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Chilliwack city council approves controversial six-storey Garrison Crossing apartment

Vote 6-1 with only the mayor opposed in the face of widespread neighbourhood opposition
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Overview of the property in Garrison Crossing approved for a six-storey apartment building by city council on June 20. (Tetra Tech)

Chilliwack city council gave the green light Tuesday to a six-storey apartment in Garrison Crossing in the face of widespread neighbourhood opposition.

Just before midnight – and after a long evening of other public hearings – council voted six-to-one in favour of the zoning amendment to allow for the denser, higher project in the planned neighbourhood.

Only Mayor Sharon Gaetz was swayed by the overwhelming opposition to the five-metre increase in height, and density jump from 84 units to 115.

“I’m sorry to the developers, but I can’t support it,” Gaetz said. “I look at it and i think, it is a beautiful project, it addresses so many issues around providing an opportunity for people to have housing at affordable cost…. But in all my time on council I’ve never seen 125 letters against a proposal.”

After extensive input from neighbourhood residents universally opposed, and comments from the developer and the architect, Couns. Sue Attrill, Chris Kloot and Sam Waddington spoke in favour of the project, and all six councillors voted for the amendment to the Garrison Crossing comprehensive development zone.

“I think it will fit in very well in the neighbourhood,” Attrill said.

Kloot said Garrison is in some ways a victim of its own success with people seeing real estate in the planned neighbourhood as the purchase of a lifestyle.

“I am all about going up rather than out,” Kloot said. “I can’t fault people from wanting to live in our community. We have to be able to absorb this growth.”

Waddington said approval was the right choice, if not the popular one.

“I would gladly take an engaged community rather than a complacent one,” he said. “I think we need this kind of housing. We need density.”

Chief among the complaints from residents was the impact the increased density may have on traffic and parking. Along with shadows and loss of views, others also expressed disappointment that in a neighbourhood planned from the ground up, city council would amend a zoning bylaw for one of the final projects.

“Traffic is becoming horrendous,” 10-year resident Marilynne Black said, adding: “Parking is at a premium.”

“It’s supposed to be a planned community,” Chris Lint said. “I feel the developer could make a satisfactory profit building to what is currently zoned for.”

Six days before the public hearing at city council, the developer held a public information meeting, one that was unsatisfying to many who attended.

“I was at the meeting and it was very loud, people were very angry, and the developer was very arrogant about how he had it all set to go,” John Wilson said.

A representative for the developer, Diverse Properties, spoke about four neighbouring parcels the company has developed or is currently developing. In all others they developed fewer than was allowed by the zoning, so adding in the 115 units at the six-storey project, they are developing 219 units on properties that could have allowed for 313.

“Do you think they did that out of the kindness of their hearts?” resident Larry Bryce responded. “It was what the market would bear.”

The developer also pointed to a traffic report filed June 14, 2017 by a consultant that concluded “the development should have minimal effect on public on-street parking, if any.”

The proponent will provide 193 off-street parking spaces within a basement parkade, which is more than the minimum required in the zoning bylaw.

The proposal approved is to build two, six-storey buildings with a total of 115 apartment units. The project will include 575 square metres of outdoor amenity space with pedestrian paths connecting to the existing city park on Market Way. That exceeds the minimum 200 square metres required for multi-family developments.

One resident, Steve Hamilton-Clark, said the increase in height from 15 to 20 metres, a 33 per cent jump, was significant. He also predicted the number of parking spaces will be irrelevant when what was not explained was the size of the spaces, and with so many people driving pickup trucks and SUVs, they may revert to street parking.

But it was what he admitted was an “emotional” argument that was most powerful.

“What is Garrison about?” Hamilton-Clark asked. “It’s a dream. That’s what everyone here was sold on. The dream of Garrison living and what that meant.

“And this is a blot on the landscape, which puts a shadow on that dream, which is going to be permanent.”


@PeeJayAitch
paul.henderson@theprogress.com

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Developers of two proposed apartment buildings in Garrison Crossing have applied to increase the allowable density and build them to six storeys. (City of Chilliwack)
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Satellite photo of the property in Garrison Crossing approved for a six-storey apartment building by city council on June 20. (City of Chilliwack)