The City of Delta has received an application to build a rental apartment building along the Tsawwassen strip.
Council recently received preliminary information from planning staff about an application by Buro47 Architecture Inc., on behalf of the owner Bosa Properties, to build a 48-unit market rental apartment building at 1467 56th Street.
The building would be comprised of five storeys and two levels of underground parking and located at the southwest corner of 14B Avenue and 56 Street.
This site was formerly occupied by a gas station which has been vacant since 2012.
Pedestrian entry would be from 14B Avenue at the northeast corner of the building, while vehicular access to the parkade would be from 14B Avenue.
The building would contain both an indoor common amenity area and an outdoor common amenity area at the rear of the proposed development.
The proposal includes five studio units, 27, one-bedroom units and 16, two-bedroom units.
The application comes as the city continues to work on formulating a new housing action plan.
A previous Delta staff report to council notes the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation reported that the city’s vacancy rate a couple of years ago was 1.3 per cent, whereas a healthy residential rental market typically has a two-to-three per cent vacancy rate.
Very little purpose-built rentals have been added over the last decade and such housing comprises only five per cent of Delta’s overall housing stock.
Meanwhile, vacancies continue to become less affordable.
The report also notes Metro Vancouver’s projected housing needs to 2026 estimates that Delta will need to introduce 800 new rental units over the next 10 years, 640 of which should serve households earning under $50,000 annually.
Hoping to address the vacancy crunch, council recently approved bylaw amendments aimed at making it easier for homeowners to add secondary suites.
