Council rejects controversial condo development in historic Chinatown

Vancouver council’s rejection of a controversial condo development in historic Chinatown — and the community opposition that galvanized against it — will have implications beyond the neighbourhood.

“It’s bigger than Chinatown,” said Andy Yan, director of the City Program at Simon Fraser University, minutes after the mayor and council voted. “It’s a signal to the development community that you must consider the surrounding neighbourhood that you’re working in.”

The application, by Vancouver developer Beedie, sought rezoning to allow a 12-storey mixed-use building at 105 Keefer St., with commercial uses on the ground floor, 25 units of social housing, and 106 market condos.

Tuesday, after 26 hours of heated council debate and public hearings over the past three weeks, the mayor and councillors voted against the project, citing the building’s height, lack of adequate social housing and deep community opposition.

Mayor Gregor Robertson voted against the proposal, saying: “It cuts far too deep a divide in the community to advance and see this built.”

The proposal was voted against by five of the six councillors affiliated, like Robertson, with Vision Vancouver: Kerry Jang, Geoff Meggs, Heather Deal, Tim Stevenson, and Andrea Reimer. The sole vote in favour among Vision councillors was Raymond Louie.

NPA Coun. George Affleck, who also voted against the proposal, said he was “really quite shocked” to see the split among Vision councillors.

Affleck’s fellow NPA councillors, Elizabeth Ball and Melissa De Genova, voted in favour of the application, while Adriane Carr, the only Green councillor, voted against it.

Under current policies, Beedie could build a nine-storey building on the Keefer site without applying for rezoning, but the developer chose to apply to build a bigger structure. It’s unclear what will happen next at the site.