It has taken years, and a wholesale re-do from the city, but the Official Community Plan for East Vancouver’s Grandview Woodlands neighbourhood is now ready for public input.
The plan is ambitious, creating more than 7,000 new housing units over 30 years.
The biggest changes came in terms of the height of some proposed buildings.
There will still be high rises built, but fewer and only in certain areas. The area around the Commercial Drive SkyTrain station will see a 24-storey tower and another that stretches to 12 storeys.
According to assistant director of planning Kent Munro, the city was keen to protect the vibe of the neighbourhood.
“It was important to protect rental stock and affordability,” he said. “This plan protects that.”
Even though the plan was designed after considerable public input in the form of a citizen’s assembly, selling it to the community at large over the next month could prove to be a challenge.
Grandview Woodland Advisory Council director Dorothy Barkley believes what the city has come back with is reasonable, but it won’t allay everyone’s concerns.
“There are a group of residents along Broadway near Commercial Drive that are going to have issues with this,” she said.
The plan covers a much wider area than just Commercial Drive. Grandview Woodlands stretches from Clark Drive to Nanaimo Street and from 12th Avenue to Burrard Inlet. While the residential towers will take much of the criticism, the majority of the planning calls for low- to mid-rise buildings scaled for walkable neighbourhoods.
Community meetings are scheduled starting Wednesday and city council is expected to vote on the issue in late July.
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