Chinatown condo foes still want to see social housing
Opponents of a controversial condo project at 105 Keefer St. in Vancouver’s Chinatown are vowing not to let up the fight even after the city’s board of variance refused to hear an appeal from the developer.
Nat Lowe and other members of the Chinatown Action Group plan to hold a rally outside the Beedie Group’s downtown office Monday. Last week the same group delivered a stern message to the builder in an open letter: “Your name may be on the deed, but 105 Keefer belongs to us.”
The city’s development permit board rejected Beedie Living’s proposal for a nine-storey condo building at 105 Keefer in November.
The developer was scheduled to appeal the decision at the board of variance on March 2, but a lawyer for the board told Beedie Holdings in a letter dated Feb. 23 that it would not hear the appeal because it lacked jurisdiction in the matter.
“The board of variance only has the jurisdiction to hear appeals from decisions of the development permit board engaging its power to relax the provisions of the city’s zoning and development bylaw,” read the letter, signed by Alyssa Bradley of Young Anderson. The decision made by the development permit board did not engage those powers, the letter continued.
Beedie Living issued a brief statement when asked for comment : “We received the notice Friday afternoon and are reviewing it.”
Lowe welcomed the board of variance’s decision to cancel the appeal.
“We’ve been fighting 105 Keefer for the past four years. It’s been a historic fight. The community has mobilized in record numbers and we really pushed the city to do this,” Lowe said in an interview Sunday, adding that his group did not intend to let up now.
“We’re glad that it happened, but we’re still fighting for 100 per cent social housing. We feel that is what the community needs — especially in a housing crisis.”
Lowe said his group wants to see Beedie Living “give up the land so it can be returned to the people,” whether that is done by donation or a sale to the city.
Beedie, city staff and B.C. Housing have discussed a potential land swap or the purchase of the land, but the parties failed to reach an agreement.
Beedie’s rejected plan for 105 Keefer was its fifth in four years. It called for a nine-storey building with 111 residential units, retail shops, a privately run cultural-amenity space on the first floor and three levels of underground parking. The amenity space for seniors would have been secured at 50 per cent of the market rate for at least 10 years.
Lowe said he believed the fight that Chinatown residents and activists have taken to Beedie Living over its 105 Keefer St. development has resonated with other Vancouver residents struggling with an ongoing housing affordability crisis.
“We’ve got a lot of support from all sectors of the city,” he said. “The developer class is making so much money off of land and housing (while other residents) can’t afford to pay rent or pay for their own housing.
“It’s a fight for the city and it’s a fight for housing as a right.”