Park Board commissioners oppose proposed West End hotel tower over Stanley Park proximity

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In a rare and unusual appearance to City Council during the public hearing, Park Board commissioner Brennan Bastyovanszky told City Council he is opposed to the rezoning, and is also speaking on behalf of Tom Digby, another Park Board commissioner. Bastyovanszky, formerly with the ABC Vancouver party, announced earlier this week he has joined the new Vancouver Liberals civic party, while Digby is with the Green Party of Vancouver.

He said he is not opposing the hotel project necessarily, but because of the process being followed by City of Vancouver staff and the apparent lack of scrutiny of the potential impacts on Stanley Park. The mid-block development site on Barclay Street is located half a block away from Stanley Park.

Hotel project requires consultation with Park Board, says commissioner

Bastyovanszky said he agrees Vancouver needs more hotel rooms and that his concerns “has nothing to do with disputing our need for hotels,” but asserted that “there’s gaps and there’s risk to public engagement that are not being properly followed.” He told City Council they have not received a report on the impacts of Stanley Park, calling this “a red flag” and urging City Council to refer the application back to City staff “until that report on the impacts of Stanley Park has been received by Council.”

“When process is rushed, the risk of injunction and litigation become very real,” he suggested, adding that “when major changes happen to Stanley Park, when it’s not deliberated publicly and transparently, then the trust in our institutions drops.”

Bastyovanszky pointed to a recent Supreme Court of British Columbia ruling related to Stanley Park, saying the court “recently warned the City about advancing major actions affecting Stanley Park without clear Park Board authorization or deliberation.” Referring to the looper moth case, he said the court found staff “did not have expressly delegated authority to approve phase one work,” which led to trees being cut down before the Park Board had formally approved it.

“The concern today is not about stopping the development,” he said. “It’s actually about avoiding the same issue with governance… where decisions with direct park impact, they move forward before the elected Park Board has the opportunity to review and publicly consider them.”

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He noted the Park Board is set to request a formal Stanley Park impact report on Monday, Feb. 23rd, and argued that means City Council “does not yet have the necessary information to make a fully informed decision.”

Bastyovanszky has put forward a member motion to be debated at the Park Board’s public meeting on Feb. 23, which would seek a formal briefing on the proposed hotel project. The motion calls on City staff from planning, engineering, and other departments to present on potential impacts to Stanley Park, including traffic flow at park access points, emergency access and egress, effects on the environment and heritage trees along the park boundary, pedestrian and cycling safety, and park-adjacent infrastructure. It also asks City staff to report back on the scope of the Park Board’s jurisdiction and consultation authority when major developments are proposed next to park land, and urges that City Council receive the Park Board’s impact report before it considers the redevelopment.

“The staff report, it does thoroughly cover the City planning process and what is missing, but what is missing is a public analysis of the impacts of Stanley Park. There is no policy guiding like the creation of a major commercial operation adjacent to Stanley Park. Stanley Park does get special treatment. It is the crown jewel of the city. It’s also the reason why the Park Board was set up as independent, so we don’t have conflicts of interest when we’re protecting our park,” Bastyovanszky told City Council.

In addition to Park Board input, he suggests the application needs to consider local First Nations — there is currently “no reference to co-management [of the park] with host nations” — and an evaluation of how it could impact the park’s ecology. He even suggested the developer should be required to make a community amenity contribution (CAC) cash payment to help restore Lost Lagoon, which he described as being in “real dire shape,” pointing to recent algae blooms and fish die-offs.

He said City staff’s report, which recommends the project’s rezoning approval, mentions building shadowing impacts, but does not discuss the impacts on nearby amenities such as a childcare facility and Stanley Park’s nearby tennis courts and garden.

“If you add this big shade in that area, it’s going to have ecological impact,” he argued. “And yet there’s nothing talking about the established park amenities… You actually don’t know as councillors what you’re voting on right now on the impact of that.”

However, while this hotel tower would be the tallest building in the immediate vicinity, it should be emphasized that there are already existing towers with a comparable height in the same area, including some that are further to the west and even closer to Stanley Park. Other towers in the area include the 1975-built, 23-storey tower of 2077 Nelson St., the 1965-built, 26-storey tower of 2020 Haro St., the 1990-built, 19-storey tower of 2088 Barclay St., the 1968-built, 22-storey tower of 2075 Comox St., the 1965-built, 25-storey tower of 2055 Pendrell St., and others.

Bastyovanszky also raised traffic concerns, suggesting the hotel could increase vehicle traffic on Lagoon Drive and North Lagoon Drive.

“Anything that obstructs or impacts traffic in Stanley Park, we’ve already faced litigation as a city and none of that is in your report,” he said.

“High-rise buildings have been a part of the West End for over 70 years”

In stark contrast, West End resident Sebastien Zein told City Council during the public hearing he supports the project and sees it as a positive addition to the neighbourhood. He also suggested there should be many more projects just like it for the area, and that hotel projects should not only be concentrated within the Central Business District of the downtown Vancouver peninsula.

“As a second generation West Ender who chooses to keep living in the neighbourhood, because I think it’s the best urban neighbourhood in the country, I’m here to say I think this project will only make the neighbourhood even better. I do, however, have a very serious concern — my concern is that there are not 17 more projects like this one proposed in the West End,” said Zein.

“This location is perfect for a hotel as attested to the fact by the fact that there is already a hotel on the site today. The proposal may strike some as unusual because in recent decades, the City has pursued a policy of concentrating almost all hotel development into the same 10 blocks of the financial district. That practice has been a primary cause of the hotel shortage that we have in the city today. It is also very, very weird. In most cities anywhere in the world, there are a range of modern accommodations available in any urban neighbourhood, not so in Vancouver.”

Zein also pushed back against the idea that a 25-storey building is out of place in the West End. “High-rise buildings have been a part of the West End for over 70 years,” he said, noting there are four on his block alone. “I live in one, I think they’re great, I think they’re normal, and they are the reason why the West End works today as a complete community.”

He said he looks forward to “the day when there is no longer the whiff of controversy surrounding a simple 25-storey high-rise in the downtown peninsula.”

Marcon Developments executive vice-president Nic Paolella told City Council the project ‘is compatible with the surrounding buildings” and “isn’t introducing a form, whether that be height or plate size or tower separation, that is inconsistent with the West End.”

“It is not inconsistent with the historical pattern of development, nor is it inconsistent with the recent pattern of development,” he said. “We do feel that it fits.”

He emphasized that the project would add hotel rooms without displacing any tenants or residents, which is a “very rare thing,” and pointed to the site’s proximity to Stanley Park and English Bay as a major asset — not a negative factor.

“Globally, Stanley Park, English Bay are some of the most recognized amenities in the country,” he said, adding that many cities — specifically listing New York City, London, Sydney, Seattle, Chicago, and Barcelona — have “world-class parks and natural features” with hotels integrated into nearby residential areas. More specifically, major hotels and towers with other uses prominently frame Central Park in Manhattan, and add to its unique character.

“These amenities and these communities work in symbiosis,” he said, arguing that a hotel in this location would allow visitors to be “immersed in the cultural fabric of the cities that we visit,” rather than staying only in central business districts.

Developer received “disturbing threats”

Paolella also addressed criticism about the lack of an in-person public open house during the rezoning application’s formal public consultation process. He said his team had received “credible and disturbing threats to the safety of staff, our team, and our family members,” which forced them to rethink how they conducted public consultation.

“Our choice consciously was to engage actively, openly, and as freely as possible and try to create venues that were safe to do that. And while that wasn’t easy, we feel like we did our best. And as you’ll see here, the feedback that we heard, we took seriously. And we feel that that has influenced now where we stand today,” he said.

He said feedback from the the public input gathered led the team to modify the design, including reducing the proposed height of 329 ft. with 29 storeys — as outlined in the original rezoning application submission in July 2024 — to 289 ft. with 27 storeys in the May 2025 revised submission. Ahead of the public hearing, the application was further downsized to 272 ft. with 25 storeys, which also results in a reduction of 44 guest rooms compared to the original 2024 submission.

On transportation and servicing, Paolella noted the site already operates as a hotel, with regular linen, garbage and service vehicles. He asserted the new building would handle those movements on site “much more safely and logistically much, much better than the current building,” with parking and pick-up and drop-off located in the underground levels.

According to the City staff report, the response during the previous formal public consultation period has been heavy, with about 1,570 submissions through comments, questions and other input methods, as well as a petition with more than 5,000 signatures. While some submissions support increasing hotel supply and cite economic and community benefits, many raise concerns about neighbourhood character, vehicle traffic, and parking.

For written submissions during the current public hearing process, the City received 94 in support and 296 against.

Among those in support is a former letter from Dayna Miller, the general manager of Vancouver for Destination British Columbia. She emphasized the project’s close proximity to Stanley Park is an asset.

“This proposal would add hotel rooms within walking distance of Stanley Park, one of Vancouver’s biggest tourist attractions,” wrote Miller.

“This proposal is compliant under the City’s Hotel Development Policy (2025) and, in addition to increasing hotel capacity, will create jobs, support the local economy and deliver benefits such as a neighbourhood-serving commercial amenity on the ground floor and public realm enhancements.”

With dozens of speakers still waiting to be heard after the Feb. 19 session, City Council will resume the public hearing on March 5, when they are also expected to vote on whether to approve the rezoning.

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