White Rock council members voted unanimously to reject a seven-storey development proposed for Thrift Avenue last week, marking the third time in three years a project slated for the quarter-acre lot has failed to move forward.
The proposal for 14937 Thrift Ave. called for an 11-unit building on seven levels, with two levels of underground parking, and would have required rezoning as well as an amendment to the Official Community Plan.
In a report Feb. 15 to the city’s land use and planning committee, director of planning Karen Cooper said staff recommended that the application be rejected based on concerns about the building’s height, massing, shape and impact on views.
“We don’t feel the applicant has met the development permit guidelines,” Cooper said.
The property has been subject of numerous proposals and revisions over the past three years.
In 2013, proponents applied for rezoning to allow for a seven-unit townhouse project, which the city rejected, requesting the applicant reduce the height and number of units. The following year, the proponents came back with a six-unit concrete apartment building, however later deferred the application after residents strongly opposed the project.
At a public-information meeting in September about the current proposal, residents again expressed their opposition to the project, specifically its inconsistency with the OCP.
Coun. Lynne Sinclair said last week that she felt sorry for the applicant, after the proposal had been to the advisory design panel three times before proceeding to the committee.
“This is the benefit of having land use and planning first,” Sinclair said. “I think this is a classic example of why council has been insistent on bringing them forward to us for an initial (review).”
Prior to voting, Mayor Wayne Baldwin said he agreed the project was “too high, too dense and out of character for the neighbourhood.”
Baldwin also made reference to resident feedback included in the report package, pointing to recent policy changes passed by council in an effort to curb “disrespectful” correspondence to staff and elected officials.
“I’d also like to point out that we did recently pass a policy about documents put forward to council – some of these letters that are questionable in that respect should have been returned for rewriting in more appropriate language,” Baldwin said, before specifically identifying what page in the report he was referring to. Comments on the feedback form, written by a Thrift Avenue resident, refer to Baldwin as “ignorant, aggressive and arrogant,” and suggest he resign if he “can’t obey the law.”