Fate of controversial Chinatown condo project put on hold as City of Vancouver adjourns hearing

It will be at least two more weeks before any decision can be made on a condo development in the heart of Vancouver's Chinatown neighbourhood.

Seventy people, both for and against the 111-unit, nine-storey development at 105 Keefer St., had signed up to address a City of Vancouver development permit board hearing on Monday.

Twenty speakers were still waiting when the hearing adjourned late in the evening, but they expect to be heard when it resumes on June 12.

The condo project has been in the works since Beedie Holdings Ltd. bought the land 10 years ago, but the proposal was rejected in 2017 because the development permit board ruled it was not the right fit for the neighbourhood.

Another hearing was arranged after the developers successfully appealed to the B.C. Supreme Court last year and it ordered the board to reconsider the decision.

More social housing needed: critics 

Critics of the project, including some Chinatown and Downtown Eastside residents, argue the development ignores the needs of the neighbourhood because it contains only market rate condos and no social housing.

Lily Tang, 80, who arrived in Chinatown in 1968 and has lived in her social housing building for about 25 years, says life in Canada has become unaffordable.

"We are not against constructing this building, but it's looking at our needs," Tang told CBC News in Cantonese last week. "The last several years the government hasn't built much housing for us. There used to be a bit, but now governments just give lip service."

Residents and activists say for low-income seniors in the area, affordable housing means paying up to 30 per cent of their monthly pension or income assistance rate in rent, not simply a below-market rate as the city defines it for developers.

"There is no affordable or seniors housing and no safeguards against gentrification," said Russell Chiong, president of Chinatown Today, speaking on CBC's The Early Edition last Thursday.

"It would just do irreversible damage to the sense of place and community vibrancy of Chinatown," he added of the proposal.

Rob Fiorvento, managing partner at Beedie, told CBC last week that the development will bring much needed mixed-use housing to the area, which is in alignment with a city goal of making the historic community prosperous again.

Several neighbourhood groups openly support the project.

Last Wednesday, a joint letter signed by seven Chinatown organizations was sent to the development permit board as well as Mayor Ken Sim and city council advocating for permit approval. 

Signatories include the Chinese Benevolent Association of Vancouver, the Chinese Freemasons of Vancouver, the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Garden Society, the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Vancouver, the Vancouver Chinatown Merchant's Association, the Vancouver Chinatown Business Improvement Association (Chinatown BIA) and the Vancouver Chinatown Foundation. 

"We stand united in support for this project, and for the continued renewal of Chinatown; this important, historic and cultural jewel in our city," said Jordan Eng, president of the Chinatown BIA in a news release sent to media with the letter.