As a public service, entirely by volunteers, we’ve updated our own maps of the areas potentially affected by the “Interim Rezoning Policy” adopted by City Council on October 3. Please refer to the legends for details. The shaded/colored areas indicate where, based on our interpretation of official City statements, City Hall will consider the first 20 rezoning proposals — and believe that the City may be planning to make the policy permanent and open-ended (unlimited) thereafter. The first map shows areas fronting on an arterial street, served by transit, and within 500 metres of an “identified” local shopping area (in red) or a “neighbourhood centre” (in orange) for the 6 storey housing zone. The second map shows zones within 100 metres of arterial streets identified in the City’s policy handout (for 3.5 storey housing). We encourage our readers to review these maps and to send any comments and suggestions for improvements our way (citizenYVR @ gmail.com) [please click on the maps to enlarge]. We wish to emphasize that the City provided no maps of impact zones to the public until AFTER Council adopted the policy. Neither did the Mayor’s Task Force make any attempt to indicate visually where their recommendations would have impacts. And we believe that the map released later by the City still contains errors and is incomplete in portrayal of the extent of affected area.
SUGGESTED ACTION: Write Mayor Gregor Robertson and Vancouver City Council (mayorandcouncil@vancouver.ca) encouraging them to take steps to reduce public anxiety and enhance trust in City Hall by providing accurate and relevant information in layperson’s terms, with clear visual representations, LONG before they intend to adopt major new land-use policies in the future. Also, encourage them to engage in meaningful consultation in a timely way by communicating with neighbourhood associations in affected areas well before they adopt new policies that will affect them. With the current outcomes of the Mayor’s Task Force on Housing Affordability, City Council failed on both counts this time.
