Granville street fight evolves into $10 million lawsuit against City of Vancouver and rental developer BY GLEN KORSTROM/BIV A residential rental project downtown on Granville Street has angered neighbours and prompted a $10 million lawsuit against both the developer and the City of Vancouver. The imbroglio also highlights the dangers that lurk for owners of small plots of land adjacent to underused properties, such as single-level parking lots. Mohamed Ahmed launched the legal action December 29 after he failed to stave off construction of a 10-storey tower on a single-level parking lot next door to the 110-year-old apartment building that he and his wife, Jutta Ahmed, have owned and lived in since the 1968. They allege that developer Blue Sky Properties Inc., which is affiliated with Bosa Properties Inc., attempted to buy the Ahmeds' three-storey property last year for little more than $1 million. That's about half the property's assessed value and a tiny fraction of its market value, Jutta Ahmed told Business in Vancouver. "You can buy toilet paper for that," she said. Bosa Properties' vice-president of sales and marketing Daryl Simpson denied that his company ever offered to buy the Ahmed's land. Regardless, the Ahmeds are now faced with the prospect of a 106-unit residential tower abutting both their six apartments and a 390-square-foot balcony, which is carved out of the middle of their old brick building at 1130 Granville Street.
The result will be an extreme devaluation of the Ahmeds' property due to loss of safety, security and privacy, the Ahmeds claim. Security concerns "People in the [proposed building] could jump over to our balcony and rape the people in our building," Mohamed Ahmed said. "If they get drunk and throw a glass it will come in our window." Ahmed said that, were it not for construction next door, his and his wife's property would be worth up to about $10 million. That's why the Ahmeds are claiming that amount in their lawsuit. Both developer and city staff say standard procedures were followed when the city rezoned the parking lot and voted to add 63 per cent more allowable density in September. The change allows Blue Sky to develop a structure 5.72-times the site's 75-foot-wide and 120-foot-deep footprint. The 92-foot maximum allowable height for the proposed structure remains unchanged. Mayor named Ahmed names mayor Gregor Robertson and eight city councillors in his lawsuit because, he alleges in his notice of civil claim, "there can be no doubt of collusion" between those representatives and Blue Sky. Ahmed argues that Robertson and his Vision Vancouver council were so ideologically driven to encourage developers to build market rental housing that they were not concerned with how it would impact his property. One of Robertson's hobby horses during his mayoral tenure has been the city's Short Term Incentives for Rental Housing (STIR) program, which aims to boost the market rental housing stock in the city. Blue Sky is developing its tower under the STIR program and intends to complete construction by February 2012. Ahmed pointed to another example of why he believes Robertson and city council were not acting in a transparent way. Council voted to change the zoning bylaw for Blue Sky's site a second time, without notice, on December 14. Council first voted to rezone Blue Sky's property in June and that change was confirmed in September when council voted to enact the bylaw. City director of planning Brent Toderian rejected Ahmed's accusation that the December change to the bylaw was either unusual or shady. In fact, Toderian stressed, the December change to the bylaw was prompted when city staff made a calculation error when converting square feet to square metres. That error found its way into the enacted bylaw. Were the bylaw not changed, then the entire block of Granville Street between Helmcken Street and Davie Street would be granted much more permittable floor area than council had intended, Toderian said. What is STIR? Vancouver's Short Term Incentives for Rental Housing (STIR) program, which came into effect in June 2009, is a 2.5-year program that responds to the market rental shortage by providing incentives to encourage the development of new market rental housing. STIR encourage projects where up to 100 per cent of new rental units are secured for the life of the building or 60 years, whichever is greater. The STIR incentive package for developers includes: • rental property assessment (on rental units only); • development cost levy waiver (on rental units only); • parking requirement reductions (on rental units only); • discretion on unit size; and • increased density and expedited permit processing.
from Western Investor, February 2011 |
