Vancouver church defends redevelopment plans as fulfilling 'mission'

A nearly 90-year old Vancouver church wants to rezone its land to renovate and preserve its aging structure and build community housing, but residents in the area are firmly opposed to the current plans.

The Dunbar Ryerson United Church has occupied two corners on 45th Avenue and Yew Street since 1928. On the west side of Yew Street sits the actual church with its distinctive tall stone tower and on the east side is an activity centre.

In recent years, however, the congregation has been shrinking. In fact, the church was originally called the Ryerson Church and merged with Dunbar Church congregation seven weeks ago to boost its numbers.

Deborah Bowman, the coordinating minister for the church, said the redevelopment of the sites would help pay for the repairs and renovation of the aging church structures but also help the congregation serve its community mandate.

She said the current plans include an eight-storey market residential development on the east site, a four-storey condo building, and a row of two-and-a-half-storey townhouses along 45th Avenue.

On the west site, the old church building would be restored and preserved, and a new five-storey building would be built with an activity centre and 32 units of affordable rental housing.

"The intent is for the congregation to be able to live out their mission — which has always been to serve the wider community and have a place where the sacred and the secular can intersect," she said.

Some residents unhappy

But some residents are unhappy about the size and scale of the development.

Ann Kent represents the Ryerson Neighbours group and has lived in the neighbourhood for over 40 years. She's worried about the style of the development, and the shadows generated by the five- and eight-storey buildings.

"We're also very concerned about the impact of the change in use. Having a concert hall venue as well as a 19,000-square-foot activity centre is going to generate an entirely new and different amount of traffic into the residential neighbourhood," she said.

Kent said she wants to see the church continue to be part of the community but would like to see the size of the development reduced.

"I'd like to see two-and-a-half to three-storey town homes," she said. "I'd like to see an activity centre which could also include proposed rental housing but I'd like to see it three to four storeys, not five."

Reducing size will reduce capacity: minister

But Bowman says reducing the capacity of the proposed development would hamper the church's ability to fulfill its goals and do the necessary repairs.

"It might be enough for us to hunker down and just serve ourselves but that's never been our priority. I also think, frankly, given that we have the space, we have the land, we would like to be able to contribute to Vancouver being an habitable city."

An open house on the development proposal takes place tonight from 5 to 8 p.m. at the Dunbar Ryerson Memorial Centre.

With files from Margaret Gallagher

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