New Westminster city council is taking action to ensure a developer fulfills its obligations to create affordable housing as part of the redevelopment of Columbia Square.
In a unanimous vote at its Jan. 27 meeting, council directed the mayor and corporate officer to be authorized to execute the Section 219 covenant between the City of New Westminster and Edgar Properties. The agreement will secure the provision of affordable housing through the redevelopment of the site at 88 10th St. (Columbia Square) on behalf of the city.
The provision of affordable housing in the Columbia Square redevelopment plan was a condition of council’s approval of three readings of the zoning amendment bylaw in October 2024. The covenant, which will be registered on title to the property, requires the developer to provide 20 per cent of the required rental housing floor areas (four per cent of the total residential floor area) as below-market units.
“Staff have worked with the city’s solicitor to prepare a high-level Section 219 restrictive covenant which restricts redevelopment of the site until subsequent agreements are in place, to the satisfaction of the city, which would further detail the timing, phasing, location, design and construction of the affordable housing units,” said the report. “These additional details are expected to be determined through the master plan process and included in the development agreement and housing agreement bylaw(s) at a later date.”
The staff report stated the covenant would be registered on title with the land — so it would remain in place if the title of the property were to transfer to other owners. Staff noted the agreement also requires the units to be delivered by the property owner, even if grants or other funding to support the delivery of the affordable housing units are not available.
According to the staff report, the affordable housing would be delivered in earlier phases of development, along with the secured market rental units. The affordable housing would be secured by a housing agreement for 60 years or the life of the building, whichever is longer.
'At least there is something'
In October 2024, council voted 5-2 in support of the zoning amendment bylaw for 88 10th St. The proposed high-density, mixed-use, transit-oriented development will include housing, office and retail uses, and community and public spaces.
At Monday’s meeting, Coun. Daniel Fontaine supported the covenant as it provides affordable housing but reiterated his opposition to the overall development.
“I can support the efforts of getting affordable housing. But as was noted, this entire project, I have not supported,” he said. “Without getting into all the debate on the project itself, it's just not properly suited for that particular parcel of land. But if it is going ahead, and these agreements are coming forward, I'll do whatever I can to ensure that there is affordable housing, albeit a paltry amount. But at least there is something in this site by way of affordable housing moving forward.”
Coun. Jaimie McEvoy questioned staff about the number of affordable housing units that will be included in the development and the amount of money the developer would be contributing to the city’s affordable housing reserve via density bonus funds.
Demian Rueter, manager of development planning, said exact number of units is not known at this time. When council considered the rezoning, he said staff had estimated there would be about 3,000 housing units built on the site.
“This covenant is saying that 20 per cent of the rental, which is also 20 per cent, would be as affordable,” he said. “And so that would be roughly, somewhere in the order of 120, 150 units, based on the current proposal from the developer.”
In terms of the density bonus funds, Rueter said staff had estimated the developer would contribute about $70 million to the city, of which 80 per cent would be directed to the city’s affordable housing reserve.
“The amount of affordable housing that would come out of this project — if we're going to say that a certain amount is coming out of it, we need to include that full picture,” McEvoy said. “Because if this development doesn't proceed, this square footage doesn't happen, those additional funds for affordable housing also don't happen. So, let's include that full picture in the discussion.”
Fontaine provided his view of the “full picture” of the density bonus funding that will go toward affordable housing. If council had not decided to direct 80 per cent of the funds from the developer to affordable housing, he said the money would have been available to build other city amenities.
“There's a lot of additional amenities that could have been invested in, but council has decided to put that 80 per cent into an initiative that is primarily the responsibility of the province,” he said. “So just to put it into the entire context, this is typically a provincial initiative, but we've taken dollars out of our local amenities and put them into that affordable housing fund to help the province do its job.”
When council first considered the project last fall, some councillors voiced concern that no provisions for affordable housing were included in the redevelopment proposal. In response to council’s concerns, the developer made changes to its plan.
In October 2024, council gave three readings to the zoning amendment bylaw and endorsed the Columbia Square policy statement as a basis for developing a master plan for the site. That master plan needs to be completed before council considers final adoption of the zoning amendment bylaw.
The Columbia Square redevelopment project, which would be built in phases, is expected to accommodate eight additional towers (nine in total including an existing residential tower on the site) with about 3,800 residential units and 7,250 residents. The zoning district regulations would permit podiums of up to six storeys and towers of up to 53 storeys in height, but staff say the heights and building massing would be further refined and reduced through the master plan process and design guidelines.
The proposal for the site, which is bounded by Royal Avenue and Columbia and 10th streets, also includes:
- Up to 279,000 square metres (three million square feet) of residential density. Twenty per cent of this would be secured market rental.
- Replacement space for all of the existing 11,350 square metres (122,000 square feet) of retail floor area. (This includes a grocery store.)
- The development is expected to house about 530 school-aged children (as per staff at the Oct. 21 meeting).
- A minimum of 3,900 square metres (41,979 square feet) of commercial office space would be provided in the first phase of development.
- A minimum of 885 square metres (9,500 square feet) of not-for-profit child-care space will be provided.
- An option will be available to the school district that allows it to purchase or lease property from the applicant for an “urban format” public school or other facility. If this option is not pursued, a minimum additional 557 to 1,114 metres (6,000 to 12,000 square feet) of market or not-for-profit childcare space would be provided.
- The redeveloped site would include a public open space network comprising about 25 per cent of the site, including a primary central open space.
