The City of North Vancouver is currently in the public input stage of their CityShaping initiative, which is a 6-step process that will culminate in the revision of the Official Community Plan to accomodate growth over the next 20-30 years. The City expects to draft an amended OCP sometime in the summer, with adoption by the end of 2013. This comes at an interesting time for the City in the wake of the contentious Onni rezoning at Lonsdale and 13th Ave, which was approved by a slim margin last week.

Potential Growth Areas

Source: City of North Vancouver

What are the potential changes? City staff are proposing a number of land use change scenarios that would impact specific areas. Overall the City is expecting an additional 8,000 units built by 2041. Here are few areas being contemplated for increased density:

• Central Lonsdale Town Centre – Potential changes would consider the area encompassing the 100 & 200 blocks east and west of Lonsdale from 13th Street to the Highway, the addition of up to 350,000 square feet of primarily residential development Harry Jerome precinct, the maintenance of the Town Centre Land Use designation (13th Street to 17th Street) , with provisions to increase this with density bonuses; an increase to the permissible density in the Urban Corridor Land Use designation, and the creation of a new land use designation on Lonsdale north from 17th Street to Highway #1.
• East Third Street – Apartment and/or townhouse developments could be appropriate for some locations. A number of property owners in this area have approached the City to discuss density changes in light of the anticipated reconstruction of Low Level Road and the proposed expansion of the Richardson International grain terminal. The changes also include potential increase in permissible density along the East Third Street frontages, and an area bounded by Low Level Road St, Patrick’s Avenue, 2nd Street, and St. David’s Avenue, Moody Avenue.
• Mahon Park Node  – an area south and east of Mahon Park could be considered accommodate townhouses, or medium density housing catering to families; it is currently single family.

Other points of discussion include increasing density in the Lions Gate Hospital Precinct, gently densifying areas currently designated R1, and not changing densities in the Lower Lonsdale area.

Here is a quick look at Vancouver’s largest residential and mixed-use/residential projects that are either under construction or at the latter stages of planning and approvals. What is notable is that a large majority of the projects are transit-oreinted; if not built directly near a Skytrain station, then within a short walking distance of one. Planning efforts to densify around transit have been formalized in the Official Community Plans of cities such as Burnaby, Surrey and Richmond.

Now on to the list. Limited to developments of 400 units or greater, the list represents 34 projects totaling 39,647 units. Almost all of the projects are multi-phase buildouts of 2 to 10+ years. Telus Garden, Marine Gateway and 1400 Howe are the only projects being built in one go.

There are 10-15 other major projects in the works that aren’t yet at the stage of approvals or construction.

Owner seeks density increase before sale.

A bid to increase the density at a Marine Drive property currently occupied by a florist was met with resistance from neighbours at a West Vancouver council meeting last week.

If council OKs the added density, the building’s floor area ratio would rise from 1.75 to 2, making the property more attractive to potential buyers. Floor area ratio measures the total floor space of a building against the size of its lot.

The future of the property, located at 1821 Marine Drive, may be too murky to make a decision, according to Coun. Bill Soprovich.

West Van Florist Site

633 Main Street will be a 16-storey building at the Northwest corner of Main and E Georgia Street. Retail uses are located at grade, with the intention of providing small-scale retail along Main Street and Georgia Street in keeping with the type of retail prevalent in Chinatown. The retail space provided on Georgia Street adjacent to the rear lane is expected to animate the rear of the property across from the plaza space on the Chinatown Parkade site. The remainder of the building is residential uses. A total of 188 condo units are proposed. The total density as approved is 8.82 FSR. A CAC was offered as part of the rezoning in the amount of $1,237,725 as a cash payment.

White Rock council approves controversial waterfront development.

With cries of “shame” echoing throughout the council chamber, White Rock city council voted Monday to give final approval to a controversial development at the former site of the White Rock Mufflers shop.

Located at the corner of Marine Drive and Oxford Street, the development will see a total of 60 residential units built, as well as 116 parking spaces, and some commercial-use units spread among three buildings.

The decision was made after much back and forth between council members, during which some argued there were too many unknowns to move forward.