The developer behind the controversial Walmart-anchored shopping centre says it decided not to max out on height and density out of respect for the neighbourhood.
That's one of the key messages SmartCentres is hoping will convince city council at Monday night's 7 p.m. public hearing to end a 10-year wait for the $150-million, 14-acre mall in West Cambie.
SmartCentres' plan - which has faced fierce and continued criticism from local environmentalists and community members - only takes advantage of less than half the density and height permitted under the West Cambie Area Plan.
Even still, many detractors claim the views looking north from the adjacent Garden City Lands will be forever "destroyed" if and when the mall - called Central at Garden City - gets built.
It's a move, however, the developer's vice president of corporate affairs, Sandra Kaiser, says was deliberate in terms of the shopping centre's "urban village" design.
"(Maxing out) wouldn't have been the right fit for the neighbourhood plan, the scale and feel we wanted," Kaiser told the News.
"And what we have now is appropriate for the retailers and the customers who will use the shopping centre. Generally speaking, retailers and customers want to be on the ground floor. This is the land use application which we've been working with for 10 years."
Asked what would stop SmartCentres - should it receive approval after Monday night's public hearing - from coming back to the city in the future to access the unused portions of density and height, Kaiser said it's taken them long enough to "get this far" and there's no intention of upsizing in years to come.
City council previously sent Smartcentres' plan onto the public hearing stage with a vote of 8-1, with Coun. Harold Steves being the lone dissenting voice.
At a planning committee meeting last month, Smartcentres, in a bid to win favour with city council, offered $238,000 towards more park enhancements within the West Cambie site and for "ecological" improvements within nearby West Cambie Park.
The move was, in part, motivated by the potential loss of environmentally sensitive area (ESA) designated land within the proposed shopping centre site.
A number of intersection improvements in the area are also being paid for by the developer, should the plan - bound by Alderbridge Way, Garden City Road, Alexandra Road and No. 4 Road - be approved.
