Plan to build single-family home on nine-foot-wide Vancouver lot rejected by city

A developer’s proposal to build a 900-square-foot home on a nine-foot-wide lot in East Vancouver was rejected by the city’s board of variance on Tuesday.

This was Bryn Davidson’s second kick at the can, after having plans for a 1200-square-foot home on the 540-square-foot lot rejected last November.

The latest proposal was for a smaller-sized home built to the side edges of the lot and within height guidelines.

“We thought it was worth a try to see if they would let us bend the rules given it is such an unusual site,” said Davidson, whose company Lanefab Design Build Ltd. purchased the lot at 1916 William Street in July 2021 for $210,000.

“It is a weird leftover from the 1920s, maybe it was somebody’s driveway at some point but it ended up being its own separate title owned by a variety of people over the years.”