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Broadway/Fraser social housing cut down three floors

July 21st, 2010 · 21 Comments

Apparently wanting to show that it is listening to the community after all, Vision councillors agreed yesterday that three floors of the 11-storey social-housing project at Broadway and Fraser should be removed.

That comes after 70 speakers showed up over three nights of public hearings a few weeks ago, with many saying that the building just doesn’t fit in with that section of generally one- to three-storey buildings.

Raymond Louie brought in the motion, which I’m told was suggested by planning director Brent Toderian, to reduce the height, with the suggestion that the 103 social-housing units and 24 regular rental apartments be reconfigured.

Unfortunately, that motion comes after the non-profit that will run the building, Broadway Youth Resources Centre, has already exhausted the money that it was given by BC Housing to come up with a design. So it’s hard to see what they can do at this point except just lop the top three floors — the market rental apartments — off and go with only the social housing.

Another example of what’s wrong with the city’s current public-consultation process. This would have been a good idea if it had come before a million dollars was spent on architectural drawings, open houses and more. And now the rental housing will likely disappear. That’s something the community actually wanted, so the project would be more mixed. It’s also something that was going to provide a revenue stream for the new building.

Sigh.

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