GWAC Meeting: September

The next meeting of the Grandview Woodland Area Council (GWAC) is next Monday, 9th, at 7:00pm at the Learning Resource Centre under the Britannia Library.  The main item on the agenda is the proposed development on Grant Street.

Quoting GWAC’s mailer:

“After almost 2 years in the planning process, and multiple rejections, the public hearing for the final version of this project, a 5-storey building at 1535-1557 Grant Street, will go before  City Council on September 12th. This proposal has caused significant local push back  and you can find out more about why at the upcoming GWAC meeting, Monday September 9th.  Guest speakers will provide background and analysis on the proposal and its implications; there will be lots of time for questions and discussion.

This project offers neither affordable rental nor social housing yet the developer is asking for a full waiver of Development Cost Levies (DCLs) and Community Amenity Contributions (CACs).  If approved, this rezoning has the potential to set a precedent for similar large scale proposals in GW. 

The proposal itself calls for a 5 storey building on a narrow street with no back lane, which will dwarf the adjacent homes.  Some of the concerns expressed by neighbors include: 

• It is a narrow, single lane street, on a steep hill 
• it is unsafe for regular traffic & emergency vehicles
• It won’t accomodate fire trucks or garbage trucks
• It’s not affordable rental even on a living wage
• It’s inconsistent with the promise of the Grandview-Woodland Community Plan
• It has inadequate parking 
• And it has been rejected in its appearances in front of the Planning department’s own advisory board

…..Yet the developers & the City planning department have continued to push it through.

 
If it passes, this building and the approval process it’s gone through will set a precedent for future development around the Drive & throughout Grandview Woodland.

 
We agree the City needs housing, but do we need unaffordable, unsafe and unsuitable housing in an already dense location?”

At the time of the project’s public meeting a year ago, I wrote my own views on the project.  The GWAC meeting is open to everyone, so come along and have your own say.