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By Christopher Cheung and Jen St. Denis <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n It\u2019s here at last \u2014 Vancouver\u2019s long-awaited plan<\/a> that will guide land-use decisions from density to design across all neighbourhoods until 2050.<\/p>\n Vancouver unveiled its city-wide plan today, with a focus on waking low-density residential neighbourhoods \u201cfrom their slumber\u201d and welcoming more floors and even corner stores to those quiet areas.<\/p>\n The draft confirms the direction the current council has set into motion: the end of neighbourhoods exclusively zoned for detached houses.<\/p>\n \u201cChange is possible everywhere,\u201d said Karis Hiebert, the planner who headed the process of consulting residents, businesses, organizations, professionals and government partners in the crafting of this draft.<\/p>\n The plan also talks about how the city can address widening inequities that have been brought into sharp relief by the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change-related crises like an extreme heatwave and smoky air caused by wildfires. City planners expect the city\u2019s population to grow from 675,000 people today to around 920,000 by 2050.<\/p>\n The city-wide planning process started back in 2018, one of the first things the newly elected city council voted on.<\/p>\n The city was still reeling from a historic jump in property prices that left many Vancouverites feeling shut out of the city. Census data had shown that the city\u2019s west side \u2014 where home values had soared into the millions or tens of millions \u2014 had lost population while most other neighbourhoods in the city had added new residents.<\/p>\n Why is the plan a big deal for Vancouver?<\/strong><\/p>\n Unlike other B.C. municipalities, Vancouver does not have an official community plan. The province requires all local governments to come up with a plan for long-term growth every five years.<\/p>\n But Vancouver hasn\u2019t had such a plan because it has its own charter, allowing the city to dodge certain requirements of the province\u2019s Local Government Act.<\/p>\n This doesn\u2019t mean that Vancouver is flying blind. Instead, a collection of neighbourhood-specific plans for growth have been developed over the years. One of the city\u2019s former planning chiefs called it a \u201cpatchwork\u201d and a \u201crecipe for frustration<\/a>\u201d for residents and developers alike due to the uncertainty.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are so many policies, we don\u2019t actually even know how many there are. Seventy-five? A hundred?\u201d said planning director Theresa O\u2019Donnell during the unveiling of the draft plan today.<\/p>\n O\u2019Donnell explained the city\u2019s numerous types of existing policies in detail. There are community plans for neighbourhoods like the West End, the Downtown Eastside and Grandview-Woodland. There are visions, which date as far back as the 1970s, for areas like Sunset and Riley Park. Some large sites have policy statements, such as Langara College and the Heather Lands. Then there are 14 official development plans, specific rezoning policies and city-wide policies like those for green building and incentivizing rental.<\/p>\n \u201cSo right now, people, businesses, developers have to wade through all of these different levels of plans to figure out which ones actually apply, which ones may be applied in the \u201980s but they\u2019re outdated,\u201d said O\u2019Donnell, \u201c[and] which ones conflict or compete with other plans.\u201d<\/p>\n This draft city-wide plan is the first attempt to \u201cstraighten\u201d everything out.<\/p>\n It\u2019s been four years since work on the plan began and Vancouver\u2019s problems have only grown in size and complexity. Housing affordability is worse than ever, with rents and home prices again rising rapidly. Homelessness has likely grown (because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the city stopped doing an annual survey). Many local businesses and cultural spaces have closed, struggling with affordability and \u201cdemovictions\u201d even before the pandemic.<\/p>\n In 2021, an extreme heatwave killed nearly 100 people in the city, mostly low-income seniors living in older apartment buildings. And the pandemic highlighted existing racial and socio-economic inequalities and led to a concerning rise in anti-Asian racism.<\/p>\n How does the plan intend to tackle all this? Here are some highlights.<\/p>\n Density for all<\/strong><\/p>\n Vancouver has traditionally concentrated towers in just a few neighbourhoods: downtown, the West End and isolated spots of transit-oriented development like Marine Gateway. Low-rise apartment buildings are much more common near arterials and employment centres, scattered across Kitsilano, Fairview, Mount Pleasant and parts of East and South Vancouver.<\/p>\n But many neighbourhoods are still dominated by single-family homes (although city zoning rules now allow all owners to consider adding a basement suite, a laneway house or redeveloping into a duplex). Those houses have risen in value to the point that they\u2019re no longer affordable to the average family.<\/p>\n In the draft plan, the \u201cbuilding blocks\u201d of the city are largely the same \u2014 the difference is that everything will be intensified.<\/p>\n Single-family areas will become \u201cmultiplex areas.\u201d The intersections and quiet commercial pockets off main roads will become \u201cvillages.\u201d Major arterials and their surrounding areas will become \u201cneighbourhood centres.\u201d Rapid transit areas will see more development for housing and jobs, as will the metro core that now extends from the downtown to West 16th, including Broadway\u2019s office corridor and the upcoming subway.<\/p>\n More floors and corner stores<\/strong><\/p>\n In the city\u2019s house-rich areas now designated multiplex areas, the draft plan says multiplexes can go up to three storeys, while apartment buildings can go up to six storeys if they satisfy a rental or social housing requirement.<\/p>\n The draft isn\u2019t just calling for more homes in these zones. It\u2019s welcoming corner stores, shops, community spaces and home-based businesses too.<\/p>\n Yes, this means that all the urbanists and residents charmed by the \u201cfour floors and corner stores<\/a>\u201d model of development could very well see them make a comeback to neighbourhoods where they have been prohibited.<\/p>\n If the multiplex idea sounds familiar, it is: Vancouver Mayor Kennedy Stewart announced a similar policy a few months ago called Making Home. It would allow homeowners to redevelop their homes into six units, which they could then sell as strata units. Stewart\u2019s embrace of the policy comes as a civic election nears: B.C. residents will head to the polls this October, and housing is sure to be a top issue.<\/p>\n The divided city<\/strong><\/p>\n Throughout the document, Vancouver\u2019s west side neighbourhoods come up again and again as being home to the cleanest air, the lowest-density housing and plentiful amenities, such as parks, schools and community centres.<\/p>\n The Vancouver Plan notes that just 15 per cent of the housing in the city takes up 50 per cent of the land base, while one-third of neighbourhoods \u201cdo not have enough people living in them to support local businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the plan says, housing for low-income people is concentrated in just a few areas of the city. The Vancouver Plan outlines a strategy of adding more \u201csecure affordable housing options near transit, green spaces, schools and child care, and off busy streets.\u201d<\/p>\n The plan also calls for adding more \u201cmissing middle\u201d options like townhouses and low-rise apartment buildings in low-density neighbourhoods that don\u2019t currently offer much in the way of affordable housing.<\/p>\n But the question is, will house-owners who love their houses actually go for anything denser? Data from the City of Vancouver shows far fewer<\/a> laneway houses being built in west side neighbourhoods compared to East Vancouver. The mayor has suggested some incentives: aging house-owners could redevelop their property into a multiplex and downsize, profit off of the rest of the units or house their relatives on the same property.<\/p>\n Living with waterways<\/strong><\/p>\n Vancouver has had a few water management projects in recent years, such as its Rain City Strategy<\/a>. But the draft plan calls for a more holistic approach to managing water resources. Nature-based solutions should be prioritized, it says, and watersheds should be taken into account when considering infrastructure investments, land use changes and growth services.<\/p>\n And speaking of water\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n City councillors Christine Boyle and Michael Wiebe had submitted a motion<\/a> in 2020 calling the city to recognize public washrooms as a human right.<\/p>\n The draft plan\u2019s wording reflects the motion: \u201cImproving the safety, accessibility, availability and cleanliness of washrooms is a high priority for the public, particularly important for women and gender diverse people, people experiencing homelessness, sex workers, people who use drugs and other communities who rely on public washrooms for basic human needs.\u201d<\/p>\n While libraries, community centres and most Vancouver parks have public washrooms, they\u2019re only open during operating hours. And many high-traffic locations where you\u2019d expect there to be a public washroom, from the plaza at the Vancouver Art Gallery to most transit stations, there isn\u2019t one.<\/p>\n Loss of industrial land<\/strong><\/p>\n The city\u2019s industrial land base has been shrinking<\/a> as it is converted<\/a> to homes instead, with the vacancy rate of industrial properties at an all-time low of 0.6 per cent. Values and rents have soared, pushing tenants to leave Vancouver and relocate to the cheaper suburbs.<\/p>\n The draft plan calls for the study of the industrial areas around Marine Drive and Knight Street to see how they can be modernized, considering the demand for industrial sites and their access to roads, airport, transit, water and rail.<\/p>\n What\u2019s missing?<\/strong><\/p>\n Schools are one of Vancouver\u2019s biggest pinch points in the uneven development of the city. In neighbourhoods where more housing has been added, like the West End, Downtown and Mount Pleasant, schools are full<\/a> and many families are frustrated by waitlists.<\/p>\n In single-family home neighbourhoods \u2014 in past decades, seen as the most desirable areas for families \u2014 there is room in schools. And there is concern about continuing to build more housing in neighbourhoods where schools are already full.<\/p>\n City staff say they did consult with the Vancouver School Board throughout the development of the plan, and the ideas about adding density to low-population neighbourhoods would bring new life to under-used community centres and schools in those areas.<\/p>\n Also, the role of places of worship \u2014 churches, gurdwaras, temples and such \u2014 did not earn a mention in the plan, despite their presence in every neighbourhood in the city.<\/p>\n These places of worship still play a key role to both their congregants and the community at large, offering child care and senior programming, philanthropy, immigrant services and meeting spaces, all while combatting isolation and loneliness. Some have even gone on to redevelop their properties with affordable housing.<\/p>\n What\u2019s next?<\/strong><\/p>\n The plan is still in the draft stage and the public is invited to comment<\/a> over the next three weeks. Staff will present the revised draft to councillors to vote on in June.<\/p>\n The results could throw a wrench into the plan if it fails to attract enough council support \u2014 especially with the possibility of different councillors after the fall election.<\/p>\n The plan is intended to be adopted as an official development plan in 2024, though some of its strategies are already underway.<\/p>\n Planning manager O\u2019Donnell hopes this single document will help \u201cdetangle\u201d the complicated web of policies that date back decades.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important that we send these messages about how we\u2019re going to increase density,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to do these big concepts that we want the public to be aware of and let us know how they\u2019re feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n …<\/p>\n Christopher Cheung and Jen St. Denis are reporters at The Tyee<\/a>, where this story originally appeared on April 5, 2022.<\/em><\/p>\n **<\/p>\n Christopher Cheung<\/strong> reports on urban issues for The Tyee. Follow him on Twitter at @bychrischeung<\/a>. Jen St. Denis<\/strong> is The Tyee\u2019s Downtown Eastside reporter. Find her on Twitter @JenStDen<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"http:\/\/spacing.ca\/vancouver\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/6\/2022\/04\/VancouverLandUseFutureMap-600x383.jpg\")
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