First Nation council slams Kitsilano group's court fight against Senakw | Daily Hive

First Nations Leadership Council slams Kitsilano resident group's court battle against Senakw

September 2022 artistic rendering of the refined detailed design of Senakw: perspective looking southeast from Sunset Beach. (Revery Architecture/Kasian/Tandem Studios/Squamish Nation)

Residents opposed to Squamish First Nation’s Senakw rental housing development on its reserve at the south end of Burrard Bridge have taken the matter to the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

They are taking aim at the City of Vancouver’s services agreement reached with the First Nation, which outlines the utilities, transportation infrastructure, and fire and policing services that the municipal government will provide to Senakw.

The services agreement outlines at least over $40 million in utilities and transportation infrastructure upgrades that will be funded by the First Nation, including $15 million for a TransLink bus transit hub on the Burrard Bridge.

To access City of Vancouver utilities and services, Senakw’s future residents and businesses will pay municipal property taxes with rates based on the assessed property values, and fees for utilities — the same formula used for all other municipal taxpayers.

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But in its petition to the court filed on Wednesday, the Kits Point Residents Association has asserted the services agreement, signed in May 2022, to be “unlawful, unreasonable, and contrary to the provisions of the Vancouver Charter.”

It alleges that the City of Vancouver “breached the rules of procedural fairness and natural justice” by finalizing the services agreement behind closed doors, without consulting residents affected by the development and the contents of the services agreement.

“The City could (and should) have listened to the electorate, including the residents of Kits Point, and taken their concerns into account when negotiating the Services Agreement. Since the City had the statutory authority to negotiate and agree to terms on the wide range of issues contemplated in the Services Agreement, it had a corresponding power to hear from its residents and to request changes to the Project, if appropriate,” reads the petition.

senakw squamish nation vancouver september 2022

September 2022 artistic rendering of the refined detailed design of Senakw: perspective looking east. (Revery Architecture/Kasian/Tandem Studios/Squamish Nation)

The residents association is asking the court to terminate Vancouver City Council’s in-camera (behind closed doors) resolution that directed City staff to formulate the services agreement and end the services agreement itself.

In the petition, amongst various concerns, the residents association formally reiterated its concerns with Senakw’s use of a perimeter narrow strip of Vanier Park for an access road to serve the high-density residential community.

Construction officially began on Senakw last month, after the federal government granted the First Nation with $1.4 billion in construction financing for the first two phases of 3,000 rental homes.

By 2033, Senakw’s four phases will fully reach completion with 6,000 secured purpose-built rental homes — 4,800 market rental units and about 1,200 below-market rental units — and 170,000 sq ft of office, retail, and restaurant spaces. There will be enough homes for up to 9,000 people.

A total of 11 towers will reach up to 59 storeys, creating another new skyline for Vancouver. Acres of new public spaces — areas that were previously inaccessible and unusable — will also be turned into public spaces, including the areas between the buildings and underneath the bridge.

The residents association suggested in the petition that the municipal government should have used the services agreement as the bargaining chip to dictate the density and form of development for Senakw — even though it sits on the reserve of the Squamish First Nation, which is not part of municipal jurisdiction. The services agreement is critical for ensuring any development is feasible by guaranteeing water and sewage connections, and fire rescue and policing services.

“While it is true that the City’s bylaws do not apply to the Lands, the Services Agreement that highlights that the City did in fact have considerable say and thus a considerable degree of ‘jurisdiction’ over the project. This is because the Vancouver Charter gives the City the statutory power to manage and regulate its services and resources, which the Nation needs access to in order to proceed with the project. It also has the statutory power to seek the opinion of electors,” reads the petition.

“As highlighted by the lengthy and detailed negotiations that took place between the City and the Nation, the City had the power to (1) ensure that the size, scale, and scope of the Project fit generally within existing surrounding neighbourhoods, and (2) to take neighbourhood concerns into account. For example, the City could have agreed to provide services for up to a maximum number of residential units.”

September 2022 artistic rendering of the refined detailed design of Senakw: perspective looking northeast towards Senakw’s bus transit hub on the Burrard Street Bridge. (Revery Architecture/Kasian/Tandem Studios/Squamish Nation)

Squamish First Nation has yet to directly comment on the petition, but the First Nations Leadership Council (FNLC) — comprised of the leaders of the BC Assembly of First Nations, First Nations Summit, and Union of BC Indian Chiefs — weighed in on the matter on Friday afternoon.

FNLC deemed the residents association’s court filing to be “an aggressive and objectionable action.”

“The City of Vancouver is not prevented in any way from entering into a services agreement to ensure this needed housing development has appropriate services and a high quality of health, safety, and well-being of all residents,” reads the statement, while emphasizing the widely accepted importance of First Nations self-determination.

Senakw has been billed as a feat of reconciliation benefiting the First Nation, with the project being pursued as an economic development and revenue-generating opportunity benefiting their government, community, and members. Over the lifespan of the buildings, Senakw is expected to generate up to about $10 billion for the First Nation, which will go towards funding affordable housing and providing community, health, and social services for its members.

While it provides immense benefits for the First Nation, it also serves to benefit Vancouver and the wider region by providing an immense infusion of new additional rental housing supply, with the existing rental housing market challenged by a lack of supply and soaring rents with high competition amongst prospective renters.

“The generosity of Squamish Nation in working with Vancouver, residents, and others has been met with support and understanding, especially as we are in an era where respecting and supporting Indigenous-led developments is long overdue,” continues the statement.

“We hope the City will vigorously oppose this application, which is a political stunt, and stand firmly with Squamish Nation in support of their rights and reconciliation, and this much-needed housing development.”

Each of Senakw’s four phases over the next decade will unleash about 1,500 rental homes into the local market, with the first phase ready by 2025/2026.

It is the largest Indigenous-led housing and retail development in Canadian history.

“Efforts to derail this important project, one of the largest development projects for a First Nation ever in Canada, is insulting and tone deaf for the reconciliation agenda. A few residents did not get their way, and now they oppose a positive and progressive project,” adds the statement.

September 2022 artistic rendering of the refined detailed design of Senakw: perspective looking northwest from Granville Street near West 4th Avenue. (Revery Architecture/Kasian/Tandem Studios/Squamish Nation)

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