The proponents of a new restaurant at 680 Seylynn Crescent are asking District of North Vancouver council to approve the proposal with only three of the 11 parking spaces required under existing zoning.
RWPAS Ltd. argues that the current parking requirement is unnecessary for a restaurant in the growing Lynn Creek Town Centre. The company is seeking a zoning amendment that would permit a full service, sit down restaurant in a vacant commercial unit in the Compass building.
In an Aug. 31 letter included with a staff report going before council, RWPAS Ltd. asks the District to reconsider its requirement of one parking stall for every 15 square metres of restaurant floor area.
“We are asking staff to reconsider the 1 stall per 15 sqm parking rate as it is currently unachievable and, we believe, unnecessary,” wrote Eric White of RWPAS Ltd.
The company wants council to approve the restaurant with no additional parking beyond the three stalls already assigned to the commercial unit.
“No deals have fallen apart,” White wrote. “It has only been the parking rate imposed that has brought us to a stand still.”
The applicant argues that a restaurant is appropriate in a densely populated town centre designed to encourage walking, cycling and public transit. Its letter says restaurants elsewhere in the District have operated under a blended village commercial rate of one stall per 30 square metres, while many Lower Lonsdale restaurants operate with even less parking.
“We do not understand who is benefiting from the continued enforcement of an unachievable parking rate,” White wrote.
The applicant also says the residential strata in the Compass building supported the restaurant proposal and voted in favour of the change of use in September 2024.
According to the letter, the proponents initially suggested offering valet parking to supplement the three existing spaces, but District staff did not support that option. The applicant then pursued a shared parking agreement that would have allowed restaurant customers to use commercial parking in the neighbouring Apex building at 1500 Fern Street.
The staff report says the Compass and Apex stratas had initially agreed to the arrangement in principle. A covenant was subsequently drafted, with the District included as a party.
Staff were informed in late August that the agreement would not proceed because the Apex strata had raised safety concerns.
The applicant’s letter says there had been break-ins and other safety concerns involving a gate that closes at 7 p.m. The proposed agreement would have required the gate to remain open until 11 p.m.
Approval from the Apex strata was required before the restaurant zoning amendment could receive final adoption. RWPAS Ltd. says it does not want to impose the arrangement on Apex residents and commercial tenants.
Under the existing requirement of one stall for every 15 square metres of restaurant floor area, the proposed restaurant requires 11 parking spaces. Three stalls are assigned to the commercial unit, leaving a shortfall of eight spaces, according to a staff report.
The applicant argues that the success of a neighbourhood restaurant surrounded by residential development will depend more on the quality of its food and service than on the number of customer parking spaces.
District planning staff say they support a restaurant at the location and want the zoning amendment to proceed. They also acknowledge that an upcoming rewrite of commercial and mixed use zoning rules may recommend different parking requirements for town and village centres, potentially taking proximity to transit into account.
However, staff describe the shortfall of eight spaces as a significant parking variance. They say it should undergo, at minimum, a review of the specific site as well as neighbourhood notification before council approves it.
Staff are recommending that council refer the application back to them to work with the applicant on a solution and return with another report.
Council could instead approve the zoning amendment without the parking covenant, as requested by the applicant; abandon the bylaw at third reading; or provide different direction to staff.
The zoning amendment received its first three readings in July 2025. Council is scheduled to consider the latest report at its Sept. 21 meeting.
