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Michael Mortensen, an urban planner and development consultant hired by Keltic for the project, said he understands the list of issues the city flagged in their preliminary work. Now Keltic wants the chance to address those issues through further technical and archaeological work, he said, which won’t be possible if council shoots down the project this week before it can go to the ALC.
“The quid pro quo is: let us subdivide 49 per cent of the site for low-intensity residential use, and in return, Keltic would give the city 51 per cent, which includes the Fraser River frontage, the new green space, the heritage building, and a new road through the middle,” Mortensen said. “It’s an industrial site … that’s trapped in ALR zoning.”
The staff report flags that “the site may contain significant archaeological artifacts to the Musqueam First Nations,” and Mortensen said Keltic plans to work closely with the Musqueam if the project is able to proceed.
“If we go out to the public and we do the technical review, and we check all the boxes, council should have an easy time approving it some months down the line,” Mortensen said. “And … if those boxes aren’t checked, they have the authority not to approve a rezoning. Keltic only seeks the opportunity.”
A request for comment sent Monday to the Musqueam Band Office wasn’t immediately returned.
But city staff’s main reason for not supporting the project, the report says, is “primarily because the proposed lot sizes do not meet the minimum size requirements” under the existing zoning for the area.
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