Two sides in the fight over a massive residential, retail and commercial development based around the Canada Line will square off at a meeting Wednesday night.
A Marpole citizens’ group is fighting the complex being proposed for Cambie Street at Marine Drive.
But PCI, the developer of the 34-storey Marine Gateway and an accompanying 17-storey office tower, did a survey of 412 Marpole residents between August 19 and August 25 that found 62 per cent favoured the proposal compared to 20 per cent opposed.
Jo-Anne Pringle of the Marpole Area Residents’ Alliance has heard a different story from neighbours.
“This project is just too big in every way, shape and form,” said Pringle.
The two sides will speak at an open-house at 8515 Cambie Street sponsored by the City of Vancouver, which has yet to rezone the industrial land for a new residential component to take advantage of the nearby Canada Line station.
The latest version of Marine Gateway is 20 per cent smaller than the original plan because the Urban Design Panel asked for the building to be slimmer.
Taking the brunt of the reduction was the rental component of the development, which shrunk from more than 100 units to just 37 suites.
Architect Peter Busby defended his project.
“We spent nearly $2 billion on a transit system [the Canada Line],” said Busby. “We’ve got to put density at each and every one of those stations.
“It’s ludicrous to have a station that has virtually nobody living around it, virtually no offices around it,” he said.
The meeting begins with an open house at 5 p.m., followed by presentations at 6 p.m. and then a question-and-answer session.
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