Delta city council has unanimously rejected Century Group’s proposed Tsawwassen Town Centre mall redevelopment project.

The rejection came after Century recently filed a significantly scaled-back plan following extensive community consultation. Councillors called for an entirely new development application that does not include multi-family towers, The Delta Optimist reported.

The revised proposal reduced building heights by 25% and cut the number of homes by 57%, to about 600 from 1,433. The changes reflect community feedback while still aligning with Delta’s Official Community Plan and provincial housing targets, the company said previously.

“We’ve heard the concerns about needing better healthcare delivery and made changes to address this,” Century President Sean Hodgins said after the revised vision was submitted. “This revised plan reduces scale while still delivering new homes, dedicated space for healthcare services, and retail that will strengthen our town centre. Projects like this will always involve tradeoffs, but we must keep moving forward to tackle Delta’s and the region’s housing challenges.”

Century intended to make healthcare a prioritized core community amenity, with dedicated space in the first phase permanently allocated to the Delta Hospital and Community Health Foundation. The updated plan also included a larger Thrifty Foods grocery store with a pharmacy following the addition of 17,000 square feet of retail space. And, 100 new market-rental units were added.

Hodgins previously called for additional discussions about community planning in the wake of the changes.

“We believe in building in places that make sense,” he said. “But this process shows how difficult it can be to deliver housing in line with OCPs when even responsible development on an increased scale continues to face opposition. We’ve made big concessions because we believe in working with the community, but there’s a larger conversation to be had here about how we’re going to meet Delta’s and the region’s housing targets.”

With the revised plan, the project continued to focus on infill development, renewing an urbanized area rather than expanding into greenfields or farmland, said the company previously.

New Westminster, B.C.-based Century is a mixed-use developer that has been operating in the Tsawwassen community for more than 60 years. The company’s projects span the multi-residential, retail, hotel and seniors housing sectors.

Century also provides property-management services through its Barbican subsidiary

Rendering: Century Group