Strong support for new developments to revitalize Vancouver Chinatown: survey

Strong support for new developments to help revitalize Vancouver's Chinatown: survey

The vacant site of 105 Keefer Street in Vancouver's Chinatown. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

There is relatively strong support for the proposal to turn the vacant lot of 105 Keefer Street into a new mid-rise, mixed-use building, and even stronger support for an overall strategy of using new building developments as a means to revitalize Vancouver’s historic Chinatown district.

Based on a new survey of neighbourhood residents and the Chinese Canadian community, 43% of respondents support the proposal — a proportion that is more than two-and-a-half times larger the proportion that opposes it (17%). Another 22% have mixed feelings.

This is from the findings of a survey conducted by Fairview Strategy, commissioned by the project’s proponent, local private developer Beedie.

Earlier this month, 330 adults were surveyed, including 200 residents in the Vancouver-Mount Pleasant provincial electoral district and 130 residents elsewhere within Vancouver whose first language is Cantonese or Mandarin. The representative survey of these groups carries a margin of error of plus or minus 5.4%, 19 times out of 20.

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Although the project is a flashpoint between certain organizations and interests in Chinatown, the survey found there is little general awareness of the project in the wider community, with 92% of respondents indicating they have not recently read, seen, or heard anything about the proposal.

Respondents were asked to gauge their support for the project in reaction to the following three statements: “105 Keefer is currently a vacant lot used for parking; the proposal is to build a nine-storey, mixed-use building with 111 residential units, as well as commercial retail and a Senior Living Centre at grade; [and] the proposal includes three levels of underground parking, accessed from lane.”

Artistic rendering of the 105 Keefer Street building proposal from the intersection of Columbia and Keefer streets. (Merrick Architecture/Beedie)

105 keefer street vancouver beedie 2017 design

Keefer Street frontage perspective; artistic rendering of the proposed mixed-use building at 105 Keefer Street, Vancouver. (Merrick Architecture/Beedie)

Amongst the respondents who support the project, their top five reasons are: revitalization and development needed (36%), supports local businesses (17%), grows community (14%), may decrease crime (14%), and need housing (12%).

For those who noted their opposition, their top five reasons against are: no development is needed (24%), gentrification concerns (19%), dislike change (17%), traffic and overcrowding (14%), and other issues should be addressed first (11%).

“The main reasons for support are a belief that there is need for development and revitalization of the area. In addition, the general need for housing supply as well as the inclusion of a seniors centre in the project are also key drivers of support,” reads the summary of the survey results.

“Of note is that many opponents speak to the project as though it were publicly funded and feel the money would be better used spent on other social causes.”

When asked to provide their input on the perception of how Chinatown has changed over the last five years, 37% of the respondents note conditions are now worse, while 61% believe conditions are about the same.

Respondents note the top reasons driving Chinatown’s decline are violence and public safety (24%), affordability (17%), homelessness and drug use (15%), physical decay (9%), graffiti/vandalism and theft (6%), and loss of businesses (6%).

Amongst the respondents who are residents in the Vancouver-Mount Pleasant riding, 74% said increased foot traffic to Chinatown will help reduce petty crime and violence, 69% said Chinatown needs new investment to remain viable, 66% said new development in Chinatown will benefit local residents by bringing more people to the area, and 59% said the only way to revitalize Chinatown is to allow some new development.

There are higher levels of support for new development as a means of revitalizing Chinatown from respondents who are Cantonese or Mandarin speakers living in Vancouver. Nearly eight-in-10 (79%) of these respondents said new development in Chinatown will benefit local residents by bringing more people to the area, 76% said Chinatown needs new investment to remain viable, 75% said the only way to revitalize Chinatown is to allow some new development, and 73% said increased foot traffic to Chinatown will help reduce petty crime and violence.

Amongst all respondents, the top five issues in Chinatown are: crime and public safety (29%), affordability (11%), homelessness/addiction (10%), decay/lack of investment (9%), and community cohesion (6%). Respondents who live closer to Chinatown are more likely to indicate crime is a greater concern.

Keefer Street frontage perspective; artistic rendering of the proposed mixed-use building at 105 Keefer Street, Vancouver. (Merrick Architecture/Beedie)

Columbia Street frontage perspective; artistic rendering of the proposed mixed-use building at 105 Keefer Street, Vancouver. (Merrick Architecture/Beedie)

On Monday, May 29, the panel for the City of Vancouver’s Development Permit Board will reconvene to deliberate and re-vote on the 2017 development permit application for 105 Keefer Street.

This follows the direction by the Supreme Court of British Columbia ordering the municipal government to reconsider this application. The court determined the City’s November 2017 rejection was “substantially unreasonable because the reasons provided by the Board are inadequate.” Rejections by the Development Permit Board are exceptionally rare, as development permit applications go by the book, following existing City policies such as current zoning and other area-specific policies.

Beedie has now been working on this proposal for over a decade, and the project has gone through about half a dozen design revisions to appease the concerns of opponents.

A previous design included a social housing component for seniors, roughly 25 units, but this public benefit was axed when three floors of the earlier 12-storey building design were cut to address height concerns. The previous 12-storey design required a rezoning application through City Council’s public hearing process.

Last Wednesday, in a rare show of solidarity, seven of the largest and most influential organizations representing business, cultural, and housing interests in Chinatown publicly declared their support for the proposal. This includes the Chinese Benevolent Association of Vancouver, Chinese Freemasons of Vancouver, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden Society, Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Vancouver, Vancouver Chinatown Merchant’s Association, Vancouver Chinatown Business Improvement Association Society, and Vancouver Chinatown Foundation. Nearly all of these organizations were previously against the project when it was last up for debate in 2017, but they have since changed their positions due to the change in Chinatown’s conditions.

On Thursday, activists opposed to the project staged an on-site rally, which reportedly attracted several hundred people including many seniors.

As well, last week, federal NDP MP Jenny Kwan penned open letters expressing her opposition to the project to the municipal, provincial, and federal governments.

Kwan suggests the 105 Keefer Street site should instead be developed into a “culturally appropriate” social housing development. To achieve this, she says the City of Vancouver should trade a City-owned property in exchange for the Beedie-owned 105 Keefer Street site in Chinatown. However, it should be noted that such a land swap was previously explored by both entities prior to Beedie’s appeal of the application rejection through the legal system.

“I have urged that Council request staff to review and bring forward a short list of sites that might be suitable for consideration of a land swap. I write to ask you, Ministers, if you could also please work together, with the City and with community groups, to facilitate a land swap or to assist in purchasing this site for social housing,” wrote Kwan.

“This would go a long way to protect Chinatown as a site of not only cultural preservation, but also as a progressive and inclusive Chinese Canadian neighbourhood that fully supports the health, housing and social needs of the many low-income people, especially Chinese Canadian seniors, that call Chinatown home.”

Over 400 “feet on the street” today in #ChinatownYVR protesting against #105Keefer, including a handful of 90-year-olds and a 107-year-old!

Witnessing the incredible display of community care and solidarity from youth, seniors, and local businesses was truly touching.#vanpoli pic.twitter.com/UloIUqdm6M

— Melody Ma | 馬勻雅 (@melodyma) May 26, 2023

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