Vancouver considers higher-density housing plans for Cambie Street corridor
By Jeff Lee, Vancouver Sun May 5, 2011 6:01 PM
Vancouver is considering a comprehensive land use plan for five neighbourhoods along the Cambie corridor and Canada Line that will fundamentally alter the way the area looks and develops.
From 16th Avenue to Marine Drive, postwar bungalows, ranchers and modest single-family homes have long occupied most of the frontage of Cambie's wide heritage boulevard. But under a proposal now before council, over the next 30 years the corridor would transform into a series of denser "transit-oriented" neighbourhoods with multiple-unit condos ranging from four storeys in the north to 12 storeys at Oakridge to 36 storeys at Marine Drive.
The plan, which could see as many as 14,000 new residents in the corridor by 2040, would capitalize on the new Canada Line and result in taller buildings lining the corridor. It is being supported by developers and hailed as visionary planning by some of the city's leading architects.
Planning director Brent Toderian described it to council as "the largest and most complex area planning exercise in the city's history." It covers the Riley Park, Oakridge, Langara, Marpole and South Cambie neighbourhoods.
But it's also raising concerns of some longtime residents who worry the dramatic changes being proposed will wreck their quiet neighbourhoods.
Todd Constant was the second of 125 speakers signed up to give council their thoughts. He's lived around Cambie and King Edward all his life and watched with consternation as five years of construction for the Canada Line caused his neighbours hardship.
"Now you tell me that because of that (line) you're going to double the density of the neighbourhood?" he told council Thursday. "From my point you're destroying the neighbourhood and the community where we live. And you don't have to."
He said under the plan his home would be surrounded by four-storey buildings that would eliminate his privacy.
But further down Cambie Bill Konnert had a different view. He's lived in the Langara Gardens area for half a century. He remembers when Oakridge and the Langara towers were first proposed and his neighbours set their hair on fire thinking the developments would destroy the area.
"Many of my neighbours signed petition after petition against the Langara highrises, and now they live in them," he said.
"I and many of my neighbours welcome this plan. Not only do we want it, but we need it."
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http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Van...orridor/4735685/story.html#ixzz1LXQbBYcX
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