, and would therefore go through a “thorough review,” including community feedback, before city council makes a final decision.
Communications manager Lyndsey Barton said no one at the city would answer Postmedia’s questions while the project is under review and before it is sent to city council. No one from Wall Financial responded to requests for comment.
A large, six-storey development is under construction beside McConchie’s home, and two 16-storey towers have been proposed for a former TransLink bus depot across the road — both projects that require permission to build in a neighbourhood zoned for only low-rise developments.
McConchie raised concerns about the TransLink proposal in February, arguing it violates the city’s policy to avoid “zoning cliffs,” which the city says on its website “can create inequalities in the community and impact sustainable strategies” by not better blending the transition between low-rise and high-rise buildings.
Now The Trails’s towers are being proposed three blocks south of her property, and she fears enduring years more of construction and losing more sunshine due to shadows cast by skyscrapers that her neighbourhood is not supposed to have.
“The idea was that we were going to have what they call ‘gentle density.’ But what we have is a very large change to the neighbourhood,” she said.
“My daughter’s a pitcher and she has a net in the backyard … but she just doesn’t want to go out there. It’s constantly noisy, there’s construction, there’s dust everywhere.”
Other North Shore residents expressed concerns about this project in comments on the website of the North Shore News, which first reported on the application for the height and density amendments.
Many of the comments centred on traffic congestion that has become a major headache as the North Vancouver has grown over the past decade, routinely clogging the two bridges and the SeaBus route that link the area to Vancouver.
“One block away from the massive TransLink bus depot proposal on 3rd. Can we slow down a little? It’s already difficult enough to get in and out of the area, but, sure, let’s jam thousands more residents here,” wrote resident Chris Mizzoni.
Others questioned why the towers were so tall and why a development is being proposed that doesn’t conform with the city’s plan.
City hall’s website says the developer is to hold public consultations this summer or fall. The city is to hold a public hearing three to six months later.