Latest news with #PeterMeiszner
CBC
2 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Council approves extra $22.5M to move forward with Vancouver Aquatic Centre reno, 25-metre pool
Vancouver city councillors have voted to approve the park board's request for an additional $22.5 million in funding to renovate the Vancouver Aquatic Centre, bringing the price tag for the controversial project to $175 million. The decision came Wednesday night after several speakers, including multiple children, shared their opposition to replacing the existing 50-metre, Olympic-sized pool with a new 25-metre one, citing impacts to competitive swim training. After considering the potential impacts of a delay and the building's seismic safety, councillors voted 10-2 in favour of approving the funding. Coun. Peter Meiszner was absent, and Coun. Peter Fry abstained from voting due to a conflict of interest. "We're kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place right now," said Coun. Rebecca Bligh after the vote. The aging Vancouver Aquatic Centre made headlines in March 2022 after a large piece of the building's facade fell off. The centre has served as a premier sporting venue in Vancouver's densely populated West End since it opened in 1974, drawing swimmers, synchronized swimming teams, water polo players and divers for training and competitions. Recently, however, the pool has been described as being at "the end of its functional lifespan." A majority of voters in the 2022 municipal election supported the aquatic centre's renewal, but the first mention of a smaller 25-metre pool didn't come until February of this year — revealed in the design proposal brought forward by city staff — sparking outcry from the swimming community. Park board staff said it wasn't feasible to deliver a 50-metre pool within the existing building footprint while also meeting industry standards for maintenance and accessibility. The Vancouver Park Board approved the design the following month, subject to city council agreeing to an additional $22.5 million for the project — a request swimming advocates asked city council to reject, earlier this week. During the Wednesday meeting, one speaker said the park board has "lost the trust and confidence of the people of Vancouver and especially the swimming community." "No one voted for a lazy river and a 1,300-square-foot hot tub," said resident Scott Lear. "Vancouver just needs a 50-metre pool, it doesn't need a fancy designed building. It needs something functional first, and form second," he said. WATCH | Dozens speak out against aquatic centre proposal: Dozens show up to Vancouver Park Board meeting on controversial aquatic centre 4 months ago Duration 1:44 Dozens of people lined up to speak at Monday night's Vancouver Park Board meeting over a controversial new aquatic centre. The proposed redesign would replace a 50-metre pool with one half that size. As Meera Bains reports, swim clubs and other users are upset with the plan and loss of training space. One 10-year-old, Georgia Neill, who trains with the Canadian Dolphin Swim Club at the aquatic centre, appealed to councillors to "please think of other ways to keep our 50-metre pool, not for me or my teammates, but for all the people who signed the petition to say this is not what we want in Vancouver." Another young swimmer, Geoffrey Mu, said relocating the club and training to the Hillcrest Aquatic Centre, as park board staff have recommended, would make it difficult to attend practice, or force other members to consider joining another swim club. "If you support VAC's plan to change our 50-metre pool, you'll be taking away the future of many young swimmers including me," said the 12-year-old. WATCH | 50-metre pool not feasible, staff report says: City staff say 50-metre pool at Vancouver Aquatic Centre impossible without more money 3 months ago Duration 10:21 In the latest twist to the saga of the Vancouver Aquatic Centre renovation, park board staff released a final report that went back to the 25-metre pool that was initially proposed. While park board commissioners had directed staff to try to include a 50-metre pool in the renovation, Green commissioner Tom Digby says that it would be impossible without at least $50 million in funds that the city has not provided. Addressing the speakers after the vote, Bligh said she's not in favour of doing away with a 50-metre pool, but that she understands the need to upgrade the aquatic centre. She thanked speakers for their advocacy and acknowledged their concerns. "This is an impossible decision for me on the topic.... We have to get to a better solution here," Bligh said. "I'm not sure we're going to find it today, but I'm absolutely in your corner for what you shared and what you brought to the conversation today." The Vancouver Aquatic Centre is scheduled to close for the renovations in 2026 and reopen sometime in 2029.
CTV News
11-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
East Vancouver Safeway redevelopment approved despite affordability concerns
A rendering of the towers proposed for a site in East Vancouver. (Credit: Perkins & Will architects) A plan to build more than 1,000 units of rental housing on the site of an East Vancouver Safeway got the greenlight from city council Wednesday – despite concerns that none of the units will be affordable. Rezoning of the site adjacent to the Commercial-Broadway SkyTrain station was approved by a majority after a public hearing that saw over a thousand written submissions and drew hundreds of speakers. The approval marks an end to a years-long back-and-forth over plans to build housing near the busy transit hub. Coun. Peter Meiszner, with the mayor's majority ABC party, voted for the project. Explaining why, he echoed the sentiment of its proponents – namely that finally building a 'significant' number of new rentals on a site currently occupied by a grocery store and a parking lot would be a net positive. 'Would I like to see more affordability? Yes. But right now, there's no affordability on the site because there's no homes on the site,' he said. 'So, I think, on balance, that this project is supportable.' The current iteration by developers Westbank Projects Corp/Crombie REIT calls for three towers of 44 storeys, 38 storeys and 37 storeys, respectively. None of the 1,044 rentals will be affordable or below-market. To be classified as affordable, rent for a unit must not exceed to 30 per cent of household income. A below-market rental is one that is 10 per cent less than the average rent reported annually by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. The developers of this project are proposing 10 per cent of the units will be 'secured at city-wide average market rents' based on CMHC data for the year in which the occupancy permit is issued, according to the report. Coun. Pete Fry, with the Greens, abstained from Wednesday's vote. A number of other recently approved projects that bring significant density, he noted, have pledged to deliver 20 per cent below-market units. 'We've driven all these projects to deliver on public benefits and affordable housing, and this particular project represents a shift away from those expectations that we've opposed on all those other developers,' he said. The median income in the Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood is around $55,000, Fry said. The rental rates provided as examples in the staff report on the development said the 'average household income served' would range from around $65,000 for a studio to $141,000 for a three-bedroom, if the units were rented out this year. 'We're not delivering the affordability for people who need it,' Fry said. 'I can't give this project my support.' The lone councillor who voted against the rezoning was COPE's Sean Orr, who voiced similar concerns over a lack of affordability. 'We do need homes here, but we need bold action,' he said. In addition to the rentals, the development will include a replacement grocery store, additional ground-level retail spaces, a city-owned daycare, and a public plaza.
Global News
05-06-2025
- Business
- Global News
Vancouver to offer up land in bid to move SROs from Granville Entertainment District
Vancouver city council has unanimously approved an amendment to the city's 20-year Granville Street Plan aimed at shaking up SRO housing in the area. The amendment directs staff to work with BC Housing and the province to offer up city-owned sites to replace existing single room occupancy (SRO) and supportive housing units in the non-residential Entertainment Core area with 'modern, dignified, self-contained housing, with robust wraparound services.' Tabled by ABC Coun. Peter Meiszner, the amendment relates to publicly-owned buildings between Smithe and Davie Streets in the Granville Entertainment District (GED). 4:00 Vancouver bar owners ask for help to deal with SRO damages 'The city will come to the table with some free land,' Meiszner told Global News in an interview Wednesday. 'We're looking for provincial and federal government funding to transition these units off of Granville Street.' Story continues below advertisement The initial report to council on the Granville Street Plan proposed restricting new residential uses in the three-block Entertainment Core where current SROs 'will be replaced over time and SRO and tenant relocation would be secured off-site.' Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy According to the City of Vancouver, there are eight Single Room Accommodation (SRA) buildings containing roughly 600 rooms on the Granville Strip. Many are privately owned, while others are social and supportive housing projects owned by the city and the provincial government. Those living in the old Howard Johnson at 1976 Granville Street, which was purchased by the province in June 2020 and transitioned to temporary supportive housing during the COVID-19 pandemic, said they've endured chaos inside. 'It's horrible,' said Luugat resident Debora Taylor. 'My next door neighbour, who is in the mental hospital now, she set a fire in my room and after that, two floods.' 'This building's got to be knocked down because there's so much flooding,' said Stephen Keith Walsh. Walsh, who said he is on two wait lists for housing, is currently sleeping outside Aura Nightclub, which is on the ground level of the former Howard Johnson building. Aura has experienced constant flooding from the units above it, and even Walsh, whose ex-partner lives in the Luugat supportive housing, questions the decision to move people from encampments into the former hotel. Story continues below advertisement 'Why would they, BC Housing, pick up all these people off the street and put them in a brand new building when these people haven't even (gone) through any kind of screening or anything,' Walsh told Global News in an interview. 'They just throw them into a place — half of these people, you see the rooms, they're destroyed.' 2:33 SRO resident rescued from Vancouver nightclub air duct As to when the Howard Johnson rooms will be decommissioned, B.C.'s housing minister said the challenge is always where to move people. 'From the BC Housing perspective, we go to wherever there's an opportunity,' said Ravi Kahlon. 'If the council decides that there (are) better locations and they are able to approve them for us, we certainly will consider those options, but at this point we have to go with what we have.' Tyler, who lives in the Dominion Hotel SRO in Gastown and declined to provide his last name, said buildings to house vulnerable people have to go somewhere. Story continues below advertisement 'It can't all be downtown East End, or in that one on East 2nd Avenue, it's got to be all over the place, people got to have somewhere safe to go,' Tyler said. After dealing with more than 200 floods in the last five years from the former Howard Johnson rooms above his club, Aura owner Alan Goodall has a suggestion for the design of any new supportive housing builds. 'They need to have rooms that are basically tiled with a drain in the middle of it because as sure as you're born, the sprinkler heads are going to go off,' Goodall told Global News. 'They need rooms that are almost bomb-proof.'
CTV News
05-06-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Motion to bring back Vancouver renter office defeated in tie vote
Vancouver City Hall is seen in Vancouver, on Saturday, Jan. 9, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck A Vancouver city councillor's push to restore the city's tenant advocacy office — and crack down on bad-faith landlords — was voted down by council Wednesday afternoon. Coun. Lucy Maloney, who was elected in April's byelection on a platform focused on housing rights, brought forward the motion, arguing the city must do more to support renters — particularly those displaced by redevelopment tied to the Broadway Plan. 'Renters don't feel like the city has their backs,' said Maloney. 'They don't feel like they're being listened to.' The tenant advocacy office was a city-run service that provided support and resources to renters. It was shut down in 2023 by the ABC-majority council. Coun. Peter Meiszner defended the decision to close the office, citing low usage. 'They were receiving less than one call a day,' he said. 'So what we decided to do at the time, was to transition the funding for that city renters office to a non-profit that can handle those inquiries more effectively.' Funding was redirected to the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre, and Meiszner also pointed to the provincial Residential Tenancy Branch as the appropriate channel for dealing with landlord-tenant disputes. Maloney argued the city should provide additional protections beyond the province's scope, particularly in areas impacted by the Broadway Plan, where many renters are expected to be displaced through the city's Temporary Relocation and Protection Policy. 'We're going to have increasing volumes of people being moved out of their homes as the Broadway Plan progresses,' said Maloney. 'We need to make sure that we're focused, that we've got the resourcing and staff needed.' Meiszner responded that existing city staff are already working to support renters through these transitions. 'So we're building thousands of new rental units in the Broadway corridor, and there are some tenant relocations that need to happen,' he said. 'But we have staff already within the city working on that.' In addition to reinstating the advocacy office, Maloney's motion also called for exploring stronger penalties for landlords and developers who act in bad faith. Ultimately, the motion was narrowly defeated in a tie vote, with the four present ABC councillors voting against the motion. After the vote, Maloney said she will continue to fight for Vancouver renters, vowing to one day bring the tenant advocacy office back to city hall. A separate motion by Coun. Sean Orr — declaring housing as a human right — was passed unanimously.
