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On September 9, our stalwart Property Development Committee (PDC) met with the head of the District of North Vancouver's planning department to explain why a Heritage Restoration Agreement (HDA) or restrictive covenant would not be in the parish's best interests in return for our desired zoning change. We were happy to find common ground in the idea of a more generously worded covenant to spend the net proceeds of sale of the 2 new lots on the past and future costs of the church restoration project and any related ministry investments. Since this is what the Parish always intended, it provides the District a “one-time” community benefit from the re-zoning without imposing onerous heritage upkeep obligations on our parish for decades to come. We are already putting pen to paper on a draft covenant and are delighted to find ourselves on the same page!

PDC and the District's planners also discussed the possibility of multi-family housing on lands such as ours. While the District will not reject out of hand a well-considered and financially sound proposal that includes community benefits like affordable or seniors housing, we were cautioned that the length of time to execute such a project is very long (likely upward of six years), would require a developer partner and faces a very quiet market at the moment.

In coming weeks, PDC will meet with various DNV departments to understand and refine their particular requirements, work on our next application to the District (the detailed planning application response to the District’s letter responding to our preliminary application), craft the covenant described above, and meet with the Archbishop and diocesan staff to brief them on progress to date. We have much work ahead of us this fall and thank the congregation for their patience and support as we seek the regulatory approvals needed to bring the Parish’s vision to fruition on the best terms possible.