Onni development backlash grows.

A group of City of North Vancouver residents, about 700 of them so far, are hoping to stay council’s hand on approving what could be the largest development in Upper Lonsdale history.

City resident Linda Heese and a few other volunteers have been collecting signatures for a petition calling on council to reject a proposal from developer Onni Group for the Safeway site at 13th Street and Lonsdale Avenue. The project would see 344 residential units in two towers measuring 180 and 240 feet in height, atop a commercial podium including a new grocery store. The project goes to a public hearing and likely vote by council on Nov. 19.

But in Heese’s view, the towers are too tall and dense for the neighbourhood and abut the sidewalks, which will “change, irrevocably” the character of what is now a nice pedestrian street.