'Perfectly good' Adera Street home draws protest from neighbours who say it will be demolished

Protesters gathered Sunday in front of a $7.4 million home on Adera Street in Vancouver saying its owner plans to demolish the 20-year-old structure to make way for a bigger home.

They want a moratorium to be placed on the demolition of what they call perfectly good homes.

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"I say people are at the tipping point and this house represents the tipping point," said Bev Watt who organized the protest. "People have had it."

The 6,182 square-foot home at 6088 Adera St. sold three years ago for $6 million according to property records, which also show the home was built in 1996.

City Councillor Adriane Carr, who attended the protest, says the home underwent $300,000 worth of renovations in 2013 and that the owner of the home has applied to the city to tear down the structure so that a new house can be built.

"I asked our staff...there are no rules now to stop this demolition, and that's why we need to change the rules," she said.

Carr says knocking down one home to build a bigger home on lots like the one at 6088 Adera St. contributes to rising house prices in Vancouver and the city needs to change its zoning bylaws.

"It was one of the top priorities in terms of the city moving forward," she said at the protest. "How fast we can do it? I'm prepared to ask at council because I think it needs to be fast."

"Most people who are buying on the west side are looking for a building lot so the condition of the house isn't important, all they want is the land," said Caroline Adderson who wrote Vancouver Vanishes: Narrative of Demolition and Revival and also attended Sunday's rally.

She says demolishing homes like the one on Aderna St. is wrong in several ways.

"One it is not green, two it is not increasing affordability and it certainly doesn't do anything for the city's density."

Vancouver real estate agent Shireen Tayob says the practise of buying properties simply for the land, no matter the state of the home that sits on them is becoming common.

"There's lots of zoning changes allowing for more flexibility so certainly there are a lot of options for investors and developers," she said.