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November 2020 Update

It’s been a while since we’ve posted anything on this site. There was a long stretch where seemingly nothing much was happening with regard to the Kettle/Boffo development that was once proposed for the corner of Venables & Commercial.

Then, not too long ago, a new proposal surfaced with the Kettle asking the City to give (or sell?) them the City-owned property just north of the current Kettle building, the triangular parking lot at Commercial and Adanac. The plan was that the Kettle would sell its current building (right nextdoor on Venables) and use the proceeds to build a new Kettle drop-in and offices and 50 SRO-type supportive-housing units for Kettle clients (people with mental-health issues) on the parking lot.

We thought this sounded reasonable. It wouldn’t be a 15-storey “tower” and it wouldn’t include Boffo making big profits on 200 high-priced condo units.

It would seem that the developer, Boffo, was no longer involved. But who would buy the Kettle’s current building? Very likely Boffo, who already owns the former Astorino’s on the east side of the Kettle AND the Ace of Suedes leather-cleaning place on the west side of the Kettle! If Daniel Boffo bought the Kettle’s building, he would own the entire block from Commercial Div. to Commercial Drive. We’ll need to watch this.

Anyway, on October 21st (2020), City Council voted the Kettle proposal down. Apparently the City’s Planning department wants to see at least 50
additional units of housing on that parking-lot site. If it’s 100 units plus expanded Kettle services, this is sounding more like a “tower” on the parking lot. This may not be the good news we were hoping for. We are watching and waiting.

Meanwhile, we ask you to do two things:

1. Opt in. If you would like to continue to be informed about what’s happening on that corner (Venables & Commercial), please send an e-mail to notower@telus.net, and we’ll put you on a new e-mail list.

2. Attend GWAC. Also, if you have an opinion about towers in East Vancouver, you may be interested in attending the next meeting of the Grandview-Woodland Area Council (GWAC) http://www.gwac.ca, which will be held on Zoom on December 7th at 7:00. The topic is the proposed development at Broadway & Commercial. If you would like to receive the Zoom link for that meeting, please send an e-mail to info@gwac.ca and someone from GWAC will send you the link. Below is some info about the site and proposal.

Sincerely,
your No Tower at Commercial & Venables team

THE BROADWAY & COMMERCIAL SAFEWAY SITE

This is the biggest development proposal to hit East Vancouver in decades. The site has languished for a long time, but now developers Westbank Corp. is putting forward a massive three-tower proposal, with heights up to 30 storeys above a six-storey retail and office plinth and almost 700 residential units — market rentals and condos. The City of Vancouver has designated this piece of property as a “transit-oriented development” site with two and possibly three transit lines converging there.

The Westbank proposal is very dense — definitely NOT the more moderate, lower, mixed-height concept envisioned in the City’s approved Grandview-Woodland Community Plan.

And the massive scale of the proposal threatens forever the very nature of the much-loved and low-rise Commercial Drive area.

March 2019 Update! How about TMH on the site?

We haven’t posted to this site in quite a while. In June 2018 we advised you that the Boffo/Kettle tower proposal at Venables & Commercial in Grandview-Woodland had been abandoned.

Nothing much seems to have happened since — at least nothing we are aware of — so this week we took the initiative to go and talk to a few city councillors to see if it would be possible to get some Temporary Modular Housing (TMH) installed on the City-owned triangular parking lot on the site.

Before we went to City Hall, we visited a few of the TMH sites that have gone up around the City, and they are well-run facilities, not more than three storeys, with as few as forty units.


TMH at Main and Terminal. The City manages this project. It’s 40 units.

We think TMH could be ideal for this particular site. The scale would be just right; it wouldn’t be a tower AND the project wouldn’t include the 200 high-priced condo units that had been proposed in the previous for-profit Boffo/Kettle plan.

So, right now, we are advocating for TMH on the site. If you agree, please write a short e-mail to the mayor and councillors to say that you are in favour. Here are a few reasons we think it’s a good idea:

WHY IS THIS SITE RIGHT FOR TMH?

  • This would be a quick win for the City.
  • It is already City-owned property.
  • This would be using City land for a valid social purpose, not for a for-profit development.
  • It is under-used (it’s currently a parking lot, but it’s often empty).
  • There is a need for housing for the hard-to-house in Grandview.
  • It would be entirely suitable for around 30 units of SRO-type housing, with a maximum of three storeys.
  • The community will likely not object to three storeys on that site. It’s not a tower!
  • The TMH proposal allows the City to retain control of the land and while providing essentially the same amount of social benefit that would have been achieved with the proposed Boffo/Kettle project.
  • The current council seems to be doing a pretty good job of distributing social housing and services equitably throughout the City. No one neighbourhood should be expected to take responsibility for more than its share.
  • This TMH proposal is the right scale for the community. As we see it, a 30-unit TMH project would provide secure housing for those who currently need supportive SRO-type housing in Grandview-Woodland but the project would not be so large that it would draw lots of people in need from other neighbourhoods.


The NO TOWER lawn sign campaign drew attention to the problems with the Boffo/Kettle proposal.

WHY DID WE OBJECT TO THE BOFFO/KETTLE PROJECT?

  • Our objection was never about the Kettle or their need for 30 units of supportive housing.
  • The proposed height and massing was completely out of context with the low-rise nature of the Drive. At one public GWAC meeting the developer, Daniel Boffo, said he could not make it work if it were fewer than 15 storeys.
  • There are many ways to add density to Grandview-Woodland more gently — without towers (e.g., duplexes, laneway houses, infill, etc.) and to maintain the character and scale of the neighbourhood.
  • We and our many supporters were worried about the impact 200+ high-priced condos would have on the neighbourhood, lifting surrounding land prices and putting nearby existing affordable rental, non-profit, and co-op housing at great risk.
  • We fundamentally disagree that non-profits that fulfill crucial social needs (such as the Kettle) should have to rely on for-profit developers to meet their needs.
  • If the Boffo/Kettle deal had gone ahead, the City would have lost control of its property, selling that very valuable piece of land at a very low price. With the TMH project, the City retains ownership of the land.

Thank you for speaking up in support of the No Tower Coalition in the past and for putting your voice on record against what would have been a massive imposition on our community. Please write to mayor and council to support this new TMH initiative. Just cut and paste these addresses into the “to” field in your e-mail:

kennedy.stewart@vancouver.ca, clrbligh@vancouver.ca, clrboyle@vancouver.ca, clrcarr@vancouver.ca, clrdegenova@vancouver.ca, clrdominato@vancouver.ca, clrfry@vancouver.ca, clrhardwick@vancouver.ca, clrkirby-yung@vancouver.ca, clrswanson@vancouver.ca, clrwiebe@vancouver.ca, notower@telus.net

(Note: We include the “No Tower” e-mail address in the list so we can see how many people have written to Council.) Thank you again for your support.

APRIL 2018 UPDATE

GALLOPING DENSITY IN GRANDVIEW-WOODLAND

Recent news of a proposed six-storey market rental building slated for the corner of Adanac Street and Commercial Drive in Grandview–Woodland bears out the creeping density predictions made by the NO TOWER Coalition.

The proposed project, if approved by the City of Vancouver, would sit directly across the street from the controversial Boffo/Kettle 12-storey tower proposal at the corner of Venables and Commercial Drive. This latest market rental proposal is just north of the Uprising Bakery building and immediately beside the Entre Nous Femmes Housing Co-op to the west.

The Boffo/Kettle proposal is highly controversial and much opposed by the residents of the community, 4,433 of whom signed a petition against the highrise. Its progress currently appears to be in limbo, more than 18 months after the city gave its approval in principle, during the adoption of the Grandview-Woodland Community Plan.

Developers for the new rental complex, directly across the street, have made application for a rezoning by the city and will hold a community open house Thursday April 19th at the Vancouver Aboriginal Centre, 1607 East Hastings Street.

If the development goes ahead it will bring even greater density to a key corner of Grandview-Woodland already under great pressure due to the Boffo/Kettle tower proposal.

The NO TOWER Coalition predicted that approval in principle of the Boffo/Kettle project would put great pressure on the immediately surrounding area, home to many older apartment buildings, housing co-ops, and other affordable rental properties.

In fact the current piece of land proposed for this rental building was subject to renoviction actions by the owner who also attempted to rent out a windowless shed on the property on Craigslist as a “one bedroom with kitchen apartment”. News of the “shed for rent” controversy caused the city to shut down the rental notice, which was then pulled from Craigslist.

The zoning of the land in question for this new rental building currently stands at 4 storeys according to the community plan, but this building would be six storeys, extending right to the curb, with retail at ground level and 38 secured market-but-by-no-means-affordable rental units.

Ironically, one of the benefits of this proposal, according to Cornerstone Architecture, would be a closed pedestrian zone on Commercial Drive from Venables to Adanac. This “piazza” idea was in fact one of NO TOWER’s ideas, proposed in support of a much smaller and lower density alternative for the Kettle Friendship Society on the site.

This rental apartment proposal comes in the midst of a veritable land rush in Grandview-Woodland with dozens of land-assembly deals being proposed. NO TOWER fears that within a few years Grandview-Woodland be virtually unrecognizable and will lose many of its affordable rental units to be replaced by luxury condos, expensive townhouses, and market rent buildings, at much greater cost.

For more information go to http://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applications/825commercial/index.htm.

 

Rezoning Application – 815-825 Commercial Drive & 1680 Adanac Street

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Bait and Switch at Council, Boffo/Kettle Get Their 12 Storeys

July 28, 2016

Back a whole long one month ago, when the planners released the new Grandview Woodland Community Plan, the No Tower Coalition noted that the height at Commercial and Venables had been slightly reduced to 9 storeys.  At the time, we were somewhat suspicious of the wording, which indicated that additional height and density would be considered if additional amenities could be secured.  We feared a bait and switch tactic: appearing to appease us in the Plan, but going back to the original height (12 storeys) and density (6.6 or so) once the community had quieted down.  Well, unfortunately, we were right.  Today, Council did go back to the original height and density.  However, this was not with community consent.  Indeed, Council went back to the original height and density even though the community clearly opposed it given over 4400 petition signatures, over 300 postcards, and over 110 letters sent in to Council since Saturday, July 23rd alone.

For those who did not attend the meeting or watch the broadcast, Clr Andrea Reimer came forward with a number of amendments to the Plan this morning.  (Interesting how City Councilors can do this, but citizen input doesn’t change the plan in any way!)  One of them was to set the height at Commercial and Venables back to 12 storeys.  Now, whether this means that the Plan was released in bad faith, with no real intention of ever implementing the 9 storey limit on Venables and four along the Drive, or whether this means that Council has total disregard for both the expertise of planners and the desires of the public, is hard to say.  However, all but two councilors voted for this amendment.  The two who did not were Adriane Carr and George Affleck.  For that, we commend them.

So successful had the public opposition been, that several councilors voting for the amendment had to go to great lengths to denigrate the opposition, which included denigrating Clr Carr as well.  Clr Kerry Jang in particular referred to Carr’s amendment to keep the height to 4 storeys at Commercial and Venables as “disrespectful,” saying it “hurts the most vulnerable.”  He went on from there to call it “irresponsible,” finally arguing that debating the best means of funding the expanded Kettle operations is callous and that it reminds him “of the debates we have over suicide netting on a bridge.  Oh it’s only one person, that’s ok, we’ll let ‘em die.”  (Reference at 2:24:40 at http://civic.neulion.com/cityofvancouver/index.php?clipid=3495018,001)

While the impossibility of providing what the Kettle needs with government funding or (gasp) only 9 storeys of condos was reiterated many times over the three days of discussion on the Plan, we have never seen a proforma or other evidence of the funding necessities from either Boffo or the Kettle.  No councilor asked exactly what was meant when Nancy Keough insisted that only with 12 storeys could the project “break even.”  We doubt very much that it meant that Boffo will be working for costs.

We are disappointed that the public was ignored, that the No Tower alternative for the Kettle expansion including 21 additional units of rental housing was ignored, and that the Plan itself was ignored.  But, in addition to that we are outraged that our city councilors, with a few exceptions, are unwilling to consider that funding basic mental health and poverty services through condos sets a terrible precedent for our senior levels of government to keep disinvesting from our most basic public systems.  We are further outraged that some councilors have gone so far as to call any one of us who criticizes projects such as Boffo/Kettle so callous as to want the deaths of the most vulnerable in our society.  This is disingenuous political hyperbole that undermines dissent and ultimately promotes developer greed over social good.

We do not yet know how we will proceed in any future rezoning hearings, but we do know that this loss has been an important one for us, for our neighbourhood, and for our public welfare systems, which desperately need reinvestment.  While many councilors stated that we cannot wait for government funding and therefore have to proceed with the Boffo/Kettle project, we believe that we cannot wait for this Vancouver condo boom to crash to begin reinvesting public money in public services.  Only by sharing our country’s wealth among ourselves, rather than offering it on a platter to developers, will we achieve any real change for those who use the Kettle along with the increasing number of disenfranchised and destitute people in our city.

Let City Council hear what you think of the Community Plan

Staff will be presenting the new Grandview-Woodland Community Plan to Council at the regular Council meeting on Tuesday, July 26th, starting at 9:30 a.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall.
If you would like to tell Council what you think of the Plan, the opportunity to do that will be at the “Policy and Strategic Priorities Meeting”, Wednesday, July 27th, also starting at 9:30 a.m. in Council Chambers at City Hall. You must sign up to speak before the meeting begins. Just call 311.
To demystify the process of presenting to Council, read the following guide on the Grandview-Woodland Area Council website:

How to Present and Write to Vancouver City Council

No Tower’s Alternative Proposal for Commercial and Venables

On July 19, 2016, the No Tower Coalition sent a package of materials to the Mayor and Council members detailing our alternative proposal for the corner of Commercial and Venables.  Our alternative focuses on making sure the Kettle Friendship Society achieves an expanded administrative and program space and the 30 single occupancy units they need.  Our alternative also envisions 21 additional rental units, mostly 2 and 3 bedroom units, in a 6-storey building.  Check out our alternative in the links below, which include:

 

Workshop, Tuesday, July 19th

The No Tower Coalition is putting on a community workshop on how to present to City Council and how to write to Councillors.

Please join us at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 19th, in the Board Room at Britannia Centre (in the Info Centre building).

Bring your ideas and questions. Participation isn’t limited to the issues concerning Venables & Commercial. You can talk about anything you have to say about the draft Grandview Community Plan and would like to share with Council.

Hope to see you there!

Major Concerns about the New City Proposal for Venables & Commercial

The City presented its own concept for Commercial and Venables to the Citizens’ Assembly. It contains less density overall, a tower of 9 storeys on Venables and maximum 6 storeys on the north half of the site. This sounds like an improvement, but actually doesn’t answer the concerns of the No Tower Coalition.

  1. 9 storeys is still too high. We want human scale.
  2. There is no substantial public or green space added to the plan. Our neighbourhood is park deficient.
  3. This still adds expensive, high-end condos to a low-income and renter-predominant area of the neighbourhood. We want protection against rising land value and rent rates.
  4. City planners are already warning their scenario has a “funding gap” that will make it impossible to meet the Kettle’s needs without more density.
  5. We fear a bait-and-switch tactic, taking us back to the height and density we originally rejected.
  6. The City’s plan will still require a spot rezoning. We oppose all spot rezonings as they diminish community control and government accountability.

Let Council and planners know what you want at Commercial and Venables! Complete the City’s questionnaire about the Grandview-Woodland DRAFT Community Plan. Check out the next two posts, below, to get ideas.

The City’s Proposed New Concept for Venables & Commercial…

In the draft Community Plan, the City has crafted a new proposal for Commercial and Venables. This is in contrast to the “Developer Concept” that’s been promoted by KettleBoffo for some months.

Below are two renderings that were shown to the Citizens Assembly and media this week. The pink one shows the KettleBoffo proposal; the yellow one shows the City’s new alternative.

While the height and mass are somewhat reduced in the City’s proposal, the Community Plan says it could be possible to add considerable height and density if the developer says it can’t get enough profit to provide the Kettle what it needs. This could, we fear, put us right back where we began, with an unacceptable multi-tower complex.

See our next post for a description of the kind of development we envision for the site, that would satisfy both the community’s and the Kettle’s needs on a human scale.

 

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Design Principles for our Human Scale Alternative Plan

We have long argued that there are feasible alternatives to the KettleBoffo proposal for Venables and Commercial. Our group has worked with planners and architects to create a set of design principles that form the basis of our alternative vision for the site. These can be found here: Commercial and Venables – Design Principles 20june2016

Calling neighbourhood activists “NIMBYs” shuts down debate and stifles real solutions

We need to debate whether our rush to up-zone and redevelop the whole city is driving up the cost of real estate.

The term NIMBY is increasingly being used against neighbourhood-based activists opposing development.  Calling people “NIMBYs” has proven an effective way to shut down discussion and stifle debate.  While global capital and speculation in our real estate market is a factor driving up prices, enabling that is our rush to up-zone and redevelop every inch of the city with new condo towers.

A flashpoint for NIMBY name-calling is the No Tower campaign in Grandview-Woodland, where many see the Boffo/Kettle proposal as bringing needed density to the neighbourhood.  But, for the proponents of the No Tower position, the supposed NIMBYs here, the ripple effect of rising land values and rents if we allow 200 market-priced condos into a relatively low-income, high-rental area of the neighbourhood is not worth 30 additional social housing units.  We might add 30 social housing units, but at what cost to the other low-income and vulnerable renters in the immediate vicinity of the tower?  As many activists in the Downtown Eastside, Marpole, and the West End will tell you, building new, both condo and rental towers, in this market, has been a recipe for skyrocketing land value, rent, and displacement of low and modest-income residents.

Vancouver City Council already approves more new development than is needed for population growth.  In this market, where speculation reigns, large-scale up-zoning of neighbourhoods raises rather than lowers housing prices.  Density is driving up the cost of land, which is driving up the cost of housing.  The best affordability will come from controlling speculation, building within current zoning for the most part (current zoning is already enough to accommodate the influx of population according to the City’s own report), and respecting the rights of citizens to have a say in their own neighbourhoods.

Resorting to ad hominems rather than promoting healthy debate only fuels the capacity of development promoters to set the terms of the debate, something that will ultimately undermine the very city we all care so much about.

Opposition Growing to Massive Tower on Commercial Drive

July 8, 2015
For immediate release.

OPPOSITION GROWING TO MASSIVE TOWER ON COMMERCIAL DRIVE

Vancouver. Concerned citizens of Grandview-Woodland are moving to block a project being proposed by the developer Boffo Properties at the corner of Commercial Drive and Venables Street.

Boffo is proposing a massive development for this site, including a 15-storey tower with 150 market condo units and an eight-storey tower with expanded facilities for the Kettle Friendship Society, including 30 units of supportive housing for Kettle clients.

“We want to emphasize that we are not opposed to the Kettle or its valuable services for people with mental health concerns,” said spokesperson Barbara Cameron. “We strongly support the Kettle and its work”.

“Yet the key point here is that a massive and dense, high-rise tower would be completely out of context with our low rise, people-friendly and much-loved Commercial Drive community and extremely destructive to the neighbourhood. The Kettle should get expanded facilities, but not at such a cost to its neighbours.”

The No Tower coalition is active and now has over 800 signatures on its two ongoing petitions against the tower proposal. The group will continue to lobby vigorously for practical alternatives to the project, without a tower. (more…)

Welcome!

Are you aware that there is a 15-storey tower being planned for Venables at Commercial?

The proposed development goes from Adanac to Venables, between Commercial Drive and Commercial Divide (including Astorino’s, the Kettle, Ace of Suedes, and the pie-shaped City-owned lot to the north) with an 8-storey building on Venables and a 15-storey tower on Adanac.

15 storeys is massive!

The developer is proposing a 150-unit market condo tower!!

  • At an average of just two people per unit, that’s 300 new people.
  • This is not the “gentle” densification called for in the Citizens Assembly’s and City’s recommendations for Grandview.
  • If increased population is shared across the city, Grandview only needs to accommodate 227 new people per year over the next 30 years. We can do this without towers.
  • The proposed tower would be taller than and three times as massive as the Lions, denser than most West End buildings. (The Lions is 2.2 FSR and the proposed tower is 6.8!!)
  • In order to build a tower this dense, the developer intends to build right out to the property lines.
  • The building’s shadows will loom over blocks of our established low-rise homes and gardens.
  • There will be four storeys of underground parking, hundreds more cars, and more traffic on both Venables and Commercial.
  • Grandview will lose its sweeping grand view of the North Shore mountains from Commercial Drive.

We are told we must accept densification in the form of towers in our city, which leads to the destruction of our neighbourhoods.

Is this for the greater good?

  • The population projection for “Greater Vancouver” is for 1,000,000 new people over the next 30 years.
  • Vancouver itself will get only about 170,000 of those.
  • If you divide those by the 25 or so neighbourhoods in Vancouver, Grandview should only need to make room for 6,800 of them.
  • If you divide those by 30 years, we only need to make room for 227 people per year.
  • We can do that easily by relaxing the regulations on laneway houses, basement suites, coach houses, and infills and by approving sensitively-built, maximum four-storey row housing.
  • We do not NEED highrises.
  • We can acheive the density we need with four storeys and under. We can retain the look and feel of our “Edwardian Village,” the Grandview we love, in the process.
  • Copenhagen has twice the density of Vancouver, and almost all under five storeys.

Developers are motivated by profit. They do not care about our neighbourhoods.

The 15-storey highrise being proposed between Venables and Adanac on Commercial would be market, not “affordable”, housing.

That’s not what we need.