2109 West 35th Ave

It has taken a long time for us to write a final version of this post. While we feel the project is a great addition to the neighbourhood, the treatment we received at the event was shocking, and would make any resident of Vancouver feel unwanted in this neighbourhood. In short, it was hard to report on the meeting without getting emotional.

First though, let’s talk about this rental building. Some may have guessed that, with a boxy design, this must be a passive house– they would be correct. We feel that this squared element is offset by the contrasting light and dark materials which break up the design. Plus, the bright green doors also add a touch of fun to these homes. The slope of the site has resulted in the building being stepped and curved. There is also a large set back to the road, as the City has plans for an expansion of Arbutus or, more likely, a bike lane. There could be more housing here, but it was limited by two factors; The first was that, while very willing to sell, the neighbouring property owner did not feel enough was offered for their land. The other reason is that, even though under policy this 3.5 story project could have been 6 floors tall, the city and applicant felt the neighbourhood wouldn’t allow that many homes. As it is, even the 12 rental units proposed drew a large backlash from the neighbours.

– Source

An hour into the open house a commotion by the model caught Darren’s attention. About 10 people, a quarter of the night’s attendance, had cornered a staff member and were loudly complaining about the traffic volumes on Arbutus. They claimed to have been told that Arbutus currently sees volumes of 25 cars per minute, which will increase to 31 per minute with the Arbutus Centre rezoning, for a total of 1880 cars per hour (more than the Georgia/Dunsmuir Viaducts). Darren attempted to reason with them, saying that he hasn’t witnessed that level of traffic on Arbutus, but suggested that if they were concerned that they could ask that the project replace it’s parking spaces with a small number of ride share vehicles. These individuals rounded on my partner, asking why he would support rental housing here if he was from the neighbourhood? When Darren responded that he wasn’t from the neighbourhood, but that we have friends (that obviously live with their parents) nearby, he was laughed at; They said they knew he couldn’t afford housing here.

When Darren pointed out he felt this was a good reason to support these rental units, and noted that the project could have been 6 stories tall, the personal attacks worsened. These individuals started to yell not at the staff members, but at my husband. They called him a sell out, a shill, and when he protested that he was not paid to be here, they called him a liar. Admittedly, Darren did make one personal attack when he suggested that it was ironic that he was called a “shill” for a developer, while these individuals were just “shilling” for their own increasing property value. Later, while Darren was engaging in a civil discussion with an individual who called rental housing an abortion forced upon the neighbourhood, I overheard two people that felt Darren must work for the developer. When I pointed out that I knew this wasn’t true as Darren is my partner, they dismissively said they didn’t believe me, or Darren, as we were simply liars. Before walking away, they added that no one would suggest or support rental housing here if they weren’t paid to do so. Still, the worst was yet to come.

After grabbing our pay (apple juice and two cookies) we sat down to fill out our comment cards. As we were writing, one person from the earlier encounter screamed out for a staff member. When a staffer attended, the individual, loud enough to be heard over the background noise of the church hall, stretched their arm out to point across the room and single Darren out. They yelled, “He is not from this neighbourhood– he does not belong here! How can you let him fill out a comment card!? You need to walk over there, and take that out of his hands, and escort him out of the building this instant!!” The staff member must have said something to calm them, as neither Darren nor I could hear anything else. The rest of our time there we received nothing but dirty looks from this group, and left shortly after. We don’t blame the city staff for what happened, though we have to wonder if there is a flaw in the very nature of the rezoning process which leads to such behavior. Still, we know there were some positive comments that night; a friend of ours who lives nearby did manage to attend the event after work, and we also saw a member of Abundant Housing Vancouver briefly stop by too. Still, we have to imagine the comments were overwhelmingly against adding 12 rental homes here, so we urge those who support more homes in this neighbourhood to write in. After all, shouldn’t all Vancouverites get to have a say in their city?