A proposal to build three highrises at the corner of 84th Avenue and 112th Street in North Delta won't be advancing to the public consultation phase just yet.
On Monday (May 5), council declined to consider staff's recommendation that the city begin obtaining community feedback on an application from Westcorp Holdings Ltd. to redevelop Nordel Centre.
The "Nordel Village" application proposes replacing the 1.3-hectare ground-level strip mall diagonally across the street from North Delta's George Mackie Library with a mixed-use high-rise project featuring a 24-storey tower with a six-storey podium along the northwest edge of the property; a 14-storey tower at the northeast corner and a 24-storey tower, both integrated into the same eight-storey podium; and a six-storey building along the southern edge of the site.
When the item came up for discussion Monday afternoon, Mayor George Harvie asked three times for someone to move adoption of the recommendations — procedurally the first step before council can discuss and vote on any agenda item — but no mover came forward.
Functionally, the rarely-seen occurrence has the same effect as voting the recommendations down, meaning the city will not be moving forward with public consultation at this time.
The Reporter reached out to all six councillors to ask why they chose not to put staff's recommendation to a vote.
(Editor's note: The Reporter did not initially reach out to Harvie, believing incorrectly that, as the meeting’s chair, he could not move adoption himself.)
Coun. Rod Binder said he did not move the motion because "at this time I don’t believe it is conducive to begin a lengthy public consultation process on this project that is unlikely to be positively received by the community. I was open to hearing the debate from other councillors and the mayor [but] no motion was made."
Coun. Daniel Boisvert said he did not move the motion himself in favour of giving Mayor Harvie a "leadership moment" and the chance to speak about the project first.
Boisvert, in his email to the Reporter, referenced a spat at a recent council meeting where Harvie accused Boisvert of violating council protocol by releasing a statement to the Delta Optimist expressing his opinion that the proposed redevelopment of Tsawwassen Town Centre mall into four mixed-use towers up to 24 storeys is too high and urging the applicant to withdraw the application in favour of something that addresses widely-held concerns raised during public consultation.
The Optimist's story was published on April 10, five days before results of the public consultation were to be discussed at council.
"The day it was published, the mayor expressed his thanks to me, privately, for making the statement. It helped validate my feeling that I had done the right thing for my community. A few days later, at our next council meeting on the Monday, he went off on me (...) about he felt that what I did was wrong and somehow I had violated council protocol," Boisvert said in his email.
"I took his response to mean that he was likely upset that I spoke before he did on that project. Maybe that he was looking for a leadership moment and somehow I took that away from him?" he wrote. "The [Nordel Centre proposal] is a similar project, although in its infancy of the application process, unlike Tsawwassen Town Centre. I decided to say nothing and give the mayor an opportunity to have a leadership moment. He could have moved the motion and I have no doubt it would have been seconded (...) he didn’t take the opportunity."
Councillors Jessie Dosanjh, Alicia Guichon, Jennifer Johal and Dylan Kruger did not reply before the paper's Wednesday deadline.
Approved by council last July, Delta's new Official Community Plan designates the area around 84th and 112th as one of three urban centres, allowing residential and mixed-use developments up to six storeys, with “limited opportunities for up to 24 storeys where a significant community contribution is provided.”
The OCP also says that rental and non-market housing contributions will be "encouraged" in all projects over six storeys and "expected" for projects that include buildings 18 storeys or higher.
According to the staff report outlining Westcorp Holdings' application, city staff advised the proponent that a significant community contribution is needed to justify the proposed rezoning for heights up to 24 storeys.
"The applicant has requested to move forward to the public engagement phase to seek feedback with the community contribution as proposed," the report states.
As proposed, the Nordel Village project includes approximately 865 residential strata units, over 4,000 square metres (43,056 square feet) of commercial floor area, a 264-square-metre (2,842-square-foot) privately owned and operated childcare facility, and 1,034 parking spaces — 24 angled spaces at grade along the internal road between the buildings, and 1,010 in two levels of underground parking.
The report to council notes the application is at a preliminary stage and "aspects of the proposal may change in response to detailed staff review and comments received from council or the community."
Westcorp Holdings is including the proposed childcare facility, which could accommodate up to 80 children, and a pair of public plazas — one 111 square metres (1,200 square feet) at the corner of 84th and 112th, the other 372 square metres (4,000 square feet) in the centre of the site — as part of its community contribution package.
As well, Westcorp Holdings is proposing a cash contribution of $1,568,000 toward community benefits (equal to approximately $1,800 per unit) or to provide 20 market rental units (just over 2.3 per cent of the project's total homes) secured for ten years.
Also as part of its community contribution, the owner is offering to help existing Nordel Centre businesses by phasing development plan to allow some of them to remain open during construction of the first phase, providing "business support" to help companies maintain and grow their revenues during the development process, and giving "select businesses" right of first refusal to relocate to the new development at below-market rates.
Westcorp Holdings has also requested that the city consider the support it provided to the Guru Nanak Food Bank as a community contribution, noting that for the past three years the owner has provided the organization with a 557-square-metre (5,996-square-foot) space in the shopping centre rent-free, foregoing $660,000 in revenue over 30 months.
The food bank, which serves 4,700 Delta residents and more than 20,000 people across the region, had to vacate the space by February due to the mall's pending redevelopment. It has since moved to a trailer in the rear parking of North Delta's Kennedy Seniors' Recreation Centre as part of five-year pilot project in partnership with the City of Delta.
Another application for a six-storey mixed-use development across the street from Nordel Centre, was given third reading by council last September.
That proposal that would see the existing 7-Eleven at the northwest corner of 84th and 112th replaced with six commercial retail units at ground level and 84 apartments in the floors above — 54 one-bedroom, 28 two-bedroom and two three-bedroom units — with 147 parking spaces (66 for residents, eight for visitors and 73 for commercial tenants) in two levels below ground.
The development will also have a combined 533 square metres (5,737 square feet) of outdoor amenity areas — a children's play area, outdoor seating lounge and open lawn in the common outdoor amenity area at ground level, plus more seating, lounge space and a community garden on the roof — and 149 square metres (1,604 square feet) of indoor amenity area.
Council has yet give that project final reading pending the applicant meeting conditions set out at third reading.
