Editor's note: the public hearing regarding the Gateway Residences at Park Royal, previously scheduled for June 23, 2020, was rescheduled to July 16, 2020, due to an incorrect project rendering in the notice, according to the District of West Vancouver.
Like a child after bedtime, Park Royal just wants a few more storeys.
District of West Vancouver council has voted to send a proposal to add an extra five floors to each of the rental towers already rising out of the ground at the former White Spot site on Marine Drive at Taylor Way to a public hearing.
The previous council rezoned the property in May 2018 to allow 203 rental apartments in 11- and 14-storey towers. Park Royal came back in July 2019 asking for more floors, subject to further consultation on how they might impact the community.
If the latest iteration advanced by council Monday night is approved, it would add another 95 rental units to the towers, although the number of vehicle parking spaces would stay the same at 232.
The district would also collect another $10 million in community amenity contributions.
Most members of council avoided speaking either for or against extra storeys and units, saying the preferred to keep an open mind.
Coun. Bill Soprovich was the lone nay vote on whether to send the proposal to a public hearing. For him, it was a question respecting the process that led to the original towers being approved, which required a new local area plan to be drawn up.
“It's not the way that I like to do business,” he said. “I know there are developers waiting in the wings to see how this pans out and they’re going to say ‘Me too, please.’ I just don't like it and I'm not supporting it.”
Coun. Craig Cameron, however, argued council has a duty to listen to every proposal and decide what’s best for the community as a whole.
“If it is in the community's interest to support the revised proposal, that's what should be done regardless of what came before. And if it's not in the community's interest to do that, then it shouldn't be supported, regardless of what came before,” he said, adding that West Vancouver has a severe shortage of rentals after not approving any for 40 years. “This is already a building with significant purpose-built rental. It's in the best area for transit and services. It has the least impact on an existing neighbourhood. So, if not here, then 'where' is the question I'd like to hear people address at the public hearing.”
That public hearing will be held in council chambers on June 23 at 7 p.m. Council members will attend remotely and district staff will ensure speakers adhere to the provincial health directive for physical distancing.
Coun. Nora Gambioli said council members had received a number of hostile emails from residents saying Park Royal had already poured a foundation for the taller iteration of the towers, and accusing council of already agreeing to them.
Park Royal vice-president Rick Amantea said with construction already under way and no timeline for when they would have any certainty about the extra floors, they gambled.
“We made it clear to everybody that we were going to take this business risk to increase the foundations as we were pouring the concrete to support the additional floors, should council consider it and should we be successful in getting approval from the district. That’s all we’ve done,” he said.
Council also expressed dismay to learn that the long-planned pedestrian and cycling improvements for the Welch Street Bridge (formerly known as Wardance Bridge) would be delayed another year. Work on the 3.5-metre separated pathway on its south side was supposed to begin in March. However, COVID-19 resulted in a big loss of revenue for Park Royal so owner and developer Larco suspended any capital projects it had in the queue, Amantea told council.
“We’re committed to do the work in 2021, all things being more normal than they are today. We will be ready to fire that gun probably in February or March and move forward with those improvements,” he said.
