(Note: This story has been revised since it was first posted July 18.)
Don Gardner didnt buy the revised plans for the Rize Mount Pleasant project revealed at an open house Wednesday night.
The heights of buildings along Broadway, 10th Avenue and Watson were lowered, the project has been designed to look like a collection of buildings rather than one big complex, and the tower is now 22 rather than 19 storeys although its height remains the same because second-floor retail space was removed.
But despite the changes to the development, which sits between Broadway, Kingsway, 10th Avenue and Watson Street, it remains unpalatable to Gardner.
They could have dropped the density and dropped the [tower] height, he said. Its still totally unacceptable.
The open house featured design boards, a model of the project, feedback forms and boards asking participants their thoughts on public art in Mount Pleasant and what merchants theyd like to see. Rize still has to go before the urban design panel and back to council for approval.
Gardner has lived in Mount Pleasant for six years and objects to the highrise. He was among those who attended six nights of public hearings for the sites rezoning last year, which council approved in principle despite widespread neighbourhood opposition.
The reason we moved here is we liked it it wasnt Yaletown and now theyre creating another Yaletown, another West End, in our community, he said.
Gardner questioned the increase in the number of residential units from 241 to 336, as well as the increase in parking spaces outlined in the revised plan. He noted those and other objections in a feedback form.
What Im hoping is going to happen is the design board sends it back because [the plan] has fundamentally changed, certainly in the number of units, he said. I believe in democracy and unless I speak up I have no right to complain when things dont go the way that I wanted them to. I keep hoping enough people will stand up to be heard to force the city to stop the insanity that they call planning.
Carol Van Camp was also disappointed rezoning was approved in 2012, but is now focused on seeing that the company builds the best possible building for the site.
I like many of the changes theyve made to the plans, she said, pointing to lower elevations on some buildings, changes made to the streetscape and to the loading bay.
I simply would have preferred [there] not to have been a tower. Im trying not to get angry over it again. Im trying to get the best possible building now, she said.
Amanda Hamilton was disappointed council approved rezoning given community pushback, but remarked, the drawings do look lovely.
She said, I still think the tower is too high, while adding she wonders how pricey new condos will affect Mount Pleasant residential rents and lease costs for businesses. The city cant stay the same. I accept that, but Im worried the area will become too expensive for interesting cafes and shops, she said.
Melissa Bandura, a musician whos lived in Mount Pleasant for five years, maintains the sheer size of the project will overwhelm the neighbourhood. Theyve done a good job greening it up, but at the end of the day it doesnt hide the monolith behind all the trees, she said. I think that needs to change and I think the way development happens in Vancouver needs to change. If the city is indeed as broke as we think it is, it needs to look to other things besides developers to fill its pockets.
Bandura, who lives in an eight-storey building, would like to see a building thats more in scale with the neighbourhood and she isnt satisfied with what she considers haphazard design.
This block is the heart of Mount Pleasant and theyre stomping on the heart and changing it drastically. Im OK for change. Im one of the people whove come and changed Mount Pleasant. Im relatively new to it and thats fine, but Ive come here for certain reasons and certain belief systems that I attach myself to and this is not one of them.
As a cyclist, Bandura is also worried the project will affect the 10th Avenue bike route.
Curiosity drew Paul Levine to the open house. Levine has lived in the neighbourhood since 1995 and opposed the project, particularly the tower height. After seeing rezoning approved despite massive opposition, he now questions the point of consultation.
[Theyre] really not interested in any feedback thats not on board with what their plans are, he said. Even here [at the open house] theyre soliciting more feedback tell us more about what you think but this stuff doesnt get translated into meaningful action. Its very easy for them to write off negative feedback as, oh its a vocal minority or these people always come out to these public meetings.
The Residents Association of Mount Pleasant (RAMP) handed out notices outside the open house advertising a community outreach event about Rize from 7 to 9 p.m. at St. Patricks Church, 2881 Main St., July 23.
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