When the Vancouver City Council is in session, Abundant Housing Vancouver will be providing a breakdown of important public hearings, housing related motions and other housing business.
Highlights:
445 Kingsway and 2395 St. George Street
A Moderate Income Rental Housing Pilot Project (MIRHPP) building with 215 rental homes, a short walk away from the future Mount Pleasant Skytrain station. Public hearing is Tuesday night.
Let City Council know you support more affordable rental housing by writing in support or requesting to speak.
1059-1075 Nelson Street
113 social housing units, 49 rental homes and 323 condos in a Passive House building in the West End. Public hearing is Thursday evening.
Let City Council know you support more housing for a range of incomes by writing in support or requesting to speak.
Corner Store Motion
Councillor Sarah Kirby-Yung is bringing a motion to council to direct the planning department to take steps to increase the number of corner stores throughout the city.
If you want to support the motion you can contact Council or request to speak (deadline to register to speak is 1 hour before the start of the meeting).
C-2 Rental Policy
As part of the new Secured Rental Policy, city planning staff is proposing to allow up to six storey mixed use buildings, with rental housing in C-2 zones and requesting that Council refer these changes to a public hearing.
Public Hearings
Tuesday, June 23rd
1. 7843-7845 Cambie Street
New 6 storey residential on Cambie. It is located a few blocks up from the Marine Drive Canada Line station. There should be minimal pushback from residents. It’s being considered under the Cambie Corridor Plan.
Housing: 29 homes
FSR: 2.74
Height: 18.59m (61 ft)
Parking: 34 underground and 74 bicycle spaces
Original Zoning: RT-1
New Zoning: CD-1
2. 187-195 West 41st Avenue
A small strata development a couple blocks off Cambie, right next to the Oakridge-41st Avenue Canada Line station. It is being considered under the Cambie Corridor Plan.
Housing: 23 homes
FSR: 1.80
Height: 12.5m (41 ft)
Parking: 26 underground and 50 bicycle spaces
Original Zoning: RT-1
New Zoning: CD-1
3. 3220 Cambie Street
Another rezoning considered under the Cambie Corridor plan. This one does appear to have some pushback from nearby residents, one concerned about capacity at nearby schools, and another about shadowing their house.
Housing: 47 homes
FSR: 3.79
Height: 23.6m (77.4ft)
Parking: 60 underground parking spaces and 96 bicycle spaces
Original Zoning: C-2
New Zoning: CD-1
4. 445 Kingsway and 2395 St. George Street
Part of the Moderate Income Rental Housing Pilot Program (MIRHPP), this project proposes to bring 215 rental homes into the heart of Mount Pleasant. 20% of homes (by floor area) will be permanently affordable to moderate income households. A short walk from the future Mount Pleasant Skytrain station, this proposal will be a great step towards addressing Vancouver's extreme shortage of rental homes.
Please write in support or request to speak to let council know you support affordable rental housing.
Housing: 215 rental homes, with 20% of floor space reserved for moderate income households
FSR: 6.96
Height: 48.88m (160.37ft)
Parking: 224 underground stalls and 443 bike spaces
Original Zoning: C-2
New Zoning: CD-1
Thursday, June 25th
1. Text Amendments: Regulation Redesign – Amendments to Zoning & Development and Parking By-laws
Various amendments to Zoning, Development and Parking by-laws as part of a regulation modernization program intended to make zoning regulations simpler and easier to understand. This is part of a larger process to make the zoning codes more readable, which will eventually include a new guide with graphical representations of the zoning rules.
2. 486 West 26th Avenue
This project is located one block south of the Canada Line Station at King Edward. Billions of dollars were spent to connect this area to downtown Vancouver, yet despite Vancouver having declared a climate emergency, the city is only allowing a mere 29 homes within walking distance of rapid transit.
Housing: 29 homes
FSR: 2.5
Height: 19.66m (64.5 ft)
Parking: 33 underground parking spaces and 36 bicycle spaces
Original Zoning: RS-1
New Zoning: CD-1
3. 6825 West Boulevard
A proposal to add some infill housing to a large heritage site in Kerrisdale, right next to the Arbutus Greenway in space currently occupied by a tennis court. It features a coach house and three 2.5 storey duplexes. There does seem to be some concern from some nearby residents, with others voicing support for keeping the heritage home.
Housing: 9 homes
FSR: 0.60
Height: 12.2m (40 ft)
Parking: 15 parking spaces and 16 bicycle parking spaces
Original Zoning: RS-5
New Zoning: CD-1
4. 1059-1075 Nelson Street
Near where the West End meets downtown, this project brings desperately needed social and rental housing, plus some strata to the West End. This 60 storey passive house project (a group of standards aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions), in one of Vancouver’s most walkable neighbourhoods, is an important step towards addressing the twin housing and climate crises.
Let City Council know you support more housing for a wide range of incomes by writing in support or requesting to speak!
Housing: 113 social housing, 49 market rental, 323 condo units
FSR: 24.94
Height: 169m (555.5ft)
Parking: 1000 bicycle, 299 vehicle
Original Zoning: RM-5B
New Zoning: CD-1
Council Member Motions
Corner Stores in 21st Century Vancouver: Achieving Complete Communities and Food-Friendly Neighbourhoods (Sarah Kirby-Yung)
Corner stores have long been an important part of many neighbourhoods. They provide easy access to food and other essential items, all within a short walk of people’s homes. Tragically city policy has been to drive corner stores out of neighbourhoods, based on outdated planning fads that wanted to keep all commercial away from where people lived. Some corner stores were grandfathered into the new rules but if they closed for even six months the city wouldn’t let them reopen. Slowly, through attrition, Vancouver is left with a mere handful of corner stores.
Councillor Sarah Kirby-Yung’s motion seeks to reverse the trend, by directing the Planning Department to include corner stores in the Vancouver Plan (the city-wide plan) and to report back to Council in Fall 2020 with preliminary actions. If this motion passes, it will be a promising indication that Vancouver is moving to undo the damage of past planning mistakes, however by placing most of the work under the Vancouver Plan, significant change will be too far into the future.
If you want to support the motion you can contact council or request to speak (deadline to register to speak is 1 hour before the start of the meeting).
Other Motions
- Reconsideration of Council Decision of Designating Public Space for Responsible Consumption of Alcohol (Lisa Dominato) - Seeks to allow alcohol consumption in some public spaces (other than parks which are controlled by the Park Board)
- Developing an #AllOnBoard and #RaiseARider Pilot (Jean Swanson) - Regarding a campaign for free transit for youth and reduced fares depending on income
- A Call for Race-Based and Socio-Demographic Data in B.C. (Christine Boyle and Jean Swanson)
- Community-based Crisis Management Through Understanding and De-escalation (Pete Fry)
- A Paradigm Shift in How We Partner With Local Businesses (Michael Wiebe)
- Exploring a Pilot for Beverages in Public Spaces in Vancouver (Melissa De Genova and Sarah Kirby-Yung)
If you want to support any of these motions you can contact council or request to speak (deadline to register to speak is 1 hour before the start of the meeting).
Other Business
C-2 Rental Policy
In November of 2019, the Council passed a new Secured Rental Policy. As part of that policy, the Planning Department was directed to develop new policies for C-2 zones, a type of commercial zoning, to allow and encourage more rental housing to be built in these zones. This new policy would not apply in the Broadway Corridor, Grandview-Woodlands and Cambie Corridor, because areas with recent plans were excluded.
Planning is recommending that six storey buildings be allowed in these zones, as long as the residential portion is entirely rental, and that allowable FSR be increased to 3.5 (3.7 on large corner lots). These changes will pre-zone these sites for rental buildings, meaning that new rental homes in C-2 zones will no longer be forced to go through a lengthy and costly rezoning process. These changes will be referred to public hearing.
Increased options to build rental homes is a welcome change. The availability of homes to rent is still far too low in Vancouver. However, C-2 zones face major arterial roads, subjecting the residents to noise and air pollution. While the report recommends some measures to reduce noise levels in apartments, no consideration is given to the health effects of living beside polluted arterial roads.
Council is not hearing from speakers, as this will be referred to public hearing, however you can contact council to express your support.
Acquisition of Social Housing at 1555 Robson Street & 1485 Davie Street
Two previously permitted buildings, built under the West End Plan contain 24 and 51 units of social housing, respectively. City staff are requesting authorization by council to engage in a transaction to take possession of these social housing units for a nominal purchase price.