Our City- Diverse, Informed, Together
Last Update: April 18th, 2021This post will remain at the top of City Duo's Homepage until the fate of all remaining proposals has been decided. As this program has been closed and consolidated into the revamped Secured Rental Policy (Rental 100), and only a few grandfathered projects remain, updates may not be frequent. After I... Continue Reading →
Last Updated: May 15th, 2021.(Added that the development application has been filed for 445 Kingsway in March 2021, and the date that construction is expected to finish. Also noted that city council will review the form of development for 1956 – 1990 Stainsbury Avenue (DP-2020-00443) on May 18th, 2021.) This post will remain at the... Continue Reading →
5055 Joyce St (DP-2021-00004)For all of the Urban Design Panel's systemic faults, generally the panelists themselves want to do good by the residents of Vancouver. That was demonstrated when one member questioned whether one of this building’s smaller storefronts could host a small Filipino owned business. Hannah and I are both aware this community fears... Continue Reading →
Public Hearing – June 17th, 2021 This public hearing’s agenda will let me recap one of my favourite open house experiences, and one that Hannah still rightly scolds me for attending, as I was literally bleeding internally. Even with the post surgical fog, I’ll never forget the shocked faces in the room, though not every... Continue Reading →
Public Hearing – June 15th, 2021Updated: June 15th 2021 - After only managing to get through the agenda's first three items, city council will return on June 29th, 2021 to attempt to finish Items #4 & #5. As such, there is still time to make your thoughts on them heard. To say the last year... Continue Reading →
1317 Richards St and 508 Drake StIt’s not often an applicant team will announce to the Urban Design Panel they hope their proposal will set a worldwide example. That claim was bolstered by city staff, who admitted they were willing to stretch the Downtown Official Development Plan to enable that goal. They stressed this would... Continue Reading →
602-644 Kingsway (formerly 610-644 Kingsway)To say this simple six floor rental building has undergone a long journey would be an understatement, as its first Urban Design Panel review was in April of 2018. Considering it met a warm reception from both those volunteers, and an apparently disinterested community, I was surprised when it languished for... Continue Reading →
1002 Station St - New St. Paul's Hospital (DP-2021-00085) - Campus Public Realm WorkshopIt would be wrong to assume that in the middle of a pandemic, the Urban Design Panel would spend two hours reviewing city council approved plans to build a new hospital in Vancouver. In reality, this meeting dragged on for over four... Continue Reading →
3615 - 3645 Fraser StreetWith city council’s decision not to renew or replace the Affordable Housing Choices Interim Rezoning Policy, Darren and I have watched the activity in our guide to that program wither away. A few active rezoning proposals linger, awaiting the judgment of our elected officials, but one has remained jarringly stuck at... Continue Reading →
622 SW Marine Drive Perhaps these virtual Urban Design Panel meetings are getting to me, as Hannah caught me dozing off at the start of this item. Then again, maybe it’s because the previous one was a modest industrial building, also on Southwest Marine Drive. Unfortunately, I may as well have slept through that previous... Continue Reading →
Public Hearing – May 18th, 2021 (Update - May 18th, 2021 - Thanks to the local BIA, we now know the lot at 8655 Granville has been sitting vacant for 30 years) Over the last couple years, public hearings in Vancouver have gained a reputation for being long, drawn out affairs that often last multiple... Continue Reading →
5163-5187 Joyce StIt’s ironic that buildings around the Joyce-Collingwood SkyTrain station are prohibited by the similarly named area plan from exceeding the Telus Boot’s height, as four high-rises are now planned there. While Burnaby debates which structure will become the region’s tallest, on this side of Boundary Road, opponents decry this development as the new... Continue Reading →
