A rental development in Uptown New West is one of several projects impacted by an error in public notification requirements under the Local Government Act.
In June 2019, city council supported a proposed 29-storey highrise development at 616 to 640 Sixth St., a site that’s home to businesses like the Waffle House and New West Cobbler. Some neighbours expressed concern about the height of the building and potential safety issues related to increased vehicle traffic on Princess Street, but council supported the project, saying it provides more housing options in the uptown, creates housing in an area that hasn’t seen new development for several years and helps with economic development in the uptown.
The 2019 proposal called for the construction of a mixed-used development with 142 market strata residential units, 95 secured market rental housing units, 12,384 square feet (1,250.55 square metres) of at-grade commercial and a publicly accessible plaza near the Sixth Street and Seventh Avenue corner of the site.
In December 2020, council approved a development variance permit that facilitated the conversion of all of the previously approved residential units to 100 per cent secured market rental. It also supported variances to increase the maximum tower floorplate from 650.5 square metres (7,000 square feet) to 689 square metres (7,414 square feet).
Flash forward to June 13, 2022, when city council rescinded the existing housing agreement bylaw and gave first and second readings to a new zoning amendment bylaw for the site. Council also approved a staff recommendation to waive the public hearing, as staff deemed the bylaw to be consistent with the city’s official community plan.
According to a staff report, the new owner had applied to amend the text of the comprehensive development zoning of the previously approved site plan.
Under the new plan, the height of the building, the provision of at-grade retail along Sixth Street, the provision of a publicly accessible plaza at Sixth Street and Seventh Avenue remain in place, but several revisions were proposed. These included: increasing the number of market rental housing units from 237 to 338; increasing the project’s density; increasing the height of the podium from three to four storeys; and decreasing the amount of off-street parking from 313 to 271 parking stalls.
The revised application also includes 10 below-market rental units and 46.4 square metres (500 square feet) of below market commercial space for lease by a non-profit organization.
“Given the project’s alignment with key council priorities, the application has been processed under a constrained timeline, and a more fulsome consideration of the DP (development permit) application would occur following adoption of the bylaw,” said the report.
On June 13, council gave first and second readings to the zoning amendment bylaw that would allow for the construction of a mixed-use, 100 per cent secured market rental project at 616 to 640 Sixth St. Council subsequently gave third reading to the bylaw on June 30.
On Monday, council rescinded first, second and third readings of the zoning amendment bylaw. It also supported a staff recommendation to amend the text of the comprehensive development zoning of 616 to 640 Sixth St. and to require no public hearing to be held.
A July 11 staff report outlined the reasons for rescinding the bylaw that had already received three readings by council.
“The city, in June 2022, realized that it has made an administrative error in the timing of the public notifications due to changes in the Local Government Act,” said the report. “To correct this error, the city is repealing all three readings of the bylaw and this report is placed before council to begin the new approval process. This process will correct the administrative error, and no changes have been made to the content of the zoning bylaw, or the proposed project. Given this, the city is not requiring the applicant to complete any additional steps in the rezoning process, as all required steps were completed previously.”
