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That description means the owners are now looking at building a 12,000-sq.-ft. home.

Robertson said he had been talking to city staff to see if there might be “a path forward” or a “compromise” whereby he could then try to convince his clients to reconsider submitting a new plan with the tweaks that some councillors suggested.

Photo by NICK PROCAYLO / PNG

Green Party Vancouver city councillor Pete Fry said he and Coun. Michael Wiebe “both reflected that we weren’t really against this project,” but “one big thing was the size of the underground parking, which would have meant a huge excavation, from property line to property line.”

The two councillors met with city staff on Friday to discuss potential options.

But in the end, their understanding is if there are “substantive changes” that need to be made to a project, there isn’t a mechanism or procedure to use once it is voted down by council, except to go through the whole process again.

“I know (the two Green party councillors) had hoped there could be a few changes and it would come back,” said Coun. Christine Boyle, who had voted in favour of the rezoning. “I’m not sure it’s that easy.”

Fry said this rejection shouldn’t be taken by the development industry as a symbol of council’s attitude toward building rental housing because the “site context” of it being so close to the hospice meant “it’s an exceptional case.”

But former NPA councillor Gordon Price, who blasted council’s rejection of the rezoning, said it has “mis-underestimated the message that this sends to developers and others who are supportive of building rental options in areas like Shaughnessy.

“When you say ‘No’ to a project like this … then it’s a ‘No’ that prevails until there is a ‘Yes.'”

jlee-young@postmedia.com