Jollyburger helpfully posted the link to the new draft
Marine Landing Guidelines for future development in the area surrounding the existing development. Interestingly, while the Docksteader site is part of the review area, and is identified as appropriate for 'intensive employment', it's not identified for future residential use - not even if it's all rental, or even all non-market.
One reason is that the land is included in the Regional Context Statement ODP as mixed employment use. That's less restrictive than industrial designation, so the big office building could proceed, but it means that if City Council supported the idea of residential here as well as industrial/commercial, then there would have to be a report to, and approval from, Metro Vancouver's Board as well.
PCI will no doubt try to argue that with the industrial podium and significant office building they're providing the employment space that that's required, and all those residential buildings are just gravy, but it's not what the (very) new Guidelines are suggesting. Council could change the Guidelines, and support a rezoning (well, two, as they'd have to amend the ODP to change its designation at a public hearing as well), but it's equally possible PCI will find 'it's an 'intensive employment' area; you can have office use as well as industrial, but that's all you can have'.
And to answer all the 'that's ridiculous, they should be able to build residential all the way to the river and around', there are very few parts of Vancouver which are reserved for employment, and there are already plenty of high-density residential developments elsewhere around this station, both built and planned for the future. As transit improves, and there are more station areas, the few locations that could provide high-density employment outside the Core will become increasingly important - which is precisely why the
Regional Context Statement ODP protected a few of them from residential incursion (and consequent land value hike that then threatens existing as well as future employment potential).
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