Above: Message in the window of the Flat Fix bike shop, on Victoria Drive at the corner of East Broadway. Closing permanently. See text version below.
Without housing for workers, there are no workers. Without workers, Vancouver doesn’t work.
For years we have pleaded with those in power to protect and prioritize housing for people who want to work and build lives in Vancouver. To be clear, we are not asking for more condo towers.
Effective action looks like greater enforcement and stronger laws against: money laundering, unproductive real estate speculation, empty homes/storefronts, and illegal short-term rentals.
Despite calls from all kinds of people from all walks of life including small and (big) business owners, no effective action has been taken by any politician, from any party, at any Level.
Vancouver’s housing crisis has gone from bad, to worse, to untenable. Meanwhile our federal housing minister, and many other politicians, run lucrative side hustles as landlording specu-vestors (look it up).
We wish we could end on a positive note. and we do feet gratitude. But we are also sad, and mad. And if Vancouver is your home and you care about the city, you should be sad and mad too.
The first day of the Development Permit Board (DPB) came and went on May 29th, 2023. Hundreds of people turned out to first rally outside of Vancouver City Hall and to then attend the DPB meeting. An overwhelming number of speakers were against the proposed development at 105 Keefer Street. The City’s Development Permit Board has the discretion to approve or to reject this proposal.
As all speakers could not be heard on May 29th, the meeting will reconvene on Monday, June 12th. New speakers can still sign up. Included above are a number of photos of the rally and meeting on May 29th.
Dump truck and trailer rig going south on Arbutus Street in Vancouver. Just one of hundreds a week this May.
[Update: Readers and followers are providing some very informative material. Some of it, we’re adding to the bottom of this post to share with all and for future follow-up. Anyone who happens to know of information about the truck routes being used, for example, from Arbutus station to the barges, please do share.]
At the end of May, these truck-and-trailer rigs appear to be running on Arbutus Street at one- to five-minute intervals, six days a week from about 8 am until late in the afternoon (including Saturdays). This spring of 2023, Vancouver has a constant flow of dirt moving through its streets. At an estimated 50 cubic meters per load, about 60 metric tons, this is a lot of dirt just on this section of Arbutus at 12th Avenue. With the Broadway Subway tunnel and underground station construction, plus the recently-approved (2022) Vancouver Plan, Broadway Plan, fully loaded, fossil-fuel burning, noise-emitting, road-wearing tandem dump trucks and trailers are everywhere, including quiet residential streets. This short clip shows a truck, likely coming from the Broadway Subway Arbutus Station excavation, turning south from West 12th Avenue, passing a pedestrian, and heading south. Where is all this dirt ending up? Into the Salish Sea? Just going along Arbutus, per week, this could be nearly 600 loads, or nearly 35,000 metric tons. For a future article, anyone with more precise details and links on this topic, please feel free to e-mail CityHallWatch at citizenYVR@gmail.com.
Some responses received below.
⚡DYK, the excavation matter from #Burnaby development sites is dumped into Straight of Georgia off UBC.
– Mysterious site off Point Grey is Canada's largest marine dump ("kind of a secret")https://t.co/wl5auKYmAo
The fountain at Laurel and West 7th Avenue (upper right) is currently inactive as a result of the City’s water conservation bylaw. Park Board will be considering four exemptions for fountains to this bylaw.
The agenda for the Park Board’s May 29, 2023, meeting includes an item to reactivate four fountains that had been shut down to conserve water. This item came up at the previous meeting on May 8th, when it was referred to committee in order to hear from speakers. The report states that there is consideration to ask water conservation bylaw exemptions in order to turn on the “Laurel, Davis, Barclay, Helmcken Parks as well as the Bute-Haro Street fountain”. The discussion will be around the pros and cons of the making these fountains activated vs. the amount of water that would be used. Currently, the water is not being recirculated.
In a separate item, the concept plan for the Main & 7th Park will also be up for review and possible approval. The plans for this park look identical to the one option shown to the public during the consultation process. Is this concept plan a good design and a good fit for the neighbourhood? Or are there significant shortcomings with the proposal from staff? Here’s a comparison between the illustration in the staff report and the one shown in the consultation phase last year:
A series of perspective images are included in the proposed park design package along with further details on this web portal: https://www.shapeyourcity.ca/main-7th-park. It’s unfortunate that the Park Board has not provided further information about the design proposal, for example in the form of a downloadable 3D model. The current site is a parking lot. It was identified as a future park in the Mount Pleasant Community Plan and in the Mount Pleasant Implementation Plan.
There is not enough seating in the form or real benches along Main Street (for resting), no drinking fountain, weak planting around the edges, poor siting of a stage, too much of a setback from the streets and a lot of paved concrete surface. The design proposes introducing stairs from the main entrance at 7th and Main Street that would cause issues with mobility access (thus force people with disabilities to use alternate entrances). On the plus side there’s an opportunity for partial tree canopy for a portion of the space.
Is this a design that reflects the “heritage heart” of Mount Pleasant, or is it weak design, with a hodgepodge of disconnected ideas contained in a porous and amorphous site layout that could be anywhere? Perhaps this process has the hallmarks of last-century consultation and contains missed opportunities and results in a weak design. Is it safe to say that this concept plan is a ‘no place’ and just bland?
Phase I of the consultation had a long wish list of asks for the space and a contained a number of ‘motherhood’ statements. Staff could then cherry pick anything from that wish list, and then turn around and show only a single design option in Phase II. Then after showing their one design option in Phase II, staff are presenting this to Park Board Commissioners for rubber-stamping.
Can we do better for $3.4 million? It is possible to say ‘yes’ to a park, but ‘no’ to this specific design concept?
LiDAR (3D point cloud) data from the City of Vancouver’s Open Data site (collected Sept 2022), viewed in Unreal Engine 5.2
The City of Vancouver has recently released 3D point data (LiDAR) on the opendata.vancouver.ca website. This data was collected in September of 2022 and released on April 18, 2023. The previous LiDAR dataset on the City’s website is from 2018. The release notes for this new dataset state that the points have a “Vertical accuracy: 0.081 metre (95% confidence level)”. This data can be very useful to get approximate heights of the ground terrain, of building and of heights other structures. The LiDAR data can also be used for other purposes, such as tree canopy coverage calculations.
Viewing the data
There are a fair number of freely available LiDAR viewers, such as QGIS and Cloud compare. It’s possible to download the file(s) for your area of interest directly from the Open Data site (the dataset is broken down into 67 square tiles to cover the city, saved in a .las format). The LiDAR data can also be loaded directly into a game engine, such as Unreal Engine 5.2.
It’s often a good practice to translate the points to a local origin during import in order to preserve precision. A possible offset to use for Vancouver is (-490000.00, -5460000.00)Height information can be queried by selecting points. In this example, the selected point has a height of 86.052m (it’s a good practice to take several samples to check the heights of several nearby points to find a good average).
The height information contained in the 2022 LiDAR data doesn’t replace a survey, but it might still be sufficient for general urban design analysis. These 3D points are far more accurate than height information from same other data sources, such as Google Earth.
West Broadway at Maple, 2022 LiDAR dataset. LiDAR stands for Light Detection And RangingThere is also a classification for the points which makes it easy to find vegetation and buildings (pictured West Broadway between Maple and Fir Street)
Every community needs a place, a heart or an urban room, where people can meet casually without having to text or call first.
The following article is written by Lewis Villegas, Urban Design Specialist, and it has been reproduced with permission (the original post is available on lewisnvillegas – the making and meaning of place). This post is from Lewis’ point of view as he shares details about the work that went into the creation of Chinatown Square (now Chinatown Memorial Plaza).
Remembrance Day on Chinatown Square
The opportunity to make a square in Vancouver’s Chinatown came in the 1990s when my good friend David Mah was chair at CHAPAC (Chinatown Historic Area Planning Advisory Committee).
David and I had met in college and studied art, building technology and architecture together. Almost a decade later the opportunity emerged to do something with what was then known as the ‘Keefer Triangle’. David said he needed a ‘planner’ for his design team. He would be the architect and another friend the landscape architect. I had completed enough revitalization projects by 1990, that I assured him I could ‘pass for a planner’. Of course we both knew what was really needed: design of the public realm to support much higher levels of social mixing. A place for people rather than cars. Although, of course, cars could be welcomed too.
2003 Chinatown Square showing proposed Pagoda and Museum and Archive building.
David and I felt that Chinatown was missing the all important physical Heart. Although the community’s heart was still alive and strong, there was no public place, no ‘urban room’, to stand as the symbol of this particularly important neighborhood in our city. Thus, from the moment he mentioned ‘Keefer Triangle’, I envisioned a square. And that became our design challenge: figuratively, conceptually, in every way except in actual fact, we would ‘add a leg to the triangle’ and build a square. A people place. 30 years later it is nothing short of remarkable how a very few public gestures have achieved so much.
2002 Pony Rides at a Community Fair Held on Chinatown Square (Photo: J Karakas).
The first time I went to look at the site I realized that the four trees that Joe Wai had planted in front of the gate leading into the Chinese Park lined up with the street trees further up Keefer. Thus, the design for the square was more or less ‘already in place’: all we had to do was connect the four trees in front of the park gate with the street trees along both sides of Keefer. All that was required was to plant a double row of trees extending right through the square, plugging into a design that was already existing in place. We would add a continuous ground plane, paving stones, pedestrian lamps and bollards. However, what we relied on most to make this site into a square is what I call the ‘Donut Principle’ in urbanism:
We know it’s a donut because it has a hole in the middle—everything else is just pastry.
Neighborhoods organize themselves in like manner. Provide a space—a hole—in the center and the community will organize itself around it. Buildings will sprout up; the people will come and fill the space with their many activities; and with the passing of time the place will seep into the local consciousness.
Meeting the People in the Neighborhood
Of course, in order to design a place for the community one had to meet the community, listen to their stories… and ‘ask stupid questions’ confident that the answers will be seeped in the story of place. At that time Horace Lee was still attending daily at the gas station he had built with his brother, the Lee Brothers Garage, on Keefer right next to the triangle. I met often with Horace and we had many discussions. He told me that originally the back of the buildings on the south side of Pender fronted on False Creek. In those days everyone owned a boat and they would go out and fish. Salmon was plentiful. Photographs on the walls of his office showed their catch being smoked. He also had photos of the Chinese Canadian battalion that had fought in WWII.
Chinatown Memorial Plaza with 105 Keefer in the background
The Development Permit Board will be reconsidering a Beedie Group proposal for a 9-storey building at 105 Keefer Street on Monday, May 29th [Update: the meeting will continue on June 12th to continue to hear from speakers]. The same design that was turned down by the board in 2017 will be up for consideration again, as a result of a court ruling.
Interested speakers can signed up to speak at the May 29th meeting (please see the agenda here, note deadlines). While the meeting will also be live-streamed, speakers will have to be present in person at City Hall in order to address the Board (sign up information from the City’s DPB website is as follows: “If you wish to speak to an item, register with the Development Permit Board Assistant at 604-873-7770 or kathy.cermeno@vancouver.ca or may.sem@vancouver.ca.”).
In addition, members of the public can make written submissions up until the time of the meetings; however, submissions for consideration in the staff report have a deadline and should be sent in by Monday, May 22nd. The City is accepting Public Comments via the a webpage for 105 Keefer on the following ShapeYourCity.ca web page: https://www.shapeyourcity.ca/105-keefer-st
The proposed design is for a 9-storey building with 111 residential units, three levels of underground parking, retail uses at grade and a Floor Space Ratio of 6.50. The context of the site is highly sensitive, as it is on Chinatown Memorial Plaza, across from the Chinese Culture Centre and Dr. Sun-Yat-Sen Park. The proposed building is very bulky as it attempts to maximize site coverage (as seen in the 6.50 FSR).
The SaveChinatownYVR substack page (hashtag #SaveChinatownYVR) contains several articles that go into the details and describe many of the flaws of the proposed design. Recommended reading. See also their tips on letter writing.
The City of the Vancouver and the Development Permit Board still have discretion to reject or to approve the proposal for 105 Keefer. The court ruling was a split decision on points between Beedie (Keefer Street) Holdings Ltd. and the City of Vancouver, with the end result of the City being required to reconsider the Development Application under the existing zoning and design guidelines at the time of the refusal in 2017. The text of the court decision is over here: https://www.bccourts.ca/jdb-txt/sc/22/21/2022BCSC2150.htm
We’ll provide additional analysis of this proposal at 105 Keefer in the upcoming weeks as well as some of the history about the site and context.
According to the Information Sign posted on the property, the City received this development application on February 15, 2023. This application was posted to the City’s ShapeYourCity.ca portal on May 1, 2023.Level 2 floorplan of proposed design (cropped) as provided by the City of Vancouver in the Development Permit Board Report (Appendix D, page 7 of 17). Does the quality of drawings in the City’s report leave for a lot of improvement, or is this the best that staff can do?Continue reading →
Above: The icon for the noise survey in May 2023 depicts the various types of noise typically experienced in urban areas. Credit City of Vancouver.
(Post-event update: This webinar concluded successfully with great presentations, discussion, ideas, and networking. More content is being added to this page even after the event. Consideration is under way for next steps. To be continued! Everyone is encouraged to learn about the issues of noise, plus the regulations in Vancouver, and certainly do participate in the city’s official survey before the May 30 deadline. )
The City of Vancouver is undertaking an extensive review to modernize and enhance the Noise Control By-law, seeking input from everyone who lives, works or operates a business in Vancouver (more info at this link “What are your thoughts about noise in Vancouver”).
CityHallWatch sees this as a good opportunity for a public discussion about the issue of noise, where is the balance between human activities and quiet? What about regulation and enforcement? What are your top concerns, ideas, and suggestions about urban noise?
Participants might gain some valuable input that will help them complete the City’s online survey (at this link, deadline May 30 – https://www.shapeyourcity.ca/noise-control-by-law-review/survey_tools/survey), empower them to advocate for the kind of soundscape they would like (and/or can accept) in their city.
Title: CityHallWatch webinar and chat (Thu – 18 May – 7pm): Vancouver Noise: Your concerns/ideas and the City’s bylaw review
Date: Thursday May 18, 2023 Time: 7 pm start, for 60 minutes. (“Doors” open 6:50 with opening video) We will do a “soft” closing at 8 pm, but persons who wish to remain will be able to stay on to continue discussions) Where: Online (Zoom – register first to receive actual meeting link) Host/moderator: Randy Helten, CityHallWatch Media Foundation
– Background: Overview of noise topics, Vancouver’s noise bylaw, the current survey – Arline Bronzaft, PhD (health impacts of noise, New York City Noise Code, enforcement) – Elvira Lount (beach noise, party boats, special events, dealing with enforcement in Vancouver) – Geoffrey Blair, MD, FRCSC – Jan L. Mayes, retired audiologist – Holly Hayes, A Beach for Everyone – Other valuable input has been received (construction noise, neighbour noise, etc.), and will be presented by the moderator
2. Moderated discussion and open floor (30 min.)
Note that we will do a soft closing at 8 pm, but may continue for those who wish to remain.
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PANELISTS (about 4 min each)
Arline Bronzaft, PhD: Environmental psychologist and long-term researcher, writer and consultant on the effects of noise on mental and physical health for over five decades. In her hometown of New York City she has been continuously appointed by five NYC mayors to the Board of GrowNYC where she oversees its noise activities, and assisted in the 2007 revision of New York City’s noise code. She is also a Board Member of Vancouver’s Right to Quiet Society.
Elvira Lount (local activist/filmmaker, founder of Keep Kits Beach Wild and former board member of Right to Quiet society)
Dr. Geoffrey Blair: Retired Pediatric Surgeon who for more than 30 years worked at British Columbia Children’s Hospital where he was the Surgeon-in-Chief from 2001 to 2010. Currently, a UBC Clinical Professor, he teaches Surgery at the medical school. As an advocate for environmental protections and especially with concerns for the welfare of all children, he has helped to inject climate health issues into the school’s curriculum. He has also lobbied for years for a ban on gas-powered lawn equipment in the city of Vancouver.
Other materials have been received, and will be presented by the moderator.
– Randy Helten (Intro and overview) (0:00) – Arline Bronzaft, PhD (health impacts of noise, New York City Noise Code, enforcement) (10:25) – Geoffrey Blair, MD, FRCSC (leaf blowers) (21:32) – Randy Helten (construction noise) (30:14) – Elvira Lount (beach noise, party boats, special events, dealing with enforcement in Vancouver) (33:30) – Holly Hayes (efforts of the group ‘A Beach for Everyone’ to advocate for a healthy sound environment on beaches in Vancouver’s West End) (40:33) – Maggie (quote about neighbour noise, as one example) (49:05) – Jan L. Mayes (cognitive and health impacts of noise) (50:48) – Discussion (53:38)
Residents love their soundscapes and have various concerns about a variety of noise sources (traffic, construction, sirens, parties, boats on the water, amplifiers and buskers, leaf blowers, and more). We know that people do pay attention to the sound environment. More and more scientific research is coming out about the human health benefits of quiet and the ability to have access to natural sounds. And about the need for quiet for all forms of wildlife, even insects to survive and thrive in their ecosystems and lifecycles.
CityHallWatch invited the City of Vancouver to provide a speaker/panelist for this event. They graciously declined, saying “We hope to hear from as many people as possible and thank you for amplifying this survey. … the online survey is just the first phase of this multiphase review, which will help provide areas of focus for further review. Given this is the first phase of this process, staff are seeking to understand people’s thoughts and concerns, and don’t yet have options to present to the public.”
Right to Quiet Society for Soundscape Awareness and Protection (extensive resources, highly recommended): https://quiet.org/ especially the Resources page: https://quiet.org/resources/
Noise and neighbours (People’s Law School): An excellent resource about neighbour noise (what you should know, how to work out problems, helpful agencies, free or low-cost legal help, finding a lawyer or mediator. https://www.peopleslawschool.ca/noise-and-neighbours/
Quiet Communities, Inc. (QCi) is a nonprofit U.S. organization dedicated to helping communities reduce health and environmental harm from noise and pollution. Five programs are Quiet Landcare, Quiet Coalition, Quiet Healthcare, Quiet Empowerment, and Quiet American Skies. They strive to generate long lasting structural and behavioral changes that result in quieter, more sustainable, and more livable communities: https://quietcommunities.org/
Motor Vehicle Act Regulations (Division 7A): No person shall start, drive, turn or stop any motor vehicle, or accelerate the vehicle engine while the vehicle is stationary, in a manner which causes any loud and unnecessary noise in or from the engine, exhaust system or the braking system, or from the contact of the tires with the roadway. Link: http://www.bclaws.ca/civix/document/id/complete/statreg/26_58_04
New York City Noise Code (This Code balances the important reputation of New York as a vibrant, world-class city that never sleeps, with the needs of those who live in, work in, and visit the city. The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Police Department (NYPD) share the duties of enforcing the Noise Code.): https://www.nyc.gov/site/dep/environment/noise-code.page
City of Vancouver Noise Bylaw Review: Input on Health Impact, by Jan L. Mayes, MSc, Audiologist (Retired), 18-May-2023. Paper with specific comments for Vancouver’s bylaw review (7 pages) including noise exposure limits, noise-sensitive groups, sleep disturbance, noise reduction prevents future costs, improving noise prention actions, and extensive info sources. Link: https://cityhallwatch.files.wordpress.com/2023/05/cov-bylaws-v2-noise-and-health-risks-jan-l-mayes-may-2023.pdf
“Quiet Parks and Quiet Spaces” (Video) (In observation of the 27th annual International Noise Awareness Day (INAD), and to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Vancouver based Right to Quiet, a virtual forum was held on April 27, 2022 examining the health enhancing benefits of quiet green spaces, and the importance of protecting such spaces from noise pollution for the benefit of humans and urban wildlife.”): https://youtu.be/T27p9Wjg8rI
“Hear Nature again,” a compilation (video) created by Elvira Lount for this webinar, focusing on illegal amplified music in our parks, buskers, party boats and special event noise. (2:14) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrLPppHBAkM
Noise Is All around Us—and It’s Affecting You More than You Think (During the pandemic, our noise levels dropped and the world changed. Should we fight for more quiet?) by Bojan Fürst, The Narwhal, 19-May-2023. Link – https://thewalrus.ca/noise-ethics/
Noise pollution and violent crime (article). Every 1 dB increase results in 1.6% increase in violent crime rate. Every 4.1 dB increase results in a 6.6% increase in violent crime rate. Decreasing noise pollution could decrease violent crime rate (which has impact on social interactions, policing costs, etc.). Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047272722001505
‘It’s maddening’: Vancouver Broadway Subway construction noise affects neighbours (City News video 3 minutes, 18-May-2022. It’s a noisy nightmare for a man who lives and works right next to the Broadway Subway construction. Why he says the City of Vancouver won’t do anything about his complaints. Crystal Laderas reports.) Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_4L9BciB38
$35 million project to replace 20 km of SkyTrain Expo Line’s rails will help reduce noise (In recent years, TransLink has been looking to mitigate growing noise issues on SkyTrain through a range of measures and has conducted extensive studies on pilot projects on solutions.) Kenneth Chan, Daily Hive, 12-May-2023. https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/skytrain-expo-line-rail-replacement-project-federal-funding
What are the City’s rules and practices regarding when and how to publish crucial public information?
The sooner the better when it comes to learning about a public hearing, meeting, open house, or public consultation. Conversely, delayed access to information can put people and neighbourhoods at a disadvantage and reduce their chance to prepare, study up, and develop input to the City.
CityHallWatch asked City Hall for an update on meeting notifications, and received a response from the Communications department. Here is what we learned.
Staff are working on a Public Notice By-law to be presented to an upcoming Council report (no scheduled date yet). The new bylaw will address public notification for various matters, including public hearings. Currently, the Vancouver Charter governs what is required as a bare minimum.
Currently, below are the ways the City does public notification for public hearings:
Print ad notification – The Charter requires that two ad notices be placed in a locally circulated newspaper. The ads must appear in different weeks and the last ad must run at least 7 days prior to the public hearing. The City generally runs two ads in Vancouver is Awesome on Tuesdays, in the two weeks prior to the public hearing. Sometimes Vancouver Sun is used for one of the ads, as it publishes daily (Tues-Sat), but still within the time requirements of the Charter. [Example: For the May 9, 2023 Public Hearing, an advert appeared in the Vancouver Sun on May 2.]
Below is a public service announcement from City of Vancouver, plus some online resources we have put together. Vancouver’s online survey ends May 30, 2023. CityHallWatch held an online webinar with experts on May 18 on this topic. (See link for lots of materials/resources plus the video recording – https://cityhallwatch.wordpress.com/2023/05/12/chw-webinar-vancouver-noise-may-18/ )
As an aside, did you know that International Noise Awareness Day this year was on April 26, 2023? Did you know that Vancouver is the proud home of the Right to Quiet Society, a wonderful resource. This consultation and review process by the City of Vancouver is a great opportunity for public input. People experience many kinds of noise in cities, and it affects us and the natural environment.
The City of Vancouver is undertaking an extensive review to modernize and enhance the Noise Control By-law. As a part of the first phase of this multi-year project the City is seeking input from everyone who lives, works or operates a business in Vancouver.
The City is asking people to share what they think about the City’s approach to regulating noise in Vancouver and identify areas that could be improved. The online survey should take around 10-15 minutes to complete.
The City supports protecting the public’s right to enjoy public spaces without unreasonable noise nuisances, while also supporting economic and cultural activity and growth. Feedback received will help identify area of focus for staff and shape future revisions to the by-law. Results will be included in an update to Council later this year.
Get involved
Visit the Shape Your City page to learn more about the Noise Control By-law review and to complete the online survey, which is open until May 30. Auto-translations are available at the top of the page.
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RESOURCES (compiled by CityHallWatch – we welcome more suggestions)
CityHallWatch: Tools to engage in Vancouver city decisions 