January 27 Burnaby City Council meet

Hello everyone. This week is a quieter update, with less debate and deliberation happening at council regarding housing issues. The January 27^th meeting has a report recommendation for changing the rental units in a mixed use property and a couple of bylaws going through the legislative process. Let’s get started.

5227 Lane Street – CMHC rentals to market rentals

First on the agenda was a staff report recommending changes to some of the rental units at the 5227 Lane Street complex. Prior to January 27^th, the project was meant to be a mixed-use development with 160 residences. 90 would be market strata for sale on the market, and 70 would be rental units owned by the developer. Of the 70 rental units, 35 were originally meant to be offered at the CMHC median market rates, and the other 35 would be listed on the market. The staff report recommends changing the 35 CMHC units into market rate units, meaning there wouldn’t be any below market rental units in the project.

A softer sales market appears to be the issue with the development. The developer has stated that with the economy the way it currently is, the financial viability of the project would be challenged if the CMHC units were allowed to continue. The developer also indicated that converting all rentals into market value should be sufficient to obtain financing to construct the project, assuming no other deterioration of the local market or any other unforeseen expenses. The report was received without any discussion.

Many readers will know that I’ve always been a proponent of having additional non-market housing options throughout the city and province as a means of helping address affordability problems, especially here in the Greater Vancouver Regional District. It’s disappointing to see that this development has to lose those non-market rental units in order to remain financially viable. With that being said, it’s also important to ensure that we are continuing to add to the local housing supply and research still shows that mixed use developments have better health and safety outcomes for all members of the community. Mostly though, this is a statement of where developer finances are at with the downturn in the housing market over the last couple of years. It doesn’t look like there’s going to be much of a change in prices in the near future, but hopefully in the medium term more can be done to decrease the costs associated with producing housing so that more non-market units can be brought online.

Bylaw #14791 – 1030 Sperling Avenue First and Second Reading

First and Second Reading were given to a bylaw amendment allowing for the construction of 35 residential units with an underground parking lot. The units would be comprised of ground level units with stacked townhouses on top.

I know this area really well, and I’m surprised that the lot is going to be used for so many units. I’ll have to do a drive past the street to see how far east the lot goes, but this is a significant difference in density compared to the rest of the neighbourhood. The complex is on a major bus route and within walking distance to the R5 on Hastings, so it does present good connections to other neighbourhoods and doesn’t necessarily require a car to live there. I will be interested to see what kind of mix between market and non-market housing is suggested for the project.

Bylaw #14590 – Bevan Townhomes final approval

Final approval was given to a bylaw amendment in South Burnaby for the construction of 183 rental townhouses. Mosaic is serving as the developer of the project, but the land was previously owned by the City of Burnaby as a city-owned non-market housing site. The site will include 92 CMHC median market value townhomes and 91 market value townhomes. The project will be comprised of two and three-bedroom townhomes.

This project is interesting to me because it’s an opportunity to observe how city-owned non-market housing sites will be developed. For this project, the City created the final design for the project and went through the approvals process with the developer. That’s a bit of a different process from the Burnaby Housing Authority, which is slated to be a major user of city-owned non-market housing sites.

It is good that the project has been given final approval, as Third Reading occurred in 2023 and the project is finally able to begin.

The next scheduled Burnaby City Council meeting is Tuesday, February 10^th.