A proposed housing development in North Vancouver has been sent back for revisions over its size and parking options.
Seymour River Place in the Maplewood Village neighbourhood would bring 40 apartments to the area, including seven below-market rental units.
However, district staff say the project exceeds current planning policies.
The site is zoned for four storeys, but the proposal calls for six storeys and the developer is also proposing 26 parking stalls, which is well below the 74 spaces required under existing bylaws.
The district says that could cause congestion on neighbouring streets as people struggle to find parking spots.
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“Even though the marketing of the project says if you don’t have a car you probably shouldn’t come and live here, what we’ve found in the past is they’re just going to put their cars throughout the neighbourhood rather than pay a high monthly rate to park their car in the area,” Mike Little, District of North Vancouver mayor, said.
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The developer says that requiring more parking would drive up the cost of the units by at least $50,000.
“At a time when we’re talking about the need for more affordable housing, we should not be encouraging people to buy cars and buy parking spaces,” Michael Geller, a Seymour River Place planning consultant, said.
“Especially when you do have excellent public transit.”
The developer is now revising its proposal and considering a full transportation study, which could reduce the parking requirement from 74 stalls to 36.
Developers never live in the areas they build these projects in and don’t have to deal with limited street parking availability…
1.5 stalls per unit at a minimum!! Cars are not going to disappear any time soon!