Sites Investigated Earlier by the Alternate Site Investigation Team
Land adjacent to Holiday Inn, Dist of NV
The District of North Van owns an approximately 2-acre parcel adjacent to and immediately north of the Holiday Inn, just off the Capilano College exit from Highway 1. (See satellite photo below, showing the location of this parcel as Parcel A.) This site, at the intersection of Old Lillooet and Lillooet Roads, is attractive and highly visible. Since it is just three blocks down Lillooet Road from Capilano College, it is well served by public transit, with a bus stop right next to the site.
Because it is unused land owned by the District of North Van, this parcel of land can be expected to become available for sale in the future pursuant to a DNV competitive process. The cost will be determined as a function of this process and of the zoning the District attaches to the land when it is sold. That zoning in turn will depend in part on what the District thinks it is suited for, and on what the local neighbourhood wants it to be used for. The applicable local area plan recommends it be used for commercial or institutional use, rather than housing.
Although in many ways this would be an excellent site for NSUC, in August 2008 NBTF spoke with the owner of the Holiday Inn next door. The owner, who owns a number of other hotels in the Vancouver area, stated very clearly he would make every effort to purchase the adjacent land as expansion space for the Inn should the District ever be willing to sell it. He said the Inn urgently needs expansion space, particularly to build a larger public meeting area. (This information was consistent with what NBTF had been told by Mayor Walton at a prior meeting with him, at which the Mayor said he understood the Inn’s owner wanted the parcel for expansion space.)
At this point, NBTF concluded NSUC would not be able to match the price the owner of the Holiday Inn would undoubtedly be willing to pay for the land as a commercial use, and therefore we shouldn’t continue to actively pursue the site.
825 Taylor Way, West Van
This 1.5 acre site is owned by a private individual, and has been listed and available for sale on and off for several years. It is located at the intersection of Taylor Way and Keith Road, not far from 370 Mathers. (See satellite photo below, showing the location.) The asking price when the site was investigated was $3,880,000. A church located on the site would be visible from Taylor Way, and the location very convenient, with Park Royal North just a short walk away, and a bus stop a few feet from the property.
The main drawback to this site is that it would need to be rezoned from single-family use to public assembly use. Though that change in zoning is definitely possible for some sites, this is probably not one of them, at least not in the near future, since it is located just across Keith Road from the Evelyn Drive project. The Evelyn Drive project engaged the neighbourhood in considerable rezoning controversy, and we expect neither the neighbourhood nor the West Van Council would welcome another possible rezoning application in the area in the near future.
Cloverley Elementary School (formerly) Site, City of NV
This 7 acres site is owned by the North Vancouver School District, and was formerly the site of Cloverley Elementary School. Located at Hendry Ave and Cloverley Street, the site is not far from Park & Tilford Shopping Centre, but the walk to get there is quite steep. (See satellite photo below, showing the location.) The site adjoins an approximately 6 acre City park, and is served by a bus stop at Keith Road two and one-half blocks away. The site has limited visibility to the community.
The former school buildings are quite deteriorated, and would be torn down by any purchaser. The Secretary-Treasurer of the School Board confirmed that this surplus property is expected to be sold in the next few years. The sale process would be competitive, but the price will be depend in large part on what the City of North Van, as well as the neighbors, want the land to be used for.
We understand from the owners of ProArte (the current temporary tenants of the former school building), the surrounding neighbors are adamantly opposed to having the land converted to multifamily housing. If this opposition holds, or the City agrees that some other use than multifamily housing would be preferable, the sale price could be within our range on a per acre basis. However, and this is a potential drawback to this site for us, 7 acres is more than we need. To seriously pursue this site we would need to link up with a suitable partner to share it, and to share in the cost of buying it.
