Kits Point and Shaughnessy are both centrally located neighbourhoods that have extremely restrictive zoning. But when Vancouver legalized multiplexes last year, both these neighbourhoods were EXCLUDED. 

Now the Province is stepping in and making Vancouver legalize multiplexes in these areas. While we’re happy the Province is making the City do something, the bottom line is that multiplexes aren’t nearly good enough in these areas.

Look at Kits Point. It is minutes away from Downtown, and right beside it the Squamish Nation is building 6,000 homes on just 11 acres at Senakw. That shows what housing demand in that area actually is. While the Squamish Nation is busy building thousands of homes, the City has to be dragged against its will to legalize just 3 or 4 homes on a lot.

A small apartment building under construction in (Second) Shaughnessy

An important motion will be considered by Vancouver City Council on Wednesday, to initiate the process to update zoning policies in the Shaughnessy neighbourhood. Your voice is needed; jump to the end of this post to see how to contact Council to express your support.

Shaughnessy is a historic area of Vancouver, but fewer people have been enjoying that heritage as the population has consistently dropped over the past half century, and many heritage houses have been replaced with new mansions anyway. In fact, despite starting with the lowest population density of any neighbourhood, it shrank more than any other neighbourhood in the last census count.

Transit-Oriented Development and Proximity to Jobs:

The provincial government just announced they are mandating zoning for apartments near SkyTrain stations. This is sensible, the SkyTrain network is a big public investment and more people living near stations will allow many of them to use cars less, or not own a car at all.