The City of Vancouver is seeking density and height relaxations for the new $175 million Vancouver Aquatic Centre slated to replace the aging downtown Vancouver facility.
The waterfront building at 1050 Beach Ave. near Sunset Beach is in an R1-1 residential zone that allows for small-scale housing options with a height limit of only 11 metres, or roughly three to four storeys.
The new two-level building will house a fitness centre, and a gross floor area of 7,497 square metres, slightly more than the current gross floor area of 7,000 square metres, according to documents submitted as part of the permit application.
The current building, at 18.8 metres, already exceeds the allowable height. The proposed replacement building is slightly higher, at 22.9 metres.
The city also wants to incr