The City of North Vancouver faces a defining decision about its future—one that could either uphold years of thoughtful community planning or open the door to unrestrained overdevelopment.
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At the centre of the controversy is TransLink’s proposal to build two residential high-rises, 12 and 14 storeys, at 502–536 East 3rd Street in Moodyville, the site of the former bus depot. The project would dwarf surrounding homes and low-rise buildings and directly contradict the City’s Official Community Plan (OCP), which limits building heights in this area to just four storeys.
Residents and the Moodyville Community Association (MCA) emphasize that this is not a battle against housing or density. Moodyville has already embraced significant growth through the OCP’s vision for a livable, low-rise community.
The issue is one of scale—and respect for the rules that residents, city staff, and planners developed collaboratively over years of consultation. TransLink’s proposed towers are more than three times taller than the zoning allows. “If this goes through,” one resident warned, “it tells every developer that the OCP no longer matters.”
The heart of the conflict lies in TransLink’s dual role as both a public agency and a land developer. While TransLink’s stated corporate values emphasize community alignment and social responsibility, its real estate division has claimed that the original proposal for two 16-storey towers was necessary for profitability—a claim that is difficult to accept, particularly since the land was acquired at no cost.
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The Moodyville Development Permit Area Guidelines call for “ground-oriented townhouse and low-rise apartment housing forms.” The proposed towers would stand isolated, surrounded by much smaller buildings. The nearest high-density zoning lies more than 700 metres to the west at St. Georges Avenue and over 1.7 kilometres to the east in the District of North Vancouver.
Allowing such an exception, planners warn, would set a dangerous precedent—one that invites developers across the city to disregard the OCP whenever profit demands it. Public sentiment has been overwhelmingly opposed. At Translink’s January 30, 2025 forum, more than 90% of residents who submitted feedback rejected the proposal.
In addition to building height, common concerns included:
Increased traffic congestion and gridlock on East 3rd Street
Severe parking shortages and loss of on-street spaces
Shadowing and view loss from the towers
Local schools and infrastructure already at or over capacity
Residents say the proposal doesn’t just threaten neighbourhood livability—it undermines public trust in city planning itself.
The Moodyville community is calling on City Council to stand by its own plan: uphold the OCP, reject TransLink’s overreach, and require a new, OCP-compliant proposal that delivers family and rental housing without destroying the neighbourhood’s scale and livability.
Moodyville accepted growth when it embraced four-storey redevelopment. Now, the community asks City Council to return that respect—by ensuring future development remains consistent, fair, and true to the plan that built public trust in the first place.
Ron Gosney is a member of the Moodyville Community Association.
NO!!!! I DO NOT SUPPORT THIS!!!
I agree …NO to the Translink proposal!
NO TOWERS
No to Towers
Please don’t allow these towers it will ruin our neighbourhood in so many ways
Moodyville’s population growth in the last 10 years has been gradual via 4 story townhouses/condos. Gentle infill will also result in gradual population growth.
MCA is concerned about TransLink’s proposed towers because CNV lacks infrastructure to support sudden large increases in density.
We are very short of daycares for young families.
Our elementary schools are already over subscribed; Cloverley will be over full as soon as it’s built. We have too few medical clinics, so Lion’s Gate Hospital emergency receives people who can’t get into see a doctor.
Seems like a great opportunity for first time homebuyers that can’t afford the multimillion dollar houses.
These rental towers would suddenly increase CNV’s population Lorraine, and we already significantly lack space in daycares, room in elementary schools, medical clinics etc.
And would cast shadows for blocks around it!
You’re right, Ian. Mega shadows Fall thru Spring, & far further West than you’d think.
The proposal is for overpriced rental only
In tiny boxes…no parking stalls …no space in schools, no space in medical care and lots and lots of traffic gridlock
Lorraine, these are rental buildings only. And they are not affordable – check out Innova next door!
No Towers please congested traffic on 3rd Ave not to mention side streets like 4th and 3rd Ave are used as short cuts
Translink is proposing a high-rise development many blocks from the city’s core and even at lonsdale many buildings are not this tall. There are single family homes and duplexes right across the street from the bus depot site. Our new neighbours who moved into Moodyville’s low rises would also be living in the building’s shadows. This is what they mean by spot zoning and it cannot be allowed.
I would ONLY support that if Skytrain (and I do NOT mean “Bus Rapid Transit”) was part of the package as was promised when Translink rammed the Transit Tax Levy onto every municipality in the GVRD whether they got Translink or not.
Because THAT >WAS< the original deal and while Translink DID make that promise to the North Shore (along with other parts of town) that was NOT what they have delivered – and probably won't until I'm six feet under given how "good" Translink is at keeping promises.
After all – no major repair work has been done on either bridge since the 80s and the Lions Gate was completed in 1939, the "new" Second Narrows in 1961.
No Towers in Moodyville !!!
Translink is trying to make money by dumping a huge development in a low rise area. This is not the way to fund regional transit (and North Vancouver has zero off grade rapid transit).
Why are we expected to bear the impacts of a regional transit funding shortfall for a transit system that we get few benefits from?
We will only get more cars with no parking – as Translink aren’t even providing adequate parking for all the new cars the 1000 odd new residents would bring to the North Shore.
A really, really bad deal for North Van.
One bridge collapsed killing many workers
How long before another tragedy occurs while the oily rich get richer!
NO TOWERS!!!
Traffic and lack of infrastructure are already becoming issues in the Lower Lonsdale/Moodyville area. Adding 16-story towers will turn this family-friendly, fairly quiet/calm area into a busy, congested area. This proposal does NOT consider current residence needs or desires!
NO THANKS
No towers please. Before doing that fix the congestion, parking and schooling issue. The present resident are facing this challenge brining more without proper resources will create more choas.
NO Towers !!
No towers, please. Respect the OCP.
My townhouse purchase at 528 E 2nd was guided by a very clear OCP. If this Two Towers plan is approved, there is no OCP.
Please stick to the existing four story zoning and protect the character of my neighbourhood.
We bought in Moodyville based on the community plan that was created in 2014. We did not buy into an area zoned for high rises and we do not want a development that will create more traffic in an already highly congested neighbourhood, cast shadows on existing homes, and overcrowd the schools. If this change to the OCP is approved by council, it is a caution to anyone buying in the City of North Vancouver. OCPs are not for the long term and changes in zoning can be bought. Not really a city I want to invest in long term.
This proposed development is not in the best interests of the Moodyville community. We are NOT against development but the right kind of development. The apartments and townhouses all had to conform to the OCP.
Stay with the OCP – NO TOWERS!
NO to the towers!! First deal the with infrastructure that already can’t accomodate all the new density in the last few years! This is about money no matter how you dress it up!!
There is a lack of amenities in this area. I have been living here for 5 years and still waiting for ANY commercial development to provide groceries, coffee, daily necessities, anything….without the need for a car. Try going to save on for groceries anytime from 3-6pm….good luck. And Translink wants towers? And I gather from comments above won’t provide the required parking? What sweet hell is this. It would completely destroy the livability of this neighbour. INNOVA next to them had to fight for what, 6 stories for a part of their building? And they have commercial on the ground level! The only benefit I can see is money…for the developer. But who wants to live in a tower with no amenities nearby? If this is plannings vision for North Van then I am ashamed.
NO TOWERS. STOP THE MADNESS.
There’s already too much traffic… the increased density alone would be a nightmare, especially with the new parking restrictions forced upon the current neighbourhood residents this autumn, along with the visual eye sore of these towers amidst a beautiful community. this is insane, quite frankly.
No towers, please! Stick to the OCP. This development could bring up to 1,000 more people to the area with less street parking and insufficient parking spots for the rental units. East 3rd Street is already gridlocked with traffic. I agree with Graham’s comment above: This is not the way to fund regional transit (and North Vancouver has zero off grade rapid transit).
This “revised” proposal is ludicrous. TransLink has simply lowered the height of one tower by a couple of storeys and the other by four. That doesn’t address the main issue, which is that the OCP calls for townhouses, not towers, in the middle of what increasingly is a transit desert. For a quarter century, TransLink has been cutting back bus service and advertising it as an improvement. Six years ago, the cancellation of the 239 eliminated 75% of the bus service in this neighbourhood except at the one stop that happens to serve TransLink’s vacant lots. If you happen to live anywhere else, you have to make a transfer there to get to Park & Tilford or Phibbs Exch by bus, which can take anywhere up to 35 minutes. It will be totally impossible to keep the R2 on schedule once the extension to Metrotown goes in, and everywhere else in Moodyville still won’t have a bus to Phibbs, meaning any trip east or southeast will take 20 or 25 minutes longer than it used to. The service is so poor that the R2 frequently runs empty with 60-foot buses throughout the evening because it makes hardly any other stops. BRT is not funded and will probably not be built, and SkyTrain will not come to the North Shore without a new Second Narrows bridge. The geometry of the intersection at 3rd & St. David’s is terrible and the proposed west tower would shadow it or reflect sunlight down into it depending on time of day and time of year. All of the roads around it, especially St. David’s, with the dangerous bend in the road, are too narrow to support this kind of development.
Moodyville does not have the road, transit, water, sewer, school, or health care infrastructure to support tower development in the middle of an area where planning calls for townhouses. TransLink has also been reducing transit service at literally every other bus stop in the neighbourhood for years now. Please respect the OCP and start looking for a bus garage site somewhere in North Van.