Locals to go to front of line at Plaza of Nations
The public will soon have a chance to voice its opinion on two major developments planned for the northeast side of the Cambie Bridge.
On Tuesday (July 10), council will hold a public hearing on the B.C. Pavilion Corporation’s bid to rezone a portion of 777 Pacific Boulevard for a 400,000-square-foot mixed-use building up to 120 metres tall.
The next rezoning application on that day is for the 4.2-hectare Plaza of Nations site, which is owned by Canadian Metropolitan Properties.
There, local buyers will be given first crack at purchasing units, but this isn’t a requirement on the B.C. Pavilion Corporation site.
According to reports summarizing each application, the proponents must provide “noise isolation design strategies” to ensure that sound levels remain at between 40 and 50 decibels inside the units during event periods.
They are both proposed near B.C. Place Stadium, Rogers Arena, and the Parq Vancouver casino.
According to the report for the B.C. Pavilion site, the developmentpermit application requires covenants on title notifying residents that they’ll be living in an “events and entertainment district”. This will also have to be disclosed in rental agreements, as well as in marketing and disclosure documents.
That language does not appear in the city’s report summarizing the Plaza of Nations development.
The city’s general manager of planning, urban design, and sustainability, Gil Kelley, has recommended that council give its approval in principle to both applications.
On the B.C. Pavilion site, the project will be reviewed in accordance with the city’s policy for higher buildings if height or mass intrudes into two 90-metre Cambie view cones or the view cone from Queen Elizabeth Park.
The developer of the B.C. Pavilion site must also provide a “green mobility plan” ensuring, amid other requirements, enhanced security for bicycle parking for visitors, ongoing subsidies for transit passes for residents, and complimentary driving time in carshare vehicles for building residents and workers.
The rezoning application for the Plaza of Nations (750–772 Pacific Boulevard) proposes “a variety of mixed-use terracing buildings up to 30 storeys in height”, according to the city’s summary and recommendations.
Kelley has recommended that the proponent must market units to local buyers for the first 30 days after any presale-marketing campaigns are launched.
Purchasers during this period will have to “sign a statutory declaration attesting that they presently live or work in Metro Vancouver, and that they intend to occupy the unit they are purchasing”.
The applicant, James KM Cheng Architects Inc., is seeking council’s approval to build market residential units, commercial units, social housing, a community centre, an ice rink, a 69-space child-care centre, and a music-presentation centre.
The city document notes that “restaurants and other uses are encouraged on the water and at the water’s edge” in the proposal. However, they must be “appropriately scaled, located, and designed to ensure that on balance the public visual connection and enjoyment of the water from the seawall is maintained and enhanced”.