[Wamvan] Fwd: Stop the 17-story condo project at 611 Main St

[Tami Starlight]

FYI

have a lovely weekend.
tami

http://theantioppressionnetwork.wordpress.com/

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: DTES Neighbourhood Council <dtescouncil at gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Dec 8, 2011 at 5:24 PM

Hello DNC members,

Today the Carnegie Community Action Project released the following
statement opposing the proposed 17 story condo project at 611 Main St. This
is the first rezoning application that has appeared under the new
regulations set by the Chinatown Historic Area Heights Review in the
spring. You can read about the development application here:
http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/planning/rezoning/applications/601-627main/index.htm

The application is for 17 stories in 150 feet, and for 145 market condo
units and 26 "seniors" housing units. But at this point "seniors" housing
doesn't mean anything except that seniors will be designated apartments as
small as 320 square feet. There is no social housing in the proposal.

To send a note to the city opposing this condo project send an email to two
addresses:

mayorandcouncil at vancouver.ca, dwayne.drobot at vancouver.ca

And please copy dtescouncil at gmail.com so we know about opposition letters
sent to the city.

Your letters don't have to be long or complicated, but they should state
clearly that you oppose the proposed condo project. Also include your full
name and address. Please feel free to borrow ideas from the letter below.

Ivan
for the DTES Neighbourhood Council board


“*Market and non-market housing must proceed apace...”*
*Stop the 17-story condo development at 611 Main St.*

 The Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) opposes the proposed 17-story
condo tower project at 611 Main. We are asking that any condo project at
611 Main be put on hold, along with a general moratorium on all market
condo development in the Downtown Eastside (DTES), until the housing and
homelessness crisis in the DTES is stopped, until no body is forced to
sleep in SRO hotels, shelters, or on the street, and until the assets and
tenure of the low-income community are secured.

 Our main reasons for opposing this condo development proposal are about
City policy. We know that rezoning hearings are not supposed to deal with
policy. However City policies that support this development contradict
longer standing and guiding City policies that would stop this project
until social responsibilities are met. We remember Councillor Reimer's
argument, when speaking to her reasoning for supporting the HAHR heights
amendments in the spring, that the HAHR set heights but not uses or market
or non-market character of buildings along Main Street. City council needs
to clearly, transparently, and publicly prioritize which of its
contradictory policies it will follow and seek vulnerable community
direction over how the heights and density along Main Street are used.*
*

*1) The 611 Main condo proposal contradicts the 2005 DTES Housing Plan
objective of “revitalization without displacement.”*

 Market SRO hotel units in the immediate vicinity of the 611 Main project
could be immediately effected by increased real estate prices and an
improved investment and speculation market in the area. Hotels we believe
are at risk from the ripple effects of gentrification from any condo
project at 611 Main include 34 rooms at the Arno hotel on Georgia and Gore;
14 at 221 E. Georgia; and 45 units at the Keefer Rooms. These units are
vulnerable to the most common form of gentrification; through the holes in
the SRA bylaw they can be converted to student and young worker housing.

Even more readily at risk are the approximately 30 rooms in the East Hotel
and at least 45 in the Fan Tower. These low-income family residential
apartments are not protected from conversion or demolition by the SRA bylaw
or even rental-apartment conversion bylaws.

There are no city laws or policies to guarantee that this 'revitalization'
will not displace the more than 168 low-income people who live in immediate
vicinity of this proposed condo project in vulnerable market housing.*
*

*2. The 2005 DTES Housing Plan states that market development must proceed
apace non-market development.*

 City council's stated objectives include ending homelessness, including
replacing all 5,000 units of SRO hotel rooms. To meet this objective the
city seeks toslow market development and allow the relatively slow
construction of social housing to catch up. Since the 2005 Housing Plan was
written, this policy has failed. Rather than proceed apace, between 2005
and 2011 the rate of market to non-market housing development has been 3 to
1.

The city has work to do to correct the failing rate-of-change guidelines.
Unfortunately the problem is made worse by building 171 units of market
condo housing that may have 26 units at slightly depressed rates,
apparently due to depressed unit-size. For low-income people this condo
tower might as well be an exclusive penthouse suite as there will not be a
single unit for existing residents who may be displaced from the
surrounding hotels and low-rent apartments due to gentrification.*
*

*3. On January 20th 2011 City Council initiated an unprecedented DTES Local
Area Planning Process*. The reasoning for this initiative was council's
recognition that exisiting policies and plans for the DTES are not working
and that the solution lies in the rich experiences and ideas of the people
who live in the community themselves.

Proceeding with a massive and exclusive condo tower at 611 Main St
undermines and short circuits the credibility, effectiveness, and value of
the Local Area Planning Process. We want this condo project and all other
potentially destructive market condo projects to be put off until after the
Local Area Planning Process can do its work and develop a vision for the
DTES.

There are also zoning problems with the condo tower proposal at 611 Main
St, including:

   - The design of the project is not within the historic character of the
   neighbourhood
   - The Community Amenities Contributions have not been determined. These
   rates should be set through the Local Area Planning Process and not in
   advance of a clear long-term plan for the DTES community.

 The proposal for a 17-story condo project at 611 Main puts many critical
parts of our community in jeopardy: Vulnerable low-income housing; Assets
of the low-income community including comfortable street life and
low-income serving shops; and it threatens the vital community building
process of the DTES Local Area Planning Process just as it is struggling to
get going. We are calling on City Council to stop the condo tower at 611
Main St and prioritize ending homelessness and underhousing in the DTES.
Our community needs low-income affordable social housing not condo towers.

Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP)
December 8, 2011







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