2 THE VOICE, THURSDAY, FEB. 5, 2015

EDITOR NATASHA CHANG

Cws

Farewell to single-family homes

504.418.6809 veatoak.com

MODERN BRICK TOWNHOMES

NOW SELLING

BY PRIVATE APPOINTMENT

BAILEY NICHOLSON photo

Townhouse complex on Oak Street and 46th Avenue, which is a block away from a proposed rezoning site.

Houses on Oak Street face demolition to make room for townhouses

By BAILEY NICHOLSON

ezoning is on the rise as more single-family homes are await- ing approval to be torn down along Oak Street.

The Oakridge Langara Policy State- ment, written in 1995, set the guide- lines for upcoming development plans and procedures in the neighbourhood. The move from single-family homes to multi-family units is a main component of the policy, which proposes approxi- mately 3,500 new housing units that could accommodate about 35 per cent more people, or a population increase to 21,600 from 16,000.

The policy also outlines maximum height restrictions for any incoming high-rises. Figures detailing these height restrictions appear to have been omitted from the rezoning proposal ac- cording to Vancouver city councillor Adriane Carr, who acknowledged this during a city council meeting on Jan.

20.

Because the proposal was approved by city council and is now in ‘referred to public hearing’ status, Carr said she is not permitted to further discuss her concerns with the public.

Three properties on Oak Street were included in the rezoning proposal. One is between 48rd and 46th Avenues and consists of two single-family homes nestled between a modern townhouse development and a high-rise building still under construction.

Assistant director of planning and development services for Vancouver South, Susan Haid, said rezoning will “help to increase the amount of hous- ing suitable for families that is more af- fordable than single-family homes.”

Although a public hearing has yet to be scheduled for the community to voice their comments and concerns, Haid anticipates it will occur in mid-to- late February.

Many residents of the area, however,

show no opposition to the proposal and do not plan on attending.

“Pm not against rezoning,” said Jackson Wong, who resides two blocks away from the site between 48rd and 46th Avenues. “The whole street is be- coming multi-family.”

Tony Gao, another resident, was un- aware of the rezoning proposal and has barely taken notice of the frequent con- struction of high-rises along the street near his home. “It’s generally been pretty quiet,” he said.

Haid confirmed the neighbourhood’s neutrality. There has been very little feedback from homeowners between the 48rd and 46th Avenues. The project will be moving forward pending a suc- cessful public hearing.

“The next step will be a development permit followed by a building permit. In this case, the developer is motivated and the projects could be under con- struction within the year if approved,” said Haid.

66

The de- veloper is motivated and the projects could be under construc- tion within the year if approved

SUSAN HAID

PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT SERVICES, VANCOUVER- SOUTH

Need sleep? There's always sheep-y coffee

Sales of local company’s relaxing night-time decaf on snooze

By MONA BUTLER

asleep faster and sleep better is hard to sell.

Deland Jessop, an instructor at Lan- gara College, helped create Counting Sheep Coffee in Vancouver, B.C., in 2013. Counting Sheep Coffee received popularity on Dragons’ Den. Their pitch aired on Mar. 19. The two blends, Lights Out! and 40 Winks (Bedtime Blend), are mixes of decaffeinated cof- fee and valerian root (a herbal seda- tive). Counting Sheep Coffee blends are available both online at Amazon and in stores.

Famous Foods on Kingsway and Per- ry Street in Vancouver has been carry- ing both blends of Counting Sheep Cof- fee for about a year: Lights Out! and 40 Winks (Bedtime Blend). Famous Foods manager, Cam Bruce said he hasn’t found them to be big sellers.

“TThe coffee’s] a different concept, and the thought of drinking it at night doesn’t fit peoples schedules,” Bruce said. Counting Sheep Coffee’s intro- duction page on their website advises

C= designed to help people fall

consumers not to confuse one’s regular morning cof- fee and their blends. Counting Sheep Coffee is also available at Bed Bath & Beyond.

June Francis, an associ- ate professor of market- ing at Simon Fraser Uni- versity, said people don’t go into big box stores just for coffee.

“With such specialty product, the focus should . be on getting it in spe-

’ cialty coffee shops.” She also said selling online would be a good option,

“but it would need a lot

of social media.”

Francis added, selling the coffee off of shelves would be difficult unless there there to promote the product. product out of coffee shops would be the key to it succeeding because there would always be someone there to talk about it.” Jessop is enthusiastic about his company’s pros- pects and said that people

was someone

“Selling — this

have been asking for a relax-

MONA BUTLER photo Bedtime Blend is one of Counting Sheep Coffee’s sleep- inducing decaffeinated coffees mixed with valerian root.

ing coffee for a while. “I should have thought of this a long time ago, when you think about all the people sensitive to caffeine,” he said.

Langara College spearheads credit card deal

Eight institutions join together to save $1 million when collectively buying school materials

By XIAO XU

eight institutions in British Colum-

bia to buy goods and services through a commercial credit card deal with Scotiabank.

This joint effort in purchasing be- tween the eight institutions is part of a larger post-secondary institutional partnership called the BC Public Post- Secondary Purchasing Consortium, ac- cording to Langara’s Jan. 20 press re- lease. The goal of BCPPSPC, which was established in May 2014, is to collective- ly generate savings from commercial purchases for B.C. institutions.

“The deal will generate an estimated one million dollars in savings per year for the consortium [partnership] once the program is fully deployed across B.C.’s institutions,” Langara’s press re- lease said.

The credit card is used to buy educa- tional and office supplies used by the schools, said Langara associate vice- president, administration and finance, Barry Coulson. Coulson is also BCPPSPC finance project lead. He ex- plained the institutions will get a much better pricing of goods and services by combining the purchasing power.

“TThe saving] really won’t get to be between $50,000 and $60,000 until we get more institutions on it,” Coulson said. He estimated Langara would save between $10,000 and $15,000 this year.

The eight current participants of the program are Langara College, Camo- sun College, College of New Caledonia, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, North Island College, University of the Fraser Valley, Vancouver Community College and Simon Fraser University.

Langara purchasing manager and BCPPSPC finance project procurement lead, Chris Arnold-Forster said, “Get- ting all the 25 institutions to join the program at the same time is problem- atic, but the numbers are increasing.”

University of British Columbia, for example, will join the team soon once their current existing purchasing card contract with Scotiabank expires.

“UBC will continue to move towards a similar rebate model with the inten- tion of opting in once our existing con- tract is complete,” said Dennis Silva, UBC payment and procurement ser- vices director.

The savings might be spent in differ- ent ways for each institution, said Ar- nold-Forster. “In our case, it will just go back to the general revenue and get redeployed as we need for the pro-

ae College is leading a total of

XIAO XU photo Langara College is leading a total of eight institutions in a credit card deal with Scotiabank.