The Planning Policy Statement for Langara Gardens has been released for consideration by Vancouver City Council. The 20.8 acre site was acquired by Peterson Group in 2009. Peterson later partnered with Concert Properties in 2015, after which a formal planning effort to redevelop the site with City of Vancouver planning got underway, with open houses and town hall meetings over the next two years.

Langara Gardens is located west of Cambie Street between 54th and 57th Avenues and was initially developed as a rental apartment property, with three towers and later a fourth tower in the 1980s. The site is currently improved with 605 apartment units and some retail space and is built to a fairly low density equivalent to a single family zoning (approx. 0.78 FSR). A large majority of the site is currently built as lowrise townhouses which is the focus of the redevelopment effort. The existing rental towers will be maintained.

The site at Pearson Dogwood, directly south, is proposed for the same density and will get underway with rezoning of the first phase shortly.

The vision for the property has included retention of the four existing apartment highrises while adding new residential buildings and various new services and amenities. “Langara Gardens will continue to be primarily residential, with a mix of housing opportunities for a variety of households, ages and income levels. A key element of the planning program is to maintain or replace the 605 existing rental housing units on a one-for-one basis.”

Details of the policy statement which will guide future rezoning applications for the site include:

• a maximum overall site density of 2.80 FSR (on gross site area);
• a total of 2,540,000 SF of development (about 2,100 units total);
• 11 towers (including existing four towers to be retained);
• All 605 existing rental units retained or replaced;
• Building heights from 3 to 28-storeys;
• 20% of net new floor area as affordable housing (approx. 430 units);
• Redesign and upgrade of existing retail space (approx. 25,000 SF);
• A new 69-space childcare facility;
• A new 1-acre City-owned park;
• A financial contribution towards a potential future station at 57th Ave;
• A community amenity contribution(s) to be determined/negotiated.

Park and Open Space Concept

Building Heights

The next step will be a site specific rezoning that will include further details such as exact units counts and building layout and design.

Full details on the planning policy statement can be viewed here: http://council.vancouver.ca/20180313/documents/p1.pdf 

The City of Coquitlam, YMCA and Concert Properties have entered into a partnership to exchange lands and rezone two sites in the Burquitlam-Lougheed Neighbourhood Plan area to permit redevelopment on both sites. 

The two sites include:

• Burquitlam Park – a 3.96 acre site on Smith Avenue, adjacent Bosa’s Uptown Development
• Whitgift Gardens – a 5.45 acre site on Cottonwood Avenue, directly North of Bosa’s Lougheed Heights development, and West of Cottonwood Park

The sites are located in the Burquitlam-Lougheed Neighbourhood Plan “Core” and “Shoulder” areas respectively. The proposal involves a property exchange between
the City (at Burquitlam Park) and Concert (Whitgift Gardens – an existing older rental residential complex).The exchange involves 2.15 acres of park land from Burquitlam Park to the Whitgift Gardens site to facilitate the expansion of Cottonwood Park and in return, the same area of developable land, with its associated density, is moved from the Whitgift Gardens site to the Burquitlam Park site.

The two components of the proposal include:

Burquitlam Park Site

• A 50-storey condo tower and 30-storey rental tower;
• 275 rental units;
• 435 condo units;
• a new 60,000 SF 3-storey YMCA recreation facility;
• a new community police station;
• total density of 6.30 FAR;
• 930 parking stalls;
• New 1.5 acre Burquitlam Park.

Whitgift Gardens Site 

• Six highrise residential towers from 24 to 48-storeys in height;
• Two rental towers of 37-storeys;
• Four condo towers of 24, 25, 43 & 48-storeys;
• 654 rental units;
• 1,187 condo units;
• 132 seniors market rental units;
• 20-40 below market rental units;
• standalone amenity building;
• total density of 5.50 FAR;
• 2,350 parking stalls;
• Extension of Emerson Street and new East-West road.

The proposed market rental units represent a roughly 3:1 replacement ratio of the
existing rental units at Whitgift Gardens. The total value of all the public benefits including bonus density funds and CAC’s is $120 Million.

The architects for the project are Raymond Letkeman Architects and Endall Elliott.

Onni Group has submitted a development application for the first phase of the Pearson Dogwood redevelopment. Onni acquired the 25 acre site in 2014 as part of a phased deal that finished in 2016, at the time a formal rezoning application had been submitted for the overall master plan of the site. The overall plan calls for a multi-phase, multi-year buildout that will eventually total approximately 2,700 residential units.

The first phase “Parcel A” entails development of an 81,142 SF parcel on the Southeast corner of the site, at the corner of Cambie and West 59th Avenue. The proposal includes the following:

• 445 total residential units (307 market  units & 138 social housing units);
• 44 Pearson supportive units;
• 13,136 SF of retail uses on the ground floor;
• building heights of 285 ft (26-storeys) and 243 ft (22-storeys);
• a total density of 5.86 FSR;
• 475,420 sq. ft. of floor area; 
• a diagonal pathway accessing the interior of the larger site; and,
• four levels of underground parking accessed from a new internal street.

The application describes the building program: “Generally, the retail space is along the north edge of the building on 58th Avenue and along a portion of Cambie Street. One market residential unit lobby (shared with the Pearson supportive housing units) is located on the new internal road, while the other is along Cambie Street. The affordable housing lobby will be facing 59th Avenue along with some market townhomes. The parkade ramp is located in the new internal road.”

Under the site’s approved CD-1 zoning, the application is “conditional” so it may be permitted; however, it requires the decision of the Development Permit Board.

The architect for the project is IBI Group.