Speaking notes for 1149 Lynn Valley Road

District of North Van public hearing, Tuesday September 24

[Update: Discussed and referred to second and third reading, September 24. Passed unanimously at second and third reading, October 21.]

There’s a rezoning application being considered by the District of North Vancouver to allow a six-storey purpose-built rental building with 66 apartments on a site right on Lynn Valley Road, adjacent to the Lynn Valley Centre shopping mall. The public hearing is next Tuesday, September 24.

The site currently has two single-detached houses on it, one vacant. Apparently people have been trying to redevelop it since 1999, but have been unable to get approval.

At the council meeting on July 8, it seemed like there was a good chance council might have ended up referring it back to staff (potentially killing the project). Fortunately they did vote 4-2 to send it to the public hearing.

I’m planning to speak in support at the public hearing.

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Hello, my name is Russil Wvong. I’m a volunteer with the Vancouver Area Neighbours Association. I don’t work in development or real estate. I’d like to speak in support of this project.

I think most people would agree that housing in Metro Vancouver is terribly scarce and expensive. Younger people are being crushed and driven out by the high cost of housing. In 2015 you needed a household income of $100,000 or more to move here, and it’s gotten worse since then. Because we don’t have enough housing, prices and rents have to rise to unbearable levels to force people to give up and leave. High housing costs act like a barrier, keeping people out.

Even for older homeowners, it’s a bad situation. Because younger people can’t afford to live here, the healthcare system is under increasing strain. A friend who worked in operations management at a hospital in Vancouver reported that the last time they had to hire an anesthesiologist, it took 18 months. In most places, you’d be able to live close to the hospital, but not here.

To fix this, we need a lot more housing.

We have limited land in Metro Vancouver, because of the ocean and the mountains. So it’s really important to make good use of the land that we do have, instead of leaving it mostly empty. This site is right on Lynn Valley Road, and it already has apartment buildings beside it and across the street.

We especially need more purpose-built rental housing, like this project. The advantage of a purpose-built rental building owned by an institution is that it provides secure housing without having to be rich enough to own. It’s not like renting a condo or basement suite from an individual landlord, where the landlord can always reclaim it for their personal use and evict you.

When we have a housing shortage, all housing helps, whether it’s market-rate or non-market. Every time a new building opens up and 100 people move in, that’s 100 people who are no longer competing with everyone else over the limited supply of existing housing. New housing frees up older housing.

I recognize that for people who live nearby, they’ll most likely want to minimize change and to keep their neighbourhood the way it is. But this has tremendous costs for everyone else.

If this project is rejected, the 66 renter households who would have lived there won’t vanish into thin air. It’s like pushing down on a balloon. They’ll find somewhere else to live in the area, and other people will get pushed out.

I understand that some people have asked if it’s possible to include non-market rentals in the project. Unfortunately it turns out that this doesn’t really work for a six-storey rental project, because there isn’t enough land lift to absorb the costs. You would need something a lot bigger, like a high-rise, to make it work.

Thank you for your time.

More

• District of North Vancouver: Delbrook and Maplewood

• Six-storey rental project in Lynn Valley town centre set for public hearing. Nick Laba, North Shore News, July 2024.

• Lynn Valley Town Centre community plan