A Green Party Councilor is urging the city of Vancouver, British Columbia to turn a site originally proposed for a condominium project into mostly housing for senior citizens, reports News 1130.
The Beedie Development Group originally planned to develop the site on the 100 block of Keefer Street into 106 market housing units and 25 social housing units for seniors, according to Business Vancouver. But that plan was rejected last month.
A major complaint of residents was the size of the project. Although zoning regulations require the height of buildings to be no more than 90 feet, the proposal sought to reclassify the area to allow the building to be built up to 120 feet.
The development of a new, large building mostly catering to commercial business sparked concern about gentrification and the future of current Chinatown residents.
“We’re protesting this development because there’s 110 market units, so it’s a huge development that will gentrify the neighborhood,” said Beverly Ho, an affiliate of the Chinatown Concern Group. “If it’s approved by council and it gets built, it will inevitably raise the rents in the area and displace a lot of the low-income community – many of whom only speak Chinese, and can’t afford to live anywhere else.”
Over 2,500 people signed a petition asking the council to reject the plan.
On Tuesday, Councilor Adriane Carr will propose that the city of Vancouver purchases the property to develop it into a space completely dedicated to social housing, especially for seniors.
King-Mong Chan, a member of the Chinatown Action Group, is hopeful about Carr’s plan.
“We also want to see a lot more social space for seniors and cultural activities,” said Chan. “The proposal that the developer put forward was a very small space, only about a thousand square feet. We want to see a larger space that’s permanent and public, sort of like a community center.”
AsAmNews has Asian America in its heart. We’re an all-volunteer effort of dedicated staff and interns. You can show your support by liking our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/asamnews, following us on Twitter, sharing our stories, interning or joining our staff.
