TEAM FOR A LIVABLE VANCOUVER ASKS, MUST NEIGHBOURS ALWAYS LOSE IN FIGHTS WITH CITY HALL?

West End residents strongly oppose spot-rezoning for 27-storey hotel next to Stanley Park 

VANCOUVER (Feb. 1, 2026) --  At its meeting Tuesday, City Council may opt to refer to public hearing a proposal by Marcon to replace Rosellen Suites, a 4-storey boutique hotel on Barclay Street next to Stanley Park, with a 27-storey hotel tower. Or it may heed the call of thousands of West Enders to stick with the West End Community Plan which would prohibit it.  

According to the staff report on the proposal, “the land use, density, height, massing, tower floorplate, tower setbacks, tower separation, solar access, and podium expression proposed does not align with the Plan.”  The report acknowledges negative impacts including additional shadowing on Stanley Park and a licensed childcare outdoor space, livability, parking, traffic, future development viability of neighbouring sites, privacy and noise.

Area residents who have mobilized to oppose what they term “a grave threat to the neighbourhood’s peaceful character and quiet enjoyment,” would add seismic risk to the list, citing the City’s Seismic Risk Report (Nov. 2024) which identifies the West End, particularly west of Denman, as the neighbourhood facing the highest risk of earthquake damage and resident displacement.

That such a development is even considered is the result of a recently-adopted Hotel Development Policy.

On April 15, 2025, ABC councillors voted in favour of amending Vancouver’s Hotel Development Policy.  Now, it overrides the West End Community Plan because the site in question is an existing hotel, and “Where conflicts exist between this policy and other relevant council-approved policies relating to the prescribed height and density, the height and density in this policy prevails.”  

Thirty days later, on May 15, Marcon filed its most recent re-zoning application, having abandoned the 10-storey condo building for which it received approval in 2018.

TEAM urges City Council to listen to its West End residents.