Judge orders City of Vancouver to reconsider rejected permit for Chinatown tower

The City of Vancouver has been ordered to reconsider a development permit application for a nine-storey tower in the heart of Chinatown, after a judge found staff gave insufficient reasons for rejecting it.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Jan Brongers ruled that the city's development permit board had a responsibility to justify its reasons for the "apparently unprecedented" decision to outright reject a development permit for Beedie Holdings Ltd.'s proposal for 105 Keefer St.

Brongers wrote in his reasons for judgment on Friday that the board's November 2017 decision to deny the permit, without an explanation of what changes would be necessary to secure approval, "is a departure from past practice that violated Beedie's legitimate expectations."

The judge added that "in these circumstances, the board had a burden to explain and justify this departure in its reasons."

Beedie had asked the judge to grant approval to its development application, but the judge declined to do so, instead sending it back to the board for reconsideration "as soon as is reasonably practicable."

A Vancouver spokesperson told CBC in a written statement that the city is currently reviewing the decision and will determine the next steps in "due course."

The proposal for 105 Keefer St. called for a mix of market-priced housing and retail, with room for a seniors' cultural space. ​The property, located across the street from the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, is currently home to a parking lot.

Many housing activists had cheered the city's decision to turn down the development, expressing doubt that it would help with housing affordability and raising concerns about how it would fit in with the character of the historic neighbourhood.

The proposed development met the height requirements under the 2012 Chinatown Neighbourhood Plan, but board members concluded the design didn't fit into the context of the area.

At the time, then-chief city planner Gil Kelley said Beedie needed "to listen to and engage with the community more closely than they have so far."

Beedie filed a court petition in 2019, calling on a judge to step in and reverse the city's decision. 

The developer took a total of seven different angles to argue that the board's decision was unreasonable. The arguments included allegations that the board had made a "politically charged" decision, treated Beedie unfairly in comparison to other developers in the neighbourhood and improperly used draft decision "scripts" prepared by a city staffer.

Brongers rejected all but one of Beedie's arguments.

"I am … not persuaded that Beedie was denied procedural fairness by the board, or that the board's decision to deny Beedie a development permit was made in bad faith," Brongers wrote.

"I do find that the board's reasons for the decision are inadequate, particularly given its highly unusual conclusion that Beedie's application warrants being wholly rejected."

The judge characterized his ruling as a divided one and said the city and the developer should both cover their own legal costs.