Province

Pity the poor taxpayers of Vancouver with Mayor Gregor Robertson and his Visionaries running the show.

While the current council can’t be blamed for the Olympic Village fiasco that has left city residents on the hook for the nearly $1.2-billion project, it must be denounced for not doing everything it can to recoup every last dime from the project — especially when year after year recently they’ve been slamming hardworking homeowners with tax hikes at two and three times the rate of inflation.

Council’s decision last week to pigheadedly carry on with a decade-old plan to put subsidized housing in the waterfront project — at $500 a square foot, very likely the most expensive social housing ever created in North America — shows they are more wedded to their ideology than acting in the best financial interests of the city taxpayers they serve. It is, as Coun. Suzanne Anton calls it in the Vancouver Courier, “a scandalous use of Vancouver taxpayers’ money.”

By last year, the cost of the 252-suite social housing component of the project had risen to $110 million from $65 million — $440,000 per suite. Half of those suites will now be rented to “essential” workers such as cops, nurses and teachers, the wisdom of which was more than adequately addressed Sunday by our columnist, Mike Smyth. The decision shows that council knows in its heart the original plan no longer makes sense.

Robertson’s “first and foremost” argument in his news release explaining why council can’t sell the suites was that the city made a promise to the International Olympic Committee to provide 250 suites of social housing in the village after the Games.

Let us remind him, in case he’s forgotten after rubbing shoulders so frequently with all those IOC VIPS recently: he works for Vancouver taxpayers, not those trough-sucking bureaucrats from Switzerland.

This paper is on record in supporting the need for more social housing in Vancouver and the larger region, and we have lauded Robertson and his colleagues in the past for pushing the issue and getting results. But the Olympic Village plan makes no sense. Any profits from the sale of the suites, as Anton and others have argued, should be used to build social housing at other, cheaper sites at half to a third of the cost.

Further, it’s time council understood city taxpayers are feeling tapped out and can’t constantly be asked to provide seemingly endless social services to the city’s poor.

Council should be using its energies to continue to push the provincial Liberals to help out, as they have, and get more militant in demanding the federal Tories start tackling social-housing issues.

Ottawa‘s continued abandonment of this nationwide problem is a disgrace.

© Copyright (c) The Province

Woodsworth pans ‘tax on the poor’

Jeremy Shepherd
Van. Courier

A parking lot between B.C. Place and the Cambie Street Bridge may become the site of a sprawling resort and casino, but it won’t happen without at least some opposition.

B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell announced plans for the $450-million casino last week.

If the land adjacent to B.C. Place and north of Pacific Boulevard is rezoned by Vancouver city council, it could become the site of a casino and two hotels by 2013.

COPE Coun. Ellen Woodsworth said the community needed more park space and affordable housing, not a casino with “no business plan.”

She referred to the proposal as “a tax on the poor,” and a possible threat to Hastings Racecourse.

“Hastings [Racecourse] had to go through very vigorous, community-involved discussions,” she said, noting similar discussions have yet to take place regarding the proposed casino.

“Are they going to put any money into the community?” she asked.

The casino is slated to have 1,200 slot machines, nearly twice as many as Hastings Racecourse, which is owned by Great Canadian Casinos. “You could put in 10,000 slot machines, it’s about what you’re going to provide for your customers,” responded Howard Blank, vice-president of Great Canadian Casinos.

Blank said he didn’t expect a new casino to affect Hastings Racecourse because the two operations would cater to different clientele.

Mary McNeil, B.C. Liberal MLA for Vancouver-False Creek, is enthusiastic about the project.

“We need to strengthen the economy and this is the way we do it,” she said.

McNeil said construction of the casino would result in 5,000 jobs, both direct and indirect. An operational casino would result in more than 1,900 permanent jobs, according to McNeil, who added it would revitalize her riding.

She was not concerned about traffic or noise. “It’s downtown Vancouver,” she said. McNeil is “very optimistic” city council will allow the casino to be built.

Vision Coun. Raymond Louie said it was too early to have a definitive answer on the proposed casino, but expressed concern for Hastings Racecourse and the Main Street bingo hall Planet Bingo. Louie said Planet Bingo helps fund 100 different charitable organizations and would have to be protected.

Hastings Racecourse gives $600,000 a year to civic amenities, including the greening of Hastings Park, according to Louie. He said Edgewater casino contributes $200,000 a year to a social responsibility fund. Louie said city council would have to consider the increase in traffic and noise once the official application is submitted.

Gambling opponents rejected the proposal.

“[B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell] is addicted to gambling,” said Bill Chu, anti-gambling activist and founder of Chinese Christians in Action. “[The provincial government’s] been shifting the tax burden from corporations to the gamblers of the city.”

Chu said the $1.09 billion the province received from gaming in 2008/2009 demonstrates the economy is mismanaged and too reliant on gambling.

David Podmore, chair of Pavilion Corporation, the Crown corporation that owns the land to be developed, said the proposal is an expansion.

“It’s a relocation of an existing casino; it exists across the street today,” he said. The 30,000-square-foot Edgewater casino would close once the new casino opened, according to Podmore.

Podmore said the project would maximize nearly 700,000 square feet of commercial space–100,000 square-feet of which will be devoted to gaming–and the construction would happen concurrently with renovations to B.C. Place.

Podmore said improvements to B.C. Place would attract more entertainment to the venue, particularly in the summer.

Dr. Robert Gordon, a criminology professor at Simon Fraser University, said any increase in crime would likely be invisible to most citizens.

“It doesn’t show up in traditional predatory street crimes… no people are bludgeoned outside for their winnings,” he said.

Crimes like money laundering are more of a grey area, according to Gordon.

© Vancouver Courier 2010

Buyers remain loyal to Mosaic projects, and word of mouth is positive

Province

THE FACTS

WHAT: 40 row homes (20 two-bedroom, 20 two-bedroom + den)
WHERE: 7348 192A St., Surrey
DEVELOPER: Mosaic Homes
SIZE: Approx. 1,156-1,398 sq. ft.
PRICE: From $309,900

OPEN: Sales centre: 1-7348 192A St.; hours noon -6 p.m., Sat –Thur

Many of the people who live in a residence developed by Mosaic Homes become more than just homeowners; in some respects, a good number also end up as salespeople for the developer.

“We track how people find out about our homes, and for many of the people who come through the doors, it’s been word of mouth, which, in our minds, is the best way possible,” says Mosaic’s Andrea Camp. “Our buyers are our own salespeople, as well.”

At a new Mosaic offering in Surrey — the Knoll row home project in the Clayton neighbourhood — a good number of purchasers have been first-time buyers. But a good number have also been drawn to the project because they’d either seen a previous Mosaic project, or lived in one.

“There would be at least a half dozen [Knoll buyers] who are past [Mosaic] homeowners or family members of homeowners,” Camp says. “The following exists there.”

The Knoll homes, with their shutters, wrought-iron window boxes and Georgian-inspired architecture, have undeniable curb appeal. Many will front a park Mosaic designed in conjunction with the City of Surrey.

Camp reports that the Knoll homes represent what Mosaic considers its “best to date.”

Interiors are noteworthy for their hardwood laminate floors, sophisticated kitchens, enclosed garages and contemporary, open floor

plans. Exteriors, meantime, have been designed to reflect a sense of individuality.

“We work very hard on ensuring that we treat each home as an individual entity,” says Camp. To that end, roof lines and colours vary. Some have brick or stone facades; ornamental corbels or columns further define the homes.

The Knoll show home is the “Alexandra” two-bedroom plan, one of four plans on offer. (A separate component of the Knoll project will consist of five as-yet-to-be-constructed single-family detached homes and six duplexes.)

All Knoll row homes will also have a stoop — a step leading to the entrance.

“Mosaic has a design principle,” says Camp. “It’s very important that you step up [and] into your home. So we will work the foundation of our homes such that we ensure that we have a stoop that allows you to step up … We think it’s the manner in which you enter that makes you feel more proud stepping into the space.”

© Copyright (c) The Province

Province

The number of resale homes on the market is rising in Canada — and so are their prices, according to a report issued by the Conference Board of Canada on Friday.

The board’s Metro Resale Index shows home listings were up in March in 25 of the 28 markets measured — and by more than 10 per cent over March of 2009 in most of those areas.

Sales were also up in 25 of the markets over February, and outpaced March 2009 in all 28, the board said.

Meanwhile, prices had risen by more than 10 per cent in 16 of the 28 markets. According to the board’s calculations, only two cities could be characterized as having buyers’ markets in March — Victoria and Regina.

Thunder Bay, Ont., was the only city with a seller’s market. The other 25 markets are balanced, favouring neither buyer nor seller, which the board says should keep price increases down.

Quebec markets should see some of the biggest short-term, year-over-year gains in resale housing prices. Six of the eight markets expected to see seven-per-cent growth are in that province: Gatineau, Montreal, Quebec, Sherbrooke, Trois-Rivieres and Saguenay, as well as Edmonton and Saskatoon.

Short-term growth of five per cent is being forecast in another eight markets: Victoria, Vancouver, B.C.’s Fraser Valley, Calgary, Regina, Ottawa, Halifax and Newfoundland.

Resale prices in Winnipeg, Toronto — as well as Ontario centres Thunder Bay, Sudbury, Hamilton, St. Catharines, Kitchener, Kingston — and Saint John, N.B., are expected to grow over the short-term by three per cent.

Prices in Oshawa, London and Windsor, Ont., are expected to remain flat.

© Copyright (c) The Province

‘Exploring Vancouver’ publisher, co-author seeking $100 donations for fourth edition in 35 years

Felicity Stone
Sun

We know them to see them. When we pass them in the street, their faces are familiar, possibly even their names. They are the iconic buildings and houses that contribute as much to Vancouver’s character as do the ocean and mountains.

“Buildings tell stories about the city’s development, history and personalities,” says Hal Kalman, a Vancouver-based heritage consultant and authority on the history of Canadian architecture. Kalman has been telling these stories since 1974, when he wrote the first edition of Exploring Vancouver, a guide to public and private buildings of historical or architectural significance. As the city changed, two more editions followed, and a fourth is in the works, to be written this summer by Kalman and former Vancouver Sun architecture critic Robin Ward, who also co-authored the third edition.

Kalman estimates 20 per cent of the 500 entries will be new and the others revised to some extent. Since the 1993 edition “Vancouver’s had a whole remake,” he says.

“The changes in the ’90s were the biggest since the pre-World War I boom from 1907 to 1913, and the ’20s.”

Twenty years ago, Yaletown and Mount Pleasant were yet to become household names. The photographs will be in colour for the first time, once again shot by professional architecture photographer John Roaf. A former architect who now works primarily in Britain, there is “none better at capturing one building and its context in a single shot,” says Kalman.

The photographs will also be available to the public through an image bank being set up by the Vancouver Heritage Foundation. To finance the project, which will be an invaluable resource for writers and researchers, the foundation has launched a fund-raising campaign.

A $100 tax-deductible donation will pay for one photograph to be used in the book and the image bank, and donors will be listed in the book.

“The board has never jumped on anything so quickly,” says executive director Diane Switzer. “Our mission is to create a culture of repairing, reusing and reinvesting in the city’s older buildings, and this book extends our ability to reach a bigger audience.”

Like previous editions, Exploring Vancouver will be a field guide small enough to tote with you, but with engaging architectural, historical and social commentary that also makes enjoyable armchair reading. Kalman writes for the “curious general public,” putting buildings of all ages into context. For the fourth edition, he has already written the story of the Olympic Village, including the financial aspect.

Kalman wrote the first book because when he moved to Vancouver in 1968, the scenery was celebrated, but not the buildings. “Everyone said Vancouver was a prairie town with mountains,” he says. “I saw it with the fresh eyes of [a] new Vancouverite.”

He is hard-pressed to name a single, favourite extant heritage building. As an example of high architecture, he likes the Vancouver Art Gallery, designed by both Francis Rattenbury and Arthur Erickson. Built as a courthouse on the city’s central iconic site, it was a “perfect expression of classical government power because you had to climb steps to enter.” In the egalitarian hippie ’70s, the gallery created a ground-floor entrance, and the NDP provincial government decided on a new low-rise courthouse for the people.

“The Socreds had planned a 35-storey courthouse,” says Kalman. “The NDP tipped it on its side and got Erickson to build a new accessible courthouse.”

He also admires the Marine Building, a “wonderful, wonderful art deco feast for the eyes.” In the mid-’70s he escorted some British dignitaries, including writer and preservationist Sir John Betjeman, around Vancouver. Betjeman declared the Marine Building one of the best art deco buildings in the world. As an indication of how things have changed, the group was not allowed inside because the men were not wearing ties.

As “a sleeper,” Kalman mentions the former Convent of the Sacred Heart, a 1912 Gothic revival building on West 29th Avenue and now St. George’s Junior School.

“Everyone’s favourite vernacular architecture in Vancouver is Craftsman,” he says, although he also likes surviving one-storey shops from the 1920s and intends to include some in the new book.

His most aggrieved heritage loss over the past 40 years is the Birks building, demolished in 1974 and replaced by the Scotia Tower. An 11-storey office building with white terra cotta ornamentation at Granville and Georgia across from The Bay, it was “the No. 1 building at the city’s No. 1 corner.” Kalman, who with fellow SOBs (Save Our Birks) Roger Kemble and Ken Terris, tried to save the building, told the Birks family: “Scotia Bank is the winner. You’re the loser.”

The silver lining was that the City of Vancouver responded by putting together its heritage program with incentives to developers to include old buildings in new developments. Recently, for example, developer Westbank received extra density for preserving the Woodward’s corner building and the church next to Shangri-La.

It’s all about compromise, says Kalman. The city recognizes the need for community to have amenities, and heritage is considered an amenity, like art galleries and green space. At the same time, property-owners have a right to make a fair and reasonable profit. Switzer points out that the four editions of Exploring Vancouver reflect the development of the city’s heritage program. The first three editions are out of print (although available at libraries and abebooks.com),but the new one will be published commercially and sold in bookstores and on BC Ferries. To support and be included in it, visit www.vancouverheritagefoundation.org.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Coquitlam row houses combine traditional exterior design with modern interior

Michelle Hopkins
Sun

Project location: Coquitlam

Project size: 32 row homes

Residence sizes: 1,450– 2,200 sq. ft.

Prices: from $499,000

Developer: Mosaic

Architect: Ramsay Worden Architects

Interior designer: BYU Design

Sales centre: 4 — 1240 Holtby

Hours: noon — 5 p.m. daily

Telephone: 604-552-2220

E-mail:

[email protected]

Web: tattoncoquitlam.com

Tentative occupancy: December

The row house was an instrument of Atlantic World urbanization and densification, equally a city home for the propertied and the wealthy and the only residency generations of working-class households ever experienced.

The row house is an adaptable housing form, accordingly, and, in our post-industrial, and Pacific, time and place, Mosaic Homes is a leader in the demonstration of the form’s adaptability.

The company is a master at wrapping its row houses in historic architectural styles associated with the form, and then introducing thoroughly modern interior design.

“These are our interpretations of a Georgian row home, but with a twist,” Mosaic’s Andrea Camp says of the Tatton Parkside row houses, located at the base of Burke Mountain.

Brick and wood trim clad the residences. Wrought iron encloses window boxes.

Windows are expansive. Entryways, and front yards, are powerful expressions of welcome.

“We have nine-foot ceilings and oversized porches to give a sense of grandeur,” she says.

“We also added a cut-out at the entryway, so there’s a place to put your groceries, for example, while you fish for your keys.”

Each residence has at least five windows in the front. Some have eight windows in the front, and some windows are floor to ceiling.

“Because of the nature of the land here and because most of the homes front onto Victoria Park, we wanted to bring as much natural light into each home as possible,” Camp says.

To introduce a sense of uniqueness into each residence, Mosaic has used colour and texture and rooflines.

It alternated between bright yellow, blue, white and brick exteriors, with alternating black and white window frames.

“Just as in most neighbourhoods, homes are different, we wanted our row houses to be individualized,” Camp says. “So you won’t find the exact same exterior design next to each other.”

Each roof is slightly different from the one next to it. “Whether it’s the dormer, roof lines or the roof, we worked hard to individualize the roof as well.”

Another important component of Tatton homes, says Camp, are the gated entryways and landscaped front gardens.

The interiors are anything but traditional.

“Each home offers an open-floor concept, luxurious finishes, recessed entries, and shops and services just minutes from the front door,” says Camp.

In what Camp refers to as a cut-out, she points to the niche in the wall in the dining room, another example, she says, “of creating a sense of more space and volume.”

“We like to say that a Mosaic design is not cookie cutter,” adds Camp.

A lot of the developer’s attention to even the smallest of details comes from its “design labs.”

“We encourage feedback from owners of our sister projects to determine if there is any way we can do things better,” says Camp.

“One common complaint has been lack of storage space, and so you’ll find in Tatton we have optimized storage space,” she says. “The homes have large mud rooms, pantries, flex rooms, unfinished basements, vaulted lofts and crawl spaces, or a combination of some or all.”

That attention to detail also extends to the back yard.

“We have also maximized decks and patios,” says Camp.

Tatton row houses offer urban amenities in a country, casual setting.

Shopping, recreation and public transit are only minutes away from this tranquil and growing new community. Residents at Tatton have easy access to Victoria Park and a nearby elementary school.

“This community is away from the hustle and bustle, giving it a real sense of quiet and solitude,” Camp says. “Coquitlam is a rapidly expanding, family-oriented community close to lakes, mountains and outdoor activities.”

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Relationship of strata council and the contracted providers of services are sometimes strained

Suzanne Morphet
Sun

Condo living is carefree living, right? Your strata council hires a strata management company and it takes care of the bills, the bookkeeping, the AGM, the council minutes … whatever needs to be done. For that full management service, your strata corporation pays anywhere from $20 to $30 per “door” per month in Greater Vancouver.

Since 2006, all strata managers must be licensed by the Real Estate Council of B.C.

Another reason you can sit back and relax; your affairs are in good hands.

If everything’s rosy, then why am I hearing so many complaints about strata management companies?

Let’s start with bullying. According to Tony Gioventu, the executive director of the Condominium Home Owners’ Association, “there’s a number of property managers who simply do not want [strata councils] looking for any information or scrutiny against the services they’re providing. They don’t want anybody questioning what they’re doing.”

Gioventu told me he’s been in the room when a strata manager has threatened a strata council by saying, “‘you belong to a (condo owners’) association, we are not going to manage your property.”

Here’s another complaint, this time from an owner. But since I can’t verify the information, I’ve taken out names.

“We as a council have had lots of problems with [strata management company] awarding contracts without quotes, etc., etc. The last thing they did was give themselves $1,000 more a year for management fees at the last AGM and it was not mentioned at the AGM and was picked up a month after the meeting. The rep from [the insurance company] stated that if we left this strata management company our insurance premiums would go up thousands of dollars. They work like a good cop, bad cop.”

Of course, not all strata management companies are unscrupulous or unprofessional. Maybe -hopefully -only a very tiny fraction are. But as the adage goes, one rotten apple spoils the whole barrel. And strata management is a big barrel.

As of last week, 302 brokerages and 1,045 individuals were licensed to provide management services in the province. (As with realtors, managers must operate under a licensed managing broker.) They offer their services to strata councils who represent the owners of almost half a million homes in the province.

A strata corporation is not obligated to hire a manager, but it’s estimated that somewhere between 50 and 60 per cent of stratas in B.C. pay someone to help them manage their affairs, even if it’s only a bookkeeper. However, most — about 80 per cent — want and pay for a complete management package.

The strata management industry has its own association, the Strata Property Agents of British Columbia, with over 90 members.

I asked executive director Kevin Thom about the industry and whether he personally thinks there are weaknesses in the law that account for the wide-ranging complaints I’ve been hearing. His response?

“The entire industry has been self-regulated. Has it received the attention of governments that are necessary? Most likely not … I think the regulation that’s out there is getting better, it has never been a top priority of any government, I don’t care, Liberal, NDP or otherwise, it just has not been.”

So what does that mean for strata council members who just want to get on with their carefree life and without their current strata manager? “It’s a free marketplace,” Thom says.

In other words, shop around.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun