Vancouver city hall kills 'thin street' proposal for Marpole

[officedweller]

http://www.vancourier.com/news/Vanco...723/story.html

Vancouver city hall kills 'thin street' proposal for Marpole
300 residents gather in opposition to plan

By Naoibh O'Connor, Staff writer
June 24, 2013

The city has abandoned a proposal to pilot a 'thin street' in Marpole in the face of neighbourhood opposition.

Residents learned about the prospect of a "thin street" being introduced on a stretch of Ash Street between 59th and 64th about 10 days ago after the city sent a letter to 20 affected homeowners. The Ash Street proposal was included in the recently released draft Marpole Community Plan.

Creating a thin street involves dividing a street in half and creating new building lots on one side and a narrower "thin street" on the other. The building lots could be used for affordable housing or park use, according to the city. The thin streets concept was one of the ideas submitted to the re-THINK HOUSING ideas competition in 2012, which was held as part of the mayor's task force on affordable housing.

Vision Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said at the time that thin streets wouldn't go in without "community buy-in." Staff were directed, however, to explore the possibility of thin streets in neighbourhoods whose community plans were being updated, such as Marpole, and to find out if there was interest and acceptance.

Community opposition in Marpole was swift - residents organized a meeting last Friday that attracted about 300 people, according to Nizar Assanie, one of the Ash Street residents who received a letter from the city about the thin street proposal.

...

[quobobo]

It's really sad how goddamn selfish a lot of Vancouver homeowners are. This would have been an improvement to the car-centric suburban nature of Marpole and it would have let more people live there.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by quobobo

It's really sad how goddamn selfish a lot of Vancouver homeowners are. This would have been an improvement to the car-centric suburban nature of Marpole and it would have let more people live there.

Unless you can prove that you've plunked down several hundred thousand dollars of your own money on a home in the City of Vancouver, is there any reason the city should give your opinion more weight than those who have? The fact that they were able to quickly collect 300 signatories was obviously a red flag to the city.

Its also highly doubtful lots in Marpole/South Granville would end up as "affordable" housing. Indeed according to the article:

..Creating a thin street involves dividing a street in half and creating new building lots on one side and a narrower "thin street" on the other. The building lots could be used for affordable housing or park use, according to the city..

How does a pocket park assist affordability?.

[WBC]

Originally Posted by quobobo

It's really sad how goddamn selfish a lot of Vancouver homeowners are. This would have been an improvement to the car-centric suburban nature of Marpole and it would have let more people live there.

Off course they are selfish. What is in for them? What do they get out of this? Developers get something (for nothing). City gets to cram more residents in the same area. What is there for the residents exactly? Why do we HAVE to increase density in the city? What happens if we don't?

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by quobobo

It's really sad how goddamn selfish a lot of Vancouver homeowners are. This would have been an improvement to the car-centric suburban nature of Marpole and it would have let more people live there.

If you bought a house on a corner lot and had planned your house accordingly wouldn't you be pissed off if someone built right in front of your windows or your garage? I can't imagine anyone living adjacent to the new lot wanting this change.

[dleung]

Thin streets is a stupid idea, considering the vast regions of under-built areas even within city proper. Of course though, the city likes the idea of selling off public land to be developed at a minimum density and taxing the hell out of it.

If they allowed a scale of building such as below to be introduced throughout all SFD neighbourhoods within several blocks of a throughfare, the city proper could probably add another couple hundred thousand residents:

http://www.hotelsonline.com/images/7/73897/1196526.jpg

[Klazu]

I am not sure if this is the official thread for the Marpole Community Plan, but here is a nice video the City has released about the history of Marpole:

• Video Link

[djmk]

Looking at a map, there are only 20 houses along Ash that would be affected by this thin street and it would not be the front or rear but beside the house.

If I was a homeowner, and city hall promised me green space along the thin street, I would be delighted (while secretly wondering why city hall is wasting its money).

However, if more housing were to come in without knowing what this housing would be, I would be extremely concerned because there seems to be very little room.