Council debate on controversial Vancouver development project turns into a gong show

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      A public hearing by city council on a contentious East Vancouver development went off the rails.

      At that meeting Tuesday (May 24), the ruling Vision Vancouver party didn’t have a majority in the chamber.

      Theoretically, councillors with the Non-Partisan Association and Green Party of Vancouver could have defeated the proposed project at the corner of Commercial Drive and East 18th Avenue.

      But following a motion that sought to defer a vote, opposition councillors walked out in protest.

      The Cressey Development Group has proposed to build a six-storey rental building on Commercial Drive, with a three-and-a-half-storey wing on East 18th Avenue. The company also wants to convert an old house in the property into two privately-owned homes, and build two more homes at the site.

       Lee Chapelle, a local resident opposed to the project, attended the public hearing last night.

      Chapelle, who speaks for the Cedar Cottage Area Neighbours, is now asking to whose advantage was it that the meeting went haywire.

      “It was bizarre,” Chapelle told the Straight in a phone interview Wednesday (May 25).

      NPA councillor Melissa De Genova said that she felt bad for members of the public who attended the public hearing.

      “The meeting was poorly chaired,” De Genova told the Straight by phone.

      The meeting was chaired by Vision councillor Raymond Louie. Also present at the meeting were Vision councillors Tim Stevenson and Heather Deal.

      According to NPA councillor Elizabeth Ball, Louie “encouraged” Stevenson, who had brought forward a motion to postpone a vote on the development for a later date.

      “Councillor Stevenson was invited to try to delay the meeting,” Ball told the Straight in a phone interview.

      Together with De Genova and Ball, NPA councillor George Affleck and Green councillor Adriane Carr stormed out, leaving the meeting without a quorum.

      “It seems to us that the rules were being made on the spot,” Ball said.

      In the past, according to Ball, Carr had always been told that she can’t refer back to staff a public hearing matter when council had already started debate.

      Ball said that this was the situation Tuesday evening when Louie did not rule Stevenson’s deferral motion to be out of order.

      Louie described the opposition walkout as “totally inappropriate”.

      “It’s a bit bizarre that they would resort to that tactic,” Louie told the Straight in a phone interview.

      According to him, opposition councillors could have simply voted down Stevenson’s motion.

      Louie maintained that Stevenson only wanted more information on the project.

      The Vision councillor also said that subject to an opinion by the city’s legal department, a new public hearing may be called.

      Based on Louie’s explanation, a new public hearing means that the Vision caucus members absent at the May 24 meeting can vote on the development proposal. These are councillors Kerry Jang, Andrea Reimer, and Geoff Meggs. Also not present was Mayor Gregor Robertson.

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