Although mostly off the radar screen of the media, a dispute is heating up between the city and residents of Northeast False Creek over the future of their neighbourhood. The Vancouver planning department has conducted a “high-level review” of the area, which extends from the northern end of the Granville Bridge to Quebec Street and includes Pacific Boulevard, B.C. Place Stadium, and GM Place. A document called “Northeast False Creek Directions for the Future” recommends that more than four million square feet of residential space be built in the area. In addition, it suggests 1.8 million square feet of “job space”.

This large amount of residential development has not garnered the support of a consultative group comprising representatives of business, cultural, recreational, and residents’ groups. Nor was this supported by public surveys at two open houses, according to Fern Jeffries, cochair of the False Creek Residents Association.

The issue came to a head at the October 22 meeting of city council’s planning and environment committee, when Jeffries informed council that residents are working with the Portland Hotel Society and architect Gregory Henriquez—who both specialize in delivering social housing—to develop their own vision to bring to council.

In her presentation, Jeffries claimed that the document “blurs” the vision of Northeast False Creek as a place to live, work, and play. Instead, she suggested, it “projects a young and single population grooving on stadium noise” and living in high-rise towers packed with bonus density.

“Where are the children and families in this plan?” she asked. “They have been eliminated for what the staff report calls the special role of the area.”

Jeffries, a former assistant deputy minister in the B.C. government, said that residents value a fully integrated community, and not a “single demographic ghetto”. She claimed that the city planners have tried this type of “social engineering” before without success, pointing to the development of hundreds of units of supportive housing in the Oppenheimer district.

“We now have hundreds of children in that area without sufficient early childhood development opportunities,” she said.

Next, she focused on Yaletown, saying the planning department developed this area as a neighbourhood for young, single people. “Now, a few years later, these former singles are the very people who camp out overnight in front of Elsie Roy school to get a place for our children,” Jeffries said. “In our view, it’s a serious error to plan for a single demographic. They don’t do it in Burnaby.”

She called on the city to designate one parcel of land owned by Concord Pacific for nonresidential development. She also asked council not to reshape Creekside Park to facilitate the development of high-rises.

The director of planning, Brent Toderian, told council he didn’t agree with Jeffries that the city was targeting a single demographic to live in Northeast False Creek. He said planners expect that some families will live in the area. The existence of B.C. Place Stadium and GM Place ensures that there will be crowds and noise. Toderian pointed out that the city will include “extra expectations for construction practices”, which will include noise attenuation.

“We also think we are going to have to warn individuals that this is not your standard approach to livability that we’ve seen on the waterfront,” he said.

Toderian noted that the city’s occupancy surveys have indicated that people enjoy a high quality of life along the waterfront. “Vancouver, to a certain extent, is the model”¦showing that increasing your use mixes [and] increasing your densities does not have to result in negatives for human health and livability,” he claimed. “In fact, we’ve shown the opposite is true.”

Jeffries responded that the anticipated densities are “quantitatively different” than what has been developed in the past. “If you really had confidence in the technical fixes around sound, why would you want to have covenants on property?” she asked. “You’re asking for covenants on the new property developments so that a new owner can’t complain about the noise. I mean, if you really believed that you had good designs, why would you want that?”

With that, the chair of the meeting, Coun. Andrea Reimer, changed the topic by inviting a question from fellow Vision Vancouver councillor Kerry Jang.