Provincial legislation now requires Vancouver to, for the first time, develop an Official Development Plan ("ODP") for the entire city. This is a high-level planning document, and the idea is to encourage long-term thinking.
The draft ODP is now out and the city is asking for comments. Click here to read more about it, and read on below to learn how you can participate!
The good news is that (also thanks to provincial legislation), housing proposals that are consistent with the ODP won't require a public hearing. This is a good step: it will encourage more meaningful planning at the area- and city-wide levels, instead of tying up city hall with constant squabbles and micromanaging of individual apartment buildings.
Unfortunately, the draft ODP is short on vision. Vancouver is in a housing crisis, but you wouldn't know it from the draft ODP, which is basically just the status quo. The draft ODP is essentially just a codification of the Vancouver Plan, which was launched in 2019 but still hasn't produced meaningful change in the city...and even worse, the draft ODP is even less ambitious than the Vancouver Plan is!
You can read the letter we sent to the planning department about the Draft ODP at this link.
The bottom line: housing in Vancouver will not be available and affordable until apartments have been legalized across the city, in every neighbourhood, on every street, and the ODP doesn't do that. So here's how you can show support for more meaningful change!
Take the Draft ODP Survey
Click here to go to the city's survey on the draft ODP.
If you want to be quick, you can just write the following for every question:
It should be just as easy to build a small apartment building as a detached home, and this plan does not do that.
Or, here are more detailed suggested responses to each question:
Q1. Do you have any comments about the Generalized Land Use map and designations?
It should be just as easy to build a small apt building as a detached home, and this plan does not do that.
Q2a. Do you have any comments about the approach for environmentally sensitive areas?
I support protecting environmentally sensitive areas, but we also need to think regionally. Under-producing housing in the City of Vancouver directly leads to environmentally destructive sprawl.
Q2b. Do you have any comments about the approach for schools in the draft ODP?
Public institutions like schools should not be subject to arbitrary height and land use restrictions.
Q2c. Do you have any comments about the approach for community-serving institutions in the draft ODP?
The city's land use policies should not restrict community-serving institutions. Further, housing is itself a community-serving institution: without housing there is no community.
Q2d. Do you have any comments about the approach to parks?
The next best thing to building new parks is letting more people live near the ones we already have. This means legalizing apartments by existing parks, and sadly this plan does not do nearly enough to legalize more housing in low-density areas.
Q2e. Do you have any comments about the approach to hazardous lands?
Much of Vancouver's housing stock built in the 1960s and 70s is in need of seismic upgrading or replacement, and so legalizing apartments across the city ought to be seen as a critical part of the city's hazardous lands strategy.
Q3. Do you have any final comments about the draft ODP overall?
We need legal, by-right apartments across the city. The housing crisis demands a more effective and urgent response.
Then, just fill in the "About You" section and submit your responses!