The North Vancouver City Council will consider a rezoning application for a new five-storey rental building. Jim Pattison Developments Ltd. has applied to rezone a gas station site at 351 West 3rd Street in North Vancouver for a new rental apartment building.
The proposed building, consisting of 53 units, will be located at the southeast corner of West 3rd Street and Forbes Avenue. The proposed building will feature five studio units, 36 one-bedroom units, six two-bedroom units, and six three-bedroom units. Six of the units will be mid-market rentals.
District of North Vancouver is also considering an application for a new 12-storey hotel.
Parking variance
The application generally meets the parking and loading requirements of the Zoning Bylaw, although there will be a minor variance to resident parking. The design proposes an equivalent of 28 parking spaces instead of the current bylaw requirement of 32 spaces. Staff supports this variance considering the central location and transportation demand management measures in place.
Sign up for local news alerts from North Shore Daily Post
According to a CNV staff report, the site is located within the Lonsdale Regional City Centre, approximately 700m from the closest RapidBus stop along Marine Drive and one km from the SeaBus Terminal and Lonsdale Quay Bus Exchange. The report notes the proposal also includes the construction of an upgraded local bus stop along the West 3rd Street frontage and access to the underground parkade from the southern laneway.
Staff is seeking council direction to secure public art to a value of $80,000, a 3.048-meter road dedication along the West 3rd Street frontage, and a 1.19-meter road dedication along the Forbes Avenue frontage. As the site was previously a gas station, the City-owned land adjacent to it could also be potentially affected by contamination. The applicant must undertake a report defining the extent of contamination and a proposed remediation strategy to be approved by the Ministry of Environment.
Public Comments
The applicant held a Developer Information Session, and participants were invited to submit written comments. The correspondence included support for rental housing and the suggestion to include larger units. Support was also expressed for the attractive design of the building and the use of wood-frame construction. Some residents expressed concern regarding the height of the building and how it may block neighbouring views.
The applicant noted that the Official Community Plan described 4-6 storeys as permissible for this location, and a different design was presented, but the staff encouraged the current building form.
The council will discuss the application on Jan 22.
Sign up for local news alerts from North Shore Daily Post
Such a shame – I have filled many times at this location as it was well located and always gave excellent service.
In general as a retired small businessman I object to commercial properties being rezoned for housing – the North Shore has a reasonable balance between residential + commercial locations and merchants have already been squeezed to the max these last 4 years and the customer needs to understand that rezonings of this sort will tend to drive up commercial rents even more than already and at some point will impact customer service as more businesses cry “Uncle!”
Saying that on site parking can safely be reduced any time a site is on a bus route is a losing game – 3rd Street has had buses for 60+ years yet parking is worse than ever (my doctor is within 2 blocks of this location so I have first-hand knowledge of the situation on 3rd)
At the rate we are going drivers will soon have to fill in Langley! And with issues relating to electric vehicles in inclement weather I seriously doubt we will make the switch without improvements in this area. Perhaps we should suggest the e-vehicle plants relocate their battery production operations to Winnipeg!
Thank you Lyle.
I agree with all your comments .
Louise