A proposal to construct a three-unit townhouse development in Ladner Village finally got approval after addressing privacy concerns from a neighbouring resident.
Council this week granted final adoption of the Official Community Plan amendment to build the units on a vacant lot at 4780 48B St., each townhouse having four bedrooms and being just over 2,200-square-feet in size.
Council at a June 28, 2022 public hearing agreed to grant third reading to the rezoning and subdivision proposal by Jeremy Stam of BURO47 Architecture Inc., on behalf of a numbered company which is listed as the owner, for the development located to the southeast of the intersection of 48 Avenue and 48B Street. However, final approval wouldn’t be granted until privacy issues were addressed.
The applicant was to work with city staff to review the design to address the concerns raised by a resident who spoke on the application at the hearing, a neighbour owning a heritage house.
A staff report notes that in response, the applicant revised the plans by adding a 1.7-metre (5.5-foot) frosted glass privacy screen on the third floor patios and raised planters along the edge to create a buffer between the edge of the balcony and where someone would naturally stand.
Staff are satisfied that the proposed treatment would address the community’s privacy concerns.
A previous report to council notes that since the only adjacent property has a heritage house listed on the Delta Heritage Inventory, the opportunity for a lot consolidation to accommodate a more conventional townhouse development under a standard townhouse zone, or an apartment under the existing zone, was limited.
The site was the subject of a previous three-unit strata townhouse proposal which was considered by council in 2018 and denied following a public hearing.
Since that time, the ownership of the property changed.
