750 Pacific Boulevard (DP-2021-00830) - Block A (Phase 1), Expo Gardens (Plaza Of Nations)I imagine spending seven years locked in a legal battle with your neighbour might make anyone feel colourful, especially if it involved a 10.2-acre waterfront property worth $800 million. Yet, I never expected the Urban Design Panel’s latest review of the Plaza... Continue Reading →
June 23rd, 2022 Public Hearing – Strathcona Residents Feel The Sting Of “Unjustified” Rental Housing
Public Hearing – June 23rd, 2022Time can be a funny thing, as these last two years have felt like an eternity, which in hindsight have also flown by. Supposedly as you get older this feeling only gets worse; since you’ve experienced more years, minutes, and hours can seem far quicker. Maybe that sense of time... Continue Reading →
Urban Design Panel Recommends Open Heart Surgery For Vancouver’s Landmark Art Gallery
688 Cambie St (DP-2021-00171) - (Vancouver Art Gallery)Even reaching this Urban Design Panel review could be seen as a win for the plans to build a new Vancouver Art Gallery, as it’s been six years since its pre-application open house. That doesn’t account for the time spent searching through 12 locations before this site was... Continue Reading →
May 24th, 2022 Public Hearing – The Heather Lands Shared Vision Renews A Community Relationship
Public Hearing – May, 24th, 2022 With over 130 speakers left to hear from on the Broadway Plan this week, I assume city council are grateful to whoever scheduled the Heather Lands as the lone item for this public hearing. With an election in the fall, they had to be seen as doing something, and... Continue Reading →
Simply Unbearable – The Bentall Centre’s Littlest Sibling Leaves The Urban Design Panel All Mixed Up
1025 Dunsmuir St (DP-2021-00824)There’s been a lot going on at the Bentall Centre since its new owners took over in 2019, including the addition of murals, lighting features, and the conversion of its large water feature into usable public space. The biggest change has been the loss of its above-ground parking garages with new office... Continue Reading →
Sculpted To Perfection – How The World’s Tallest Passive House Got Its Groove On
1075 Nelson St (DP-2021-00589)To say this proposal has drawn plenty of interest would be an understatement, as it played a significant role in Vancouver landing the International Passive House Conference in 2023. Even city staff acknowledged a project of this scale would further enrich local knowledge, and help build a supply chain for future projects... Continue Reading →
April 12th, 2022 Public Hearing – A Conscious Uncoupling Leads The Next Generation Of Moderate Income Rental Homes Back To Their East Van Origins
Public Hearing – April 12th, 2022With only ten public hearings scheduled before the civic election, Hannah and I expect this will likely be one of the last calm events this term. The pandemic certainly consumed much of our city council's ambitions, yet they still managed to spend plenty of time debating simple things like Item... Continue Reading →
Health Care Focused Rental Homes Find An Evergreen Solution To Strathcona’s Decade Old Eyesore
456-496 Prior StAs our regular readers know, Hannah and I do our best to research the projects we write about, and on this occasion we may have gone overboard. Granted, it was a fluke that, as we sorted through my family’s home videos, we found John Daly’s 1989 report on the St. James Social Services... Continue Reading →
Balfour Monster Leaps Forward After Shedding 34 Homes With Parkside Diet
906-982 W 18th Ave and 907-969 W 19th Ave (Balfour Block) - (revised concept)With how poorly this project’s last Urban Design Panel review went, I imagine this applicant team was looking for every advantage they could find in preparation for its requested return. So the sight of Terra Breads' bagged sandwiches in this townhall room... Continue Reading →
Canopy Conflicts Fail To Bust Vancouver Office Building’s Lofty Elegance
601 West Pender and 443 Seymour Street - DP-2021-00670In the 18 months since this office building's rezoning was submitted, we’ve all faced disruptions from significant tragedies to minor annoyances, such as losing one’s kitchen table to paperwork. That this development application’s Urban Design Panel review took place before it was published on the city's website... Continue Reading →