Decision on controversial Vancouver Chinatown condo project pushed back

It will be at least two more weeks before any decision can be made on a condo development in the heart of Vancouver's Chinatown neighbourhood.

Seventy people, both for and against the nine-storey development at 105 Keefer Street, had signed up to address a City of Vancouver development permit board hearing on Monday.

Twenty speakers were still waiting when the hearing adjourned late in the evening, but they expect to be heard when it resumes on June 12.

The condo project has been in the works since Beedie Holdings Ltd., bought the land 10 years ago, but the proposal was rejected in 2017 because the development permit board ruled it was not the right fit for the neighbourhood.

Another hearing was arranged after the developers successfully appealed to the B.C. Supreme Court last year and it ordered the board to reconsider the decision.

Critics of the project, including some Chinatown and Downtown Eastside residents, argue the development ignores the needs of the neighbourhood because it contains only market rate condos and no social housing.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 30, 2023.