This is a machine-generated transcript. It was auto-transcribed from the council video, so names and wording contain errors (e.g. spelling of speakers' names) and should be checked against the official video before being quoted. The City's minutes are authoritative for who spoke. The timestamp links (▶) jump to roughly the right spot in the official video and may be off by a few seconds.
[00:00:33] ▶Speaker 0: This started on time.
[00:00:35] ▶Good evening, everyone, and I'm now gonna call the public hearing of Thursday, 01/15/2026
[00:00:42] ▶to order. This meeting is being held in person and by electronic means. Council members and the public may participate by either method. Any members joining electronically are reminded to enable their video to confirm quorum. The meeting, is being live streamed on the city's website and YouTube, and meeting progress will be updated regularly on x at Van City Clerk. In the case of an emergency requiring evacuation, there are two exits located,
[00:01:08] ▶beyond the glass doors and to the left of the pillar.
[00:01:11] ▶If the glass doors are blocked for any reason whatsoever, please use one of the four exits,
[00:01:18] ▶on the side of the chamber.
[00:01:20] ▶Do not use the elevator. Use the stairs instead. And if you need assistance,
[00:01:24] ▶remain where you are, and one of our incredibly friendly security team members will guide you to a safe location.
[00:01:30] ▶Also,
[00:01:31] ▶if this, council meeting or public hearing gets a little heated and you need a defibrillator,
[00:01:36] ▶there is one available
[00:01:37] ▶at the end of, the hallway, just outside of the chamber. I do wanna acknowledge that we are hosting today's public hearing on the traditional territories of the Squamish,
[00:01:47] ▶Musqueam and Swaddler toothed people, and I do wanna thank them for their generosity and their hospitality and love and care they show this great land that we get to live, work, and play on. I also wanna recognize our incredible,
[00:01:57] ▶team members throughout the city of Vancouver who work incredibly hard every single day with a lot of passion to make the city a better place. So thank you very much.
[00:02:06] ▶With that, can we please get a roll
[00:02:08] ▶Speaker 1: call? Mayor Sim, in the chair, councilor Kirby Young?
[00:02:13] ▶Councilor Dominato?
[00:02:16] ▶Not present. Councilor Bly?
[00:02:19] ▶Not present.
[00:02:21] ▶Councilor Frey?
[00:02:24] ▶Councilor Montague?
[00:02:26] ▶Speaker 2: Present.
[00:02:27] ▶Speaker 1: Councilor Klassen?
[00:02:29] ▶Speaker 3: Present.
[00:02:31] ▶Speaker 1: Councilor Meisner.
[00:02:32] ▶Present. Councilor Joe. Present. Councilor Orr.
[00:02:36] ▶Councilor Maloney.
[00:02:39] ▶Speaker 0: This meeting has quorum, Mayor Sim. Great. Thank you very much. So before we begin, we do have a few announcements.
[00:02:45] ▶The public may speak in person or by phone or may submit written comments,
[00:02:50] ▶to mayor and council.
[00:02:51] ▶Speakers may only speak once and will have up to five minutes to comment on the merits of the application.
[00:02:56] ▶Please state whether you support or oppose the recommendations and if you are a resident of Vancouver.
[00:03:02] ▶Those representing four or more individuals or groups, including themselves, may speak for up to eight minutes.
[00:03:08] ▶Each person being represented must confirm their presence in person or by phone and may not speak separately.
[00:03:15] ▶Please follow the live stream on Advan City Clerk,
[00:03:19] ▶on x,
[00:03:21] ▶to track meeting progress and know when your turn to speak is approaching. Please note the live stream does have a slight delay. Written comments can be submitted through the mayor and council public hearing feedback form linked on x.
[00:03:35] ▶If you preregistered
[00:03:37] ▶with the presentation, say next to have the clerk advance your slides. A reminder, at public hearings, council acts as a quasi judicial body and must focus solely on the merits of the rezoning or heritage application.
[00:03:50] ▶Members may speak sorry. Members may ask clarifying questions of team or, team members or speakers,
[00:03:57] ▶including the applicant, but should reserve debate until the speaker's list,
[00:04:02] ▶has been closed.
[00:04:03] ▶After hearing from speakers, council may, one, approve the application in principle,
[00:04:08] ▶two, approve the application in principle with amendments,
[00:04:11] ▶three, refuse the application, or four, refer the application to our team members for further consideration.
[00:04:17] ▶Please note that a new public speaker podium has been installed on the left side of the public gallery
[00:04:23] ▶to my right.
[00:04:25] ▶At the moment, podium heights cannot be adjusted by the clerk, so please adjust the podium as needed using the controls on your right hand side.
[00:04:35] ▶Finally, if not all, speakers are heard this evening, the public hearing will recess and reconvene on Thursday, January
[00:04:43] ▶22
[00:04:44] ▶at 3PM.
[00:04:45] ▶So the first item on the docket is, item number one, rezoning 5238
[00:04:50] ▶through 5262
[00:04:52] ▶Granville Street and 1495
[00:04:54] ▶West 37th
[00:04:55] ▶Avenue.
[00:04:56] ▶So before we begin, if anyone believes that they have a conflict of interest, now is the time to declare it.
[00:05:02] ▶Does anybody have a conflict to disclose?
[00:05:05] ▶Seeing no one's hands up, the clerk is now gonna read the application and summary of correspondence received.
[00:05:12] ▶Speaker 5: This application
[00:05:14] ▶sorry. This is an application
[00:05:16] ▶by Granville Street G 37 Project LP
[00:05:20] ▶to rezone 538
[00:05:23] ▶To 5262
[00:05:25] ▶Granville Street and 1495
[00:05:28] ▶West 37th
[00:05:29] ▶Avenue
[00:05:30] ▶from R 1 Dash 1 Residential
[00:05:33] ▶Inclusive District to R R Dash 2 B Residential Rental District
[00:05:39] ▶to permit the developments of a five story residential rental building.
[00:05:44] ▶A floor space ratio FSR
[00:05:47] ▶of 2.4
[00:05:48] ▶and a height of 16.8
[00:05:51] ▶meters,
[00:05:53] ▶55 feet are proposed.
[00:05:55] ▶The following correspondence
[00:05:56] ▶has been received since referral to public hearing.
[00:06:01] ▶The general manager of planning, urban design, and sustainability
[00:06:05] ▶recommends approval subject to conditions
[00:06:08] ▶set out in the summary and recommendation.
[00:06:11] ▶26 pieces of correspondence
[00:06:13] ▶in support.
[00:06:15] ▶One piece of correspondence
[00:06:17] ▶in opposition.
[00:06:18] ▶This represents
[00:06:19] ▶all correspondence
[00:06:21] ▶received up to 5PM today.
[00:06:24] ▶Speaker 0: Great. Thank you very much. Now this is the first call for speakers. Any speakers for this item who wish to speak to counsel, please call toll free at +1 (833) 353-8610
[00:06:35] ▶followed by participant code 1061445Pound.
[00:06:39] ▶Before the close of the speakers list, the phone number will be posted on x and displayed during the recess.
[00:06:44] ▶There will be an opportunity for new speakers and missed speakers to be heard at the end of the registered speakers list. So now we do have our, team members from planning, urban design, and sustainability
[00:06:54] ▶here to present the application.
[00:06:59] ▶Speaker 6: Good evening, mayor and council. My name is Esther Yuen, and I'm the rezoning planner for this rezoning application considered under the secured rental policy.
[00:07:09] ▶The secured rental policy
[00:07:11] ▶or SRP
[00:07:13] ▶encourages new purpose built rental housing and aligns with the rental housing goals of the housing Vancouver strategy
[00:07:21] ▶and the Vancouver plan.
[00:07:23] ▶Updates to the SRP were approved by council in 2021 to create residential rental zones and a map with eligible areas for the standardized
[00:07:32] ▶r r zones
[00:07:35] ▶Rezoning through rental district schedules
[00:07:38] ▶follow a simplified rezoning process that establishes clarity on permitted height, use, and density.
[00:07:44] ▶The schedules include design guidelines and the specific building design will be reviewed during a future development
[00:07:50] ▶permit
[00:07:53] ▶process this map shows sites that are eligible for rezoning
[00:07:57] ▶the sites are close to public transit and local shopping and are located on an eligible on and off arterial roads
[00:08:05] ▶The yellow star indicates the proposed rezoning site near the intersection of Granville and West 41st Avenue
[00:08:16] ▶The site, outlined in red, is comprised of three parcels and developed with three single detached houses that are not listed on the Vancouver Heritage Register.
[00:08:25] ▶The property contains three rental tenancies and the tenant relocation and protection policy applies.
[00:08:32] ▶The site and surrounding areas are zoned r one one and c d one, and the site immediately north was approved at public for r r two b.
[00:08:41] ▶Consistent with the SRP, the site is located near several parks, schools, and shopping areas.
[00:08:47] ▶The site is also well served by frequent bus service
[00:08:51] ▶along Granville Street and 41st Avenue and is adjacent to the West 37th
[00:08:57] ▶Avenue bikeway.
[00:09:01] ▶The eligible RR zones are shown here.
[00:09:04] ▶Of all the options, the applicant has selected RR2B.
[00:09:10] ▶The RR2B zone allows for a five story apartment building and a density of up to 2.4 FSR.
[00:09:19] ▶A total of nine submissions were received during public consultation.
[00:09:23] ▶General comments of support were received for more rental housing.
[00:09:28] ▶Concerns were expressed regarding density
[00:09:30] ▶that could exacerbate existing traffic issues and the proposed building height, which is inconsistent with the existing neighborhood character and would cause shadowing.
[00:09:39] ▶In response, engineering staff have included conditions to deliver street improvements to address safety for all road users.
[00:09:47] ▶Regarding height, use sorry, height, density, and location, the proposal and form of development is consistent with the SRP.
[00:09:57] ▶The public benefits include a DCL contribution of $3,000,000.
[00:10:02] ▶Additional benefits include the estimated 30 sorry, estimated 96 units
[00:10:08] ▶of market rental housing that are secured through a housing agreement.
[00:10:14] ▶In conclusion, this proposal meets the intent of the SRP policy.
[00:10:18] ▶Staff recommend approval subject to the conditions
[00:10:21] ▶outlined in appendix b of the report.
[00:10:25] ▶For information at the council meeting, on 12/10/2025,
[00:10:29] ▶council approved a policy report that included recommendations to report back to council in spring of two thousand twenty six, including changes to the RR two b district schedule to permit a six story residential
[00:10:42] ▶typology.
[00:10:44] ▶While tonight's proposal is for a five story development as currently contemplated in the district schedules, the changes to the RR district schedules are the topic of a future council meeting for consideration.
[00:10:56] ▶Staff and the applicant team are available to answer questions.
[00:11:00] ▶Thank you.
[00:11:01] ▶Speaker 0: Great. Thank you very much. Would the applicant like to present the application if, in attendance?
[00:11:12] ▶Speaker 7: Good evening, mayor and council. In the and and with respect to your time, we we're happy to waive our, presentation, but are available for any questions. Great. Thank you very much.
[00:11:21] ▶Speaker 0: Are there any questions from council,
[00:11:23] ▶or team members,
[00:11:24] ▶sorry. Are there any questions from council,
[00:11:27] ▶to our team members or the applicant noting that this is the only,
[00:11:31] ▶time,
[00:11:32] ▶opportunity for council to ask questions of the applicant?
[00:11:38] ▶Seeing no one in the queue,
[00:11:40] ▶this is, the second call for speakers. If there are any speakers for this item who wish to speak to council, please call toll free at 1833,
[00:11:48] ▶353-8610,
[00:11:50] ▶followed by participant code 1061445Pound
[00:11:54] ▶before the close of the speakers list. The phone number will be posted on accident displayed during the recess. We're now gonna hear from the public. Any registered speakers in the council chamber, please come forward to the podium on the left side of the public gallery when your name is called. Phone in, speakers will be unmuted when your name is called.
[00:12:12] ▶Speakers will have up to five minutes to make their comments and should limit their comments to the merits of the report being considered.
[00:12:18] ▶So our first speaker today is speaker number one, Babak,
[00:12:22] ▶Shedhurri.
[00:12:24] ▶And I hope I pronounced that correctly. Is, Babak Shiruri,
[00:12:27] ▶present?
[00:12:35] ▶Speaker 8: Okay.
[00:12:38] ▶Thank you. It's, Babak Shirudi.
[00:12:40] ▶Thank you very much for giving me opportunity to speak today.
[00:12:45] ▶Yeah. My name is,
[00:12:47] ▶and my family,
[00:12:50] ▶I live in the area of 37 Granville for twenty years.
[00:12:55] ▶We raised two wonderful children.
[00:12:57] ▶Both of them now, doctors.
[00:13:01] ▶I I
[00:13:02] ▶I'm not here to speak. I'm not against the housing. I'm not against rentals.
[00:13:08] ▶I'm not against the growth.
[00:13:11] ▶But,
[00:13:13] ▶what I'm against is
[00:13:17] ▶growth without,
[00:13:18] ▶planning proper planning.
[00:13:20] ▶And I'm here to brought to bring to your attention what we see in the area that
[00:13:25] ▶probably overlooked
[00:13:27] ▶as part of this, plan. We lived in this area for twenty years.
[00:13:32] ▶So I'm speaking against this project.
[00:13:35] ▶And,
[00:13:36] ▶because I only have five minutes to discuss here, I'm trying to be concise.
[00:13:42] ▶And,
[00:13:45] ▶there are there are four points that I want to raise here,
[00:13:49] ▶regarding my objection to this project.
[00:13:52] ▶One,
[00:13:53] ▶is respect to the neighborhood. There is
[00:13:56] ▶an educational institute,
[00:13:58] ▶that, is an icon of Vancouver, this Vancouver College.
[00:14:03] ▶Every day, we see hundreds of parents and students, children walking in the area,
[00:14:09] ▶and,
[00:14:11] ▶the traffic is during pickup and drop off is horrendous.
[00:14:16] ▶My,
[00:14:17] ▶my wife sent email, email videos, pictures,
[00:14:23] ▶to your
[00:14:24] ▶address that given to you, you may be having it on file.
[00:14:28] ▶If you,
[00:14:30] ▶drive that area during the drop off and
[00:14:34] ▶pick up, you know the traffic. There there are bikers. There,
[00:14:38] ▶sometimes even for us getting out of our driveway is not easy. I have to ask my wife to stop the traffic in order for us to get out of it.
[00:14:49] ▶So adding,
[00:14:50] ▶dense rental
[00:14:52] ▶towers, or large scale multi unit development as is proposed
[00:14:57] ▶is only going to worsen to traffic congestion
[00:15:00] ▶congestion and safety risk.
[00:15:02] ▶There are increased,
[00:15:04] ▶conflicts between vehicles and children,
[00:15:09] ▶compromises emergency access to the areas already crowded
[00:15:13] ▶and reduces the livability
[00:15:15] ▶of a school,
[00:15:16] ▶centered neighborhood.
[00:15:18] ▶As I say, anyone who drive who drives or walks in the area during this time, they see it.
[00:15:24] ▶And adding more traffic to the area is simply overwhelms the the system
[00:15:30] ▶that is already present.
[00:15:32] ▶The other one beside the school that is in the neighborhood is the
[00:15:37] ▶Van Duysen Garden. That is,
[00:15:39] ▶is treasured,
[00:15:41] ▶public,
[00:15:43] ▶asset to us. We love Van Duysen Garden, but
[00:15:47] ▶we have to live with, some of the
[00:15:50] ▶shortfalls or negatives come from this place, which is hundreds of events that going on in Van Dusen Garden.
[00:15:57] ▶Even I'm talking to you now, there there is a filming going on for last week,
[00:16:03] ▶and there's literally no parking.
[00:16:06] ▶Traffic is, again, is chaos.
[00:16:09] ▶Trucks are parked in that area. And this is not only one event. It happens throughout the year.
[00:16:15] ▶There is a festival light we all like that we have to put up with.
[00:16:20] ▶They gave us they gave us one free ticket, which is good. I appreciate.
[00:16:24] ▶But, it is not only that. It is just basically dealing with all the traffic. People parking at your at your driveway, you have to keep calling. And probably you have a record of it,
[00:16:36] ▶that my wife has been calling.
[00:16:39] ▶And,
[00:16:41] ▶we also pick up the garbage that people leave behind after all these,
[00:16:45] ▶events. There are wedding going on. There are,
[00:16:48] ▶car show going on. There's everything going on, which we are okay with it because it doesn't happen all the time. But once this happened,
[00:16:56] ▶it's not easy.
[00:16:58] ▶It's it's chaos. And adding another,
[00:17:01] ▶like, numbers of whatever, 200 numbers of rentals is not gonna help. It's gonna even make it worse for all of us to be in there.
[00:17:10] ▶It's,
[00:17:11] ▶if if you do that, then the higher parking overflow will happen to all the surrounded surrounding street,
[00:17:18] ▶greater food traffic without
[00:17:20] ▶adequate
[00:17:21] ▶infrastructures.
[00:17:22] ▶Speaker 0: And I I'm sorry. We're out of time.
[00:17:25] ▶That's been five minutes.
[00:17:27] ▶Oh,
[00:17:30] ▶Speaker 8: yeah. I just Thank you. Two second, I said.
[00:17:33] ▶Speaker 0: Yeah. I'm not sure what kind of I I'm we are I'm sorry. We're Something we're we're over time. Alright. I'm sorry. Thank you. Thank you. Great. Thank you very much for coming in.
[00:17:45] ▶Speaker number two, Alan Brookstone.
[00:17:51] ▶Speaker 10: May I assume, counselors,
[00:17:53] ▶my name is Alan Brookstone,
[00:17:56] ▶and I'm a resident of Shaughnessy Place, the townhouse complex located directly across the air alley from the proposed development site.
[00:18:04] ▶And I'd like to begin with why Vancouver matters to me personally.
[00:18:08] ▶I arrived in Canada in 1987.
[00:18:11] ▶And during that visit to Vancouver, I'll never forget driving up Granville Street, the houses, the greenery, the sense of space,
[00:18:18] ▶the overall livability of the city, and I turned to my wife and I said, this is where I wanna live.
[00:18:23] ▶Nearly four decades later,
[00:18:26] ▶that same livability is why we chose to make our home here and why I'm why I'm speaking tonight.
[00:18:32] ▶I'm also speaking with the support of a significant number of residents of Shaughnessy Place.
[00:18:37] ▶They have signed a petition expressing serious concern in opposition to the development as currently proposed
[00:18:43] ▶because this is not a single person objection.
[00:18:45] ▶It's a shared community issue from those that are most directly affected.
[00:18:50] ▶I want to be I wanna be clear that we support housing and growth,
[00:18:55] ▶but we oppose housing that comes at the expense of basic
[00:18:59] ▶livability and fairness.
[00:19:01] ▶We understand Vancouver's housing challenges,
[00:19:04] ▶and we support thoughtful density.
[00:19:06] ▶What we're asking for is a proposal that fits the site, respects adjacent homes, and doesn't impose
[00:19:12] ▶a disproportionate harm on existing residents.
[00:19:15] ▶The core problem is the height massing and proximity of a five story,
[00:19:20] ▶96 unit building placed directly across across a narrow alley from existing townhouses,
[00:19:26] ▶an alley which is not a transition zone,
[00:19:29] ▶and it's a service a service lane. So the proposed scale would read as a looming wall, not as a compatible neighbor.
[00:19:37] ▶The next issue is the unavoidable loss of privacy created by the upper floors looking directly into our backyards,
[00:19:44] ▶our patios, and our living areas. This is not hypothetical.
[00:19:48] ▶Given the heightened distance, residents will lose meaningful privacy in their homes
[00:19:52] ▶and outdoor spaces, and no amount of landscaping can truly fix a direct overlooked situation of this scale.
[00:20:00] ▶Equally important is the loss of sunlight and the real hit to day to day livability
[00:20:05] ▶that comes with it. Many of the homes in Shaughnessy Place rely on afternoon and evening light,
[00:20:10] ▶and the height and the bulk of this proposal will cause long shadows,
[00:20:14] ▶especially in fall and winter leading to darker interiors,
[00:20:18] ▶reduced outdoor usability,
[00:20:20] ▶and noticeable decline in comfort and livability.
[00:20:23] ▶The proposal also raises broader concerns about neighborhood character
[00:20:27] ▶and the direction of planning
[00:20:29] ▶because it sits along a key corridor that shapes how people experience Vancouver.
[00:20:34] ▶Myself, a typical example of this.
[00:20:36] ▶There's a growing public concern locally and provincially
[00:20:40] ▶about repetitive
[00:20:41] ▶box like mid rise buildings that prioritize unit count
[00:20:45] ▶over design quality transition in human scale.
[00:20:49] ▶As and this was recently highlighted in a January 8,
[00:20:53] ▶2026
[00:20:54] ▶Vancouver Sun column by Douglas Todd
[00:20:57] ▶discussing the backlash
[00:20:58] ▶to these style of apartment block style developments
[00:21:01] ▶tied to mass
[00:21:03] ▶up zoning debates.
[00:21:04] ▶It's worth noting that it isn't just Vancouver
[00:21:07] ▶that is part of the conversation.
[00:21:09] ▶Internationally, New Zealand provides a clear example of a government stepping back from mandated density rules,
[00:21:15] ▶moving to make its medium density residential standards
[00:21:19] ▶optional for councils,
[00:21:20] ▶and signaling changes to its national urban development direction
[00:21:24] ▶after significant
[00:21:25] ▶controversy
[00:21:26] ▶about how intensification
[00:21:28] ▶was being applied
[00:21:30] ▶in its and its local impacts.
[00:21:32] ▶The practical consequence for existing homeowners
[00:21:35] ▶is that the combination of a loss of privacy,
[00:21:38] ▶a loss of sunlight reduced livability
[00:21:40] ▶will predictably affect property value and enjoyment of homes.
[00:21:44] ▶Residents purchased in Shaughnessy Place with a reasonable expectation
[00:21:48] ▶that nearby redevelopment would include appropriate transition and migration,
[00:21:52] ▶and the petition reflects a shared belief that this proposal
[00:21:56] ▶places an unfair burden on immediate neighbors.
[00:21:59] ▶I'm not here simply to say no, and our petition is asking for a constructive alternative
[00:22:04] ▶that still allows housing while respecting the context.
[00:22:07] ▶I respectfully ask council to reject the application in its current form and direct a redesign more appropriate to the site,
[00:22:14] ▶such as a three story form with increased setbacks from the alley, real privacy considerations,
[00:22:20] ▶and reduced massing so there's an actual transition
[00:22:23] ▶a transition to the adjacent townhomes.
[00:22:26] ▶In closing, I ask council to give serious weight to the petition from Shaughnessy Place residents because we're people who live with direct consequences
[00:22:34] ▶of this decision every day. The Vancouver I fell in love with in 1987
[00:22:39] ▶balanced growth with greenery, space, and livability,
[00:22:41] ▶and I'm asking you to protect those same values now, but then by denying this application as proposed and requiring a a redesign project that fits the neighborhood and treats existing residents fairly. Thank you. Thank you very much, Alan.
[00:22:55] ▶Speaker 0: Speaker number three, Nola Kate Seymour.
[00:23:03] ▶Speaker 11: Hi. My name is Nola Kate Seymour. I'm now retired, but I'm the past chair of the Vancouver City Planning Commission. And the former president of the International Centre for Sustainable Cities.
[00:23:16] ▶Tonight, I want to speak to the implementation
[00:23:18] ▶of the Vancouver fifth 2050 plan, the climate action plan, and the mass timber,
[00:23:24] ▶report as they affect
[00:23:26] ▶this redevelopment
[00:23:27] ▶at 37th And Granville.
[00:23:31] ▶I also want to speak of it in the context
[00:23:34] ▶of the Granville Gateway
[00:23:37] ▶Corridor
[00:23:38] ▶because you can't simply look at this as one site.
[00:23:42] ▶Okay. I support TOD,
[00:23:44] ▶the move to increase density around transit hubs.
[00:23:48] ▶At the same time, I strongly resist
[00:23:51] ▶something that,
[00:23:52] ▶that in Vancouver 2020
[00:23:55] ▶2050, it says,
[00:23:57] ▶to get a consistency
[00:23:59] ▶of the aesthetics
[00:24:01] ▶of six story apartments
[00:24:03] ▶buildings,
[00:24:04] ▶and it appears it would go from the Fraser River to the Granville Bridge.
[00:24:08] ▶I think there's a need to soften
[00:24:10] ▶this,
[00:24:12] ▶aesthetic.
[00:24:13] ▶Psychological impact of blocks and blocks of glass and concrete buildings is very different than the impact of blocks of hedges and trees.
[00:24:21] ▶As doctor Brixton pointed out, the Granville Gateway's u visual impact on visitors
[00:24:26] ▶is the best advertisement we have for a livable, sustainable, and affordable city. I
[00:24:32] ▶believe those cedar hedges.
[00:24:35] ▶Are uniquely important to Van Goose for his image as a livable city.
[00:24:41] ▶We need to expand. You know, we've got that expression
[00:24:44] ▶view corridors.
[00:24:45] ▶We need to expand the idea of view corridors. It's not just the mountains that we should look at or the ocean.
[00:24:52] ▶It's looking down a green street
[00:24:54] ▶that has
[00:24:56] ▶if you think bio affiliate, it has a rewarding,
[00:24:59] ▶reaction.
[00:25:01] ▶And if you look at any city in Vancouver, or in fact, I've looked at them internationally for years,
[00:25:08] ▶the
[00:25:08] ▶our cedar hedges are in fact iconic.
[00:25:12] ▶They're as much part of Vancouverism or Vancouver's
[00:25:16] ▶identity,
[00:25:18] ▶as,
[00:25:19] ▶any of our things, setback buildings,
[00:25:22] ▶or
[00:25:23] ▶Okay.
[00:25:26] ▶I support the move to increase,
[00:25:29] ▶the diversity of housing types,
[00:25:31] ▶but I'm worried.
[00:25:33] ▶We're putting all of the rental housing along a major,
[00:25:37] ▶road.
[00:25:38] ▶That means renters
[00:25:40] ▶are having
[00:25:41] ▶more noise, more exhaust fumes, more pollution
[00:25:44] ▶than,
[00:25:45] ▶are anybody else. And so if you want to rent and you only have the option of renting
[00:25:51] ▶in these long linear,
[00:25:54] ▶concentrations,
[00:25:56] ▶you don't have a diversity of housing and you're discriminating
[00:26:00] ▶against renters.
[00:26:02] ▶Okay. So those pictures illustrate some of what I'm talking about. The top picture is of the development between 45th and 47th.
[00:26:12] ▶It's unfair because,
[00:26:14] ▶obviously,
[00:26:15] ▶these,
[00:26:16] ▶picture the the development
[00:26:18] ▶has not meant
[00:26:20] ▶that,
[00:26:22] ▶you can't see the finished product. But what you can see is they've removed all the hedges and all the big trees.
[00:26:29] ▶The one at the left is
[00:26:31] ▶my left, is pointing out this is the corner we're talking about, which has big trees and a really thriving,
[00:26:39] ▶cedar hedge.
[00:26:40] ▶And the other is looking down Granville
[00:26:43] ▶across the street from this development,
[00:26:46] ▶and you can see all of the cedar hedges.
[00:26:49] ▶Now it's true. It's a wall of cedar hedges,
[00:26:53] ▶but it's a pretty wall.
[00:26:54] ▶It's not a
[00:26:56] ▶a glass and concrete wall.
[00:27:00] ▶Okay.
[00:27:03] ▶What I'm suggesting,
[00:27:05] ▶it's not just,
[00:27:07] ▶not in my backyard,
[00:27:09] ▶although this is in my backyard.
[00:27:12] ▶It's
[00:27:14] ▶can the,
[00:27:16] ▶developers
[00:27:17] ▶and the council
[00:27:19] ▶retain a buffer
[00:27:20] ▶of greenery
[00:27:23] ▶to help the transition
[00:27:25] ▶to these bloody
[00:27:26] ▶big concrete blocks.
[00:27:29] ▶The apartment buildings
[00:27:31] ▶remember Pete Seeger? He used to sing little boxes, little boxes, and they're all made out of ticky tacky, and they all look just the same. Well, ours aren't
[00:27:39] ▶boxes. Ours are huge,
[00:27:43] ▶buildings,
[00:27:44] ▶and
[00:27:46] ▶they all look just the same.
[00:27:48] ▶So if you can't see them or you can't see them as one block, they're not gonna be a Stalinesque
[00:27:55] ▶fortress.
[00:27:56] ▶It will be
[00:27:57] ▶interspersed with hedges and trees.
[00:28:00] ▶I have two minutes. That's enough.
[00:28:01] ▶Awesome. But Yeah. Can can I ask you a question? Actually, you can't.
[00:28:07] ▶I can't. Oh, alright. Oh, I'm sorry. Can somebody ask me a question?
[00:28:11] ▶Speaker 0: They can.
[00:28:12] ▶And we're well over time as well. So thank you very much. Okay. Thank you for coming in.
[00:28:18] ▶Okay.
[00:28:20] ▶If there are any additional speakers in the chamber, please come forward to the podium.
[00:28:25] ▶So, Clerk, are there any additional speakers on the line?
[00:28:33] ▶Speaker 1: No. No additional speakers.
[00:28:35] ▶Speaker 0: Okay. Great. Thank you. So this is a third and final call for speakers. If there are any speakers for this item he wished to speak to counsel, please call toll free at +1 (833) 353-8610
[00:28:46] ▶followed by participant code 1061445Pound. Before the close of the
[00:28:48] ▶1061445
[00:28:50] ▶pound. Before the close of the speakers list, the phone number will be posted on acts and displayed during the recess. So we're now gonna take a two minute recess for any additional speakers,
[00:28:59] ▶to come in or to come forward or to call in.
[00:29:02] ▶Speaker 13: Thank
[00:29:13] ▶Speaker 0: you.
[00:31:21] ▶Speaker 1: We're just checking with the team in the back.
[00:31:51] ▶Yes. We have one speaker on the line with the,
[00:31:55] ▶last four digits,
[00:31:56] ▶3692.
[00:31:58] ▶Speaker 0: Okay. Great.
[00:32:00] ▶Speaker, are you on the line?
[00:32:02] ▶Yes. I am. Hi. If I can please Hello? Can you hear me? Yeah. We can hear you great. If I can please ask you for your first and last name and whether or not you're a resident in Vancouver for the record, please?
[00:32:13] ▶Speaker 12: Yes. I am. My name is Holly, and I, my last name is Safavi.
[00:32:17] ▶I live at the 1400 Block On West 37th as well.
[00:32:22] ▶Speaker 0: Thank you. Please go ahead.
[00:32:25] ▶Speaker 12: Yeah. I just wanted to also say I'm, against this project going on for the same reasons that all the other speakers
[00:32:32] ▶Speaker 14: aligned with it,
[00:32:33] ▶Speaker 12: that somebody else just the other speakers were saying. We're so worried about the density that's coming into the neighborhood, and we are worried about the safety
[00:32:42] ▶and also the parking
[00:32:43] ▶and all,
[00:32:44] ▶the other,
[00:32:47] ▶Speaker 0: Your first and last Can you hear me still? We can hear you great. Please go ahead. Okay.
[00:32:52] ▶Speaker 12: Sorry. Yeah. So, yeah,
[00:32:54] ▶basically,
[00:32:56] ▶the concerns that,
[00:32:59] ▶I don't know, like, if there is a parking mandate for these parking for these buildings. That was my question to
[00:33:05] ▶the
[00:33:06] ▶people who are proposing this project. Is there a parking mandate?
[00:33:10] ▶Can anybody answer that for me, please?
[00:33:12] ▶Speaker 0: Actually,
[00:33:14] ▶we won't be able to answer questions on this matter.
[00:33:17] ▶Speaker 12: Oh, we can't. Okay. Alright. So that was one of my big concerns that, like, you know,
[00:33:23] ▶what's gonna happen to our block? If there's 96 to whatever, if they're gonna increase it to more than I heard it was gonna be about 200 units possibly built,
[00:33:31] ▶for this project. What are people gonna do with their cars? I know you're trying to encourage people to take,
[00:33:38] ▶public transit because that's where you're planning these rental buildings, but,
[00:33:44] ▶I don't know how feasible that is. Most people in the city still have one,
[00:33:49] ▶if not two cars per family.
[00:33:52] ▶I mean, we just look around the block, each household, even some of the houses that are right beside me, they all become rental.
[00:33:58] ▶Each person who's renting has got, like, four to six cars.
[00:34:02] ▶What what is gonna happen to our block? We're losing we basically feel like we are being driven out of our residences. We came to this neighborhood about twenty years ago, fell in love with the serenity,
[00:34:14] ▶with the way the neighborhood was, nice
[00:34:17] ▶nice place to live and raise a family,
[00:34:19] ▶but it's changing so much and so fast. I mean, I feel like
[00:34:24] ▶I don't think I can live here anymore. You know? It's losing its
[00:34:29] ▶integrity.
[00:34:30] ▶There's no
[00:34:32] ▶nobody seems to care anymore what the neighborhoods are turning into,
[00:34:35] ▶and it's very sad. And we just I mean,
[00:34:40] ▶that's basically
[00:34:41] ▶my concern. What is gonna happen to us living as single residences across the sea from this big project? Are we all gonna be driven out of our homes?
[00:34:49] ▶And as the other gentleman said from Sean is the place, with these projects going onwards, nobody's gonna wanna buy our places.
[00:34:56] ▶So, I mean, I'm close to retirement,
[00:34:59] ▶and, what am I gonna do? Like, basically, my house is my everything. If nobody's gonna buy, it's my retirement. It's my,
[00:35:08] ▶it's just it's just not gonna be a desirable area to live in. And, you know, rental buildings are great, but
[00:35:15] ▶this is not the neighborhood for them. We still, like, have single residents on the other side. Anyway, that's basically what I wanna say. Completely opposed to this project unless there is some modifications that, as they say, smaller
[00:35:27] ▶smaller like, lower like, less floors, like, three less units, and a parking mandate to accommodate for the neighborhood. There's so much going on on our street as as,
[00:35:37] ▶my husband Babak mentioned, the first speaker.
[00:35:41] ▶With the school traffic, Van Dusen, and,
[00:35:44] ▶all the stuff that goes on on 37 is the bike route.
[00:35:48] ▶And,
[00:35:49] ▶a couple years ago, it was a big almost a big accident. Somebody,
[00:35:52] ▶biked it was a bike accident, and somebody almost died there, like, about
[00:35:57] ▶six years ago, and it's even not that bad yet.
[00:36:00] ▶Anyways, that's all I wanted to say. Hopefully, some of the questions we have a chance to get answers from the
[00:36:07] ▶the people who are proposing this project. And that's it. I'm done. Thank you.
[00:36:11] ▶Speaker 0: Great. Thank you very much.
[00:36:13] ▶Clerk, are there any more speakers?
[00:36:16] ▶No further speakers on the line. Okay. So seeing no further speakers, the speakers list is now closed. Clerk, has there been a large volume of public comments received on this item since 5PM?
[00:36:28] ▶No additional correspondence has been received. Great. Thank you very much. Seeing that there are no or there there are few or no public comments received after 5PM, I'm now closing their seat of public comments.
[00:36:39] ▶Does the applicant have any closing comments?
[00:36:43] ▶No? Okay. Do our team members have any closing comments?
[00:36:48] ▶Speaker 6: Staff do not have any closing comments. Thank you. Thank you.
[00:36:52] ▶Speaker 0: Does council have any final questions for our team members?
[00:36:56] ▶Counselor Orr, please go ahead. Yeah. Thanks.
[00:37:00] ▶Speaker 16: Thanks for everyone who spoke.
[00:37:03] ▶Yeah. Just regarding some of the comments that were made,
[00:37:08] ▶Reading the public input, I didn't see anything about the alley, and then,
[00:37:12] ▶I didn't see anything about parking in there, but I saw
[00:37:16] ▶that there is in response to traffic and safety concerns, engineering staff have reviewed
[00:37:21] ▶and have included rezoning conditions to deliver improvements that will address safety for all road users,
[00:37:26] ▶including a protected bike lane and upgraded street and intersection lighting.
[00:37:31] ▶So that just addresses one of the comments. But could you address,
[00:37:35] ▶a little bit on the alley and, like, the service
[00:37:38] ▶lane and,
[00:37:39] ▶a little bit on shadowing,
[00:37:42] ▶knowing that this does fall in the, SRP policy?
[00:37:49] ▶Speaker 6: Thank you for your question, counselor. I'm gonna defer this to my colleague in engineering.
[00:37:56] ▶Speaker 17: Hi, counselor. Thanks for the question. My name is Dominic Lau. I'm a senior transportation engineer with the
[00:38:02] ▶transportation development team in engineering.
[00:38:04] ▶So
[00:38:05] ▶there is a services agreement condition that this site is required to provide,
[00:38:11] ▶as you mentioned, the upgraded bike lane, but also an upgraded, lane pavement structure,
[00:38:16] ▶which should improve the the condition of the lane.
[00:38:19] ▶Otherwise, we generally have no, concerns with,
[00:38:23] ▶the lane servicing the development and future development. And what about parking?
[00:38:29] ▶Yeah. So the site, we don't have any application statistics at this point, but,
[00:38:33] ▶the site will be required to meet the provisions of the parking by law, which includes things like visitor parking, accessible parking,
[00:38:40] ▶and they may also choose to provide, parking on-site as well.
[00:38:44] ▶Speaker 16: Great. Thank you. That's all my questions. Thank you very much. Counselor Frey?
[00:38:52] ▶Speaker 2: Apologies. Yeah. Thank you.
[00:38:55] ▶Appreciate answering the questions about the parking. And, there was one comment that was brought up. Nola, Kate mentioned the the sort of green
[00:39:03] ▶aspects to arriving or driving down Granville Street, And I and I do see that there's tree replacement in this report.
[00:39:10] ▶Is is that specifically contemplating that kind
[00:39:14] ▶of green hedgerow feel along Granville Street? Is that part of this, can we imagine?
[00:39:20] ▶I don't really see anything in the report.
[00:39:29] ▶Speaker 18: Thank you for the question, counselor. Scott Erdman, senior planner in rezoning.
[00:39:34] ▶For projects like SRP,
[00:39:35] ▶we don't receive detailed architectural,
[00:39:38] ▶plans or landscape plans until the development permit stage. So at that time, we would expect to see details around, both tree retention and also, new tree planting and additional landscaping.
[00:39:52] ▶Speaker 2: Okay. So there's no really sort of standing policy
[00:39:54] ▶specifically around this green corridor idea,
[00:39:58] ▶which is helpful to know. I it's just an an organic thing that's happened, I guess.
[00:40:04] ▶Speaker 18: Vancouver does have its,
[00:40:06] ▶tree by law, which seeks to obtain trees of of a certain caliper size, and that'll be reviewed at the time of DP stage for any on-site trees.
[00:40:15] ▶Speaker 2: Yeah. Okay. I was thinking more of the the hedge thing, but that's fine. Thank you. I appreciate it.
[00:40:21] ▶Speaker 0: Great. Thank you very much. Councilor Kirby Young.
[00:40:23] ▶Speaker 19: Yeah. Thanks, mayor. Just following up on some of the previous questions. I know that, at this stage, council is approving through the form and if it's compliant with policy, but and it does reference in the report in the body in the appendix that, pursuant section 1.8 that,
[00:40:38] ▶parking, loading, bicycle, and passenger lanes
[00:40:40] ▶space quantities must be provided and maintained in accordance with the requirements of the Vancouver parking
[00:40:45] ▶bylaw. Can you,
[00:40:47] ▶just sort of,
[00:40:48] ▶specifically articulate for us for 97 units what parking might be required in the bylaw?
[00:40:57] ▶Speaker 6: Thank you for that question, counselor. I'm going to defer this to my colleague in engineering.
[00:41:03] ▶Speaker 17: Yeah. Thanks, counselor, for the question. This is Dominic again, senior transportation engineer.
[00:41:08] ▶As I mentioned, we don't have, complete statistics for what the site will propose.
[00:41:14] ▶But, generally, there are rates set out in the bylaw that kind of stipulate how many accessible parking, visible parking,
[00:41:20] ▶and loading spaces they'll need to provide.
[00:41:22] ▶Speaker 19: But, yeah, so can't completely answer your question at this time. I understand you don't have specifics, but as you said, there is sort of ratio set out in the bylaws. So you, you can give us,
[00:41:32] ▶a context with respect to ratios. Can can you not?
[00:41:36] ▶Speaker 17: Yeah. So, generally, 0.05
[00:41:38] ▶to 0.1,
[00:41:41] ▶visitor vehicle parking spaces per unit,
[00:41:44] ▶and then 0.037
[00:41:47] ▶accessible
[00:41:48] ▶spaces per unit plus one for the first seven.
[00:41:52] ▶And then loading spaces,
[00:41:54] ▶class a loading spaces, I don't fully recall off the top of my head, but they usually have to provide one up to a 100 units. And then class b loading spaces, which are the keypad vehicles, are for a 100 spaces or a 100 units and more.
[00:42:07] ▶Speaker 19: Okay. Alright. Thank you. Appreciate it.
[00:42:10] ▶Speaker 0: Thank you very much.
[00:42:12] ▶Okay. Seeing no one else in the queue, clerk, did we receive any additional public comments since the close of public comments?
[00:42:21] ▶No. Thank you. Okay.
[00:42:23] ▶So council will now make its decision on this application. Do we have a mover for the recommendations?
[00:42:29] ▶Councilor Dominato, thank you. Seconded by councilor Chill. Thank you, council. Is there any, discussion?
[00:42:38] ▶Speaker 16: Councilor Orr. Yeah. Just sort of wanted to touch on the sort of iconic hedges thing, and I appreciate that you brought it up. It's, it is an interesting thing, and I do remember as a young person coming to downtown, that was always an iconic thing. There's,
[00:42:50] ▶a book written not on the hedges, but there's a chapter on the hedges on on how they are iconic. But, I mean, I do think that depending on what side of the hedge you're on could be seen differently in terms of whether they are exclusionary or inclusionary and whether or not we wanna welcome people to this beautiful neighborhood and and have have people also enjoy it, and it can be done, you know, seamlessly. And then I don't think 96 unit is gonna destroy, you know, the the character of the neighborhood. And we need we we're in a housing crisis, and we need,
[00:43:16] ▶rental apartments all across the city. And, I think this is, you know, it's five stories, and I think it's,
[00:43:23] ▶you know, it'll be done tastefully. And I I I trust the, the next stage will you know, that that input will be taken into consideration. So thank you very much.
[00:43:31] ▶Speaker 0: Thank you.
[00:43:32] ▶Okay.
[00:43:33] ▶A reminder that any council member participating virtually whose video is disabled will be marked absent for the vote pursuant to sections or section 14.13
[00:43:43] ▶of the procedure by law. I'm now gonna call the vote. Clerk, can you please, take us to the voting panel? And counsel, can you please register your vote?
[00:43:57] ▶Alright. And that passes unanimously.
[00:44:00] ▶Thank you very
[00:44:02] ▶much.
[00:44:04] ▶Thank you. That completes item number one. Item number two, c d dash one four zero nine text amendment, 11 o nine through 1139
[00:44:13] ▶West Pender Street, and 11:22
[00:44:15] ▶through 11:52
[00:44:17] ▶West Hastings Street, formerly 1128
[00:44:20] ▶West Hastings Street. Now before we begin this agenda item, does anybody have a conflict of interest to disclose?
[00:44:28] ▶Seeing no one's hands up, the clerk's now gonna read the application and the summary of correspondence received.
[00:44:36] ▶Speaker 5: This is an application
[00:44:38] ▶by Jim Ralph of Pinnacle International
[00:44:41] ▶to amend CD dash one four zero nine
[00:44:44] ▶by law for the Marriott Pinnacle Hotel sites
[00:44:48] ▶located at 1109
[00:44:50] ▶To 1139
[00:44:52] ▶West Penda Street
[00:44:54] ▶and 1122
[00:44:55] ▶To 1152
[00:44:57] ▶West Hastings Street,
[00:44:59] ▶formerly 1128
[00:45:00] ▶West Hastings Street.
[00:45:02] ▶An increase to the total maximum floor area
[00:45:05] ▶from 7.92
[00:45:07] ▶FSR
[00:45:09] ▶to 7.93
[00:45:11] ▶FSR
[00:45:12] ▶to allow for an additional
[00:45:13] ▶sorry. For allow
[00:45:16] ▶to allow for an addition
[00:45:18] ▶to the existing restaurant
[00:45:20] ▶is proposed.
[00:45:21] ▶The general manager of planning, urban design, and sustainability
[00:45:26] ▶recommends approval
[00:45:28] ▶subject to conditions set out in the summary and recommendation.
[00:45:32] ▶There has been no correspondence
[00:45:34] ▶received since referral to public hearing.
[00:45:37] ▶This represents
[00:45:38] ▶all correspondence
[00:45:39] ▶received up to 5PM today.
[00:45:43] ▶Speaker 0: Thank you. So now this is the first call for speakers. Any speakers for this item who wish to speak to counsel, please call toll free at +1 (833) 353-8610
[00:45:52] ▶followed by participant code 1061445Pound
[00:45:56] ▶before the close of the speakers list. The phone number will be posted on accident display during the recess. There will be an opportunity for new speakers and missed speakers to be heard at the end of the registered speakers list. We do have team members from planning, urban design, and sustainability
[00:46:11] ▶to hear to present their presentation.
[00:46:13] ▶I do wanna note that there are no registered speakers for this item, so council may waive the presentation unless,
[00:46:19] ▶members wish to see it.
[00:46:22] ▶K. Councilor,
[00:46:24] ▶Meissner.
[00:46:25] ▶Second by,
[00:46:26] ▶councilor Orr. Any discussion?
[00:46:29] ▶Great.
[00:46:30] ▶All the all those in favor say yay.
[00:46:33] ▶All those opposed say nay. Great. The presentation, which I know would have been incredibly awesome, has been waived.
[00:46:40] ▶Would the applicant like to present the application if in attendance?
[00:46:47] ▶Speaker 3: Oh, hi, Mirasim.
[00:46:48] ▶Jim Rolfe here from Pinnacle.
[00:46:50] ▶I've nothing to present,
[00:46:52] ▶but,
[00:46:53] ▶if you have any questions,
[00:46:54] ▶Speaker 0: shoot away. Great. Thank you very much.
[00:46:58] ▶Are there any questions from council to our team members or the applicant noting that this is the only opportunity for the for council to ask questions of the applicant?
[00:47:08] ▶Seeing no one in the queue,
[00:47:11] ▶this is the second call for speakers. If there are any speakers for this item who wish to speak to counsel,
[00:47:16] ▶please call toll free at +1 (833) 353-8610
[00:47:20] ▶followed by part tips participant code 1061445
[00:47:24] ▶pound before the close of the speaker's list. The phone number will be posted on and displayed during the recess.
[00:47:29] ▶So we're now gonna hear from the public. Speakers will have up to five minutes to make their comments and should limit their comments to the merits of the report being considered. Clerk, do we have any speakers, on the line or in person to provide comments on this item?
[00:47:44] ▶There are no speakers on the line. K. Thank you. If there are any additional speakers in the chamber, please come forward to the podium.
[00:47:52] ▶Clerk, are there any additional speakers on the line?
[00:47:58] ▶No.
[00:47:59] ▶Okay. This is the third and final call for speakers. If there are any speakers for this item who wish to speak to counsel, please call toll free at 1833,
[00:48:07] ▶353-8610
[00:48:09] ▶followed by participant code 1061445
[00:48:12] ▶pound before the close of the speakers list. The phone number will be posted on next and displayed during the recess. So we're now gonna take another two minute recess for any additional speakers to call in or come forward to the podium.
[00:50:37] ▶Okay. So, Clerk, do we have any additional speakers in the chamber or online?
[00:50:41] ▶We do not. Okay. Seeing no further speakers, the speakers list is now closed. Clerk, has there been a large volume of public comments received on this item since 5PM?
[00:50:53] ▶No correspondence has been received. Seeing that thank you very much. Seeing that, there were few or no public comments received after 5PM, I'm now closing the receipt of public comments.
[00:51:04] ▶Does the applicant have any closing comments?
[00:51:11] ▶No closing comments. Thank you very much. Do our team members have any closing comments?
[00:51:17] ▶Staff has no comments. Thank you. Thank you. Does council have any final questions for our team members? Councilor Montague, please go ahead.
[00:51:26] ▶Speaker 3: Yes. Sorry, Mary. Just noting on the x panel, it shows the last,
[00:51:30] ▶address application. The Granville Street doesn't have the
[00:51:34] ▶this item on the x panel. Don't know if that's an issue for the voting.
[00:51:40] ▶Speaker 0: Just changed.
[00:51:42] ▶Okay.
[00:51:46] ▶Great. Thank you. Great. Thank you, councilor.
[00:51:53] ▶In one moment. So, clerk, did we receive any additional public comments since the close of public comments?
[00:52:02] ▶No.
[00:52:03] ▶Thank you. So council will now make its decision on the application, and we do have a mover or the mover of the recommendations. And councilor Kirby Young, do we have a seconder?
[00:52:13] ▶Thank you, councilor Joe. Council members, is there any discussion?
[00:52:19] ▶K.
[00:52:20] ▶A reminder once again that, any council member participating virtually whose video is disabled
[00:52:26] ▶will be marked absent for the vote pursuant to section 14.13
[00:52:30] ▶of the procedure by law. I'm now gonna call the vote. If we can please, go to the voting screen. And, counsel, if you can register your vote, please, that would be great.
[00:52:44] ▶Great. And that passes unanimously, and that completes item number two. Thank you very much for all your hard work on it.
[00:52:52] ▶K. Item number three,
[00:52:54] ▶CD dash one rezoning. 1167
[00:52:56] ▶through 1191
[00:52:58] ▶or sorry, 1193
[00:52:59] ▶Granville Street. Before we begin this agenda item, if anyone believes they have a conflict of interest, now is the time to disclose it. Would anybody like to declare a conflict?
[00:53:09] ▶K. Seeing no hands up, the clerk's now gonna read the application and summary of correspondence received.
[00:53:20] ▶Speaker 5: This is an application
[00:53:21] ▶by Musen, Katell, McKay, MCM
[00:53:25] ▶partnership
[00:53:26] ▶to rezone
[00:53:27] ▶1167
[00:53:29] ▶To 1193
[00:53:30] ▶Granville Street from DD Downtown District
[00:53:34] ▶to CD Dash 1 Comprehensive
[00:53:36] ▶Development District
[00:53:38] ▶to permit the developments of a 33 story hotel building containing
[00:53:42] ▶464
[00:53:44] ▶hotel units,
[00:53:45] ▶a floor space ratio,
[00:53:47] ▶FRS,
[00:53:48] ▶of 20.7
[00:53:50] ▶and a height of 110
[00:53:53] ▶meters, 360
[00:53:54] ▶feet are proposed.
[00:53:56] ▶The general manager of planning, urban design, and sustainability
[00:54:01] ▶recommends approval
[00:54:03] ▶subject to conditions
[00:54:04] ▶set out in the summary and recommendation
[00:54:07] ▶and the yellow memo dated 12/17/2025
[00:54:12] ▶entitled
[00:54:13] ▶CD dash one rezoning
[00:54:16] ▶1167
[00:54:18] ▶to 1193
[00:54:19] ▶Granville Street,
[00:54:20] ▶amendments to modify rezoning conditions.
[00:54:24] ▶The following correspondence
[00:54:26] ▶has been received
[00:54:27] ▶since referral to public hearing.
[00:54:30] ▶Nine pieces of correspondence
[00:54:32] ▶in support,
[00:54:34] ▶12 pieces of correspondence
[00:54:36] ▶in oppose,
[00:54:37] ▶and one piece of correspondence
[00:54:40] ▶dealing with other aspects
[00:54:41] ▶of the application.
[00:54:43] ▶This represents
[00:54:45] ▶all correspondence
[00:54:46] ▶received by received up to 5PM today.
[00:54:50] ▶Speaker 0: Thank you very much. Now this is the first call for speakers. Any speakers for this item who wish to speak to council, please call toll free at +1 (833) 353-8610,
[00:55:00] ▶followed by participant code 1061445
[00:55:03] ▶pound before the close of the speakers list. The phone number will be posted on x and displayed during the recess. There will be an opportunity for new speakers and missed speakers to be heard at the end of the register speakers list.
[00:55:15] ▶We do have team members from planning, urban design, and sustainability here to present the application.
[00:55:23] ▶Speaker 7: Great.
[00:55:24] ▶Good evening, mayor and council,
[00:55:26] ▶and members of the public. My name is Ricardo Pedji. I'm the planner assigned to the rezoning application at 1167
[00:55:34] ▶to 1193
[00:55:35] ▶Granville Street.
[00:55:37] ▶Staff would like to note there is a yellow memo attached to this report, and action
[00:55:42] ▶is required by council on the memo,
[00:55:44] ▶which recommends changes to conditions
[00:55:47] ▶in appendix b of the report.
[00:55:50] ▶The changes are to remove transportation
[00:55:52] ▶demand management requirements
[00:55:54] ▶and to amend the public our cash in lieu of art amount.
[00:55:59] ▶The subject site is located at the Northwest corner of the intersection of Granville Street and Davie Street.
[00:56:06] ▶The site is made up of six individual lots all zoned downtown district
[00:56:12] ▶and currently developed with commercial uses fronting on Granville Street.
[00:56:17] ▶The site,
[00:56:18] ▶backs onto laneway,
[00:56:20] ▶that is accessed off of Davie
[00:56:23] ▶Street. The site is located in the Granville Entertainment District, and surrounding uses include a mix of hotels, commercial, and cultural uses.
[00:56:31] ▶Northwest of the site across the laneway is a 28 story strata residential tower constructed in 1994.
[00:56:41] ▶The site is eligible for rezoning under the downtown rezoning policy and falls within the Granville Entertainment District marked by the area k.
[00:56:51] ▶This sub area supports the development of non residential uses,
[00:56:55] ▶such as hotels.
[00:56:57] ▶The maximum height is limited by the applicable,
[00:57:00] ▶public view cone and the overall density is determined by urban design performance.
[00:57:08] ▶The rezoning was also reviewed against the Granville Street plan and the hotel development policy, both of which support a hotel development in this location.
[00:57:19] ▶This proposal is to rezone,
[00:57:22] ▶the site to a comprehensive
[00:57:23] ▶development district
[00:57:25] ▶to enable the development of a 33 story hotel with a maximum height of 110
[00:57:30] ▶meters and a density of 20.7
[00:57:33] ▶FSR.
[00:57:34] ▶The hotel will contain 464
[00:57:37] ▶rooms along with amenities
[00:57:39] ▶such as a Ground Floor,
[00:57:41] ▶lounge area, restaurant, and meeting rooms.
[00:57:47] ▶Following submission of the rezoning application,
[00:57:50] ▶a virtual open house was held from, November 22 to 12/05/2023,
[00:57:56] ▶and 71 pieces of correspondence
[00:57:59] ▶have been received.
[00:58:01] ▶Public feedback and support of the rezoning found that the development,
[00:58:05] ▶would help to revitalize
[00:58:06] ▶and enhance,
[00:58:07] ▶the Granville Street Entertainment District and help address the shortage of hotels in Vancouver more broadly.
[00:58:15] ▶Some also noted the benefit of locating the proposal in proximity
[00:58:19] ▶to downtown amenities and transit.
[00:58:22] ▶Some concerns were also expressed.
[00:58:24] ▶The first was related to the height of the building,
[00:58:27] ▶in the current context of Granville Street, and that the tower form would cause shadowing on the public realm.
[00:58:33] ▶Staff can confirm that the proposed height and massing are consistent with applicable policies.
[00:58:40] ▶Some commenters prefer to see the site developed with housing,
[00:58:44] ▶staff point to land use policies which support the development of commercial uses such as hotels,
[00:58:51] ▶and further, the hotel development policy
[00:58:54] ▶identifies a significant need and demand for hotels in Vancouver.
[00:58:59] ▶Lastly, there are concerns that the development will negatively impact congestion on Davie Street and affect transit pick up and drop off points.
[00:59:07] ▶Engineering staff reviewed the proposal and do not anticipate
[00:59:11] ▶significant impacts to the street network.
[00:59:13] ▶The site is required to provide vehicle and bike parking and passenger loading for the parking by law,
[00:59:20] ▶and further the site's location
[00:59:23] ▶provides excellent access to transit, walking, and cycling.
[00:59:29] ▶The public
[00:59:30] ▶benefits from this application
[00:59:32] ▶consist of a cash CAC
[00:59:34] ▶based on the commercial linkage fee, DCLs,
[00:59:38] ▶and a public art contribution
[00:59:40] ▶with a total value of $17,700,000
[00:59:46] ▶In summary staff recommends approval of this application,
[00:59:50] ▶subject to the conditions outlined in Appendix B as it is supported by the Downtown Rezoning Policy,
[00:59:56] ▶Granville Street plan, and hotel development policy.
[01:00:00] ▶This concludes my presentation. Both staff and the applicant team are available to answer questions.
[01:00:06] ▶Speaker 0: Thank you very much.
[01:00:08] ▶Would the applicant like to present the application?
[01:00:18] ▶Speaker 21: Good evening, mayor and council.
[01:00:21] ▶My name is Mark Whitehead, and I am a partner at the Musson Knoellmaki Partnership.
[01:00:26] ▶Architects for 1167
[01:00:28] ▶To 1193
[01:00:29] ▶Granville Street. And I'm speaking to you on behalf of the applicant team,
[01:00:34] ▶including D Corp,
[01:00:35] ▶who is the long term owner of the property at Granville And Davie Streets.
[01:00:40] ▶We would like to thank city staff for their excellent work on this rezoning application.
[01:00:46] ▶We have reviewed and accept all the rezoning
[01:00:48] ▶conditions in this report.
[01:00:51] ▶We would also like to thank city council for your exceptional leadership in the revitalization
[01:00:56] ▶of Granville Street,
[01:00:58] ▶including your recent approval
[01:00:59] ▶of the Granville Street planning and hotel development policy.
[01:01:03] ▶They have made this significant hotel pro proposal possible.
[01:01:09] ▶E Corp shares your vision for a vibrant and exciting,
[01:01:13] ▶thriving
[01:01:14] ▶Vancouver oh, sorry, Granville Street that is attractive and safe for visitors,
[01:01:19] ▶businesses, and residences alike.
[01:01:23] ▶The proposal before you meets all of the recently approved policies and plans for Granville Street.
[01:01:28] ▶The pro proposal also benefits from the policy incentives that this council has introduced
[01:01:34] ▶to support hotel development in Vancouver,
[01:01:36] ▶including built foreign policies that allow for larger hotel floor plates
[01:01:41] ▶that make hotel development viable.
[01:01:45] ▶E Corp would also like to graciously thank the city council for your continued leadership and collaboration
[01:01:50] ▶with local businesses,
[01:01:52] ▶destination Vancouver,
[01:01:54] ▶VPD, the province,
[01:01:56] ▶to resolve street disorder and revitalize Granville Street
[01:02:00] ▶as a vibrant, exciting, and welcoming heart of Downtown Vancouver.
[01:02:06] ▶Thanks. Thank you once again to mayor, council, and city staff for your support.
[01:02:11] ▶I'm here with several members of the applicant team should you have any further questions. Great. Thank you very much.
[01:02:18] ▶Speaker 0: Are there any questions from council to our team members or the applicant noting that this is the only opportunity for council to ask questions of the app
[01:02:25] ▶councilor Kirby Young?
[01:02:27] ▶Speaker 19: Yeah. Thanks, mayor. I'm gonna direct my first questions to the applicant. And,
[01:02:32] ▶as you referenced, council has made it a priority to try to address the shortage of hotel rooms in the city, which was, I think, quantified by Destination Vancouver studies at about 10,000 rooms. This is 04/1964.
[01:02:44] ▶You referenced some of the changes to Granville Street plan and the hotel policy. Can you give us sort of more detail on any specific aspects of that policy,
[01:02:52] ▶whether it's I know this one has a larger floor plate, for example. A floor plate is a major point. The commercial linkage fee. I'm just wondering, like, what is was it a combination of factors? Are there a couple of factors that are more significant? What what sort of came together to make a project viable to deliver a stand alone hotel? I I
[01:03:09] ▶Speaker 21: as an architect, the the the height and the the the massing in the floor plate,
[01:03:14] ▶were the major factors.
[01:03:16] ▶I confess, the linkage fees and stuff, I don't think I could specifically speak to.
[01:03:22] ▶Speaker 19: Okay. And with respects to the floor plate, because I know this has,
[01:03:27] ▶suggests has banquet or meeting facilities. Is that correct? Is that For sure. We have a three floor difference? Is it the number of rooms? I'm just just looking for a little bit more
[01:03:37] ▶Speaker 21: color on that. Sure. The the podium is is three floors,
[01:03:40] ▶with the the base being the the reception area with,
[01:03:44] ▶you
[01:03:45] ▶know, bar lounge area and also loading
[01:03:48] ▶and drop off. Next floor up is restaurant and, meeting spaces, and then there's a third floor. There's all meeting spaces with back of house,
[01:03:56] ▶sprinkled in at the back northwest corner of those, followed by a spa floor.
[01:04:02] ▶We have, I think believe it's eight floors of
[01:04:05] ▶straightforward hotel, then then,
[01:04:08] ▶20 floors of,
[01:04:10] ▶long state long term stay surmounted by a,
[01:04:14] ▶Speaker 19: again, an amenity space at the top of the building. Okay. I I I understand. I appreciate that in terms of, to the vision of design. I don't know if there's anybody else in the team that wants to speak to some of the more of the policy mechanics around
[01:04:26] ▶the commercial linkage we had. I know those accounts conversation council previously about excluding back of house space, that intersection. So I'm just I'm looking to sort of get feedback as some of the first projects we've had come forward in terms of how these policy levers or changes are actually factoring into the viability of a project. Sure. Good evening, mayor and council. Kevin McNaney, city planning consultant on this project.
[01:04:46] ▶Speaker 23: The policy has definitely helped, as Mark mentioned, in terms of heightened density. In terms of the linkage fee, excluding things like, meeting space, convention space, back of house, sales offices,
[01:04:57] ▶help to,
[01:05:00] ▶make the performer more whole, so they don't tend to generate revenue.
[01:05:04] ▶So that was a big factor as well as the consideration of the site.
[01:05:07] ▶And, also, they encouraged
[01:05:09] ▶additional meeting space, which is something destination Vancouver and staff are looking for. So by reducing those fees, increasing the height, allowing larger floor plates, they all came together to make this project viable thanks to council's hotel policy.
[01:05:21] ▶Speaker 19: Okay. And by way of follow-up, having that,
[01:05:24] ▶I I know sort of you we'll hear probably later from some other speakers, but having hotels that also have meeting space also impacts the ability for what kind of events we can bid on and what kind of travelers can come to Vancouver. Does it not? So conferences,
[01:05:36] ▶business meetings, that kind of thing as opposed to if it's not viable to include the space, then you have just a rooms hotel and that eliminate some of those opportunities?
[01:05:44] ▶Speaker 23: Absolutely. This space would be able to host some of the smaller events that wouldn't necessarily
[01:05:48] ▶make use of the convention center or secondary events for large conventions that come to Vancouver, like, destination Vancouver will speak to and to have smaller association based events at this hotel. So it creates an opportunity for a different type of space that fills out Vancouver's hotel spectrum.
[01:06:05] ▶Speaker 19: Okay. And then a follow-up question in terms of is this intended to be a branded flagged hotel that would be operated by a known brand? Yes. It is. And we're just working on that today, these days. We're not able to share it. That's this point. No. We're still working on all that. Okay. I'll leave it there. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Councilor Meisner. Yeah. Thanks.
[01:06:21] ▶Speaker 4: I'm wondering if you could talk a little bit more about the food and beverage and the restaurant bar and stuff on the lower level.
[01:06:29] ▶Just wondering what sort of details you can share around those spaces because, obviously, it's on Granville Street.
[01:06:34] ▶I imagine you would want to attract,
[01:06:37] ▶Speaker 23: people that are not necessarily staying at the hotel that may just be out on Granville Street. So I'm wondering if you could chat about that. For sure. A big part of the Granville plan is to intensify those first few stories of Granville Street and keep them active. So by design, the architect had lots of glazing transparency
[01:06:53] ▶visual connection to the street for the first definitely three or four levels, including the meeting spaces. So to really create a vibrant interface with the street,
[01:07:02] ▶the street wall of the restaurant is intended to open in the future. That's our vision to allow sort of inside outside,
[01:07:09] ▶interaction and public realm. So we really see it as a way to hold that corner
[01:07:14] ▶between Davie and Granville, that key corner as the Davie Village comes into the Granville Entertainment District and bring the energy around to revitalize the street. That's great. So the restaurant's on the Ground Floor. Is that right? Okay. I like the idea of the window opening.
[01:07:29] ▶Speaker 4: How about the lane,
[01:07:30] ▶Speaker 23: treatment in terms of, like, pickup and drop off? What are you planning there? It is a critical piece of Granville Street. From the Granville plan, it's intended to be pedestrians focused as you know. So the loading into the hotel for guests and all their luggage is from the lane.
[01:07:44] ▶The architect and landscape architect have made an effort to beautify the lane, to add some greenery, to add some, interesting lighting,
[01:07:51] ▶to add some, a sense of arrival to the space, which will really help that lane, including for adjacent residents. Yeah. It's not looking too hot right now, so that's good news. It'll improve greatly. Great. Okay. Thank you. Appreciate it.
[01:08:04] ▶Speaker 16: Thank you. Councilor Orr? Yeah. Thanks. Just sort of following up a little bit of on the on the restaurant sort of thing. I mean, it's,
[01:08:10] ▶I'll I'll leave it to maybe councilor Frey if he wishes to sort of wax reminiscing me about Suihang Village and cold tea and and,
[01:08:18] ▶the dumpling window on Davie Street, which was, which was, you know, part of my, growing up here for sure. But, yeah, it was exciting that it'll that it'll activate Granville. But just a little bit more on the architecture that of of that of that it's quite an art art deco sort of piece. I've looked at I'm just looking over the the renderings. It looks like you're trying to sort of include some of that. Can you speak to the just how you're,
[01:08:39] ▶sort of preserving that heritage or acknowledging it? Or Well, the
[01:08:45] ▶Speaker 21: many of the buildings in including the Saint Helens Hotel immediately next door are based on the Edwardian commercial style, which you'll find up and down Granville Street. So a definite base shaft cap aspect to it that you'll see in the in the podium development.
[01:09:00] ▶But the,
[01:09:01] ▶the the corners of the base, in essence, becomes the canopy. There's another corners at the top that surmounts the top level of, of meeting space.
[01:09:09] ▶And I'll just add to what Kevin had said. We're we're looking for actually active sliders all the way up the building in the podium so that you could be in a conference room at the 3rd Floor and still engage with,
[01:09:21] ▶or at least see people, and people see you from the street.
[01:09:25] ▶Speaker 16: Perfect. Yeah. Thanks. And then just you mentioned,
[01:09:27] ▶the longer term stays.
[01:09:31] ▶Kind of a long shot here, but is there any sort of, consideration given to, you know, hotel workers, you know, that often have to travel, you know, long distances from the suburbs and, you know, any sort of, housing accommodations for them at all? Is that being talked about? No housing accommodations.
[01:09:48] ▶Speaker 21: That, I guess, could change with an operator. We don't necessarily anticipate it. Mhmm. I mean, they do have their change facilities, lounge,
[01:09:55] ▶their own dining area. Mhmm.
[01:09:58] ▶Fairly well appointed with light from the lane, given the depth of the site. There's easy access to windows. Perfect. Okay. Thanks. Yeah. That's all my questions for the applicant. And then just there is there is,
[01:10:09] ▶Speaker 16: a question for staff just there on there is tenants,
[01:10:13] ▶but they they don't they don't qualify for TRPP. Just can you go over that a little bit?
[01:10:19] ▶Says there's four units of primary rental, but no eligible tenants. Just if you could
[01:10:26] ▶Speaker 7: yes. Through you,
[01:10:29] ▶that's, that's correct. There aren't
[01:10:32] ▶any eligible tenants, but there are four
[01:10:36] ▶rental units on-site.
[01:10:38] ▶We do have a housing staff
[01:10:41] ▶here that can also,
[01:10:43] ▶speak to that.
[01:10:49] ▶Speaker 0: I can
[01:10:52] ▶Speaker 6: Hi. Yvonne Hee having planner.
[01:10:55] ▶There are four units on this site, but at the time of the rezoning application, none of the,
[01:11:01] ▶none of the people who are residing there met the qualifications to be eligible for the TRP.
[01:11:08] ▶Speaker 0: Okay.
[01:11:09] ▶Speaker 16: Thanks.
[01:11:10] ▶That's all my questions.
[01:11:11] ▶Speaker 24: Thank you very much. Councilor Joe. Yeah. Thanks, mayor. So, I think it's much needed in the hotel project in downtown. So my question to staff is about tower separation.
[01:11:20] ▶So it looks like the, the separation for the,
[01:11:23] ▶for the Northwest Building is okay. But for the Northeast,
[01:11:27] ▶it seem it seems like the setback is,
[01:11:29] ▶much less compared to the required,
[01:11:32] ▶setback,
[01:11:33] ▶the threshold.
[01:11:34] ▶So what will be the, challenge for the future development on the Northeast?
[01:11:41] ▶Speaker 25: Thank you for the question.
[01:11:43] ▶Amit Shayan, development planner for this project.
[01:11:46] ▶Staff typically reviewed the old tower suppression in a full block. As you mentioned,
[01:11:52] ▶the proposed separation from the
[01:11:55] ▶Northeast,
[01:11:56] ▶property is less than what is typically required, but,
[01:12:01] ▶the thing is we are requesting,
[01:12:04] ▶the required setback from the future development in this block, which is a nonresidential
[01:12:09] ▶in the future. So
[01:12:11] ▶based on the new requirement, 50 feet separation
[01:12:15] ▶is,
[01:12:16] ▶sufficient. So we are looking to have this required,
[01:12:19] ▶setback
[01:12:21] ▶overall between this building and the future development.
[01:12:24] ▶As we assess,
[01:12:26] ▶the adjacent lot have they have the room to adjust the
[01:12:30] ▶shortage of this, separation
[01:12:32] ▶and have this extra six feet for their lot without any,
[01:12:36] ▶compromising of their development.
[01:12:38] ▶Speaker 24: They have to set back even more to accommodate this, 60 feet separation. Right? Yes. Yes. They have. Would that pose any challenge for the future development on the other land?
[01:12:49] ▶Speaker 25: No. Because,
[01:12:50] ▶we don't know exactly the
[01:12:53] ▶lot consolidation for the future development.
[01:12:56] ▶Mhmm. So we are reviewing for that one, and we are considering that one to make sure that we have the separation the required separation from the existing,
[01:13:03] ▶Speaker 24: from this development and the future development adjacent. So Okay. So normally, two development, they will just start back half in order to maintain that. Is that a guideline, or is that a requirement we have to do? This is a recommendation.
[01:13:17] ▶Speaker 25: This is a guideline. This is not a policy requirement.
[01:13:20] ▶The requirement is separation.
[01:13:23] ▶Okay. And then if it is hotel to hotel, it is 50 feet. If it is hotel to residential, it is 60 feet. So the separation is a requirement.
[01:13:31] ▶But we can adjust the separation between two lots to make sure that we don't compromise the development for each of them. Okay. Sometimes we cannot split it equally.
[01:13:41] ▶Speaker 24: Okay. And because of it's, actually not very fair for another future development
[01:13:46] ▶as we acknowledge. But will this post any legal challenge for the city
[01:13:50] ▶to make sure that the other law cannot be developed because of the setback issue?
[01:13:56] ▶Speaker 25: We we definitely that's part of our, review. This is very important for us to make sure there is no
[01:14:03] ▶challenges for the future development on the adjacent site. Okay. And we wanna make sure there wouldn't be any,
[01:14:09] ▶legal challenges for us.
[01:14:11] ▶But we as I mentioned,
[01:14:13] ▶it hasn't been specified the number of lots that will be
[01:14:17] ▶consolidated for the future development. That's a part of our consideration to make sure that this one has been considered to,
[01:14:24] ▶have a viable development at the adjacent side. Okay. Perfect. Thank you. That's all my questions. Thanks, mayor. Thank you very much. Councilor Maloney?
[01:14:31] ▶Speaker 26: Thanks. Yeah. I'm interested in hearing more about, from the applicant about the percentage of,
[01:14:37] ▶long term stay
[01:14:39] ▶rooms. I I'm interested. It says, 40%
[01:14:42] ▶of the pro,
[01:14:43] ▶proposed hotel rooms are for short term stays with the remainder for long term stays. And I I'm I've relocated internationally with my family a number of times and stayed in accommodation
[01:14:55] ▶long term accommodation like this.
[01:14:58] ▶So I'm quite interested in hearing what influenced that percentage.
[01:15:02] ▶Speaker 23: Sure, counselor.
[01:15:04] ▶That's fine. There's a there's definitely a demand for long term stay accommodation as well. It's effectively sometimes slightly larger suites with a small cooking
[01:15:13] ▶space, a small fridge, that type of thing, less housekeeping, etcetera.
[01:15:17] ▶But it plays a critical role in relocation for businesses in Vancouver when their their
[01:15:22] ▶employees are coming to town, a critical role for people who are studying here maybe for a month or two in training for somewhere to stay and not a night to night hotel to be a little more settled.
[01:15:32] ▶And for film and tech, it also has a late huge role. So there's a market out there for long term stay. It's also a market for things like people who are renovating. It takes pressure off, rental stock, and they can move out for a month or two, renovate their home in Vancouver and go back in. So that's the type of role we see that space is playing in the hotel economy. And you feel as though there's enough, call for that for it to be the the 60% of the rooms?
[01:15:57] ▶Yeah. And we intend that to be flexible based on market demand. There will be two brands, but we can shift demand, for example, during the summer when there may be more demand for,
[01:16:06] ▶Speaker 26: single night accommodation types of space. So I suppose there's nothing to stop those rooms being used for short term accommodation? No. Nothing at all. Yeah.
[01:16:14] ▶Speaker 0: Thanks. That's very interesting. Thank you. Thank you very much. Okay.
[01:16:21] ▶So here we go. This is the second call for speakers. If there are any speakers for this item, he wished to speak to counsel.
[01:16:26] ▶Please call toll free at +1 (833) 353-8610
[01:16:30] ▶followed by participant code 1061445
[01:16:34] ▶before the close of the speakers list. The phone number will be posted on next and displayed during the recess.
[01:16:40] ▶We'll now hear from the public. Any registered speakers in the council chamber, please come forward to the podium on the left side of the public gallery,
[01:16:48] ▶when your name is called. Phone and speakers will be unmuted when your name is called.
[01:16:54] ▶Speakers will have up to five minutes to make their comments and should limit their comments to the merits of the report being considered. So our first speaker today is speaker number one, Jane Talbot.
[01:17:06] ▶Speaker 14: Good evening, mayor and council. My name is Jane Talbot. I'm the president and CEO of the Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association,
[01:17:14] ▶last formally referred to as Downtown Man.
[01:17:17] ▶I'm calling in this evening to express our support for the proposed hotel development at 1167
[01:17:23] ▶To 1193
[01:17:24] ▶Granville Street.
[01:17:26] ▶Revitalization
[01:17:27] ▶of the Granville Entertainment District is an urgent priority for Downtown Van and our members.
[01:17:33] ▶Several blocks of the street experience
[01:17:35] ▶significantly
[01:17:36] ▶lower daytime pedestrian activity than surrounding areas, and it creates real challenges for street from businesses and for the overall safety and vitality
[01:17:46] ▶of the district.
[01:17:48] ▶A major hotel at this location would be a meaningful step towards addressing that challenge.
[01:17:54] ▶Hotels are uniquely positioned to activate streets and support local services and cultural venues.
[01:18:00] ▶This project would be a critical
[01:18:04] ▶and so important catalyst in reestablishing
[01:18:07] ▶Granville as a dynamic and welcoming entertainment district. It would bring consistent foot traffic
[01:18:13] ▶with support surrounding businesses, and it would contribute to a stronger sense of activity and safety throughout the day and night.
[01:18:21] ▶From a broader city perspective,
[01:18:23] ▶this pro this proposal also helps fill a gap in Vancouver's hospitality infrastructure.
[01:18:29] ▶As a global destination,
[01:18:31] ▶demand for hotel rooms continues to exceed supply, particularly during peak seasons.
[01:18:37] ▶We believe this application aligns with the intent of the Granville plan and that it is overall
[01:18:42] ▶positive for the city of Vancouver and certainly for downtown, and we respectfully urge council to support this rezoning. Thank you.
[01:18:49] ▶Speaker 0: Great. Thank you very much. Speaker number two is Marcus,
[01:18:53] ▶Billieu.
[01:18:56] ▶I pronounced your name properly.
[01:18:59] ▶Speaker 27: Thank you. Good evening, mayor and council. My name is Marcus Beaulieu. I am speaking here on behalf of Unite Here Local forty, Vancouver's hospitality union,
[01:19:08] ▶to oppose this rezoning
[01:19:10] ▶because it represents a clear choice, hotels over homes.
[01:19:14] ▶This proposal asked council to allow a 33 story tower, not for housing,
[01:19:18] ▶but for a 464
[01:19:20] ▶room hotel.
[01:19:22] ▶That is an enormous public concession of land value in the middle of a housing crisis,
[01:19:27] ▶and it delivers, once again, zero homes.
[01:19:30] ▶A supposed shortage of hotels is not a crisis.
[01:19:33] ▶The real crisis is working families and young people being driven away from the city because housing costs are out of reach.
[01:19:41] ▶Has the city given any thought to where the workforce for this proposed hotel will actually live?
[01:19:47] ▶Vancouver is short on affordable housing. Workers are being pushed out because they cannot afford to live anywhere near they work.
[01:19:55] ▶This project does nothing to afford
[01:19:58] ▶this project does not address affordability. It does not
[01:20:02] ▶create secure rental housing. It does nothing to support families, seniors, or low income workers who want to build a life in this city.
[01:20:09] ▶Once the site is locked into hotel use, it has lost housing for decades.
[01:20:14] ▶If the city is willing to approve a 33 story tower here, then it should demand affordable homes and below market rentals, not more hotel rooms.
[01:20:23] ▶At a time when developers have contributed to a glut of residential stratas and commercial office space in the city, they're now turning to hotel use because they view it as a more financial
[01:20:33] ▶viability venture,
[01:20:35] ▶and the city is rewarding it, rewarding them for it.
[01:20:39] ▶The developer behind this proposal, d corp, benefit from the city's giveaway to hotel developers,
[01:20:44] ▶which reduces the community amen amenity
[01:20:47] ▶contributions they're required to pay to the city.
[01:20:50] ▶In simple terms, that means more money in the developer's pocket and fewer public benefits for Vancouver residents.
[01:20:57] ▶I must ask, why does d corp need a handout from the city?
[01:21:01] ▶City staff should disclose the value of the break that d corp will receive from the reduced CAC so that the public knows the dollar amount lost to the public
[01:21:09] ▶in public benefits.
[01:21:12] ▶The proposed development, as mentioned, will not be replacing the residential units lost in the proposal.
[01:21:18] ▶Furthermore, on d corp, in the summer of twenty twenty three,
[01:21:22] ▶e corp tried to evict a long term tenant from another residential building they owned while its vacant units in the same building were listed on Airbnb
[01:21:31] ▶for $5,000
[01:21:32] ▶a month.
[01:21:33] ▶Ecop also made headlines for devising a way to shelter an ultra luxury residential building for billionaires
[01:21:40] ▶from having to pay the foreign buyers property transfer tax or the empty homes tax.
[01:21:45] ▶Are these the type of investors we want in our city in the middle of a housing crisis?
[01:21:50] ▶City policy threatens to saturate the city with too many hotels built by wealthy developers.
[01:21:55] ▶Meanwhile, workers are priced out of Vancouver because they can't afford to live here.
[01:22:00] ▶We're asking council to reject this rezoning as proposed and require affordable housing on the site.
[01:22:06] ▶The city of Vancouver should prioritize
[01:22:09] ▶building affordable homes and other policies that improve affordability over the needs of wealthy real estate investors and the real estate place. Thank you.
[01:22:18] ▶Speaker 0: Great. Thank you very much.
[01:22:20] ▶Speaker number three is, Gwendel
[01:22:23] ▶Castellan.
[01:22:27] ▶Speaker 15: Good evening, mayor and council.
[01:22:29] ▶Thank you for the opportunity to speak. My name is Wendell Caslan. I'm the manager of sustainable destination development, and I'm speaking on behalf of Destination Vancouver
[01:22:37] ▶to express our support for the rezoning application of,
[01:22:41] ▶this hotel at 1167
[01:22:43] ▶to 1193 Granville Street,
[01:22:47] ▶with its 464
[01:22:49] ▶hotel room
[01:22:50] ▶room hotel.
[01:22:53] ▶As you're well aware, for several years, Destination Vancouver has identified a hotel room shortfall
[01:22:58] ▶that limits the city's ability to accommodate future visitor demand and sustain a healthy downtown economy.
[01:23:05] ▶Our economic analysis,
[01:23:07] ▶from the economic, from the hotel
[01:23:09] ▶supply and projected demand in Metro Vancouver from 2023 from 2023 to 2050,
[01:23:15] ▶along with the work we've done more recently, which is, looks into hotel community impact assessment,
[01:23:21] ▶that was done with the hotel development task force in April 2025. It shows that Vancouver continues to have this shortfall
[01:23:27] ▶of,
[01:23:28] ▶what we project to be 10,000 rooms,
[01:23:31] ▶in Vancouver by 2050.
[01:23:34] ▶And with that, the
[01:23:36] ▶the hotel supply, if it stays roughly at current level, demand is projected to exceed available rooms as early as the summer of twenty twenty six,
[01:23:46] ▶in the city of Vancouver and by twenty forty in every month of the year across Metro Vancouver.
[01:23:51] ▶The cumulative
[01:23:52] ▶economic impacts are projected to be significant,
[01:23:56] ▶between 2022 and 2050.
[01:23:58] ▶That would amount to 30,600,000,000
[01:24:01] ▶in foregone output, 16,600,000,000
[01:24:04] ▶in foregone GDP,
[01:24:05] ▶and over a 160,000
[01:24:07] ▶full time equivalent jobs,
[01:24:10] ▶and, $7,500,000,000
[01:24:12] ▶in foregone tax revenue for all three levels of government.
[01:24:16] ▶In this context, this 464
[01:24:18] ▶room hotel is not just another,
[01:24:21] ▶development. It is the type of project your updated hotel development policy and the Granville Street plan are intended to enable in the downtown core.
[01:24:30] ▶Council has recognized hotels as important infrastructure for tourism,
[01:24:34] ▶meetings and conventions,
[01:24:35] ▶and downtown activity, and has adjusted the policy to better support new hotel capacity
[01:24:40] ▶in in central areas.
[01:24:42] ▶The Granville Street plan sets a twenty year vision to revitalize Granville Street as a safer, more animated destination
[01:24:48] ▶with a mix of entertainment,
[01:24:50] ▶hospitality, and cultural uses. A full service hotel such as this one at the South End Of Granville,
[01:24:57] ▶close to the entertainment district, Yaletown, Davie Village, and within walking and rapid transit distances of the Vancouver Convention Centre,
[01:25:05] ▶and and the stadium
[01:25:07] ▶offers a practical example of that vision in action. As a Hotel Community Impact Assessment highlights,
[01:25:13] ▶hotels provide more than visitor accommodation. They support local employment,
[01:25:18] ▶nearby small businesses and restaurants, contribute to street activity throughout the day and evening,
[01:25:24] ▶and generate municipal tax revenue that helps fund services residents rely on, all within a built form that fits a mixed use downtown
[01:25:32] ▶setting like Grandville and Davie.
[01:25:35] ▶Destination Bank, U verse views this rezoning
[01:25:37] ▶as aligned with council's existing policy direction for the Granville seat plan, the updated hotel development policy, and broader economic development and tourism objectives.
[01:25:47] ▶Proving this application
[01:25:48] ▶will help add needed hotel capacity
[01:25:51] ▶in an appropriate location
[01:25:53] ▶and support the long term goals the city has for Granville Street and Downtown Vancouver.
[01:25:58] ▶Thank you.
[01:25:59] ▶Speaker 0: Great. Thank you very much. Speaker number four, Farshid Rafeli.
[01:26:06] ▶I hope I pronounced your name correctly.
[01:26:09] ▶Speaker 13: Close enough. Thank you so much. Farshid Rafi.
[01:26:12] ▶Good evening, mayor and council. My name is Farshid Rafi from Unison Architecture. I'm a resident of Vancouver,
[01:26:19] ▶and our office is in close proximity to the subject development.
[01:26:24] ▶And we are, there over practicing there for over ten years.
[01:26:29] ▶So I had the opportunity of seeing Granville Entertainment District,
[01:26:33] ▶in its good days and,
[01:26:36] ▶current situation, current issues.
[01:26:38] ▶I'm here to speak in support of development at corner Of Granville and Davie,
[01:26:44] ▶Davie Street, hotel with ton 400 plus rooms.
[01:26:49] ▶A vibrant city need different hotel spaces for different travelers.
[01:26:54] ▶Currently, our city inventory for hotel rooms is equal to inventory in 2002.
[01:27:01] ▶Shortage of rooms in a, is a crisis for our city. When we travel to other cities, we see
[01:27:08] ▶variety of hotel rooms and hotel,
[01:27:13] ▶typologies.
[01:27:14] ▶And currently, we have forgotten revenue for our city
[01:27:18] ▶due to shortage of,
[01:27:20] ▶hotel rooms.
[01:27:21] ▶I'd like to thank city council and city staff for their tremendous work regarding the Granville Entertainment District,
[01:27:29] ▶new hotel policy,
[01:27:32] ▶hotel task force, and c a CAC exclusions
[01:27:36] ▶regarding hotel spaces,
[01:27:38] ▶such as meeting space, back of the hood back of the house and amenity
[01:27:43] ▶exclusions from CAC. This will help
[01:27:46] ▶big time with the hotel development in our city.
[01:27:50] ▶Hotels need large capital investment,
[01:27:55] ▶and,
[01:27:58] ▶these incentives
[01:27:59] ▶will help,
[01:28:00] ▶bring more hotels to our city.
[01:28:06] ▶This site is accessible by SkyTrain and public transportation.
[01:28:11] ▶As such, the staff that are going to work here
[01:28:14] ▶can access the site easily from any other
[01:28:18] ▶place in the city or,
[01:28:21] ▶neighboring cities.
[01:28:24] ▶This project will generate tax benefit to our city as well as creating sustainable jobs
[01:28:31] ▶for,
[01:28:32] ▶our residents.
[01:28:34] ▶Currently, we have forgotten revenue,
[01:28:37] ▶as I mentioned, due to shortage of rooms in our city, and and, we need to address that. So, again, I'm here to support that, and thanks,
[01:28:46] ▶to city
[01:28:47] ▶council and staff for their great work. Thank you.
[01:28:51] ▶Speaker 0: Great. Thank you very much.
[01:28:53] ▶If there are any additional speakers in the chamber, please come forward to the podium. So, clerk, are there any additional speakers online?
[01:29:05] ▶There are no speakers on the line. Okay. Thank you very much. This is the third and final call for speakers. If there are any speakers for this item who wish to speak to counsel,
[01:29:14] ▶please call toll free at +1 (833) 353-8610
[01:29:17] ▶followed by participant code 1061445Pound
[01:29:21] ▶before the close of the speakers list. The phone number will be posted on accident displayed during the recess. So we are now gonna take a two minute recess for any additional speakers to call in or to come forward to the podium.
[01:32:26] ▶Thank you very much. So, Clerk, do we have any additional comments,
[01:32:31] ▶or sorry, speakers in the chamber or online?
[01:32:35] ▶Speaker 1: Just one moment. We do have an unknown caller on the line. Just give me one moment.
[01:32:40] ▶Speaker 0: Thank you.
[01:32:43] ▶Speaker 12: Hello?
[01:32:44] ▶Speaker 0: Hello.
[01:32:45] ▶If we could please get your,
[01:32:47] ▶full name.
[01:32:49] ▶And if you're a resident of Vancouver, that'd be great.
[01:32:53] ▶Speaker 12: Of course. My name is Emily,
[01:32:55] ▶and I am the resident of 1188
[01:32:58] ▶House Street opposite this hotel building that is,
[01:33:02] ▶proposed for the 33 story hotel development.
[01:33:08] ▶Speaker 0: Please go ahead.
[01:33:11] ▶Speaker 12: This is a I'm a council member of 1188 House Street, and,
[01:33:16] ▶we are opposing,
[01:33:18] ▶building this 33 story hotel because, they never realized that there is
[01:33:23] ▶a high rise beside it, which is only around 23
[01:33:27] ▶floors.
[01:33:28] ▶And building this hotel is totally is giving a shadow in the building, and we are losing the light.
[01:33:34] ▶So then living here, it doesn't make any more sense because that is the only way we have the sunlight
[01:33:41] ▶entering our building.
[01:33:43] ▶And, I don't see any alignment of the building such a hotel,
[01:33:48] ▶on Granville because already we have three hotels.
[01:33:52] ▶Just in every block, we have one.
[01:33:55] ▶The Western one would be the one. And if we just go and check them, there is no enough,
[01:34:01] ▶tourists, they can accommodate it.
[01:34:04] ▶So adding that 33,
[01:34:08] ▶high rise hotel is
[01:34:10] ▶way higher than what is
[01:34:12] ▶asked for that street,
[01:34:14] ▶which is full of pubs and the club and restaurant.
[01:34:18] ▶So having this one is something abnormal
[01:34:21] ▶other than that adding the traffic
[01:34:24] ▶and taking this opportunity of this,
[01:34:28] ▶driving,
[01:34:29] ▶easily on daily, which is already congested.
[01:34:33] ▶So,
[01:34:35] ▶and,
[01:34:36] ▶I see that there's a strain on local infrastructure
[01:34:39] ▶and public ground.
[01:34:41] ▶It's,
[01:34:42] ▶it impacts the neighborhood character and livability
[01:34:46] ▶because
[01:34:46] ▶this Davis Street and Grammar Street is the place that the people would like to
[01:34:51] ▶walk and enjoy. And having the high rise is totally changing the
[01:34:56] ▶view
[01:34:57] ▶and also the accommodation that the people are looking. They're not looking for a high rise and having a different three
[01:35:04] ▶floors going, having the restaurants. They are looking for just low rises.
[01:35:09] ▶And this is not gonna be, like, the helping the residents
[01:35:13] ▶to have the better,
[01:35:15] ▶housing.
[01:35:17] ▶And if we really would like to develop
[01:35:21] ▶a better area for living on Granville Street, we need to look at the part that we have many homeless people living there.
[01:35:29] ▶So how as a tourist you can get out of the hotel and seeing the homeless
[01:35:34] ▶in front of the hotel
[01:35:36] ▶and smelling the,
[01:35:38] ▶urination of the homeless without having even the cleaning or washing the street?
[01:35:43] ▶So there's a big conflict. I don't understand that,
[01:35:47] ▶how the hotel can be just popping up in a congested area, which is already has traffic.
[01:35:55] ▶And how it's just impacting the property values of us that we invested having this place
[01:36:02] ▶and having a little bit of their distant view.
[01:36:06] ▶So everything is gonna take and if you even look at the
[01:36:10] ▶the notice of public hearing that is posted to everybody's
[01:36:13] ▶email box, you see that how it's doubling this the,
[01:36:18] ▶our high rise
[01:36:20] ▶and how it's taking the light away.
[01:36:22] ▶So
[01:36:23] ▶I don't know,
[01:36:25] ▶how the city can allow such a thing that's
[01:36:28] ▶happening. What is the marketability
[01:36:31] ▶of the hotel? So
[01:36:32] ▶how many hotels that we have checked and seeing that
[01:36:36] ▶they are just getting broke because they don't have enough tourists?
[01:36:39] ▶So I don't see the value for the urban side.
[01:36:43] ▶And, for this reason, on behalf of the residence of 1188
[01:36:47] ▶House Street, as a council member, I am opposing
[01:36:52] ▶building the hotel,
[01:36:53] ▶33 Floor
[01:36:55] ▶on downtown area.
[01:36:58] ▶Speaker 0: Great. Thank you very much.
[01:37:01] ▶So, clerk, do we have any additional speakers online or in the chamber?
[01:37:05] ▶There's no further speakers on the line. Okay. So seeing no further speakers, the speakers list is now closed.
[01:37:11] ▶Has there been a large volume of public comments received on this item since 5PM?
[01:37:19] ▶Speaker 1: Two pieces of correspondence have been received, and they've been circulated.
[01:37:23] ▶Speaker 0: Great. Thank you very much. Okay.
[01:37:26] ▶Does do any council members need a short recess to review additional comments?
[01:37:31] ▶Seeing no one's hands up.
[01:37:33] ▶I'm now closing their seat of public comments.
[01:37:36] ▶Does the applicant have any closing comments?
[01:37:40] ▶No. Thank you very much. Do our team members have any closing comments?
[01:37:49] ▶Speaker 7: Yes.
[01:37:50] ▶Thank you.
[01:37:53] ▶Just a couple closing comments. One, I just wanted to,
[01:37:57] ▶respond to the,
[01:38:01] ▶public concern about residential uses, and I just wanted to reiterate
[01:38:06] ▶that residential uses are not,
[01:38:09] ▶envisioned in in this,
[01:38:12] ▶portion of Granville Street. It is envisioned for for commercial uses such as hotels.
[01:38:17] ▶And,
[01:38:18] ▶the second is,
[01:38:21] ▶to remind council about,
[01:38:23] ▶the yellow memo,
[01:38:25] ▶which proposes some changes to the report and requires,
[01:38:29] ▶action from council.
[01:38:31] ▶Speaker 0: Thanks. Thank you very much.
[01:38:33] ▶Does council have any, final questions for our team members? Counselor Kirby Young.
[01:38:37] ▶Speaker 19: I don't have questions, but I am prepared to move the recommendations, but I can hold on that if councilor has questions. Thank you.
[01:38:45] ▶Speaker 0: K. I'll move the recommendation with the yellow memo. K. Great. Seconded by, I think, councilor Dominato beat you to the punch. Great.
[01:38:51] ▶Speaker 19: And I'll speak can I speak to you down there?
[01:38:54] ▶Speaker 0: Basically hold on a sec. Do we have any final questions for staff?
[01:39:01] ▶Okay. So councilor.
[01:39:03] ▶Thanks. Can we restart? Yeah. Can we restart the clock, please? Great.
[01:39:09] ▶Speaker 19: Okay.
[01:39:10] ▶Thanks very much. I appreciate, the presentation tonight and all the work that's been done by the applicant.
[01:39:15] ▶This is my second term on council, and, it's not a surprise to people that I've been advocating,
[01:39:21] ▶to advance and modernize our hotel policy in the city.
[01:39:25] ▶I previously worked in the hotel sector, and I was very or and, also the tourism sector. I was very familiar with the shortage of hotel rooms. We heard from Destination Vancouver that they did do a couple of studies that quantified that we have a shortage of about 10,000 hotel rooms, and that demand is expected to exceed supply actually by next summer in 2026.
[01:39:42] ▶We do have a thriving
[01:39:44] ▶hotel industry, but we are limited,
[01:39:46] ▶with respects to future opportunity and the types of events that we can bring here. To,
[01:39:52] ▶see the hotel policy changes and the Granville entertainment policy changes intersecting and resulting in what I think is a very exciting new project at the corner of Granville and Davie, right in the heart of the entertainment district, that will bring 464
[01:40:05] ▶needed new rooms that can, as we heard, flex,
[01:40:08] ▶based on the demand,
[01:40:10] ▶and will also contribute to fulfilling the vision of the Granville Entertainment District. Revitalizing that area,
[01:40:16] ▶I think is incredibly exciting. It is a nice it's a good looking project.
[01:40:21] ▶It the to the comments that were raised, and I do feel compelled to respond to them, when one of the speakers said that we should, be focusing on affordable housing, we should absolutely, and this council is. And we have delivered an unprecedented amount of rental housing, including,
[01:40:36] ▶inclusionary requirements and below market rentals. But that is not what is envisioned for the GED. The GED in this area is specifically
[01:40:43] ▶looking to revitalize this storied entertainment district and to bring it back,
[01:40:47] ▶to an iconic exciting place that people want to visit. And this is where our council determined to prioritize
[01:40:53] ▶projects like hotels to achieve exactly that.
[01:40:56] ▶People do need homes to live in, but they also need thriving,
[01:40:59] ▶a thriving economy, which creates jobs, which enables them to sustain and support themselves.
[01:41:05] ▶We have an unprecedented opportunity, I think, to realize one of the first projects here, which is going that's actually come across in terms of an approval in the GED.
[01:41:15] ▶And I am confident that we're gonna see others follow. Building hotels, I always say, is quite a tricky business economically. It's very similar to how it's more difficult in the housing sector to build rental housing compared to strata, and building hotels is also more difficult than it is to build typically in the past,
[01:41:31] ▶notwithstanding our current economic challenges. But it's always been easier to build something like a straight up commercial building or an office. Hotels are a bit of a unique and a different animal, and that has required some calibration
[01:41:42] ▶around policies. So I I like this project a lot. I think it's an exciting one, to come into the neighborhood. It's gonna address the shortage.
[01:41:50] ▶I'm looking forward to finding out what the brand is. It is going to create great additional jobs in the sector.
[01:41:55] ▶And I think all around the fact that care has been in consideration has been taken, with respects to the design
[01:42:02] ▶and how that interfaces with two sort of a pivotal corner, not just the GED, but,
[01:42:07] ▶Davie is a key street in our city,
[01:42:10] ▶is an exciting opportunity. So I'm grateful to staff for the previous policy work in bringing this forward, and I'm, appreciative of the applicant. And I hope that this is one of a number of hotel projects that I think are coming into the pipeline now because council has been supportive of these changes that we will be able to approve. Thank you. Thank you very much. Councilor Meisner?
[01:42:29] ▶Speaker 4: Yeah. Thanks. I just echo a lot of what, my colleague councilor Kirby Young said. This is a really pivotal project for Granville Street and the revitalization of the street that,
[01:42:38] ▶you know, council has been working really hard to advance.
[01:42:41] ▶So, I'm really excited,
[01:42:43] ▶to see, this hotel project at Granville and Davie.
[01:42:47] ▶And, I certainly will be, very strongly supporting it tonight, and I hope that my colleagues do the same.
[01:42:53] ▶This is good going to make a big dent in our hotel room shortage, which is currently about 10,000 rooms.
[01:42:59] ▶And as outlined earlier,
[01:43:01] ▶I believe could be up to, I remember, 50,000 rooms or something,
[01:43:05] ▶in thirty years from now if we, stayed at current levels. So,
[01:43:09] ▶this is going to,
[01:43:11] ▶also,
[01:43:12] ▶bring new dining and restaurant options and entertainment options, conference space.
[01:43:17] ▶And as mentioned, it really is a cross roads of many really important neighborhoods downtown. So not just the Granville Entertainment District, but also Yaletown and the Davie Village. So,
[01:43:26] ▶I think it's a very well designed and attractive
[01:43:29] ▶building, and I'm really excited to, see it move forward. So,
[01:43:34] ▶just once again, really,
[01:43:36] ▶excited to support this and
[01:43:39] ▶know that it will help really kick start the revitalization of Granville Street, particularly,
[01:43:43] ▶in its southern end, near Davie. So thanks.
[01:43:46] ▶Speaker 0: Thank you very much, councilor Orr.
[01:43:48] ▶Speaker 16: Yeah. Thanks.
[01:43:50] ▶As I sort of alluded to earlier, I remember going to the to the old Soohang Village and and getting cold tea after hours. It was,
[01:43:57] ▶I know there's a restaurant that named itself after that. So it's, yeah, it's an interesting development for sure. And I do wanna echo those those concerns raised by the speaker around, you know, affordable housing. And I I did I did, you know, bring up, you know, the fact that, you know, hotel workers are often displaced out to, you know, the suburbs, and they often are working late hours, and they totally understand that. At the same time, I understand, you know, public hearings, you know, are are not really the the venue to,
[01:44:22] ▶change that policy.
[01:44:24] ▶It's good to hear for for sure, and I take that on board.
[01:44:28] ▶Absolutely. And and I'll and I'll, you know, take that to heart, but, you know, public hearings are you know, we have to take look at the policy and
[01:44:35] ▶at hand, and,
[01:44:38] ▶I have to you know, it's my quasi judicial sort of function. I have to look at the the if the if it meets the merits of the proposal and and the policy that's in place. So,
[01:44:46] ▶that's how I'll be, you know, viewing
[01:44:49] ▶viewing my decision around that, but I totally understand. I totally accept the comments. And, hopefully, the the new operator will also,
[01:44:57] ▶understand that that, you know, that workers are what make the hotels go around. And, hopefully, we can the operator will maybe be listening even,
[01:45:05] ▶Speaker 0: and and take that to heart as well. So thank you very much. Thank you. Councilor Frey.
[01:45:16] ▶Speaker 2: Oh, jeez. I unmute there.
[01:45:19] ▶Yeah.
[01:45:19] ▶Happy to support this. And, you know, it's actually I just wanna comment on on what a an attractive design this hotel is and the and the ground level treatment, especially. I was really quite captivated by, and appreciate the additional,
[01:45:33] ▶architectural report, the renderings that were included in the the context statements around around Granville Street and Granville and Davie. And, yes, as counselor Orr alluded, I certainly have many memories of Suiheng Village. Also,
[01:45:46] ▶foggy memories from Suiheng Village, from back in the day, but
[01:45:50] ▶that is another anecdote.
[01:45:51] ▶I do wanna just just quickly comment on the the the the comments from the Unite Here speaker about,
[01:45:57] ▶about,
[01:45:58] ▶concerns around around housing and in the context of a housing crisis.
[01:46:02] ▶I mean, I I I do wanna reflect that that hotel use is a critical need. And as we're kind of leading into this FIFA,
[01:46:10] ▶event that we know we have a serious hotel shortage, and one of the things that we grapple with as as a city as well is
[01:46:16] ▶sort of,
[01:46:17] ▶the conversion of long term residential units into, short term residential units,
[01:46:24] ▶specifically Airbnb type accommodations
[01:46:27] ▶because of that shortage of hotel rooms. And so I I do,
[01:46:31] ▶you know, wanna name that it does have that lens, and it was actually in in the last term, we had quite a a vigorous debate around the idea of actually even adding residential at all at this end of Granville Street because we do recognize that that Granville Street is,
[01:46:46] ▶a different,
[01:46:47] ▶not necessarily residential
[01:46:49] ▶street and that it is,
[01:46:51] ▶that that long term residential units on a street like Granville may or may not be incompatible with the idea of Granville Street as a as an entertainment district and as that kind of high street that would have a lot more noise and and attended kind
[01:47:04] ▶of, nuisance for long term residents. So I just think that there's an important context to add to this, that this isn't really a a residential
[01:47:12] ▶spot per se, that it is,
[01:47:14] ▶quite appropriate as a as as a hotel, and that and that as part of a balanced kind of offering as as a city, we do need to have these hotel spaces. My only lament is that we're not gonna deliver this hotel,
[01:47:26] ▶fast enough to really,
[01:47:27] ▶make a dent in what we know will be a a room shortage coming into FIFA.
[01:47:32] ▶So, but great looking project, and thank you for the presentation. Great. Thank you very much. Counselor Claussen.
[01:47:40] ▶Speaker 3: Thanks, mayor. I I won't add too much more. I just,
[01:47:43] ▶felt compelled as well to, to comment on what I think is an excellent design
[01:47:49] ▶and, really the convergence of,
[01:47:52] ▶of policy
[01:47:53] ▶and,
[01:47:54] ▶and direction that has,
[01:47:56] ▶in many ways stemmed from this term of council,
[01:48:00] ▶around policies, around Granville Entertainment District. I'm thinking of course of the
[01:48:06] ▶new
[01:48:09] ▶active transportation
[01:48:11] ▶developments on the Granville Bridge.
[01:48:13] ▶The neighborhood feels like it's really at a potential tipping point
[01:48:17] ▶to, for revitalization
[01:48:20] ▶and having, some,
[01:48:22] ▶a building like this, a hotel
[01:48:24] ▶that will bring in guests from, around the world,
[01:48:28] ▶it's closest to Davie Village and Yaletown
[01:48:30] ▶and the Entertainment District.
[01:48:33] ▶Councilor Meisner pointed it out. I think it's just,
[01:48:36] ▶it's just very heartening
[01:48:38] ▶and, and I am, very pleased to support this,
[01:48:43] ▶application and, hope it's able to move forward. And,
[01:48:46] ▶Lake Council Fry, I wish it could happen sooner, but I recognize these things are gonna take a few years, for it to happen. But I think it's gonna be a fantastic addition to our city and to our downtown. Thanks. Great. Thank you.
[01:48:59] ▶Speaker 0: Okay. Clerk, did we receive any additional public comments since the close of public comments?
[01:49:08] ▶Speaker 1: Just one moment. We're checking.
[01:49:20] ▶Speaker 0: No. We have not. Great. Thank you. I will remind council that we need to move the recommendation for item number three together with a yellow memo dated 12/17/2025
[01:49:30] ▶entitled
[01:49:31] ▶CD dash one rezoning 1167
[01:49:33] ▶through 1193
[01:49:35] ▶Granville Street amendments to modify rezoning conditions.
[01:49:39] ▶Council will now make its decision on this application. Do we have a mover of the recommendations and the yellow memo?
[01:49:45] ▶Yeah. Yellow memo.
[01:49:47] ▶Oh, you did move that earlier.
[01:49:51] ▶Okay. One second.
[01:49:52] ▶Sorry. Just following the script. I always get in trouble when I don't follow the script, but this time
[01:49:58] ▶okay. And council, is there any discussion?
[01:50:01] ▶No? Or have you done that as well? Okay. So I'm just sorry.
[01:50:06] ▶That might have,
[01:50:08] ▶been copied and pasted. Okay. I'm just gonna call the vote. There you go. Sorry about that. So if we can please go to the voting panel.
[01:50:21] ▶And that passes unanimously.
[01:50:23] ▶Congratulations.
[01:50:24] ▶And, team, thank you very much for all the hard work you've done, and it's pretty exciting to see more hotel rooms,
[01:50:29] ▶being built in the city. That completes item number three.
[01:50:34] ▶Okay.
[01:50:35] ▶Moving on.
[01:50:36] ▶Item number four, c d dash one rezoning.
[01:50:39] ▶900 Through 990 West 12th Avenue.
[01:50:43] ▶Before we begin, does anybody, wish to declare a conflict of interest?
[01:50:49] ▶Seeing no one declaring, the clerk will now read the application and summary of correspondence received.
[01:50:55] ▶Speaker 5: This is an application by Musen, Kattel, McKay, MCM partnership to rezone
[01:51:02] ▶900 Dash 990
[01:51:04] ▶West 12th Avenue from RM Dash 3 Residential
[01:51:08] ▶District
[01:51:09] ▶and CD Dash 1295
[01:51:12] ▶Comprehensive
[01:51:13] ▶Development District
[01:51:14] ▶to CD 1 Dash 1 Comprehensive Development District
[01:51:18] ▶to permit a phase mixed mixed use development
[01:51:22] ▶with two buildings of 26 stories
[01:51:25] ▶and 28 stories with clinical,
[01:51:28] ▶diagnostic, and medical support space,
[01:51:31] ▶280
[01:51:32] ▶seniors long term care beds, a 25 space child care, and commercial space on the Ground Floor.
[01:51:39] ▶A floor space ratio, FSR,
[01:51:42] ▶of 14.2
[01:51:43] ▶and a height of one zero nine point zero meters, 358
[01:51:48] ▶feet are proposed.
[01:51:49] ▶The general manager
[01:51:51] ▶of planning, urban design, and sustainability
[01:51:55] ▶recommends approval
[01:51:56] ▶subject to conditions
[01:51:58] ▶settled in the summary and recommendation
[01:52:01] ▶and the yellow memo dated 01/06/2026
[01:52:05] ▶entitled
[01:52:06] ▶CD dash one rezoning
[01:52:08] ▶900 To 990
[01:52:10] ▶West 12th Avenue
[01:52:12] ▶amendments
[01:52:13] ▶to modify rezoning conditions.
[01:52:17] ▶The following correspondence
[01:52:19] ▶has been received since referral to public hearing.
[01:52:22] ▶One piece of correspondence in support
[01:52:25] ▶and one piece of correspondence in opposition.
[01:52:29] ▶This represents all correspondence
[01:52:31] ▶received up to 5PM today.
[01:52:34] ▶Speaker 0: Great. Thank you very much. Now this is the first call for speakers. Any speakers for this item who wish to speak to council, please call toll free at +1 (833) 353-8610
[01:52:45] ▶followed by participant code 1061445Pound
[01:52:48] ▶before the close of the speakers list. The phone number will be posted on x and displayed during the recess. There will be an opportunity for new speakers and missed speakers to be heard at the end of the registered speakers list. So we do have our team members from planning, urban design, and sustainability
[01:53:03] ▶here to present the application.
[01:53:12] ▶Speaker 28: I'm just waiting to see if it I need to wait for it to be on screen.
[01:53:21] ▶Okay. Thank you.
[01:53:22] ▶Good evening, mayor and council. My name is Helen Chan. I'm the rezoning planner for this application, which is located
[01:53:29] ▶at 900 To 990 West 12th Avenue.
[01:53:33] ▶Staff would like to note there is a yellow memo attached to this report.
[01:53:38] ▶Action is required by council in the memo which recommends changes to appendix b of the report. These changes are to remove transportation demand management requirements,
[01:53:48] ▶to amend the public art
[01:53:51] ▶cash in
[01:53:52] ▶lieu, amount and to change the community benefits agreement from a new requirement
[01:53:57] ▶to an option.
[01:54:01] ▶The site shown in red is located at the South East corner
[01:54:06] ▶of the intersection of Oak Street and 12th Avenue.
[01:54:10] ▶The resulting application,
[01:54:11] ▶which was submitted by the VGH and UBC Hospital Foundation,
[01:54:17] ▶is for properties
[01:54:19] ▶located across from the Diamond Healthcare Centre
[01:54:22] ▶and Vancouver General Hospital.
[01:54:25] ▶The site
[01:54:26] ▶comprises
[01:54:27] ▶three parcels
[01:54:28] ▶with an existing three story rental building at Oak Street and the Windermere
[01:54:33] ▶Care Center at Laurel Street.
[01:54:36] ▶The site contains
[01:54:38] ▶26 rental units and has 22 tenancies
[01:54:42] ▶that are eligible for provisions
[01:54:44] ▶under the tenant relocation and protection policy.
[01:54:51] ▶Broadway plan allows for greater heights and densities
[01:54:55] ▶at this location.
[01:54:57] ▶The plan identifies the site as a large and unique site for the Vancouver General Hospital campus.
[01:55:04] ▶The plan supports
[01:55:06] ▶expansion of the VGH campus, including for open space, services,
[01:55:11] ▶and amenities
[01:55:12] ▶to serve the hospital precinct.
[01:55:19] ▶The application proposes
[01:55:21] ▶two buildings,
[01:55:22] ▶a 26 story West Building and a 28 story East building with an FSR of 14.2.
[01:55:31] ▶The proposed uses include clinical,
[01:55:34] ▶diagnostic, and medical support space.
[01:55:37] ▶Some ground floor commercial is proposed for both buildings.
[01:55:41] ▶In phase one of the project, in the West Building along Oak Street,
[01:55:45] ▶280
[01:55:47] ▶long term care beds for seniors are proposed.
[01:55:51] ▶In a future stage, a 25 space childcare
[01:55:54] ▶is proposed
[01:55:55] ▶for the East Building.
[01:55:59] ▶A total of 27
[01:56:01] ▶public submissions were received,
[01:56:04] ▶including through an online question and answer period that was held in April of this year.
[01:56:12] ▶Support was expressed for the development proposal,
[01:56:15] ▶the choice of location,
[01:56:17] ▶and improvements
[01:56:18] ▶to neighborhood character.
[01:56:21] ▶There, however, were public concerns about height, density, and massing,
[01:56:25] ▶but staff note that the proposal is consistent with the Broadway plan, and the building massing is appropriate for institutional
[01:56:35] ▶uses.
[01:56:36] ▶The public expressed concerns about sunlight and views.
[01:56:42] ▶However, staff note there are no new shadow or view impacts as per policy requirements.
[01:56:49] ▶Further, there is no policy for protection of private views.
[01:56:54] ▶In response to public concerns about traffic and parking,
[01:56:58] ▶staff note that the slope slide poses three and a half stories
[01:57:03] ▶of parking, and the site is well served by frequent transit.
[01:57:11] ▶The applicant has offered an in kind community amenity contribution
[01:57:16] ▶of a 25 space child care.
[01:57:19] ▶The applicant will also pay approximately $30,000,000
[01:57:22] ▶in DCLs
[01:57:24] ▶and public
[01:57:28] ▶art. In conclusion,
[01:57:29] ▶the proposal aligns with the Broadway plan and allows for an increase in health care space.
[01:57:35] ▶Staff recommend
[01:57:36] ▶approval subject to conditions outlined in appendix b of the report.
[01:57:41] ▶Staff and the applicant team are available to answer questions.
[01:57:44] ▶Thank you.
[01:57:46] ▶Speaker 0: Great. Thank you very much. Would the applicant like to present the application?
[01:57:56] ▶Speaker 20: Chair, mayor Sim, and councilors, thank you for the opportunity to speak today and for your commitment to the health and well-being of Vancouver residents.
[01:58:03] ▶My name is Angela Chapman, president and CEO of VGH and UBC Hospital Foundation.
[01:58:09] ▶Our foundation is the leading charity investing in health care innovation in BC and exists to bridge the gap between what public funding can provide and what our health sirs, system
[01:58:19] ▶urgently needs,
[01:58:21] ▶and to do so with innovative
[01:58:23] ▶community driven solutions that expand
[01:58:27] ▶access to care for people across Vancouver and the region.
[01:58:31] ▶The redevelopment before you at 90990
[01:58:34] ▶West 12th Avenue reflects exactly that mission. It is a rare opportunity to deliver health care infrastructure that otherwise would not move forward through conventional public capital funding alone.
[01:58:45] ▶BGH and UBC Hospital Foundation is the owner of this property.
[01:58:49] ▶It is located directly across from the Vancouver General Hospital and will allow the foundation to expand and modernize the BGH campus at a time when demand for high quality accessible care continues to grow.
[01:59:01] ▶The project replaces dispersed aging clinical spaces
[01:59:04] ▶with modern facilities supporting innovative care in various clinical and research areas, such as transplantation,
[01:59:11] ▶oncology,
[01:59:13] ▶cardiac innovation,
[01:59:15] ▶complex medicine, and seniors health,
[01:59:17] ▶all areas where Vancouver is a provincial and a national leader. A central component is a new state of the art long term care facility with 280
[01:59:26] ▶new beds, a meaningful and much needed expansion of capacity that will improve seniors' care and relieve pressure on acute care hospitals.
[01:59:34] ▶Importantly, the 207
[01:59:36] ▶existing beds at Windermere Care Center will remain open and fully operational throughout the first phase of construction.
[01:59:42] ▶What truly distinguishes this project is how it is being delivered.
[01:59:46] ▶It does not rely on government capital dollars. Instead, it is powered by donors, individuals, corporations, and philanthropists
[01:59:53] ▶who believe in strengthening our public health care system.
[01:59:56] ▶I would now like to invite Christina Anthony, volunteer chair of our property development task force,
[02:00:02] ▶to talk about who has been really the steadfast champion of this, of this program to talk a little bit about it.
[02:00:10] ▶Speaker 29: Thank you, Angela.
[02:00:12] ▶Through this unique model, the foundation
[02:00:14] ▶retains the property,
[02:00:16] ▶Vancouver Coastal Health leases the facilities,
[02:00:19] ▶and every net dollar
[02:00:21] ▶from those leases is reinvested
[02:00:23] ▶directly back into patient care.
[02:00:26] ▶This approach has become a signature strength of our foundation,
[02:00:30] ▶enabling us to accelerate capital development,
[02:00:33] ▶drive innovation,
[02:00:35] ▶and expand access to care
[02:00:38] ▶in ways that complement and enhance the public the public system.
[02:00:43] ▶A huge win for those who matter most,
[02:00:46] ▶patients and their families.
[02:00:48] ▶Ultimately,
[02:00:49] ▶this redevelopment strengthens BC
[02:00:52] ▶and Vancouver's healthcare system,
[02:00:54] ▶creates jobs,
[02:00:56] ▶modernizes
[02:00:57] ▶essential facilities,
[02:00:58] ▶and supports both economic and community well-being.
[02:01:02] ▶Most importantly,
[02:01:03] ▶it will improve outcomes for the thousands of patients who rely on VGH
[02:01:08] ▶every day.
[02:01:10] ▶So on behalf of our foundation,
[02:01:12] ▶our board,
[02:01:14] ▶our donors,
[02:01:15] ▶and the patients we help,
[02:01:17] ▶I respectfully ask for council's approval of this rezoning application
[02:01:21] ▶so that this vital work can move forward. Thank you very much.
[02:01:26] ▶Speaker 0: Thank you.
[02:01:29] ▶Are there any questions from council to our team members or the applicant noting that this is the only opportunity
[02:01:35] ▶for council to ask questions of the applicant? Councilor Klassen.
[02:01:42] ▶Speaker 3: Thank you, mayor.
[02:01:43] ▶And thank you,
[02:01:45] ▶staff and, to the applicant for the presentation.
[02:01:49] ▶Just a couple of quick questions. First of all, I'm,
[02:01:52] ▶quite heartened to to hear about the 280
[02:01:54] ▶long term beds plans for this site here. I did hear,
[02:01:58] ▶the applicant talk about,
[02:02:01] ▶existing beds at the, older Windermere facility. There's two zero seven beds, I believe, there. So I presume that,
[02:02:10] ▶means,
[02:02:11] ▶a net new,
[02:02:13] ▶73 beds,
[02:02:16] ▶for this particular site. Is that correct?
[02:02:19] ▶Speaker 20: In fact, because,
[02:02:20] ▶that is the phase two of our development,
[02:02:23] ▶the second building, the East Building,
[02:02:26] ▶And because of the real shortage of long term care at the moment,
[02:02:30] ▶our plan is to develop the first phase and have the 280
[02:02:34] ▶be additional new beds.
[02:02:37] ▶There is a decline, of course, going into the 20 thirties on the,
[02:02:41] ▶a need for long term care that will peak,
[02:02:44] ▶at which point either we have replacement within the Vancouver Coastal Health System for people that can leave that building and be housed somewhere else,
[02:02:53] ▶or, in fact,
[02:02:54] ▶that building stays, stays put until we are able to find proper housing
[02:02:59] ▶for that for the demand that there is for long term care.
[02:03:02] ▶Speaker 3: Okay. That's very interesting.
[02:03:04] ▶Does that mean that the Windermere Building might get
[02:03:07] ▶some updates or ref retrofits as a result?
[02:03:11] ▶Speaker 20: Since we bought it in 2022, we have been doing all of that maintenance and maintenance maintenance and updating, so repairs to the roofs, various repairs that have been ongoing, but yes. And including,
[02:03:23] ▶adding a cooling system. So there is now air conditioning in that building since we purchased it in 2022.
[02:03:30] ▶Speaker 3: Okay. That's fantastic. Thanks very much. And,
[02:03:32] ▶obviously,
[02:03:34] ▶very exciting,
[02:03:36] ▶and and I wanna congratulate you as well just on the fact that there's,
[02:03:40] ▶all that philanthropic,
[02:03:42] ▶support for this project. This, next question might just relate to staff and I I just wanna take an opportunity,
[02:03:50] ▶just because there is, quite a bit of work happening around VGH with regards to,
[02:03:55] ▶a master plan. And I I just wanted to just ask staff,
[02:03:59] ▶and it might be sort of catching them a little off guard, but, whether,
[02:04:03] ▶they have any,
[02:04:05] ▶broad understanding of how the VJ and
[02:04:08] ▶Master Planning process is going,
[02:04:10] ▶given that it it it probably relates overall to, this District.
[02:04:18] ▶Speaker 30: Hi there. Thanks for the question. Hale Jones Cox, senior planner with special projects office.
[02:04:23] ▶Yeah. So there is a separate process that's under Ray at this moment.
[02:04:27] ▶We have received an application for VGH proper in terms of a campus master plan work that's underway.
[02:04:33] ▶You will be seeing that coming this year. How there's kind of a three parts to that process. The first is an, a short or near term text amendment that'll be coming forward to council,
[02:04:42] ▶aimed for this year, and that's actually to,
[02:04:45] ▶enable a new,
[02:04:46] ▶addition of an expansion for the emergencies,
[02:04:50] ▶emergency department as well as in patient care.
[02:04:52] ▶And at the same time, we'll also be looking to bring some additional policy almost as an appendix to the Broadway plan like you saw for the Civic District and the City Hall campus here.
[02:05:01] ▶And those things are gonna be coming forward to you this year with a longer time frame for that to enable and actually a broader rezoning for the entirety of the VGH campus. And we're looking to bring that, probably in in next year.
[02:05:12] ▶So that that work is well underway. And as you as you've been here today, that that's actually you know, it's a separate, project entirely from from what's being shown today. But we're looking forward to bringing that that work to you in the future.
[02:05:22] ▶Speaker 3: Thanks very much. A very wholesome answer. I didn't I didn't even give you, quite a bit of good information there. Appreciate it. Thanks very much. Those are my questions, Mayor. Great. Thank you very much.
[02:05:31] ▶Speaker 16: Councilor Orr. Yeah. Thank you very much. Just a quick question sort of on on the phasing. So, like, the the first phase of the building will be the the 280,
[02:05:42] ▶beds. And then
[02:05:44] ▶when Windermere comes down, what's gonna replace that? Is that mostly gonna be medical medical,
[02:05:50] ▶facilities, or would there be any housing
[02:05:52] ▶associated with that? Or
[02:05:54] ▶Speaker 31: mayor and council, Mark Thompson, the architect for the project.
[02:05:58] ▶The second phase is,
[02:05:59] ▶very similar to the
[02:06:02] ▶the non long term care portions of the first phase, which is clinical space in the podium,
[02:06:07] ▶a day care on top of the podium,
[02:06:09] ▶and then clinical office space above that that is supporting,
[02:06:14] ▶the VGH campus.
[02:06:16] ▶Okay. That's very similar to the first phase,
[02:06:18] ▶which has a larger clinical podium,
[02:06:20] ▶a long term care in the middle, and then clinical office space on the top. Okay. Excellent. Thanks. That's all my questions.
[02:06:27] ▶Speaker 0: Great. Thank you very much. Okay. So now this is the second call for speakers. If there are any speakers for this item who wish to speak to counsel, please call toll free at +1 (833)
[02:06:37] ▶353-8610
[02:06:39] ▶followed by participant code 1061445
[02:06:42] ▶before the close of the speakers list. The phone number will be posted on x and displayed during the recess.
[02:06:48] ▶We're now gonna hear from the public. Any registered speakers in the council chamber, please come forward to the podium on the left side of the public gallery, which is my right. When your name is called. Phone and speakers will be unmuted when your name is called. Speakers will have up to five minutes to make their comments and should limit their comments to the merits of the report being considered. So our,
[02:07:09] ▶first speaker today is speaker number one, Avtar Banes.
[02:07:18] ▶Speaker 32: Good evening, mayor and council. Thank you for the opportunity to say a couple of words today.
[02:07:24] ▶My name is Avtar Banes.
[02:07:26] ▶I'm a resident of Vancouver,
[02:07:28] ▶and I fully support the approval of the rezoning application of 900 Block West 12th Avenue
[02:07:35] ▶by the VGH and UBC Hospital
[02:07:38] ▶Foundation.
[02:07:40] ▶Now, well, that's a good idea. Thank you. Thank you.
[02:07:44] ▶You know, I believe everyone in this room,
[02:07:47] ▶we share a common denominator.
[02:07:49] ▶Everyone. We share a common denominator.
[02:07:52] ▶And our common den denominator is how do we do things better
[02:07:57] ▶moving
[02:07:58] ▶forward?
[02:07:59] ▶Whether it's the mayor working with council
[02:08:02] ▶or the local entrepreneur,
[02:08:04] ▶many who are having very difficult times in a stagnant economy,
[02:08:07] ▶but they're still working on how to move forward.
[02:08:11] ▶Or the volunteer
[02:08:13] ▶that organizes youth soccer
[02:08:16] ▶always want to do things better moving forward.
[02:08:19] ▶Indeed,
[02:08:20] ▶even the Vancouver Canucks are looking for ways to do better moving forward. Now that was supposed to be a joke. It wasn't wasn't a great joke, but it was supposed to be a joke.
[02:08:29] ▶We're all crying inside of this house. That's right. Well, the same holds true with the VGH Hospital Foundation. It was just over seven years ago
[02:08:37] ▶that a number of volunteers,
[02:08:39] ▶including myself,
[02:08:41] ▶together with people from VGH and the foundation,
[02:08:45] ▶and we asked ourselves a very important question.
[02:08:49] ▶How do we improve the health care for our citizens
[02:08:53] ▶as
[02:08:54] ▶we now know the downstream demand
[02:08:57] ▶for health services
[02:08:58] ▶will be enormous?
[02:09:01] ▶So what is proposed is a bold philanthropic
[02:09:05] ▶initiative.
[02:09:07] ▶We are not employed public funds as been has already been noted. The capital is coming from people
[02:09:13] ▶who want to make a positive impact
[02:09:16] ▶in the lives of our citizens.
[02:09:19] ▶Many people believe, or some people believe, I should say, that philanthropists donate because they have money.
[02:09:26] ▶That is not
[02:09:28] ▶the case.
[02:09:29] ▶Philanthropists
[02:09:31] ▶philanthropists
[02:09:32] ▶donate
[02:09:33] ▶because
[02:09:34] ▶they care,
[02:09:36] ▶whether big or small.
[02:09:39] ▶As Angela has noted, there is much to care about
[02:09:43] ▶of there's much
[02:09:45] ▶to care about improving the broader
[02:09:48] ▶health care system.
[02:09:50] ▶What's interesting?
[02:09:52] ▶I was looking at
[02:09:54] ▶a file the other day,
[02:09:56] ▶and I I located this map.
[02:10:00] ▶K? And this map shows it's this map is, I think, between twenty and twenty five years old,
[02:10:06] ▶and it shows
[02:10:08] ▶the zoning
[02:10:10] ▶in Downtown Vancouver.
[02:10:12] ▶And you can't see it, but in purple, either there's five zone, the seven zone, the nine zone,
[02:10:18] ▶a a two plus one plus one zone.
[02:10:21] ▶So
[02:10:23] ▶what's important to note is the market is always fluid.
[02:10:29] ▶Always fluid.
[02:10:30] ▶And this zoning map
[02:10:32] ▶shows
[02:10:33] ▶that if we had the zoning
[02:10:36] ▶from twenty five years ago and it existed today,
[02:10:39] ▶many
[02:10:40] ▶of our wonderful landmarks would not exist. For example,
[02:10:44] ▶the stack on 1100 Block Melville,
[02:10:47] ▶beautiful building, world class building,
[02:10:51] ▶would not be built under the old zoning.
[02:10:56] ▶Our marketplace
[02:10:57] ▶is
[02:10:58] ▶internationally
[02:10:59] ▶known
[02:11:00] ▶for mixed use developments.
[02:11:02] ▶So that whether that's hotel and commercial and and residential,
[02:11:06] ▶we have
[02:11:08] ▶integrated
[02:11:09] ▶retail,
[02:11:10] ▶office, and residential,
[02:11:13] ▶and we are really
[02:11:15] ▶the the
[02:11:19] ▶the standard in the world where people come from all sorts of jurisdictions, both investors and
[02:11:24] ▶different jurisdictions
[02:11:26] ▶to see how
[02:11:27] ▶mixed use developments should be created.
[02:11:30] ▶So I
[02:11:32] ▶so
[02:11:33] ▶mixed use developments
[02:11:34] ▶and based on the zoning of,
[02:11:37] ▶yesteryear,
[02:11:38] ▶there's no way we would ever have the 60 story building in Downtown Vancouver.
[02:11:44] ▶So I believe city staff together with elected officials have done a wonderful job
[02:11:48] ▶assessing the realities of the marketplace
[02:11:51] ▶and amending policy
[02:11:53] ▶appropriately.
[02:11:55] ▶Personally, I can't think of a better proposal for rezoning
[02:11:58] ▶than what the foundation
[02:11:59] ▶is presenting today.
[02:12:03] ▶Finally,
[02:12:05] ▶I do not believe that we are simply
[02:12:07] ▶building a building.
[02:12:09] ▶We are not simply building a building.
[02:12:12] ▶What we are doing is creating infrastructure,
[02:12:15] ▶which is required to serve generations to come.
[02:12:19] ▶Similar to our roads,
[02:12:21] ▶our bridges,
[02:12:23] ▶the sky train,
[02:12:24] ▶the seawall,
[02:12:26] ▶this the water that the city delivers to all our citizens, homes, and businesses.
[02:12:33] ▶Hospitals form part of the infrastructure
[02:12:37] ▶of our city.
[02:12:39] ▶And too often, we take our infrastructure for granted. I do. I take it for granted that we have roads. I take it for granted that I'm already over time. Yeah. Sorry. I'm sorry. We were all For these reasons, we wholeheartedly feel and endorse the
[02:12:53] ▶approval of the rezoning application.
[02:12:55] ▶Speaker 0: Thank you very much. And sorry I moved on. That's okay.
[02:12:59] ▶Thank you very much, Avtar.
[02:13:01] ▶Our next speaker is speaker number two, doctor Phil Teal.
[02:13:08] ▶Speaker 9: Thank you very much. I appreciate the opportunity to speak. I'm doctor Philip Teal. I'm a neurologist and head of the division of neurology at Vancouver General Hospital
[02:13:17] ▶and UBC Hospital. I'm here to speak to you about the clinical,
[02:13:22] ▶aspects of this project.
[02:13:24] ▶My apologies for wearing, fairly casual work garb. It it looks staged. But every third Thursday, I do an outreach First Nations clinic in Pemberton.
[02:13:33] ▶I was there today,
[02:13:35] ▶and they expected to get down in time, but,
[02:13:38] ▶I encountered traffic on the bridge. So I didn't have time to change. My apologies.
[02:13:43] ▶So I'm here, to talk to you a little bit about the critical role that Vancouver General Hospital
[02:13:49] ▶plays in, the health care to the locally, the region,
[02:13:53] ▶and the province.
[02:13:54] ▶We are a may we are the largest hospital, of course, for a medical, surgical, psychiatric hospital. We have an incredibly busy emergency department. We have an an ICU that stretches for a block and a half, literally.
[02:14:07] ▶We have all sorts of specialized
[02:14:09] ▶medical and surgical programs, the spine program,
[02:14:12] ▶lung transplant program,
[02:14:15] ▶cancer surgery,
[02:14:17] ▶advanced cardiac surgery. We have multiple medical pro,
[02:14:20] ▶clinics and services, the epilepsy program, neuroscience,
[02:14:24] ▶psychiatry,
[02:14:27] ▶bone marrow transplant.
[02:14:29] ▶We serve the province,
[02:14:31] ▶in many ways,
[02:14:32] ▶every day. Now the demand for hospital care continues to grow
[02:14:36] ▶on a daily basis or a weekly basis. You can pick up the newspaper and see the stresses that our health care system is under, whether it's closure of obstetrical units or pediatric wards or emergency departments.
[02:14:48] ▶It's happening every week. Just this past week,
[02:14:52] ▶our program, the neurology program, was asked by Interior Health to provide neurology coverage for Interior Health. That's sort of the role that VGH
[02:15:02] ▶takes on. We're sort of the last,
[02:15:05] ▶resort for the whole province.
[02:15:07] ▶So to meet these evolving needs and the expanding population and the aging of the population, we need to have better services.
[02:15:15] ▶Our demographic
[02:15:16] ▶projections
[02:15:17] ▶estimate that we'll have an increase in the number of patients 75
[02:15:22] ▶in our immediate catchment area by twenty percent within the next ten years.
[02:15:27] ▶I'm a neurologist. What does that mean?
[02:15:30] ▶Increasing,
[02:15:31] ▶numbers of elderly patients mean increasing numbers of our most disabling illnesses,
[02:15:37] ▶stroke
[02:15:38] ▶and dementia.
[02:15:39] ▶And anyone who's not worried about dementia,
[02:15:42] ▶you must have family members,
[02:15:45] ▶relatives.
[02:15:46] ▶There's huge developments in that zone. We are not we do not have the capacity
[02:15:51] ▶to deal with the new diagnostics and the new treatments. We have to expand our footprint to be able to do that.
[02:15:58] ▶So this I think this project is really unique. It offers the opportunity to expand
[02:16:03] ▶and allow us to develop these programs, the neuroscience institute institute,
[02:16:08] ▶the cardiovascular
[02:16:09] ▶institute, and other services
[02:16:11] ▶right on the on the BGH campus.
[02:16:15] ▶The space will also allow us to
[02:16:17] ▶recruit personnel, which is becoming increasingly difficult in Vancouver due to the cost of of housing and living,
[02:16:26] ▶and, allow us to recruit the best researchers, clinicians,
[02:16:30] ▶nurse practitioners, nurses, allied health, and so on.
[02:16:35] ▶I think,
[02:16:36] ▶as we move forward, I think this will allow us to reengineer
[02:16:40] ▶how we provide outpatient care, and it will work,
[02:16:44] ▶in a completely seamless,
[02:16:45] ▶fashion with the inpatient services.
[02:16:48] ▶And what we hope to do, of course, is allow us to bring patients in from wherever,
[02:16:52] ▶investigate them, see them efficiently,
[02:16:56] ▶treat them, and get them back to their home wherever that may be.
[02:17:01] ▶So on behalf of,
[02:17:03] ▶my colleagues,
[02:17:04] ▶medical colleagues and the foundation,
[02:17:07] ▶I really hope you provide, your support on this project. I think it's, an amazing opportunity for us. Thank you. Great. Thank you very much.
[02:17:16] ▶Speaker 0: Speaker number three, Robert O'Neil.
[02:17:24] ▶Speaker 33: Operations director for long term care at Vancouver Coastal Health.
[02:17:27] ▶Thank you for the opportunity to speak today.
[02:17:30] ▶I'm here to share,
[02:17:31] ▶why this redevelopment is so critically important for long term care.
[02:17:36] ▶Our region is facing a significant shortage of long term care beds, and the demand
[02:17:41] ▶has grown and will continue to grow over the next few years.
[02:17:45] ▶The shortage has system wide impacts.
[02:17:48] ▶Acute care beds in hospitals are frequently occupied by patients who no longer require
[02:17:54] ▶hospital stay, but can't be safely discharged
[02:17:57] ▶because of a shortage of long term care beds.
[02:18:00] ▶When long term care capacity is insufficient, it creates backlogs in emergency departments,
[02:18:06] ▶delays admissions,
[02:18:08] ▶and limits the system's ability to respond to fluctuating surge demands across the region.
[02:18:13] ▶This redevelopment
[02:18:15] ▶directly addresses those pressures
[02:18:17] ▶by addressing new modern long term care capacity
[02:18:20] ▶integrated within the hospital campus and the broader community.
[02:18:24] ▶By ensuring long term care patients are cared for in appropriate settings,
[02:18:29] ▶project helps free up acute care beds for patients who truly need them.
[02:18:35] ▶This improves patient flow
[02:18:37] ▶across the system and supports more timely access to care for everyone.
[02:18:42] ▶Many of our existing long term care facilities were built decades ago, many in the seventies and eighties.
[02:18:48] ▶And while staffing levels are high and quality of care is excellent,
[02:18:52] ▶physical environments were not designed to today's standards.
[02:18:57] ▶Provincial direction now emphasizes private single bedrooms as the best practice
[02:19:02] ▶to support infection prevention,
[02:19:04] ▶resident safety, and dignity.
[02:19:08] ▶Modern facilities also support better staffing models,
[02:19:11] ▶improve infection control, and higher quality of life for residents, and this project aligns directly with those objectives.
[02:19:18] ▶From an operational perspective,
[02:19:20] ▶adding modern long term care capacity strengthens
[02:19:24] ▶and sustains our health care systems as a whole.
[02:19:27] ▶It allows us to plan for future demographic changes,
[02:19:32] ▶sponsors more effective
[02:19:34] ▶and increased opportunities for care, and manages pressures in hospitals in a more coordinated way.
[02:19:40] ▶Ultimately, this redevelopment is about ensuring seniors receive care
[02:19:44] ▶in environments that are safe,
[02:19:46] ▶dignified,
[02:19:47] ▶and appropriate,
[02:19:49] ▶while supporting a health care system that works better for patients,
[02:19:52] ▶families,
[02:19:53] ▶and providers.
[02:19:55] ▶Thank you for considering this important objective project, pardon me.
[02:19:59] ▶This redevelopment represents a meaningful step forward for long term care and for the health care system at whole.
[02:20:06] ▶Thank you.
[02:20:08] ▶Speaker 0: Thank you very much. Okay. If there are any additional speakers in the chamber, please come forward to the podium.
[02:20:16] ▶And we have another one. Glenn Smith.
[02:20:24] ▶Speaker 22: Hi.
[02:20:25] ▶My name is Glenn Smith.
[02:20:27] ▶I'm an actual resident of 990
[02:20:30] ▶West 12th.
[02:20:31] ▶I thought you might want to see someone who's going to be displaced by this development.
[02:20:38] ▶Not by my choice, of course.
[02:20:40] ▶I understand
[02:20:42] ▶the urgency
[02:20:43] ▶requirement for this
[02:20:45] ▶proposal,
[02:20:46] ▶but there are people living there now
[02:20:49] ▶who have to find a place to live.
[02:20:52] ▶I'm one of them. I'm a senior.
[02:20:55] ▶I'll probably end up in a senior's residence somewhere.
[02:20:59] ▶Long term care.
[02:21:01] ▶I'm not the only one in the building,
[02:21:04] ▶but
[02:21:05] ▶we're not covered by the TRPP,
[02:21:07] ▶we've been told,
[02:21:08] ▶because there's nowhere for them to put us.
[02:21:11] ▶Except that there are gonna be 280
[02:21:14] ▶long term care beds
[02:21:16] ▶in this new building.
[02:21:18] ▶There are only a 180,
[02:21:20] ▶185
[02:21:21] ▶people
[02:21:22] ▶in the old,
[02:21:24] ▶seniors' residence next door.
[02:21:27] ▶Even if all the move into this new,
[02:21:30] ▶new building, there's still about,
[02:21:32] ▶I think, somewhere 80 to 100 places available.
[02:21:37] ▶Why do we not have right of refusal
[02:21:39] ▶on those spaces?
[02:21:43] ▶Like I say, in general,
[02:21:44] ▶I approve of the project.
[02:21:46] ▶Wonderful idea.
[02:21:49] ▶But there are people
[02:21:51] ▶being displaced.
[02:21:52] ▶I'm one of them. There are other seniors in my building.
[02:21:56] ▶Some of them not in great shape,
[02:21:59] ▶and I
[02:22:00] ▶wanted to speak on their behalf.
[02:22:03] ▶Thank you.
[02:22:04] ▶Speaker 0: Great. Thank you very much.
[02:22:07] ▶Speaker 2: Hey. Clerk, are there any more, I'm sorry. Are there any Actually, mayor, sorry. Oh, yeah. Sorry, mayor. I I threw myself on the queue to ask a question of the gentleman who was just speaking. Yeah. Councilor Frank, please go ahead.
[02:22:19] ▶Yeah. Is is the is the gentleman still there? Yes. He is. I'm here. Okay. Yeah. Sir, I was I was curious,
[02:22:26] ▶hearing what you're talking about. I'm reading the report. It says that,
[02:22:30] ▶26
[02:22:31] ▶rental units and 22 of them are eligible for the TRPP.
[02:22:35] ▶So I'm I'm I'm I just I was wondering if you could maybe add a little bit more clarification on on your comments as to folks
[02:22:42] ▶Speaker 22: getting I was we've been told that, we are not
[02:22:46] ▶eligible for the,
[02:22:48] ▶the one that's,
[02:22:50] ▶pardon me. I've got it here.
[02:22:53] ▶By the first refusal for existing tenants to return to the new building
[02:22:57] ▶at the current rent or 20% discount
[02:23:00] ▶on citywide average market rents, whichever is less.
[02:23:04] ▶That's the program
[02:23:05] ▶that we should be
[02:23:07] ▶part of, but apparently, we're not
[02:23:10] ▶because of the nature of this development.
[02:23:14] ▶Am I wrong? See that.
[02:23:17] ▶Speaker 2: Well, I'll certainly ask staff when we have a chance to ask staff questions on on on the next round.
[02:23:22] ▶That that sounds
[02:23:25] ▶inconsistent with the policy as I understand it. How long have you been a tenant there, if you don't mind me asking? Over twenty years.
[02:23:31] ▶I'm not the only one. Yeah. No. I I I think this this policy is designed to,
[02:23:37] ▶to support,
[02:23:38] ▶especially people with your tenure of tenancy. So,
[02:23:42] ▶and I'm sure that there's staff there who may be looking at you to speak to you even now and and maybe you have some clarification, but I'll certainly ask staff when when we come back onto that part. Thank you for, sharing. Thank you. Thank you very much, counselor. Thank you, mister Smith.
[02:23:58] ▶Speaker 0: Okay.
[02:24:01] ▶Clerk, are there any additional speakers on the line?
[02:24:05] ▶There are no additional speakers on the line. Thank you. K. So this is the third and final call for speakers. If there are any speakers for this item who wish to speak to counsel, please call toll free at +1 (833) 353-8610
[02:24:17] ▶followed by participant code 1061445
[02:24:20] ▶pound before the close of the speakers list. The phone number will be posted on accident display during the recess.
[02:24:26] ▶We're now gonna take a two minute recess for any additional speakers to call in or come forward to the podium.
[02:26:49] ▶Has there been a large volume of public comments received on this item since 5PM?
[02:26:55] ▶Speaker 1: No additional correspondence has been received.
[02:26:58] ▶Speaker 0: Okay.
[02:26:59] ▶Seeing that there are few or no public comments received after 5PM, I'm now gonna close the receipt of public comments.
[02:27:05] ▶Does the applicant have any closing comments?
[02:27:14] ▶Speaker 23: Good evening, mayor and council. Kevin McNaney, planning consultant.
[02:27:17] ▶I just wanted to address the the TRP issue, and then I'll hand it to, this the CEO of the foundation for the closing comments.
[02:27:24] ▶There is a TRP that's applicable to the site, and we've engaged, community relations to ensure all the tenants find housing that's affordable to their needs
[02:27:33] ▶long term. The comment around right of first refusal is correct. There isn't residential use being built as part of this development. It's clinical and long term care, so there are no new rental units that that policy would apply to. But we are working with all tenants. They have received the full benefits of the TRP
[02:27:50] ▶to find new housing over time.
[02:27:52] ▶Speaker 20: Thank you. I I just wanted to close with as a foundation that is absolutely concerned and and, preoccupied with the medical well-being of everyone in this city,
[02:28:02] ▶we would do everything that we needed to do to ensure that that people were, prop appropriately rehoused. It's certainly not in doesn't it would be inconsistent
[02:28:11] ▶with our our mandate and mission that people end up, badly housed or in a state that's going to impact, their health care their health their state of health. And so I I but we our partner is here that is, taking care of this, and perhaps you maybe just wanna make a closing comment around the process.
[02:28:31] ▶Speaker 34: Yeah. James Todd,
[02:28:33] ▶Somerville Community Relations. When we were brought on board of this project,
[02:28:36] ▶the board really identified us as the heart of the project in terms of, the redevelopment,
[02:28:42] ▶itself. And so while we can't speak to an individual case, every
[02:28:47] ▶avenue will be taken for folks with additional barriers to housing that includes,
[02:28:53] ▶a step by step I I literally could talk about an hour about, the the the steps that we would take with folks. This is very early in the process, but we are already identifying and working with certain tenants that have additional barriers to housing. And that includes a step by step process into identifying
[02:29:10] ▶the kinds of housing that they would be required to,
[02:29:13] ▶or that we would be required to provide for those folks across the region based on their, various needs.
[02:29:19] ▶So,
[02:29:20] ▶and all of those are additional to the tenant relocation tenant relocation policies,
[02:29:25] ▶and included and, will be followed up to a tee. So I just wanted to assure that absolutely we're aware of the,
[02:29:32] ▶specifically folks in this building that,
[02:29:35] ▶existing building that have bear those barriers to housing, and we are working with those folks very closely.
[02:29:40] ▶Speaker 0: Thank you very much.
[02:29:44] ▶Okay.
[02:29:45] ▶Do,
[02:29:46] ▶do our team members have any closing comments?
[02:29:53] ▶Reminder about the yellow memo attached to this report. Thank you. Great. Thank you very much. Does council have any final questions for our team members? Councilor Kirby Young.
[02:30:03] ▶Speaker 19: Yeah. I I do have one quick follow-up because my question was addressed, and clarified that the TRPP does apply, but it's specifically the right of first refusal that does not. And I guess asking the question to staff since we can't ask of the applicant, will you also be following up to, ensure they reach out to that gentleman who spoke, our last speaker, and, he's aware of what, his options are with respects to relocation?
[02:30:27] ▶Speaker 28: I'll refer the question to my colleagues in housing. They have been dealing directly with,
[02:30:32] ▶with the individuals.
[02:30:37] ▶Speaker 35: Hi. Michelle Renoy, housing planner.
[02:30:40] ▶Yes. We will be following up with this tenant to ensure that he understands, you you know, the,
[02:30:45] ▶what he will be offered and
[02:30:47] ▶to ensure that it will take place for him.
[02:30:51] ▶Speaker 19: Okay.
[02:30:52] ▶Thanks. That's all I have, Mary. Thank you very much, councilor.
[02:30:56] ▶Speaker 0: Okay.
[02:30:59] ▶Seeing no one else in the queue. Clerk, did we receive any additional public comments since the close of public
[02:31:05] ▶comments?
[02:31:07] ▶No.
[02:31:08] ▶Thank you very much. I will remind council that we need to move the recommendation
[02:31:12] ▶for item number four together with the yellow memo dated 01/06/2026
[02:31:17] ▶entitled
[02:31:18] ▶CD dash one rezoning 900 Through 990
[02:31:21] ▶West 12th Avenue, amendments to modify
[02:31:24] ▶rezoning conditions.
[02:31:28] ▶Council will now make its decision, on this application. Do we have a mover for the recommendations?
[02:31:33] ▶Thank you. Moved by councilor Kirby Young, seconded by councilor Meisner. Council, is there any discussion?
[02:31:40] ▶Councilor Klassen.
[02:31:42] ▶Speaker 3: Thanks very much, mayor.
[02:31:45] ▶Just a
[02:31:46] ▶sort of
[02:31:48] ▶general set of thoughts and comments here,
[02:31:52] ▶is,
[02:31:53] ▶many of my colleagues will know,
[02:31:56] ▶I come from,
[02:31:57] ▶the seniors care sector,
[02:32:00] ▶advocating
[02:32:02] ▶for support and increase in beds.
[02:32:06] ▶And,
[02:32:07] ▶I'm extremely heartened,
[02:32:10] ▶by the prospect of two eighty new public beds in a city,
[02:32:16] ▶that has,
[02:32:18] ▶a shortage that is well in excess of that number.
[02:32:21] ▶But this is an incredibly important start.
[02:32:24] ▶Again, I wanna congratulate,
[02:32:26] ▶the foundation for,
[02:32:28] ▶their success in in in getting the the the level of support they needed to try and move this important project forward.
[02:32:37] ▶You know,
[02:32:38] ▶if there is,
[02:32:40] ▶I mean we often get asked about what are the things that,
[02:32:44] ▶you know, cause us sleepless nights. One for me is certainly,
[02:32:49] ▶our aging demographic and,
[02:32:51] ▶I thought Mr. O'Neil did a very good job
[02:32:54] ▶of describing how important long term care is in terms of our continuum of care
[02:33:00] ▶and, really explained,
[02:33:02] ▶how important it is to our overall medical system.
[02:33:05] ▶And,
[02:33:06] ▶with,
[02:33:08] ▶a demographic that is getting older in our city,
[02:33:12] ▶this,
[02:33:13] ▶will really
[02:33:14] ▶be an important
[02:33:16] ▶and vital step to making sure that people,
[02:33:19] ▶in community are served
[02:33:22] ▶and protected.
[02:33:23] ▶And I've had numerous conversations
[02:33:26] ▶in this term
[02:33:27] ▶with Vancouver Coastal Health about the numbers,
[02:33:31] ▶about the need to try and make sure that we do everything we can
[02:33:37] ▶both with, public beds and other operators and
[02:33:42] ▶upgrading and retrofitting older facilities as well to make sure that the bed count can continue to rise
[02:33:49] ▶as that aging demographic
[02:33:52] ▶rises over the next
[02:33:54] ▶ten years or so.
[02:33:56] ▶So, very happy to support this project. And
[02:34:01] ▶for those who heard my earlier question about the overall
[02:34:05] ▶Master Plan for VGH,
[02:34:07] ▶I'm really proud and excited that we have
[02:34:10] ▶Vancouver Coastal Health, Vancouver General Hospital
[02:34:14] ▶is incredibly important,
[02:34:18] ▶facilities that
[02:34:19] ▶serve our entire
[02:34:21] ▶city and our province and
[02:34:24] ▶employ so many people here. And
[02:34:27] ▶I think we will
[02:34:29] ▶go a long way by making sure that we can improve and update these, important facilities,
[02:34:35] ▶right here in our city, right here in the center of our city. So,
[02:34:39] ▶thanks,
[02:34:40] ▶to the applicant. Thanks to staff. And,
[02:34:43] ▶I look forward to supporting this application. Thank you.
[02:34:47] ▶Speaker 4: Thank you, councilor. Councilor Meisner? Yeah. Thanks, mayor. I wanna thank all the speakers, from the foundation, from VGH, who came to speak as well as,
[02:34:55] ▶the tenants,
[02:34:56] ▶impacted,
[02:34:57] ▶by the development.
[02:34:59] ▶You know, I think that, this is,
[02:35:02] ▶you know, a much needed clearly, much needed expansion to the health care,
[02:35:06] ▶capacity,
[02:35:07] ▶at VGH,
[02:35:09] ▶that will expand and modernize,
[02:35:11] ▶the campus.
[02:35:13] ▶And, also, it's great to hear about, the increased number of long term care beds. I know,
[02:35:19] ▶how, how much demand there are for those, and it'll be great to have, new ones in a new building. And, also, I appreciate the thoughtful approach in terms of maintaining existing rooms while the new building is being built.
[02:35:31] ▶And on the TRP,
[02:35:32] ▶issue, it is a bit of an unusual,
[02:35:34] ▶situation,
[02:35:36] ▶with the current tenant not, having a new building to go back to on the same site. But based on what I've heard tonight and also just based on my experience working with, Somerville and also the foundation, and I know you're, obviously wanting to, ensure that people are put into good good situations,
[02:35:53] ▶and that they'll be placed into another affordable,
[02:35:57] ▶rental project. So, just wanna strongly support, what you're doing here, and, thank you for all the work you you do for everyone in our region across province.
[02:36:09] ▶Speaker 0: Thank you very much. Can I see the chair to
[02:36:14] ▶acting
[02:36:16] ▶mayor? To acting mayor Joe?
[02:36:18] ▶Can I can I get my timer restarted, please? Thank you.
[02:36:23] ▶You know, before I begin, I I do wanna acknowledge, mister Smith.
[02:36:28] ▶You know, we can talk about
[02:36:30] ▶how things are gonna work out well and stuff, and,
[02:36:34] ▶housing's deeply personal. And just wanna acknowledge,
[02:36:38] ▶you know, the situation that you're in. And
[02:36:41] ▶while my words may not help, I do know,
[02:36:45] ▶the individuals involved in this, project just through reputation and interactions.
[02:36:50] ▶And I can tell you,
[02:36:52] ▶if they say they're they're gonna be super thoughtful,
[02:36:56] ▶and work work on it to make sure people are taken care of, I will take them at face value because I know the quality and the character of the individuals involved.
[02:37:05] ▶So with that, I do wanna stress that the role of mayor and council is we we need to look towards the good of the whole over the long term.
[02:37:14] ▶And so this project is incredibly exciting.
[02:37:18] ▶You know, similar to counselor Klassen, I've spent a long time in elder care. So when I hear 280
[02:37:24] ▶long term care beds,
[02:37:26] ▶that is very exciting because I actually know the scale of that relative to,
[02:37:32] ▶other long term care facilities.
[02:37:36] ▶And just as a note, and I know this is still incredibly young, but by, the year 2030, one out of four people in the city of Vancouver are gonna be over the age of 65.
[02:37:45] ▶And so that's what we're dealing with, and, it's gonna be coming on like a wave. So this couldn't come fast enough.
[02:37:52] ▶Also, 25
[02:37:54] ▶childcare spaces. There are so many young families that struggle
[02:37:59] ▶to,
[02:38:00] ▶get care for their kids,
[02:38:02] ▶and they're forced to leave our city. And so, once again, these, these childcare spaces are incredibly welcomed.
[02:38:10] ▶It's, you know, the project is centrally located. It's right on the VGH
[02:38:15] ▶campus. It's near transit, the Broadway line.
[02:38:19] ▶You know, doctor Teal, you you talked about dementia,
[02:38:22] ▶and, I don't think the general public understands how big of an issue this is gonna be.
[02:38:29] ▶Over the next decade, it's my personal view, and it's one supported by people in the industry,
[02:38:34] ▶knows that it's gonna hit us, hard. And
[02:38:37] ▶I I truly believe almost every single person in this province will be affected either directly or indirectly through a family member,
[02:38:46] ▶going through, or experiencing Alzheimer's or dementia.
[02:38:49] ▶And so,
[02:38:51] ▶you know, when I when I look at this project and it helps, it's it's amazing. So what this project represents, it it represents modernization
[02:38:59] ▶of facilities.
[02:39:00] ▶It represents
[02:39:02] ▶meaningful jobs. It represents better health outcomes.
[02:39:06] ▶The model is incredibly innovative.
[02:39:09] ▶There's no use of government funds here.
[02:39:12] ▶So it makes it sustainable, and it helps solve the problem that we are all struggling. It doesn't matter,
[02:39:18] ▶municipally, provincially, federally. We are struggling with finances,
[02:39:22] ▶and we are struggling with health care, and this
[02:39:25] ▶does
[02:39:26] ▶both. And so,
[02:39:28] ▶mister Baines,
[02:39:30] ▶you mentioned philanthropists.
[02:39:32] ▶Yeah. Talking about you.
[02:39:35] ▶And you mentioned, you know,
[02:39:37] ▶they the reason they they they give is because they can. And I agree with that, but I would also call or add to that.
[02:39:48] ▶Giving money is one thing, and it's deeply welcome.
[02:39:52] ▶Giving
[02:39:53] ▶your time and your skills,
[02:39:56] ▶those are commodities that are in incredibly
[02:39:59] ▶short supply.
[02:40:01] ▶And,
[02:40:02] ▶you know, the foundation represents
[02:40:05] ▶a lot of people that are highly skilled, that are giving.
[02:40:10] ▶And I know how busy their schedules are with, you know, their careers and raising families and dealing with all the things that we deal with, and then you add on this extra thing and just,
[02:40:21] ▶nailing it. It's absolutely incredible. So I do wanna acknowledge,
[02:40:25] ▶Christina, Anthony, and Avtar, and, like, everyone who's been involved in. Christina, I know,
[02:40:30] ▶you know, you've been leading the charge on this, and it's just been amazing to see. And, Angela, I wanna thank you and your entire team,
[02:40:39] ▶for everything you do. And this isn't me just speaking as a mayor. This is me speaking
[02:40:43] ▶as a resident of Vancouver, a proud British Columbian,
[02:40:47] ▶and Canadian,
[02:40:49] ▶and father, and family member, and someone who, you know hopefully, if I'm lucky, a long time in the future, I will be able to use these services.
[02:41:00] ▶And so with that, I I think you can tell I enthusiastically
[02:41:04] ▶support this, project, and I'm so thankful that you were all here,
[02:41:08] ▶all along the way to, bring this to this stage. And,
[02:41:12] ▶it's been absolutely
[02:41:14] ▶incredible to watch. So thank you.
[02:41:16] ▶Speaker 24: I'll take back the chair. Is that okay? Councilor Joe. Yeah. Thanks, mayor. So I'll be brief. So I like to support this project as well because I think, it's fundamentally about strengthening the Van Gogh General Hospital
[02:41:29] ▶and also ensuring our health care service can meet the needs of a growing and aging city of Vancouver.
[02:41:35] ▶VGH is one of the most important regional hospitals in BC,
[02:41:39] ▶serving patients from across Vancouver and the province.
[02:41:43] ▶This proposal,
[02:41:44] ▶enable essential encompass
[02:41:46] ▶expansion.
[02:41:47] ▶New clinical diagnostic and the medical support space integrated directly into the hospital campus where it can run function most effectively.
[02:41:58] ▶A major benefit, as we all see, is 280 new long term care beds. Vancouver face a significant and growing shortage of long term care facility,
[02:42:08] ▶and this beds will help ease the pressure on acute system,
[02:42:12] ▶reduce hallway medicine,
[02:42:14] ▶and ensure seniors receive our proper cares in setting designed for their needs. Equally important I wanna highlight is the inclusion of this 25 space child care facility.
[02:42:24] ▶Reliable child care is a clinical support for health care workers,
[02:42:29] ▶many of whom are working long, irregular, and overnight shifts. Now having worked in health care for fifteen years, I understand
[02:42:37] ▶providing child care within hospital
[02:42:39] ▶directly supports recruitment,
[02:42:41] ▶retention, and the well-being of frontline staff,
[02:42:44] ▶you know, something we know is essential to the long term resilience of our health care system.
[02:42:50] ▶Also, from a policy perspective, this project align with the Broadway plan, which explicitly
[02:42:56] ▶supports institutional growth on a large and unique site like VGH Campus.
[02:43:01] ▶The proposed height and density reflect the reality that the major hospital expansion
[02:43:07] ▶must occur vertically
[02:43:09] ▶in transit oriented location
[02:43:11] ▶close to the existing services and the emergency
[02:43:14] ▶infrastructure.
[02:43:16] ▶Beyond health care, there's a lot of other public benefits,
[02:43:19] ▶including publicly accessible open space,
[02:43:22] ▶active ground, floor use, and also significant,
[02:43:26] ▶public room improvements
[02:43:28] ▶that will serve patients,
[02:43:30] ▶families,
[02:43:30] ▶staff, and the surrounding communities.
[02:43:33] ▶So, you know, for all aspects, I think I think this project deliver everything we need for this particular neighborhood and for our city.
[02:43:40] ▶So for this reason, I I wanna support this project
[02:43:43] ▶and, happy to support this important hospital expansion moving forward. And, also, for the tenant who spoke today and other tenants,
[02:43:51] ▶you know, I think our staff would reach out, provide some solutions. And if you encounter any issue, you know, as always, you can always, feel free to reach out to counsel, and we're gonna help you advocate
[02:44:01] ▶for your, for your,
[02:44:03] ▶opportunities in the future. Yeah. With that, you know, sincerely support this product. Thank you, councilor. Councilor Frey.
[02:44:12] ▶Speaker 2: Yeah. I just wanna comment on, you know, and echoing everything that everybody said about the the the value of, the the childcare and, obviously, the clinical space and and and and the work,
[02:44:23] ▶that
[02:44:24] ▶that's going on for health care and and aging population and all of that.
[02:44:28] ▶This is really actually quite a remarkable building, I have say as well. So to the architects, I'm I'm I'm impressed by what you've managed to shoehorn into this this this
[02:44:38] ▶this piece of land with with all that's going on and having, lots of green space and and openness to it as well and, appreciative of the ground level retail and stuff. And I think it really will add,
[02:44:50] ▶quite a lot of dynamism to that particular,
[02:44:53] ▶piece of 12th Avenue.
[02:44:55] ▶And I'm also very appreciative,
[02:44:59] ▶to hear from mister Smith and to hear the,
[02:45:01] ▶the response. And, obviously,
[02:45:03] ▶yes, there will be no right of, first refusal to to tenant at that particular building because it's not being built as a residential building, and I think that's been made clear. But I also take great, solace in the fact that,
[02:45:16] ▶James Todd,
[02:45:18] ▶was managing to respond there because I I do know the work that they do with tenant relocation is is is very conscientious and incredibly thoughtful. And I and I know for sure that that the tenants in this building,
[02:45:31] ▶will will will be, you know, well considered and well compensated and and and relocated and all the things.
[02:45:39] ▶So,
[02:45:39] ▶really happy to support this project. Happy to get that clarity
[02:45:43] ▶clarification, and I I hope that if mister Smith is still there,
[02:45:46] ▶somebody can can,
[02:45:48] ▶explain some of the the nuances of this and and and moving forward.
[02:45:53] ▶And he can share that in turn with his neighbors who I'm sure are equally,
[02:45:56] ▶stressed out about this. But but I also wanna acknowledge mister Smith who was very clear and also being quite supportive of this project because I think we all
[02:46:03] ▶recognize this as a fantastic project and a really great opportunity for Vancouver and British Columbians. So thank you. Great. Thank you. And councilor, mister Smith still is here, so he heard everything you said.
[02:46:13] ▶Speaker 19: Oh, there you go. Great. Thank you. Councilor Kirby Young? Yeah. Thanks, mayor. I will be brief and just express my gratitude, to everybody that worked on this project.
[02:46:23] ▶I'm grateful that there are minds brighter than mine that have taken,
[02:46:27] ▶so it's a heart. I think it was,
[02:46:30] ▶after I spoke about a better way of doing things. And so it is an innovative partnership with the VGH and UBC Hospital Foundation,
[02:46:37] ▶and Coastal Health. And, I think that we need to have that level of innovation,
[02:46:43] ▶and people that
[02:46:45] ▶are sort of prepared to put that, creativity and,
[02:46:48] ▶commitment in to finding those solutions and moving forward. It's it's is noteworthy, and I think others just spoke about it that,
[02:46:56] ▶in oh, the population of older adults, 55 is gonna increase by 30% in the next twenty years. And we do have a tsunami coming at us. And so this is, very much appreciated. I'm looking forward to,
[02:47:07] ▶seeing once it is,
[02:47:09] ▶delivered built, how it will impact how the care and clinical services are delivered. And I
[02:47:15] ▶hopefully, that will inform, some of the,
[02:47:18] ▶this is the master planning work that,
[02:47:20] ▶BGH is also undertaking and, be a positive,
[02:47:24] ▶opportunity to sort of continue to innovate in health care because it certainly is something that we hear is important to presidents,
[02:47:31] ▶in our city. And so thank you to everybody who has contributed to it. We are grateful.
[02:47:36] ▶Speaker 0: Thank you. Councilor Maloney?
[02:47:38] ▶Speaker 26: Thanks. I wanted to very briefly,
[02:47:41] ▶acknowledge the,
[02:47:43] ▶the work that's gone into this and,
[02:47:46] ▶and particularly the donations of money and time from the various donors,
[02:47:51] ▶and and the work of the foundation.
[02:47:54] ▶And,
[02:47:55] ▶it makes me feel really good,
[02:47:58] ▶that this project is going ahead not just to provide better clinical outcomes, but,
[02:48:04] ▶to to gather, as you say, the clinical spaces,
[02:48:07] ▶into into one place,
[02:48:10] ▶to allow coordination.
[02:48:12] ▶And,
[02:48:13] ▶not the least
[02:48:14] ▶of my,
[02:48:17] ▶gratefulness,
[02:48:18] ▶for this project is that,
[02:48:20] ▶I think the more hospital buildings that are rebuilt,
[02:48:25] ▶post nineteen nineties to be seismically safe, the happier I'll be. So thanks very much. I'll be supporting this. Thank you very much, counselor.
[02:48:35] ▶Speaker 0: Okay. A reminder that any council member participating virtually whose video is disabled will be marked absent for the vote pursuant to section 14.13
[02:48:44] ▶of the procedure by law. So I'm now gonna call the vote. If we can please go to the voting screen.
[02:48:53] ▶Suspense is killing us. Let me tell.
[02:48:58] ▶Counselor Bly?
[02:49:00] ▶Counselor Bly online still? Yep. Oh, there we go. Thank you very much. And that passes unanimously.
[02:49:07] ▶Congratulations.
[02:49:08] ▶Thank you for all the hard work that everyone's put into this.
[02:49:11] ▶And that completes item number four. We need a motion to adjourn.
[02:49:15] ▶Councilor Kirby Young, seconded by councilor Meissner. All those in favor say yay. All those opposed say nay. Great. This meeting is adjourned.