817 St. Andrews Street

Project update, August 2022: At its August 29, 2022 meeting, New Westminster City Council gave First, Second and Third Readings and approved the Rezoning and Development Permit Application for 817 St Andrews Street. Click here to view the Council meeting recordings from August 29, and click here to read the Council package and all public correspondence received.

July 2022: This rezoning application was initially put before Council for a waived public hearing on May 9, 2022. It was adopted on June 13, 2022. The City in June 2022 realized that it has made an administrative error in the timing of the Council readings due to changes in the Local Government Act. To correct this error, the City is repealing the bylaw and beginning a new Council approval process. This process will correct the administrative error. No changes have been made to the content of the zoning bylaw, or the proposed project. Given this, the City is not requiring the applicant to complete any additional steps in the rezoning process, as all required steps were completed previously.

New notifications were mailed to properties in the immediate vicinity, and published in the New West Record newspaper.

What's being proposed?

A rezoning and Development Permit application has been submitted for a triplex at 817 St Andrews Street. The building will be designed to Passive House standards and is targeting Passive House Certification. The three units would be stratified (available for separate sale) and each have three bedrooms. The building would be two stories tall, with an overall Floor Space Ratio (FSR) of 0.785. The project’s FSR includes additional density used to accommodate energy efficient building technologies. There would be three carports of the rear of the property with access to electric vehicle charging stations. The design will be evaluated as a pilot project under the Duplex, Triplex and Quadraplex Interim Review Policy.

Based on feedback heard during the applicant-led consultation, plans for the proposed triplex have been updated. Click here to view the revised drawings of the proposed triplex. You can also review drawings of the original proposal here.

How can I engage?

City-led consultation on the revised plan was held from March 10 to 31, 2022. The addition of City-led consultation to the review process is intended to offer enhanced opportunity for public participation before the project is finalized and presented to Council. This staff-led consultation can potentially take the place of the Public Hearing.

On May 9, 2022 Council gave First and Second Reading to the Zoning Amendment Bylaw and, as the project is consistent with the Official Community Plan, has waived the Public Hearing. Council gave Third Reading of this Bylaw on May 30, 2022.

The final staff report to Council included a summary of the feedback received during both the applicant and City-led consultation processes, as well as any feedback submitted directly to staff during the project review process. You can view this report by clicking here.

There have been multiple opportunities for the public to provide feedback through the application review process. The review process was iterative and revisions were considered, based on engagement feedback, throughout the process. The process involved applicant-led consultation, and City-led engagement, prior to being presented to Council for approval.

Applicant-led Engagement Findings
The applicants hosted a virtual Open House with a live Q&A session on January 25, 2022 and written feedback was accepted until February 1, 2022. Based on the feedback received, the applicants worked with the City to revise their drawings to reflect the community’s comments. Options for comment through the applicant-led engagement included email, mail, a virtual open house and a survey. The feedback received has been reviewed by staff, will be summarized and included in a report to Council for their consideration of the project.

What We Heard
During the applicant-led consultation, survey feedback indicated that over 80% of respondents (5 out of 6) support the project. The majority of community feedback focused on the following:

• Support for the project’s energy efficient design;
• Support for family-friendly housing in the neighbourhood;
• Support and opposition to the proposed building design; and,
• Support and opposition to the proposed project density.

Applicant Response and Revisions
In their response to consultation feedback, the applicant has made changes to their proposal:

• Revised the design to better integrate with the existing buildings on St. Andrews Street;
• Reduced the size of the proposed carports, to reduce overall bulk;
• Increased the size of the garbage enclosure area to ensure all waste is screened from view.

Through the applicant-led consultation, one community member expressed opposition to the proposed density. However, the density is consistent with the City’s Duplex, Triplex, and Quadruplex: Interim Development Review Policy.