Phase 1: Initial Consultation (2019)

From February 7 to April 15, 2019, the District conducted Initial Public Consultation (Phase 1) regarding Council’s proposal to use the site to create housing, increase rental supply and improve affordability, with anticipated revenue of $20 million, and with no ongoing cost to the District. During the initial public consultation, Staff met or spoke with over 750 people through public consultation meetings, smaller group meetings and one-on-one meetings. Over 330 online and hardcopy surveys were completed.

The project is intended to address a number of challenges facing West Vancouver:

unprecedented housing affordability challenges with some of the highest rents and housing prices in Canada;
one of the lowest rental vacancy rates in the region at 0.6%, with a healthy vacancy rate being 2% to 3%;
people leaving our community, with West Vancouver being one of only two municipalities in Metro Vancouver to decrease in population (0.5%) from 2011 to 2016 when the region as a whole grew by 6.5%;
our share of children under the age of 14 has fallen from 30% of the population in 1961 to 14% in 2016; and
there is a “missing generation” of younger adults without children between the ages of 25 and 34, accounting for only 2% of the population.

High housing prices, limited housing supply and demographic challenges affect our community in many ways: reduced population and demographic imbalance, reduced local workforce, more people are commuting to our community every day to work or attend school resulting in increased traffic and greenhouse gas emissions, reduced services and increased costs for services.

To address those challenges and balance revenue needs for other District public projects, in September 2018, Council directed staff to carry out initial public consultation on the following proposal:

two possible building forms: Option A with three 6-storey buildings; and Option B with one six-storey and one 7-storey building;
approximately 200 new units consisting of 170 below-market rental units and 30 strata condominium units;
Floor Area Ratio of approximately 2.6;
rents averaging 70% of market rent for comparable West Vancouver new rental units;
rental units income-targeted for moderate-income people, including workers and families in West Vancouver;
a range of units from studios to 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom units; and
a revenue objective of approximately $20 million.

The initial public consultation was carried out from around February 7 to April 15, 2019 and is summarized below:

Staff met or spoke with over 750 people through public consultation meetings, smaller group meetings or one on one meetings;
3 Initial Public Consultation Meetings held on February 7, 19 and 20 (with over 500 people attending in total) held at the West Vancouver Community Centre, Seniors’ Activity Centre, and West Vancouver Community Centre, respectively;
One Q&A session on February 20 with approximately 40 people attending;
18 stakeholder and resident meetings;
13 pop-up information sessions at West Vancouver Memorial Library, West Vancouver Community Centre, Gleneagles Community Centre, Seniors’ Activity Centre and Municipal Hall;
Over 330 online and hard copy survey responses;
3 newsprint advertisements in the North Shore News on January 23, February 8 and 13;
2 neighbourhood mailouts to inform the neighbourhood of the Initial Public Consultation consisting of 1,287 letters;
3 dedicated consultation meetings for Pauline Johnson Elementary School parents with a total of 536 emails sent twice by e-bulletin to all school parents;
3 information boards posted at the property;
District website and social media campaign to inform of the initial public consultation;
Dedicated project website (westvancouverite.ca/gordon);
36 questions sent from community members and responded to by Staff on the Q&A section of the project website; and
eWest email bulletin (sent April 3): 751 recipients, 499 opened, 76 link clicks to read more about the project.

The results of the initial public consultation (including the survey results, correspondence received, results of stakeholder meetings and comments at the April 29, 2019, Council Meeting) showed general support for Council’s proposed use. More details about the Initial Public Consultation and results are in the Council Report dated April 29, 2019, in the Document Library.

After considering the results of the initial public consultation (including survey responses and correspondence) and comments from the public made at the Council meeting on April 29, 2019, Council voted unanimously to continue moving the project forward. In particular, Council authorized staff to prepare and submit a rezoning application with the following parameters:

a three-building configuration similar to the proposed Option A but with two 6 storey buildings, and 8 storeys (with the eighth storey set back) on the southern-most building;
Floor Area Ratio of approximately 2.8;
217 units total comprised of 167 units below-market rental (77%), and 50 units strata condominium (23%);
rents at an average of 70% of market rent for comparable new units in West Vancouver;
rental units income targeted towards moderate-income people, including workers and families in West Vancouver;
Adult Day Centre of 3,000 sf with 1,000 sf outdoor space on the ground floor of one of the rental buildings (subject to confirmation that the District will not be responsible for any capital and operating costs);
a variety of unit sizes: studio; one-bedroom; two-bedroom; and three-bedroom (with the precise mix to be determined); and
approximate revenue objective of $26,000,000.