Despite a tense interaction between a developer and the owners of a neighbouring property, a proposed 66-unit building on Clement Avenue has been moved forward.
During the Tuesday evening public hearing, a pair of property owners tried to sway council into not supporting several variances included in the project due to the impact on their property to the west.
The property owners cited a lack of communication with the developer, damage to their home and financial strain due to the neighbouring development.
A total of eight people addressed council, but all spoke in favour of the developer’s character and not the project nor the six variances that were included in the project, which is proposed for 647 Clement Ave.
After listening to the public’s issues, mayor Tom Dyas reminded city council that they were not in a position to comment or react to the personal relationships of the developer and neighbour.
“There’s a lot of emotion around this,” Dyas said. “We’re not in a position up here at this particular point in time to gear our discussion around that information. We’re all regrettable that it's happening (...) we’re here tonight to look at what’s in place with regards to the variances and moving this forward.”
Dyas said there were other channels the property owners and developer could go through to deal with their issues.
City manager Doug Gilchrist agreed and said council was only considering the building’s form and character and the impact of the variances, not “the character of any of the parties involved.”
Variances included reducing upper floor setbacks on the east property line for the extension of a firewall and on the west property line to accommodate balconies and a roof overhang.
City staff said the parkade on the west side of the property was setback zero metres, which meets the zoning bylaw rules for Urban Centre. Floors two to five are setback by three metres and the sixth floor is setback by five metres but will allow for the balconies and roof overhang.
Another variance was to reduce the north stepback for a portion of the front of the building to allow for balconies and a distinct lobby façade.
Other variances were to reduce the minimum amenity space by 47 square metres, reduce the amount of ground-anchored bike parking and reduce the space between bike racks.
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The building will have 20 bachelor units, 29 one-bedrooms and 17 two-bedrooms. There will be 59 parking stalls, one Modo car-share and 88 parking stalls.
Ultimately, the project was moved forward with a unanimous vote of support from council and the developers will be able to apply for their building permit.
Coun. Webber said he didn’t believe the variances really impacted the neighbouring properties and supported the project.
Coun. Wooldridge said it was awkward when those types of personal issues were aired out in council chambers but also supported the project.
“This was previously approved and now coming into compliance with our new zoning bylaw, so I’m supporting it tonight,” he said. “The justifications of the variances make sense to me in terms of making this a better building, making sure it's not monolithic coming down Clement.”
He added that the business relationship between the developer and the neighbouring property was unfortunate but council was not there to consider that.
Coun. Stack said he hoped the developer would work to resolve the matter with neighbours.
“Obviously, for this council, it’s a very tough position to be in because we do not play the mediator position in things like this but what I ask for the neighbour and the developer, a lot of time these things can get resolved by sitting down (with each other),” mayor Dyas added.
“We all have to live in this community (...) I would ask that you take the opportunity to put those steps forward to have that discussion.”
