July 9, 2020
City of Vancouver Council
Dear Mayor Kennedy Stewart and Councillors,
Re: Petition Opposed to1. CD-1 AMENDMENT: 2538 Birch Street (formerly 1296 West Broadway)
Agenda: https://council.vancouver.ca/20200709/phea20200709ag.htm
Amendment: https://council.vancouver.ca/20200709/documents/phea1SandR.pdf
The Coalition of Vancouver Neighbourhoods (CVN) voiced our opposition to this amendment in a previous letter to Council. Further to yesterday’s letter that outlined the many reasons for our opposition, this letter provides an additional relevant petition. We continue to support the building of affordable rental units in the city with proper planning and good urban design.
The new petition was initiated by concerned citizens a week ago, with 1472 signatures at the time of this writing and growing hourly, signed by many members and non-members of this Coalition from across the city, which “aims to move the City of Vancouver away from arbitrary rezoning policies and back to meaningful public participation in neighbourhood-based planning.”
See petition here:
https://www.change.org/p/city-of-vancouver-council-officials-our-communities-our-plans-99961c91-4a17-497d-86c8-b385b3c0f315
The petition specifically names the MIRHPP program as a problematic City policy that is “causing major damage to the City, its neighbourhoods, and its citizens” with precedent-setting spot rezonings. This project is one of the more egregious examples of this program.
The petition is consistent with the stated goals of the Coalition of Vancouver Neighbourhoods in our Principles and Goals document that calls for meaningful neighbourhood-based planning processes.
We continue to urge Council to oppose this amendment. The developer already has 16 storeys of rental under the recently approved CD-1 rezoning and can proceed with that, which the local community supports.
Thank you,
Larry A. Benge, Co-chair
Dorothy Barkley, Co-chair
Coalition of Vancouver Neighbourhoods
Member Groups of the Coalition of Vancouver Neighbourhoods
Arbutus Ridge Community Association
Arbutus Ridge/ Kerrisdale/ Shaughnessy Visions
Cedar Cottage Area Neighbours
Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood Council
Dunbar Residents Association
Fairview/South Granville Action Committee
False Creek Residents Association
Grandview Woodland Area Council
Granville-Burrard Residents & Business Assoc.
Greater Yaletown Community Association
Joyce Area Residents
Kitsilano-Arbutus Residents Association
Kits Point Residents Association
Marpole Residents Coalition
NW Point Grey Home Owners Association
Oakridge Langara Area Residents
Riley Park/South Cambie Visions
Shaughnessy Heights Property Owners Assoc.
Strathcona Residents Association
Upper Kitsilano Residents Association
West End Neighbours Society
West Kitsilano Residents Association
West Point Grey Residents Association
