City of North Vancouver council has approved two new buildings – an all-rental apartment in Central Lonsdale and a mixed-use building in the Mosquito Creek neighbourhood.
Council voted unanimously Monday (June 27) to approve Crystal Apartments Ltd.’s rezoning application for a six-storey building with 57 rental homes at 124 West 20th Ave. Six of the rentals will be offered at 10-per cent below market rates in perpetuity.
The new building will replace a three-storey walk-up from the late 1960s. About half of the tenants in the 22 units have already moved out, according to the developer.
At a public hearing held immediately prior, the only resident to address council urged the developer to use low-carbon cement in construction of the building’s underground parkade and to design the building’s roof with an electrical system to accommodate solar panels.
Council members spoke highly of the proposal for its below-market rentals, the number of family-sized units, its easy access to transit and amenities, and the net increase in the number of trees that would be on the property following redevelopment.
“The rental that we build today becomes more affordable tomorrow so I think that's really important that we look at the whole life cycle of these projects,” said Coun. Tony Valente. “I think it's going be a great addition to that particular section of the city.”
Soon after, council gave the OK to a four-storey residential/commercial building at 800 Marine Dr., what is today a Midas garage.
The proposal from Cascadia Green includes 22,745 square feet of commercial space (retail on ground level and office on the second floor) and 19 strata homes on the top two floors.
It too was uncontroversial for council members.
“I just wanted to say that I think it'll be an improvement for this particular corner of the city and provide some much needed office space,” said Coun. Angela Girard.
