Login / RegisterWest End community advocate delighted with Comox Tower reversal
A West End community advocate who has publicly roasted the Vision Vancouver-led city council over spot rezoning downtown called today’s (August 31) announced reversal on a planned Comox Street tower “very good news”.
“I hope that, going forward, there will be full consultation regarding that site and that it will turn out to benefit the community and be a win-win solution for everyone involved,” Randy Helten, spokesperson for West End Neighbours, told the Straight by phone.
In an August 31 news release, Mayor Gregor Robertson stated that he has told the developer of the 22-storey tower proposed for 1401 Comox Street that the plan has caused such a stir that “it would not be appropriate to move the project forward at this time until further engagement with the community is completed”.
According to the release, Robertson also said that the site's owner, Westbank and Petersen Group, have agreed with the move.
The project was part of the controversial Short Term Incentives for Rental Housing program, which prioritizes streamlined construction of new rental housing in the city.
“The whole thing was going way too quickly, and what they were planning was just too extreme, and it came forward without any public consultation in advance, totally took the community by surprise and was just not the right way to go forward,” Helten said. “So this is very good news.”
The Mayor’s West End Advisory Committee, which will be made up of 12 individuals from the West End, will take input on community priorities for the site up until September 10, 2010, according to the release.
The Coalition of Progressive Electors issued a news release on August 31 condemning the mayor’s consultation process for the West End as “not good enough”, noting that the neighbourhood has not had a “community visioning process” in more than 20 years.
Is there stress on the current schooling system in the west end. Yes. Is adding a bunch more houses going to ease this, No. However the majority of us in the westend walk everywhere. We are surrounded by parks and beaches. We have well defined retail areas. There is traffic calming measures everywhere. It is an amazing place to live and it could absorb a little more density. A 22 storey strata condo building would not be the end of the world.
Building density without building the support services around them is the worst king of urban planning. While you might be happy with just the stores and the beaches, many of the people who live in the West End are trying to cope with already overcrowded schools, libraries and community centres. Even if only 20% on the new tenants of a 22 storey building drove, it would mean over 100 more cars being permanently added to the already congested West End.
Mayor McSmoothie should try listening to the people more often. He might then get a grip on the real issues citizens care about.
keep up the fight, Randy. The FSR of that proposed building is an insult!
Maybe mayor could send newcomers to Vancouver to Surrey, as new residents have been packed into the city without any planning except keeping the price of real estate up while heavy cuts are put into place for services in those very communities tells me something is really out of place.
As for traffic "Realty Check". If you feel there is traffic congestion in the West End, I do not believe you live here. The once a week I take my car out of the u/g parking I never encounter traffic in the side streets of my west end neighbourhood. Sure as I approach the commuter routes, like burrard, west georgia, yes things get backed up. But on Haro, Broughton, or Comox? Never.
BTW, when I do drive through the side streets of the West End, I never go over 30 km/hr
Perhaps you're the one who doesn't live in the West End (my home for 20 years).
Try driving down Denman, Thurlow, Nelson, Davie or Robson during primetime.
Try finding a desk at the WECC library, or even a quiet place to sit and read.
Try getting your kid in one of the elementary schools.
Try getting into a community centre program without camping out the morning spots become available.
Density without services are killing the West End. To say that you want more towers because it will stop a house from going up in Surrey is laughable.