“Absolutely no.”
This was the opinion of two Richmond city councillors about a proposed 27-unit rental building in a single-family neighbourhood, which city staff were asking council members to give early feedback on.
In the end, the motion on the rental building proposal on No. 3 Road just south of Williams Road - near Maple Lane elementary - passed in a narrow 5-4 decision.
Couns. Carol Day, Bill McNulty, Andy Hobbs and Kash Heed voted in opposition, citing concerns such as the size of the building - with some calling it a "big box" - how close it would be to other homes, loss of trees and access points.
McNulty said the proposal created a lot of controversy at last week's committee meeting, and, furthermore, concerns have been raised by the public.
"We give sort of a false approval by pulling this along," McNulty told city council.
The proposal came to city council for early feedback, and, since it passed, it won’t have to go through separate OCP and rezoning processes.
Heed said the proposal was “absolutely a no” for him, adding city council is being inundated with concerns from the neighbouring community.
“The fact that we’re passing something is going to alarm the community of what’s going on,” he said.
For Day, it was also an “absolute no.”
“Because this is wrong on so many levels, I don’t see any point continuing with the process with this project,” she said. “It can’t be fixed. It has to be completely thrown out and (started) over again.”
Mayor Malcolm Brodie, however, noted the motion city council was voting on was to have the Official Community Plan amendment and rezoning at the same time, and to ask city staff to work with the applicant, based on city council’s feedback, during the technical review of the project.
“They can come back with a much more acceptable product, and there is absolutely no reason we will have to approve anything at a subsequent time unless we find it to be satisfactory,” Brodie told city council.
The lot is located at 10471 No. 3 Rd. at the end of a cul de sac on Goldstream Place. The house currently on the property was built in 1932, and the lot size is almost 20,000 square feet (0.44 acres).
City staff noted if townhouses were built on the lot, it could accommodate five or six.
