City of Vancouver councillors have unanimously approved a bylaw amendment enabling the development of 661 new social housing units in North False Creek, encompassing three building sites and two nearly 30-storey towers.
The three sites ― 990 Beatty St., 1050 Expo Blvd. and 45 Pacific St. ― will be transferred to the city by Concord Pacific to be developed by BC Housing for the express purpose of building under-market social housing.
Concord Pacific owns six undeveloped lots in the city that previously all had social housing requirements. Through a deal with Vancouver, Concord is offsetting the social housing requirements of all six sites onto the three transferred sites to the city.
The remaining three sites Concord Pacific will retain will be free to get developed as market housing with no social housing requirements.
Coun. Adriane Carr said the development of the sites has been getting kicked around for many years.
“I’ve been on council long enough to have seen many iterations of this and this has been a long time coming in terms of a decision. I am extremely pleased to support this,” Carr said during a public hearing on July 13.
“The delivery of social housing is incredibly important. As we all know, this is one of the big crises of our city.”
Carr addressed potential concerns about the city relinquishing development control of the three other sites. She said the net gain of social housing on the three remaining sites outweighs the loss.
“We are increasing the number of units of social housing being delivered here and I think that is the critical questions that we need to answer for ourselves.”
Under the original memorandum signed between the city and Concord Pacific in 2018, Concord would have been required to provide less than 600 social housing units across the six different sites.
Though construction, design and final approvals still need to take place, the bylaw amendment gives parameters around what is expected to be built.
The tallest building currently proposed would be at 1050 Expo Blvd. The amendment allows for the development of a 29-storey social housing building with 296 units and three levels of underground parking. The building can have a maximum height of 289.06 feet and a residential floor area of 254,680 square feet, according to a staff report.
The building at 990 Beatty St. can be as many as 28-storeys with 288 units of housing, two levels of underground parking, and a residential floor area of 207,237 square feet. Maximum allowed height is 279.87 feet.
Unique to the Beatty Street location is the inclusion of a new 17,904-square-foot firehall and a 6,259- square-foot child care centre.
The 450 Pacific St. site would be significantly smaller than the other two with the bylaw allowing for the development of a 90-unit building with a maximum height of 73.7 feet and a residential floor area of 75,921 square feet.
As part of the deal, Concord Pacific will make a $110 million cash contribution to the city over three-payments.
During a public hearing about the amendment on July 13, multiple councillors expressed concern over how the $110 million would be spent.
Director of the special projects office with the city, Matt Shillito, said the specifics of how the funds will be spent will be decided by council at a later date.
“As things stand, our recommendation, according to the Northeast False Creek Plan policies, is that it would go to infrastructure specifically to street work and utilities to implement the Northeast False Creek Plan,” Shillito said.
With the city relinquishing its ability to govern housing requirements on the three sites that Concord will retain ― 1502 Granville St., 431 Beach Cres. and 900 Pacific Blvd. ― Coun. Christine Boyle anticipated Vancouver residents might doubt if the $110 million payment is adequate.
“I’m curious to hear how the calculation about the $110 million was done given the escalation in land prices every year. How (can the) public feel confident that this is good value and good public benefit for this exchange?” Boyle asked city staff.
Dan Garrison, assistant director of planning, urban design and sustainability, said the fee was worked out as part of the Master Transaction Agreement.
“It was arrived at through a negotiation with real estate services staff and Concord Pacific. It was informed by third party appraisals of fair market value of the land and so the director of real estate services was comfortable entering into that agreement,” Garrison said.
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