September 2024 Meeting Minutes

SRA Minutes
Monday, Sept. 16 at the SCC

Attendance: 24 in person, 7 remote via Zoom
• We did introductions around the room

Temporary Fire Hall Annex at Union and Gore
• Dan update:
o Progress of Temporary Firehall at Union and Gore on pause while staff finds more options
o Dan summarized current status and history. PB Comissioner Tom Digby has put forward a motion to make it officially a park. He's asked for a show of support at the Oct. 7 board meeting.

side note:
o Stephanie Leo from the Chinatown Community Development Center expressed interest in being a part of these conversations
o Chinatown also does not want a firehall, preferring a pivot to seniors housing
o Stephanie has close working relationship with Djaka Blais and the Aboriginal Front Door Society

Westbank Towers on Hastings

Dan opened the floor to comments.
Core concerns:

• Buildings are way too big, height compares with Harbour Center
• Way higher than the current DTES plan allows for
• Nowhere near enough parking and no mention of transit upgrades or how people are supposed to get to/from area
• We suspect city is planning for a future “Gold Line” Skytrain down Hastings, but that would be many years out
• The neighborhood already punches above its weight with density, many homes that look like SFH are actually high-density multifamily
• “Missing middle” and gentle density already working well in the area
• Concerns raised over school, park, and community center capacity
• Lord Strathcona has space but does not have seismic upgrades
• We don’t want to be in the same position Olympic Village is with no suitable school
• Same concerns for pressure on Britannia Community center upgrades (delayed indefinitely)
• and Raycam (Capacity and future housing upgrades)

Other notes
• New DTES plan was supposed to be planned but no info found, same for discussion on “enhanced zoning“
• There doesn’t seem to be any cohesion from the planning dept (Ex: We were shocked to find Value Village will just be a single story high a couple blocks East)
• Is there any cohesion with other neighborhood projects such as (St. Paul, Hastings Sunrise)
• Near zero consultation with the neighborhood (Limited mail outs; Only south side of Pender notified

Community Amenity Contributions
• What is the neighbourhood getting for these projects?
• Concern - Are CAC’s waived when BC Housing is a partner?
• Concern - Is ‘Social housing’ considered in place of an amenity?
Action items:

SRA proposes individuals write to Shape Your City and
SRA also proposed the forming a working group, a couple individuals expressed interest in volunteering. The Working group to create a unified message to the City Planners some ideas:

• “We reject enhanced zoning; stick to the DTES plan”
• “DTES plan already had extensive consultation”
• “Stick to the plan and improve the neighborhood.”
• Working group to outline how this project does not align with DTES plan. BE SPECIFIC
• Working group to come up with short, concise list of neighbourhood wants
• Suggestions for “wants” may be ‘Kiwassa needs a park”, “Commitment to Portside Greenway”, “Placemaking” like Olympic Village, Yaletown to make this an area worth living in
• Kiwassa/Strathcona already doing more than fair share for housing density and social housing
• We want community values for livable spaces respected, not just warehousing people
• Project must support keeping neighbourhood values as a diverse artistic community and counter-culture hub
• Do we push City to commit to plan for neighbourhood design such as view cones for big buildings?

Additional Notes
• It was suggested we can threatening lawsuit to force a pause, maybe enough to delay for a potentially more sympathetic council
• City staff takes note of FOI requests; It makes them nervous and they dislike them
• Potential outreach/coordination of efforts with Grandview Woodland group, CityHallWatch groups

The meeting about these towers is Oct 7th, 5:30 PM at the Japanese Hall - Attendance matters!!

(as fate would have it, the Park board meeting to vote on the motion to make Gore and Union a park is also on Oct. 7 at 6:30.)