This reasonable project at Hull and East 20th had it's open house on October 3rd. Unfortunately, some of those in attendance weren't so reasonable.
It should surprise no one that I support development of all types (residential, office, industrial, etc). As a member of the public, I try to inform others of the benefits of growing our city, but I also try to learn from dissenting views. Unfortunately, sometimes I get screamed at and/or insulted, and this was one of those nights.
Towards the end of the event, an older gentleman started raising his voice to a member of the applicant team about how the project was all wrong for the neighbourhood. I interjected that the density was right for an area roughly twenty minutes outside of the core, he disagreed.
The conversation essentially descended along these lines:
OG - Doesn't match the surroundings; FF - but it's only 3 story row homes?
OG - It won't be affordable; FF - The current properties were assessed at roughly $12 mil, more rental units drive down price by increasing supply
OG - It will bring too much traffic; FF- Its so close to Skytrain, I really doubt the impact will be that great.
OG - (At this point the man was literally pacing and yelling) So you think to hell with green space!!; FF - I think that parks should be available for people of all income levels, green space is not a $4 mil private backyard.
At this point the man went ballistic; he was literally in my face. He was now screaming at me that the City shouldn't be ruining the neighbourhood by adding people, rather it's priority should be to preserve the neighbourhood as single family homes. Now when I attempted to speak, he would only scream louder. At this point, I gave up speaking with the man as it was no longer possible. When I walked away he turned his attention to the applicants, screaming at them for a while before eventually leaving. Interestingly enough, at the end of the event a neighbour of the site came up, shook my hand, and thanked me; go figure.
Getting back to the project and away from my therapeutic recalling of events. This version of the project has relocated it's parking entrance away from the east side of the property. This preserves both the tree line and the cul-de-sac as a place for children to play.
It's important to note is that the new driveway is lined up so that the lights from cars will not shine onto any of the houses across the road (the model unfortunatly does not display this). The unit count and FSR is almost identical to the pre-app however apparently an version before the pre-app had the apartment building height at 6 stories. Lastly the plan that this building comes under is one of only 2 allowed in the the Grandview Woodlands Plan, the other having been built along Commercial Dr. It seems a great shame as this really is a makes sense project for the area.
Link to the pre-app info
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showpost.php?p=7762931&postcount=6062
Link to the rezoning application and comment form
http://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applications/3560hullst/index.htm
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