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Across the western edge of the Vancouver General Hospital complex is a row of blue townhouses situated behind trees and other greenery. For decades, the dozen or so rental units at the southwest corner of Oak Street and West 10th Avenue have been homes for many residents.

A development sign for a proposed 12-storey building has gone up in front of the compound, though, which means a time is coming when the tenants will have to leave.

“It’s going to be tough,” David Papineau told the Georgia Straight at his door on March 2.

Papineau and his wife have lived in one of the two-storey townhouses for 25 years. They have two teenage daughters who haven’t known any other neighbourhood.

The 48-year-old graphic designer and running enthusiast, originally from Alberta, has lived there longer than anywhere else in his life.

Although he has always known that the day might come when he and his family would have to move, it was hard seeing the development sign go up.

“I do not have a clue what we’re going to do,” Papineau said. “Rental properties in the city are hard to come by.”

He and the other residents are going to lose more than just their homes. They’ll have to say goodbye to the small community they have built. The back doors of the townhouses open up to a large shared yard, where children come together to play and adults talk over coffee.

When Papineau’s younger daughter came home from school and saw the sign, she became distraught.

“She went upstairs and she had a bit of a cry,” Papineau related.

The townhouses are at the corner of West 10th Avenue and Oak Street. Carlito Pabo

The common backyard at the complex also has a garden that is tended by Robin Sylvester, who has been a resident at the compound for about seven years.

Sylvester shares her townhouse, and they pay $1,200 in rent per month, a rate she said she’ll likely never find elsewhere. “This will be a lost opportunity, completely,” Sylvester told the Straight in a phone interview.

According to her, she and other residents had a meeting on March 4 and produced flyers to inform neighbours outside the complex about what’s going on.

In their leaflet, the residents state that the proposed development at 1002 West 10th Avenue will “displace and evict” families, including seniors and low-income tenants.

As well, the flyer states, the project will worsen parking “in an already tight parking neighbourhood along a popular bike route”, the bikeway situated along West 10th Avenue.

The residents also write that the development will “remove valuable green space and block out sunlight”, as well as “create a precedent for future tower apartment buildings” along West 10th and West 11th avenues. They also claim that the planned tower may pose a “danger” to helicopter emergency services at the hospital.

The project doesn’t require approval by city council. That will be up to city staff, because no rezoning is involved. The zoning of the site allows for high-rise apartment buildings.

Iredale Architecture filed the development application for 1002 West 10th Avenue on behalf of the property owner.

The proposed 12-storey building will have 62 housing units to be rented out at market rates. There will be 25 underground parking spaces.

The architectural firm didn’t return a call from the Straight before deadline.

According to Papineau, there are 13 homes in the complex, which, he said, may have been built during the 1940s.

Members of the public have until March 16 to comment on the proposed development.

When Papineau and Sylvester were interviewed on different days, they said residents had not received any notice from their landlord about the development. About a week before the Straight knocked on his door, Papineau said, a woman who used to live at the complex before his time stopped by when she saw the development sign.

The unexpected visit was touching, he said: “It’s pretty wild to meet people who had been here before us, who still feel an attachment to this place.”