North Van district rezoning will displace 61 families
The District of North Vancouver has approved a proposed development in Lynn Valley that would create 411 new homes but displace 61 families.
In a 4-3 decision, council voted to grant Mosaic a rezoning permit for Emery Village, a purpose-built rental housing complex the developer purchased over two years ago.
The plan is to replace the 51-yearold complex, on a treed five-acre lot, with 411 units and six buildings. The new units will be made up of 327 market condos and 84 rental units, evenly divided between market rentals and affordable rentals.
“I can’t say I’m shocked but I’m thoroughly disappointed, and in fact, devastated,” said Emery Village resident Kelly Bond.
Councillors who supported the project said it provides muchneeded rental housing stock in the district, which has a 0.3 per cent rental vacancy rate.
“The application is consistent with the OCP (official community plan) and the Lynn Valley plan, which has gone through a rigorous planning process,” said Mayor Richard Walton, noting that the proposed development has a lower density than allowed under the plan.
Coun. Roger Bassam said the housing that will be created will be affordable to many families, and that it is in the community’s best interest to allow rentals to be built as quickly as possible.
Critics said the impact on the vulnerable residents of the rental complex is too high a price to pay.
It is unacceptable for residents to be “collateral damage,” said Coun. Jim Hanson.
“If we are judging this rezoning against the criteria of housing affordability and the curing and solving of the housing crisis in North Vancouver, this rezoning fails,” he said. “It doesn’t achieve enough around housing affordability to make it worthy of our support.”
Coun. Lisa Muri spoke emotionally about why she rejects the application.
“We’re gentrifying our community. We are not as diverse as we used to be because we are pushing out people who cannot afford these condos,” she said.
Muri later appealed to the developer to put the project on hold until the district can move forward with a temporary housing project in Maplewood that could house displaced residents.
Mosaic has offered residents a compensation package that includes three months of free rent and $2,000 in moving expenses.
Some longtime residents have already moved out, but Bond estimates about 45 families still remain.
Bond, who pays less than $2,200 a month for a four-bedroom townhouse for her, her husband and four children, said other alternatives on the market are at least $700 more.
“Ultimately what (the compensation package) comes down to for most families is it’s a Band-Aid,” she said.
The demoviction would affect seniors, single parents, and families, many of whom aren’t able to find an affordable rental in the neighbourhood, she added.
“All of us are looking at the very grim possibility of leaving the North Shore because there’s nothing affordable here.”
Despite the decision, Bond said the fight is not over, as the project still needs to go through the development permit process for each phase.
“Council may have voted to advance this, but we are certainly not going to go hide in the corner,” she said.