A dramatic redesign plan approved by city council and opposed by
some neighbourhood residents will change Marpole, a working class community
of 23,000, forever
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If
you walk, bike, bus or drive south down Granville Street and cross West 57th
Avenue, you enter the neighbourhood of Marpole, an easygoing, unpretentious working class and
immigrant community of 23,000 people.
The
area is bounded by Angus Street to the west, Ontario Street to the east, and
the Fraser River to the south. At 64th Avenue, Marpole's
"downtown" begins, a strip of coffee shops, restaurants, banks,
physiotherapists, and clothing stores. Then, as you reach 70th Avenue, you come
to Marpole's "anchor tenant," a small,
older Safeway grocery store and liquor store, sitting back from a mid-sized
parking lot.
It
won't be small for long. Last May 3, after some political wrangling, city
council approved the rezoning and redevelopment of the property. Safeway and
its developer, Westbank Properties, can proceed with the building of the new
50,000-square-foot Safeway (up from 33,000 sq. ft.), a 6,000-sq.-ft. liquor
store, some smaller commercial and office units, and the three proposed
multi-family highrise and townhouse units on the
site. The boldest feature will be a 16-storey residential (scaled back from 24 storeys in the original plan), a startling departure within
an area of mainly three-storey apartment buildings.
In
fact, most of Marpole is changing too. Riding a
bicycle further down Granville as it becomes Southwest Marine Drive, you pass
the former Fraser Arms pub site, soon to be a 5,695-sq.-ft. cold beer and wine
store. Past the Metro Theatre, then the Motel Nightclub, you arrive at Marpole bus loop under the Arthur Laing Bridge, which
connects Vancouver to Richmond's airport.
Across
the road at Hudson Street is a plan for another big condo development, amongst
other recent ones. Then, as the drive curves to the left, you see a rezoning
application sign outside the Coast Hotel and White Spot: architect Robert Turecki is applying to add six storeys
to the hotel with 76 dwelling units.
Riding
down Marine past Oak Street, with low rent apartments on your left and Denny's
and Canadian Tire on your right, you eventually arrive at Cambie
Street and the grand finale of the Marpole redesign
tour: The city-approved 825,000-sq.-ft. Marine Gateway Project at the Canada
Line SkyTrain station-two residential towers (the tallest being 335 feet) with
more than 450 units and an 11-screen cinema, food and drug stores, all within
the fragrance of the nearby city transfer station.
Sleepy
old Marpole is changing fast. Higher density boosters
say that the 1979 Marpole community plan is woefully
out-of-date, and with an average 7,000 people moving to Vancouver every year,
new housing is urgently needed. The 1995 City Plan also urged higher densities.
Yet
others like Marpole just the way it was, arguing it
didn't really "lack" anything (besides a larger library), is not a
"stagnant" region that needs to be "energized," and should
stay as a 1950s-style oasis from the booming high-rise development and pricey
condo gentrification in the rest of the city.
It's
also not widely known that Marpole has much unseen
poverty and a church foodbank that feeds 300 people a week. Some seniors who
have lived for decades on a fixed income in apartments-with the lowest rents in
Vancouver after the East Side-fear steep rent increases and have a heavy
foreboding of Marpole being gradually transformed
into a new Yaletown or West End.
The
debates over exactly what the Safeway, Gateway and other approved Marpole highrise projects could
or should have been are academic by now, for they have all been approved and
construction is set to begin. The main questions now are the overall future of Marpole, of what these projects' influence (if any) may be
upon the area, and whose voices will count the most.
Gudrun
Langolf is fighting against any potential development
boom. The president of the Marpole-Oakridge Area
Council Society, which runs Marpole Place, has lived
in the area since 1985, and now helps to rally residents who have generally
been, until now, politically quiet.
The
Safeway project was their main rallying point. "Safeway is such a drastic
change," said Langolf. "The folks that have
stopped to talk to me about it, my neighbours, are
unanimous that it's far too high and too dense. I don't think developers are
evil, necessarily, but they shouldn't run the show. Reasonable profits like
seven per cent are alright, but not 20 per cent. And there is a responsibility
of city hall to find the right balance."
When
the city hosted the first public meeting at Marpole
Place about the planned development in September 2010, it was reported that not
one resident out of an estimated 200 attendees stood up to voice approval of
the rezoning application during the question and answer period.
In
December, Henriquez Partners Architects said it would reduce the tallest tower
from 24 storeys down to 16, and 357 new dwelling
units will be built amongst the three buildings, 31 of them rental units, down
from a previously proposed 172. They expected a one-bedroom would rent for
$1,075 a month, a two-bedroom for $1,677.
A
keen supporter of the Safeway project is Claudia Laroye,
executive director of the Marpole Business
Association. "The BIA believes that the future viability of the Marpole commercial district (and its 200 members) is
closely linked to the future success and viability of the Marpole
Safeway," she told the Courier.
Yet
the Safeway project's impact on local merchants remains to be seen. Langolf predicts that many small businesses near Safeway
will see their rents increase. She also worries their property taxes will rise
and that even with a larger customer base, they won't make up the difference
and survive.
Laroye
isn't concerned about such potentialities. "In relation to rents and
property values, the Marpole BIA cannot say what the
impacts will actually be. We can estimate that positive commercial
redevelopments bring pressures for other property owners to spruce up
properties, and potentially raise rents. However, they can only raise rents in
so far as the market will bear it, and if they can find good-quality tenants
with solid business plans."
She
also "cannot speculate at this time" on what percentage of new
customers the Marpole merchants may gain after the
new Safeway opens.
Opponents
have complained the Safeway project will bring too few amenities, and that Marpole also needs a new community centre.
There is also discussion on what to do with the tiny, overcrowded 1974 Richard Marpole library, across from Safeway. Laroye
urges that, although enlarged, it should remain near its current place, and
while it unfortunately could not fit in the Safeway project, "we believe
that a new location, potentially even more suitable, will be found in the very
near future."
Critics
also note that the corner of Granville and 70th Avenue is already a traffic
bottleneck that will only get worse with the Safeway project, especially after Translink cancelled the 98 B-Line bus.
The
question of where the elderly will buy food and medication when the Safeway is
closed for three years of construction was also raised. Langolf
said the Safeway pharmacy will temporarily relocate to 68th Avenue and
Granville. The BIA says Safeway is considering a shuttle service for Marpole customers several times a day to its Oakridge
Safeway store. (Safeway officials did not reply to interview requests.)
Opinions
differ on whether the Safeway project will set the development benchmark for
the rest of Marpole. Brent Toderian,
the city's director of planning, asserted that the 16-storey tower wouldn't be
"precedent setting."
Asked
if the same level of Safeway and Gateway density could spread over Marpole, Matt Shillito, the
city's assistant director of planning, replied, "That's not a remotely
likely outcome. I don't see any planning logic to that. And Gateway was done in
the context of the Cambie corridor community
plan."
The
key question remaining is the impact on housing. What happens to low-rent
apartments in South Vancouver sandwiched between Cambie
and Granville streets? As land values rise, will this result in rent hikes, or
even renovations and evictions?
Langolf
believes rents will surely rise. "Pressures will be huge," said Langolf. "We hear that these apartments are 'old
stock' and should be torn down-that's wrong."
"These
are well built walkups, for families," adds Langolf.
"But there's a new brisk trade in what I call 'renovictions' by holding
companies."
Shillito
offers reassurances: "Retaining the stock of affordable rental housing and
expanding it is one of council's highest priorities, and we have policies in
place for that." Moreover, he adds, in the law of supply and demand, low
vacancies usually lead to higher rents, and visa
versa, and therefore, "increasing the types and amounts of housing that
are now in short supply does help to moderate prices, even if they are market
development."
Laroye
agrees. "The Marpole BIA would not support the
loss of our existing rental housing stock, as it offers an important housing
option for families, students and seniors," she said, adding that the
existing rental stock of these four-storey walk-ups
south of 70th Avenue is protected by a 'rate of change' bylaw passed by the
city. These apartments may not be converted into condos, nor redeveloped in a
way that may displace existing tenants. Owners may renovate apartments as they
become vacated, and rent them out to new tenants, but they may not evict
existing tenants and do a wholesale building changeover.
Langolf
countered that may be true, but some building owners, without breaking any
laws, are finding ways to force tenants out by simply making it too unpleasant
for them to stay.
The
very complex and contentious process of urban planning is itself under
scrutiny. Some complained that renters were not fully notified of meetings, and
that city planners are generally too sympathetic to developers. Furthermore,
Vancouver's former assistant director of planning, Trish French, called on the
city to develop a comprehensive area plan with the community before any
significant redevelopment such as Safeway was approved. COPE Coun. Ellen Woodsworth, who will no longer be on council as
of Dec. 5 when a new council is sworn in, concurs: "I was very concerned
we would proceed, when there was no area plan in place. We were supposed to
have one in place last fall." The resulting problem is a kind of ad hoc "spot
rezoning."
Laroye
was content with the process: "We believe that the developer and the
architect worked hard to inform stakeholder groups and individuals."
Shillito,
Woodsworth and Laroye all say the 1979 Marpole plan is outdated and needs revision. But Langolf disagrees. "There's nothing wrong with that
plan, and I'm worried that good parts of it might disappear. It's served us
well until now. We had the same growth as the West End, and we absorbed it
without serious problems."
The
city process of creating new community plans for Grandview-Woodland, the West
End/downtown and Marpole began Oct. 15 with a
private, invitation-only workshop of local "stakeholders" to set the
terms of reference. After council approves the terms, there will be public
meetings in the new year.
Only
COPE councillors David Cadman and Woodsworth voted
against the Safeway Marpole project, as they echoed
residents' concerns about heights, a lack of adequate community amenities and
traffic congestion. Vision Coun. Geoff Meggs said the Safeway project is good on balance (but he
still wishes it had more rental housing), and he doesn't expect it to cause any
increase in local rental rates. Vision Coun. Heather
Deal said she voted for the Safeway development because "it's a reasonable
project, but we should have consulted earlier and more fully on it." She
added there may soon be funding for a new community centre.
Woodsworth
concluded: "The developers are laughing all the way to the bank. They
don't even give enough amenities for existing needs."
The
election is over, and planning consultation will soon begin. But regardless of
its outcome, Marpole will never be the same again.
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