 Why — after a decade — the controversial tower proposed for 105 Keefer in Vancouver seems likely to move forward | | |  | | | It has been 2,028 days since the Vancouver Development Permit Board ruled against approving a tower at 105 Keefer Street.
And in 2 more days, they’ll have the debate all over again.
“Beedie Beedie, you can't hide. We can see your greedy eyes,” sang protesters at a rally of around 300 people on Thursday evening against the resubmitted proposal by the Beedie Group for the nine-storey tower, which the permit board will consider on Monday.In the decade since the proposal was first brought forward, dozens and dozens of news stories — and even a thesis or two — have been shared about 105 Keefer.
Admittedly, when you consider how many redevelopments happen across the province every month, those outside Vancouver could consider it overkill.
But it’s been a powerful debate because of the confluence of issues the parking lot represents: across the street from the Chinese Cultural Centre, two blocks from the Downtown Eastside, owned by one the city’s most prominent developers.
However, there are strong reasons to believe that this vote, unlike those in the past, will move the project forward.
First, all the people involved in rejecting the original tower — first at the council table, then at the permit board — are no longer with the city. The only person on the permit board who voted against killing the project in 2017 is now Vancouver’s city manager, Paul Mochrie. The city has already lost one lawsuit on the issue and has been ordered by a judge to give better reasons should it reject the project again.
Next, Vancouver’s election brought a new ruling party in ABC Vancouver that has talked consistently about building more housing and has explicitly talked about a change in focus for Chinatown, with one councillor alleging “misinformation” and “misleading renderings” by opponents of the proposal.
Third, while in 2017, there were very few Chinatown groups explicitly supporting the proposal, this time around, seven of them have jointly lobbied for its approval.
Beedie also commissioned polling on the proposal, and in a sample size of 330 Vancouver residents contacted my phone, 43 per cent said they supported the project, vs. 22 per cent who said they had mixed feelings, 17 per cent who opposed it, and 18 per cent who said they didn't know.
(The poll was done by Fairview Strategy and has a margin of error of 5.4 per cent 19 times out of 20)
And so the odds seem in favour of the tower being approved. But whatever way the vote goes, the fault lines will remain.
After all, next door to 105 Keefer, there’s a nine–metre-long neon sign saying “Let’s Heal the Divide.”
It was created by Toni Latour, who, on her website for the piece of art, says Chinatown is “a neighbourhood confronted with gentrification, class inversion, and the threat of cultural displacement from urban developers and city rezoning.”
If the tower is approved, the sign will be blocked out. | | |  | | | 1. Bike lanes | | | It was a quieter week in local politics, owing to the national Federation of Canadian Municipalities convention taking place in Toronto. But some councils did meet — among them Richmond, which pulled the plug on a long-planned cycling route that was jointly funded with TransLink and part of its bike network. It’s a reminder that staffers can create all sorts of long-term master plans, but it doesn’t matter if you can’t get the politicians to go along with it.
Read more | | |  | | | 2. Surrey | Speaking of issues years in the making! David Eby hinted that Surrey will make a final decision on its policing future in two weeks, with the current debate being whether all councillors will agree to an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) to see the province’s full report on the matter. Even the police force on the potential chopping block is calling for a final decision, such is the exhaustion over the issue.
Read more | | | |  | | | 3. Bowen Island | The relationship between B.C. Ferries and the coastal communities it serves can always be a touch sensitive, but things have reached a fever pitch on Bowen Island with the cancellation of boats for most of the day on a long weekend. Its mayor — already feeling the heat from locals on how a campground could add to the ferry stress — is claiming they’re being singled out.
Read more in the Bowen Island Undercurrent | | | | | |  | | | 4. Crosswalks | With Pride Month around the corner, a number of small towns across B.C. have been refurbishing or approving rainbow crosswalks, including Fort St. John, which had not had one before. At the same time, support for these initiatives isn’t always unanimous — consider the City of Penticton, where a new two-spirit rainbow crosswalk was vandalized within hours of it being finished.
Read more in Global News | | | |  | | | 5. Steam shovels? | There appears to be a bit of a political schism in Quesnel, with questions over whether the mayor overstepped his bounds … in showing up at a park to personally stop a construction crew from moving a giant heritage steam shovel to a neighbouring community. It’s not the first time we’ve seen a break between a mayor and their council, but it’s certainly the oddest we’ve seen in a while. Read more in the Clearwater Times | | | | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
forwarded to you. | | | | That's it for this this week! In the meantime, check out the latest headlines at cbc.ca/bc and follow our municipal affairs reporter Justin McElroy on Twitter. And if you have any questions you might want answered in a future mailbag, drop Justin a line at metromatters@cbc.ca. | | | |
