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EST VAN

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PAGE 21

Residents urge council
to dump high rise plan

A PROPOSED 15-storey apartment building for the 220
block Bellevue Avenue in West Vancouver has people in the
neighborhood concerned about the impact the high rise will

have on the area.

The building would replace the
30-year-old low rise apartment
building known as The Surf.

Several people urged council
Monday to not grant a develop-
ment permit to architect Roger
Romses before learning more
about plans for the neighboring
propertics now occupicd by The
Edgewater and a home.

“There is a potential for a poor-
ly integrated design,"’ said Bellevue
resident Craig Nailer.

“It might be a good idea to look
at the building sites of the other
properties....let's know what else is
going on,"’ submitted former
alderman Doreen Blackburn,
another Bellevue resident.

Municipal planner Steve
Nicholls said that discussions be-
tween the three groups of property
owners have ‘‘not been fruitful,’’
but that two other buildings would
likely be constructed, one just
south of the building to the east
and another ~ probably a high
rise — on the property to the west.

Other residents were concerned
about the effect the building and
its possible future counterparts
would have on the views further up
the hill.

“There will be a great loss of
privacy. We will be placed in a sort
of Manhattan — situation,’’ said
Haywood Avenue resident
Euphrosine Keefer.

Council reminded everyone that
the area has been zoned for
apartment buildings since 1956. |.

“Uf we had to do it again, the
apartment zone would not be
where it is... It was considered a
good plan in 1956, but a lousy plan
today,”” said Ald. David Finlay,

But councils over the years have
always voted against downzoning
the lots because it would cause the
loss of a major *teconamic value’
to those that have purchased the
apartment properties.

Surf resident LL.D. Wickwire
said that he and the other apart-

ment-zoned property owners had
been told that they could lose 52
per cent of the value of the land if
they agreed to a downzoning. But
he wondered if a ‘step-type’ three
or four-storey building might be an
economically feasible aiternative
for the site.

“An apartment is the most
economic use of a very expensive
site,’” said Surf resident Jack
Clark.

WEST Vancouver Ald. David
Finlay...°° Ff we bad to do it again,
the apartment zone would not be
where it is...""

Mayor Don Lanskail discounted
as impractical a suggestion that the
municipality subsidize a downzon-
ing. .

“dm not sure we would have the
authority,’’ Lanskail added.

Another Haywood Avenue resi-
dent, Harold Kalke, said the pro-
blem had more to do with design
than zoning.

“There's often not enough con-
sideration for a sense of
neighborhood,’ Kelkie said.

Council voted to refer the matter
to staff for report, with reference
to alternative sitings of the
buildings and Kelkie’s remarks.