Amid mounting pressure from community groups and academics, Vancouver City Council has pushed back a proposal to allow taller buildings in the Downtown Eastside.
The plans singled out seven sites in the city's historic area, which includes parts of Gastown, Chinatown, Victory Square and Hastings and Main streets, where maximum tower heights would be raised to either 12 or 15 storeys.
But Coun. Raymond Louie, backed by Mayor Gregor Robertson, introduced a last-minute motion pushing for more community consultation Thursday, one day after an open letter from 29 academics criticizing the plans was delivered to council.
"We fear that this will lead to a further reduction of affordable housing in the surrounding area, particularly that of the residential hotels," said the letter, signed by professors from the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University.
"This will have a devastating effect on low-income residents and the continued vitality and viability of the neighbourhood as a whole."
The decision was a surprise to dozens of guest speakers who had signed up to address council about the plans on Thursday, including Ivan Drury of the Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood Council.
Speaking to ctvbc.ca from City Hall, Drury said he was pleased council "finally recognized the widespread opposition" to the towers, but said shutting out the scheduled speakers was a poor start to the consultation process.
Louie's motion named the DNC as a community representative for the consultation process, but Drury said the group had not been consulted, and would have to hold a vote on whether or not to be involved.
Drury added he is against any new towers in the area unless they are "100 per cent social housing."
"Market condo development displaces poor people because they raise rent in residential hotels, which are the last stop for people before homelessness," he said. "Any development in the Downtown Eastside, until there is no more homelessness, is irresponsible."
Prior to Thursday's announcement, the city had already conducted what it called "a comprehensive public consultation process," taking into account public feedback, submissions made at meetings and feedback from city advisory bodies.
Five of the planned towers, all located in Chinatown, will be discussed in a public hearing in February. The other two are being shelved pending the completion of a one-year social impact study.
A separate proposal, which proposes seven further sites for higher buildings in the central business district and near the Granville and Burrard bridges, is still being discussed on Thursday.
The highest building proposed is a 700-foot tower to be raised on the southwest corner of Burrard and Georgia streets.
