City backs developer in fight over False Creek park site
Concord says moving sales centre would be hardship
The City of Vancouver has asked the B.C. Supreme Court to grant a Vancouver developer hardship status in an ongoing dispute over land use in an area of northeast False Creek.
The area in dispute is near the Telus World of Science on the old Expo 86 grounds and is zoned by the city as the new Creekside Park. Also called Lot 9, the nine-acre piece of land is being used by Concord Pacific Development to operate a sales presentation centre.
The False Creek Residents Association is seeking to quash a three-year temporary development permit the city granted to Concord Pacific in July to allow some commercial use of the land until it proceeds with the park. But lawyers for Concord Pacific and the city of Vancouver argue that moving Concord’s sales centre would amount to a financial hardship on the company.
Since 2005, Concord Pacific has also used the lot for rentals to events such as the Molson Indy, Cirque du Soleil, the 2010 Olympics, and Red Bull events.
The land is zoned for park and recreation, but at a hearing in B.C. Supreme Court on Friday, city lawyer Iain Dixon argued that a park is more than three years away from being built, and that it’s “reasonable” to relax the zoning to allow Concord to continue using the site.
Building a park on the lot “is not imminent,” said Dixon, because the development of the other surrounding sites still needs to occur before a park can be designed. The city and Concord contend that a literal enforcement of the bylaw, and the subsequent moving of Concord’s condo sales centre from the site, would amount to an unnecessary hardship on the company.
Dixon said relaxing the zoning permit is within the city’s jurisdiction, and that the decision lies with the city’s director of planning, Brian Jackson. In an affidavit filed Jan. 15, Jackson testified that he took into account the association’s opposition when granting an extension of the development permit.
Last summer, Concord applied and won an application to be a party in the court case in a bid to stop the association from having the company’s sales centre removed. The Vancouver developer filed an affidavit July 24, 2014 in B.C. Supreme Court, arguing that losing the centre would cost $2 million to $3 million and result in the presentation centre being closed for between six to nine months.
The hearing wrapped up Friday, and Justice Robert Sewell reserved a decision. While Sewell didn’t provide a date, Bob Kasting, a lawyer for the association, said he expected a written decision in a few weeks.
The association argues that in relaxing the zoning, the city is causing unnecessary delays in the development of Creekside Park, for which it has been waiting more than a decade.
It also submits that Concord generated at least $600,000 in revenues on the undeveloped park in addition to its condo sales centre, not including revenue from the Vancouver Olympics.
The city has ordered Concord to stop using the area as a commercial parking lot and to use it only for a presentation centre for its nearby condo projects, not for projects outside the city.