Public consultation on a proposal to allow higher buildings in Vancouver’s Chinatown was among the issues that continued to dominate a public hearing Thursday (April 7) on the Historic Area Height Review.

Council heard from about 20 speakers as they met for a third night on the proposal to relax building height restrictions in parts of Chinatown.

While opponents of the plan say many low-income residents in Chinatown haven’t been included in consultations on the proposal, supporters say the neighbourhood has been in the planning and discussion process for years.

Downtown Eastside resident Paul Martin said many of the low-income people he spoke to in Chinatown didn’t know about the proposal to allow new towers in the area.

“In our outreach, when we went around and we spoke to over 1,000 people who have signed this petition, none of them really knew about this, didn’t understand it,” he said.

Martin added the housing conditions he witnessed were poor, with some small rooms occupied by more than three people.

“These rooms are in deplorable conditions,” he said.

Among the speakers Thursday night were some of the 30 local academics who sent a letter to city council expressing concern about the proposed building height increases.

Simon Fraser University geography professor Eugene McCann said he’s concerned the change would encourage the construction of high-end towers and lead to increased property values and rents that would drive out low-income residents.

“For us, the real issue is not the size or the shape of the towers, it’s the fact that these towers are going to be high-end, and there’s going to be a seize of economic consequences as a result of that economic change in the neighbourhood,” he told council.

“We also suggest that without proper planning and secure guaranteed social housing in place prior to the arrival of high-end development, change in the neighbourhood will be for the worse.”

The professors have asked council to delay implementation of the height proposal until a local area plan is completed for the whole Downtown Eastside, including Chinatown.

But Glen Wong, who was the first chair of the Chinatown Revitalization Committee that developed the Chinatown Vision, said there have been a lot of meetings, surveys and discussions around “what is right for Chinatown”.

“The heights proposal is consistent with the Chinatown Vision and its development from all the neighbourhoods involved,” he told council. “If this proposal’s postponed it could be disastrous for Chinatown.”

Doug Halverson of the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Garden Society said delaying the implementation of the height review to complete a local area plan could take “a very long time”.

“The social housing needs of the city must be addressed, but to hold Chinatown hostage to this process is grossly unfair,” he told council.

“The garden cannot afford to have Chinatown slip into further physical decay,” he noted. “We are obliged to support city policy that will allow the upgrading and renewal of the heritage buildings and streetscape.”

The public hearing will resume on April 18.

About another 60 speakers are registered to speak to the proposal.