At a council meeting on January 8, the District of North Vancouver council will consider giving second and third reading to a development proposal on Maplewood.
Giva Construction’s application proposes redeveloping 2045-2075 Old Dollarton Road to allow for a five-storey, mixed-use, rental building. Six commercial units are proposed on the ground floor and 36 residential rental units above. Seven of these units will be below-market rentals.
The seven non-market rental units are comprised of four one-bedroom units and three two-bedroom units. The applicant is targeting rents for the non-market units which are affordable to residents with household incomes between $58,000 and $72,000, which is
below BC Housing’s definition of “Low-to-Moderate Income Households”.
One level of underground parking with 29 spaces is proposed, of which 17 will be residential and 12 spaces will be shared visitor and commercial. Also proposed are 91 residential and ten commercial bicycle spaces. The development site is approximately 13, 197 square feet and has four commercial properties and a portion of lane allowance, which is intended to be closed and sold to the developer. The council meeting will consider a Road Closure Bylaw to close this portion of the lane.
The District of North Vancouver notes the proposal aligns with the actions of the Official Community Plan Review Action Plan.
It delivers low-carbon, compact, and diverse housing, transportation choices, and supportive public amenities and employment space.
The project also provided a range of housing options within the heart of Maplewood Village Centre and delivers key public amenities such as a new separated bike lane, a new corner plaza, and new pedestrian infrastructure.
The project proposes that 100% of the residential units are rental, of which seven are secured as below-market rents. It also aligns with the OCP action of increasing housing diversity to support a range of incomes, household types, and accessibility needs within and close to Town and Village Centres. DNV staff report notes that the project is in the Maplewood Village Centre and includes market and non-market rental apartments.
The site needs more parking, a mere 17 stalls for 36 living units, especially with some of them being two bedroom simply isn’t enough. I believe the design protocol used to be 1.5 parking stalls per living unit (multi-family), this proposal is only about one third of that. A reduction in parking from the 1.5 rule to even just one stall per unit would still call for an additional 19 parking stalls.
If this development goes thru as proposed there will be multiple tenants parking on the road – period.
Creating housing that denies people the ability to reasonably own and park an automobile is societal failure. Owning an auto and having the ability to travel and go anywhere, anytime I believe to be one those great equalizer’s between rich and poor/working class, a reward that should not be denied thru bad planning and knee-jerk responses to larger affordability problems rooted in policy choices made by senior levels of government.
Neighbourhoods without proper parking will be undesirable to many, a place that some will be glad to move away from.
There is not enough parking spaces being provided for residents. The overflow will park on the street where there is already limited parking. Dollarton is not a one destination area like say lower Lonsdale or Lynn Valley. I hope council is a little wiser on this one and increases the parking requirements.
17 parking spots?! That’s a joke right? Parking can already be hard to find.