Commercial Drive tower battle threatens social housing plan, sponsor says
JOHN MACKIE
The Vancouver Sun
Artist’s conception in the revised Grandview Woodland plan for a proposed development by the Kettle Friendship Society and Boffo Developments at Commercial and Venables. PNG
The latest incarnation of the Grandview-Woodland community plan calls for a mixed-use development that would rise between four to nine storeys at Commercial and Venables.
That is three storeys fewer than the Kettle Friendship Society and Boffo Properties have proposed for the tower on the site, which would have include 30 social housing and 150 to 200 market condos.
The tower has been whittled down after fierce opposition in the Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood, where a No Venables Tower petition has gathered 4,426 signatures. But nine storeys proposed by the city doesn’t sit well with the Kettle’s Nancy Keough, who said that size won’t work without a subsidy.
“We need 12 storeys in the density to make the project self-sustaining,” she said. “(That would) give us the space we need to run our community services and drop-in, and to get 30 affordable housing units. If we can get the extra density and those three extra floors that’s added to the draft plan, then we can build our project.”
The Kettle has been on Commercial Drive for four decades, and operates a drop-in centre that serves between 120 and 150 people a day.
It has been working with Boffo on a self-sustaining plan that would build social housing on the lower floors of a new building and condos above. The 12-storey plan would have a budget of about $110 million, but would require no government subsidy. The Kettle has gathered 2,200 signatures on its own petition in support of the project.
The Kettle and Boffo sent their concerns in a letter to city council Tuesday. But the No Venables Tower coalition sent its own letter to the city with an alternative calling for a six storey building on the north part of the site, which is currently a parking lot owned by the city. That would allow 30 units of supportive housing for the Kettle and 21 units of “affordable-family sized rental housing.” The Kettle’s service work would be done on the first floor of the structure.
“We believe the city could provide its land on a long-term nominal cost lease, worth $2.6 million,” said the coalition’s Barbara Cameron. “The six-storey residential building would be approximately $10 million.”
The southern part of the site is owned by Boffo and Kettle, and the No Tower plan said it could be redeveloped using the existing zoning, which allows for a four storey building.
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