16 Comments

Trees, gardens, nature and parks are what make Dunbar special. Someone once described our residential area as “the lungs of the city,” and it’s true. Walking here is like walking in a park, and the smell is of greenery. The challenge is how to keep at least some of that while increasing housing; even city staff admitted in their recent “missing middle” presentation that six units on every 50-foot lot will mean lots of trees will be lost.

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Carol, Thanks for taking the lead with comments about Dunbar-exactly what I’m hoping to see.

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Being near the beach and sea wall, as well as the convenience to great shops on 4th is what I enjoy about living in Kitsilano.

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I take longwalks with my dog in Kits. I see a lot of 3 & 4 level apt blgs. All are well cared for. These are in East Kits. In central and West Kits a lot of houses are being upgraded. I don’t know why City Planners and Councillors don’t do walking tours around neighborhoods before they give away spot rezonings to developers. Most of the houses were summer homes and are now have muli tenants. I have lived in Kits since 2000 and find people are friendly and helpful. I lived in the West End before that. I went over a couple of times since with my dog and people were not at all friendly any more since all the high rises were built. I am glad that Kits hasn’t changed with high rises.

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I've lived off Commercial Drive most of my 55 years. It is a long, diverse and lively street with various businesses owned & run by shop owners. In the last 10-12 years, we have lost many of these businesses (Wonderbucks!) that made this drive, the Drive. In the last 3 months, we have lost or are losing Santa Barbara, Fets, Spank and a few more shops that I didn't visit - there are many empty windows. I also saw that El Mercato was sold and the Safeway site still looms to be too many stories over our heads. Is Commercial Drive going to end up as the eastern Broadway Plan?

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"Norquay" is a manufactured grab out of Renfrew-Collingwood and Kensington-Cedar Cottage, bisected by one mile of Kingsway. Even after that big grab, the City of Vancouver shows no respect – https://vancouver.ca/news-calendar/areas-of-the-city.aspx – and fails to name Norquay in its gobbledygook listings. We were nothing and we have been treated as worse than nothing. Our unanticipated resistance derailed the projected further 17 "neighbourhood centres" that constituted planning agenda circa 2007. What makes "Norquay" special? Pretty well being at the geographic center of East Vancouver – handy to everywhere east of Main Street. Plus our having been targeted as ground zero for ugly value extraction, followed with contempt and disregard for promises of "payback." We lie spreadeagled on Frankenstein's table. We are the experiment where many hasty mistakes are being made. We are your future. We are in the "middle" and we are treated like we have already gone "missing." One big lesson we can share: The stacked townhouse form is an abomination when viewed from the inside. Beware. The far more attractive streetside view is designed to hoodwink the passer-by.

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Rezoning application signs posted now on 2 single family home sites (so far) in the same block, north side, of 10th Avenue (2 blocks west of Alma), showing plans for multi-storey apartment buildings. If these transformative developments proceed, the already dramatically devastated Point Grey Village neighbourhood will become another Cambie or Granville concrete corridor, another City-ordered ghetto in what was once a revered, quiet, safe family-oriented localized community of prominent, long-term, up-standing citizens. Apparently, established neighbourhoods, regardless of what they have contributed to their city or for how long, mean nothing anymore.

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Similar survey I did in the 80's showed that the main concern with new housing in established neighbourhoods was the interruption of the existing landscape elements. One example was the harsh stone fencing delineating lot lines, with secure gating, which changed the character of the neighbourhood. 40 years on, yes it is an excellent idea to now establish current elements that should be retained for neighbourhood character in most residential areas, something you would expect to be the task of municipal planners.

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On Dunbar between 43rd Avenue and Southwest Marine Drive, on both sides of the street, there are Rezoning Redevelopment signs on single family properties, and the signs depict multi-unit apartment blocks, exactly like the signs on 10th Avenue just West of Alma Street. Again, there is nothing in the area currently similar to these proposed apartment blocks, so their construction would radically decimate the existing family-oriented, single-family property community and set the precedent for more of the same. Where is the accountability to that community? What studies have been done to determine justification for the total destruction of existing neighbourhoods in favour of extreme densification at all costs? Let us not forget that it has been our City government, and its developer friends, who historically in recent decades solicited national and international immigration and investment in real estate that created the current housing crisis. It was not the fault of the majority of residents or their neighbourhoods. It is galling to the extreme that our government officials continue to make residents pay the price instead of taking responsibility for their past errors and making policy that would slow densification and plan carefully and aesthetically for the livability and satisfaction of all.

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