Lower Mount Pleasant: Threatened ... or ... Gentrified?

Lower Mount Pleasant: hidden gem, or threatened by gentrification?

Open File
Posted by Michael Aynsley on Thursday, January 5, 2012

On Wednesday, the Vancouver Sun ran a lengthy profile on Lower Mount Pleasant, a neighbourhood it describes as one of the most “invisible” and interesting in the city. For those of you who were unaware Mount Pleasant even had a “lower” sibling, the area refers to the blocks north of Broadway, between Main and Cambie.
As the Sun points out, the neighbourhood has a number of cafés, art spaces, eateries, shops, and even a Christian supply store. Lower Mountain Pleasant also boasts a good mix of what would be heritage houses, if they were on the city’s heritage register. But they are not. And that’s a concern for some. From the Vancouver Sun:

A small house built in 1904 at 122 West 8th was torn down last year for a five-storey building. Don Luxton of Heritage Vancouver fears more will come down as the area gains popularity.

“The problem is the houses get selectively taken out, because they’re under the allowable zoning,” he says. “It’s kind of a nice mix right now, but it’s not really protected in any way, and it’s not really planned for in any way.”

As you might guess, the lack of protection and planning is what worries so many residents. They fear the neighbourhood could meet the same gentrified-fate as Yaletown.

The problem is, the neighbourhood is surrounded by condo developments, which brings a lot of pressure to rezone it for residential. Both [city planner Kevin McNaney] and head planner Brent Toderian state the city wants to keep it light industrial, but some residential seems to be creeping in — two industrial buildings in the 100 block East 8th are currently coming down for a condo development.

I'm sure it's not far from the minds' of residents what lies over Lower Mount Pleasant’s southern northern border… *
Still, we don’t want to be alarmists. As one prominent Vancouver architect tells the Sun, the city’s zoning should prevent high-end condo developers from buying up all the land. In any event, whether you’re well acquainted with the area or not, we encourage you to read the article in its entirety.