More proposed high-density residential developments are on council’s agenda.
A public hearing will take place at Municipal Hall next Monday (June 19 at 4 p.m.) for the public to have a say on several rezoning and Official Community Plan (OCP) amendments, including an application to subdivide one lot into a 16-lot mixed single-detached residential and infill duplex development at 11488 92nd Ave.
That development includes four single-detached houses facing 92nd Avenue and 12 duplex units accessed via a common internal road.
Also on the agenda is an application to allow a subdivision of a property at 7940 118th St.
Currently occupied by a church building and a parking lot, the development would include six units of fee-simple duplexes fronting 118th Street and six units of bare land strata duplexes with a common driveway accessed from 79A Avenue.
The application requires an OCP amendment to change the land use designation from institutional to residential and to exempt the property from its current maximum allowable density.
A staff report notes that the main building was formerly home to Nordel Church.
The property also contains the “Vancouver Wireless Chapel” which is situated behind the church and is listed in the Delta Urban Heritage Inventory.
The heritage building was constructed around 1949 at the Vancouver Wireless Station near the Boundary Bay Airport. It was eventually relocated to its current location for use at the church site. The owner has been leasing the church and the chapel space to a private childcare business.
Both the church and chapel are proposed to be demolished.
The city has requested the owner list the heritage structure slated for demolition for sale at $1 for a minimum period of one month.
Also on the public hearing agenda is an OCP amendment proposed by the city aimed at allowing the addition of secondary suites in duplexes.
In 2019, the BC Building Code was amended to change the definition of a secondary suite including the floor area allowed in a suite and the type of building that could contain a suite. The changes include permitting secondary suites in duplexes.
The city has been undertaking several zoning changes to align with the updated Building Code, as well as meeting some of the goals of the city’s Housing Action Plan.
A planning department report notes that that the Building Code changes allows for the possibility of suites in side-by-side duplexes, row houses and townhouses, provided that there is vertical fire separation between a dwelling unit and its associated secondary suite. However, up-down duplexes, apartment buildings, stacked townhouses and other arrangements where units are above one another are still not permitted to contain secondary suites.
