(Updated) The June 30, 2024 deadline to implement rezoning to meet provincial requirements is meeting growing opposition as more people become aware of the implications.
The Province rushed through Bills 44, 46, & 47 last fall 2023 that transferred land use planning authority from municipalities to the Province with mandates to upzone to one-size-fits-all zoning for multiplexes and Transit Oriented Areas (TOAs) of up to 20 storey towers near transit stations. These are Provincial minimums, with the City already going way beyond that in the Broadway Plan up to 40 storeys and Jericho Lands up to 50 storeys. Provincial legislation now prohibits public hearings if developments are consistent with an Official Development Plan (ODP). Heritage protection programs are restricted or eliminated.
Recent City of Vancouver Council reports outline the City’s response to the BC bills and report on the progress in meeting provincial housing targets. The Coalition of Vancouver Neighbourhoods (CVN) just released a letter to the City in response to these reports.
The CVN letter, copied with permission below, states “ We find the current June 30, 2024 schedule for local and city-wide rezoning to be completely unrealistic, as it will neither allow for any legitimate public process nor a proper infrastructure review. We request an extension to at least the end of 2024 or preferably spring 2025.”
They further point out that the City confirms “there is an unprecedented volume of projects in-stream, with enough capacity in our current development pipeline to meet the Province’s overall completions target over the 5-year time frame,“… while due to current market conditions, many already approved projects are being put on hold and affecting completions beyond the control of the City. Also, only 1% of completions are “affordable” units and it requires more provincial subsidies to increase the number of affordable units. Likely more affordable units are being demolished than new affordable units completed. Therefore there is no need to rush through more rezoning without a legitimate planning and public process, including an infrastructure review.
Within hours of sending the letter to the City, the Council Referral Reports were posted online for the Council agenda May 28, 2024, to propose rezoning of large areas of Kitsilano in RT7 and RT9, and all of the First Shaughnessy zoning in the Heritage District Official Development Plan. https://council.vancouver.ca/20240528/regu20240528ag.htm
Since there has been no public consultation process on any of this, it only goes to prove the points raised by CVN that the June 30 schedule is unrealistic for any kind of legitimate rezoning process. More on this in another coming post. Here follows, with permission, the full text of the CVN letter that outlines clearly the issues and quotes directly from the City’s reports with the related links.
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May 21, 2024
City of Vancouver
Dear Mayor Ken Sim and Councillors,
Re: Response to New Provincial Legislation: Bills 44, 46 and 47
Agenda 2024-04-23: https://council.vancouver.ca/20240423/regu20240423ag.htm
Report: https://council.vancouver.ca/20240423/documents/r1.pdf
Minutes: https://council.vancouver.ca/20240423/documents/regu20230423min.pdf
Staff Presentation: https://council.vancouver.ca/20240423/documents/r1-staffpresentation.pdf
The Coalition of Vancouver Neighbourhoods (CVN) has many concerns regarding the new provincial legislation, Bills 44, 46 and 47. We find the current June 30, 2024 schedule for local and city-wide rezoning to be completely unrealistic, as it will neither allow for any legitimate public process nor a proper infrastructure review. We request an extension to at least the end of 2024 or preferably spring 2025.
This rezoning includes a large area of Kitsilano in RT7 and RT9 zones; rezoning the entire First Shaughnessy Heritage ODP; designation of Transit Oriented Areas city-wide with rezoning policies; and changes to the Parking Bylaw to eliminate minimum onsite parking requirements.
There was no public consultation or meaningful opportunity to review the staff report, with only three working days to review it online. No staff presentation materials were made available in advance, and there was no opportunity to speak at the Council meeting.
Further, we strongly object to the City endorsing the provincial changes to the Vancouver Charter and rezoning mandates, without public consultation from a local perspective. These bills were rushed through provincial legislation, without any debate on the Vancouver Charter portion of the bills prior to closing debate and forcing a vote. UBCM has confirmed that municipalities were forced to sign non-disclosure agreements to discuss the proposed bills with the province in advance of approval, with no public consultation process.
A Freedom of Information request revealed that development industry promoters and lobby groups were the sole advisors involved in the so-called “experts” panel that the Province consulted on the housing bills, based on a very flawed report the panel produced with questionable assumptions. There was no public consultation or extensive planning analysis that would justify such sweeping actions to transfer land use planning authority from municipalities to the Province for this one-size-fits-all rezoning across the entire province.
Land use planning authority should be under the control of municipal local and regional governments , not the Province. There is no legitimate justification for these bills.
We are also concerned that the City of Vancouver is exceeding infrastructure capacity, and we strongly recommend that an infrastructure review be part of further planning for rezoning.
A subsequent Council report dated May 14, 2024, Provincial Housing Targets Order – 6 Month Interim Report: October 1, 2023 – March 31, 2024, confirms the City of Vancouver will meet the five year targets, but needs further Provincial funding to provide affordable and supportive units. https://council.vancouver.ca/20240514spec/documents/spec1.pdf
This report confirms that:
“Despite lower than anticipated completions, there is an unprecedented volume of projects in-stream, with enough capacity in our current development pipeline to meet the Province’s overall completions target over the 5-year time frame.“
And further that:
“There are currently ~31,300 units of housing at different stages of application, exceeding the 5-Year Provincial Target of 28,900.”
This May 14 City Council report also confirms that the lower number of current completions over the last six months is due to market conditions beyond the control of the City of Vancouver. Although the City has approved development at a record pace over the last few years,
…”the timing for construction and completion of housing units is primarily dependent on factors beyond the City’s control, including capacity of the construction sector, inflationary pressure, access to funding, and financing for market and non-market developers.”
The Council report confirms that 99% of units were at market rents in housing completions over this six month period, with only 1% (11 units) affordable at or below HILS rents, and 0% were supportive units. To achieve the required affordable HILS and supportive units, it needs more Provincial subsidies that are beyond the capacity of the City to provide.
There are likely more affordable rental units demolished than new affordable units built.
The City already exceeds the provincial five year targets based on the record amount of developments currently in the pipeline. However, current market conditions have put many new already approved projects on hold, so there is no imminent pressure to rush further rezoning without a proper public consultation process.
The City of Vancouver is likely already exceeding infrastructure capacity. It is crucial that an infrastructure review be undertaken as part of any further planning for more rezoning.
Therefore, we request that the current unrealistic schedule of June 30, 2024 for local and city-wide rezoning be extended to at least the end of 2024, or preferably spring 2025, in order to have a legitimate public process and an infrastructure review.
Sincerely,
Co-Chairs Larry Benge & Dorothy Barkley
Steering Committee
Coalition of Vancouver Neighbourhoods
Network Groups of the Coalition of Vancouver Neighbourhoods
Arbutus Ridge Community Association
Cedar Cottage Area Neighbours
Dunbar Residents Association
Fairview/South Granville Action Committee
Grandview Woodland Area Council
Greater Yaletown Community Association
Kitsilano-Arbutus Residents Association
Kits Point Residents Association
NW Point Grey Home Owners Association
Oakridge Langara Area Residents
Residents Association Mount Pleasant
Riley Park/South Cambie Advisory Group
Shaughnessy Heights Property Owners Assoc.
Strathcona Residents Association
Upper Kitsilano Residents Association
West End Neighbours Society
West Kitsilano Residents Association
West Point Grey Residents Association
West Southland Residents Association
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Attachments below are graphics from the Council Report dated 2024-04-23
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