THE CITY OF VANCOUVER is ignoring the height limits contained in the West End Community Plan.
The City is approving developments in the 4 inner West End Neighbourhoods that exceed the 6 storey height limit in the Plan, enabling developers to target the luxury condo market with higher buildings.
EXAMPLE: recent inner Neighbourhoods approval: 1150 Barclay: in April, 2018 the City approved the replacement of a 3 storey walkup with an 11 storey luxury market condo tower: 19 affordable units replaced by only 21 luxury units in a new building that is double the height limit and nearly triple the floor space limit.
WHAT ARE WE ASKING CITY COUNCIL TO DO?
IMMEDIATE ACTION: we are asking Council to formally adopt a motion stating the City’s commitment to honouring the 2013 deal it made with West End residents, i.e., in exchange for acceptance of super-towers on the Burrard/Georgia corridors and lower Davie/Robson Streets, the City will uphold and enforce the 6 storey height limit in the four inner Neighbourhoods. Higher buildings will be an exception, to be permitted only if and when there is compelling public benefit. (Building more luxury condos is not a public benefit).
LONGER TERM ACTION: amend the zoning bylaws in the West End to integrate the core principles and intent of the West End Plan. This is key to assuring the preservation of the characteristics that make the West End one of the world’s great urban neighbourhoods.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
Sign and share our PETITION. Share this web page and POSTER
Interested in finding out more?
Want to contribute your time and expertise to helping us?
Please contact us at westendactnow(at)gmail.com
THE ISSUE
The Plan was created after years of consultation with West End residents which resulted in a DENSIFICATION COMPROMISE:
Supertowers (up to 60 storeys) along Burrard and Georgia corridors and 20-30 storey towers on the commercial streets (lower end of Davie, Robson)
IN EXCHANGE FOR: Preserving a lower, more liveable scale in the 4 inner Neighbourhoods by mandating a 6 storey height limit.
Now the City is interpreting the Plan in such a way that the 6 storey height limit is meaningless.
West End residents were led to believe that the Plan would serve as an overlay on pre-existing zoning when the City considers using its discretion in approving developments in the four inner Neighbourhoods. But now the message from the City’s Planning department is that pre-existing zoning trumps any policy statements in the Plan, thus dismissing the time, energy and effort hundreds of West End residents and organizations invested in the Plan’s development.
This will lead to higher luxury towers in the inner Neighbourhoods, increased density and demand on public amenities and will extinguish the character of the West End that the Plan was intended to protect.
BACKGROUND
The West End community planning process took place over 20 months, starting in April 2012. Residents (renters and owners), business owners, Business Improvement Associations (BIAs), community groups, seniors, youth, developers, the LGBTQ community, multilingual groups, heritage advocates, service providers, academics and others participated in the 4-phase process. Engaging many viewpoints helped ensure the planning process was inclusive and incorporated input reflective of the West End’s diversity.
In 2013, community members supported a set of refined plan directions, including the West End Core Community Values [see below], which helped shape the WE Plan. The Plan focuses on neighbourhood character, housing, local business, heritage, transportation, and parking. In November that year, Vancouver City Council formally adopted the Plan. While not all West End residents were happy with the density compromise that would see super-towers constructed along the corridors ringing the community, the belief was that, in return, the character of the four inner residential Neighbourhoods would be protected.
But, on April 30th 2018, the City’s Development Permit Board (DPB) approved plans for an 11 storey luxury condo at 1150 Barclay Street that is double the height limit and almost triple the maximum allowable floor space ratio for the site. When challenged regarding the West End Plan’s commitment to preserving the 6 storey height limits in the four inner Neighbourhoods, the Planning department’s response was that zoning allowed for greater heights and density before the adoption of the WE Plan and that ‘nothing has changed that.‘
However, something has changed, i.e., the years and thousands of hours of community involvement in developing the WE Plan, at the end of which residents were led to believe that the low rise character of the four inner Neighbourhoods would be protected.
In its report to the DPB, the Planning Department chose not to mention that one of the six core principles of the West End Plan is that of maintaining the character of the West End’s four inner Neighbourhoods, including maintaining a primarily six storey height limit. This omission led the City’s General Manager of Engineering Services, Jerry Dobrovolny, to note, “It is problematic that the background [of the Planning Department report] omits what is a significant point in terms of the policy…which is relevant to the project.”
This kind of behaviour on the part of the Planning Department destroys citizen trust in the City of Vancouver. This is what West End residents were promised was not going to happen to our neighbourhood!
While our understanding was that the Plan was to be an overlay on existing zoning when the City considered using its discretion in approving new projects in the four inner Neighbourhoods, now the message from the City is quite different: if a developer assembles a site large enough to accommodate a much higher building under the pre-existing zoning, the 6 storey limit goes out the window. This was NOT the intention underpinning the WE Plan.
WEST END COMMUNITY PLAN: Core Community ValuesPhase 1: consultation identified the six core West End community values which, along with the key concerns, helped inform the plan directions developed in Phase 2:
1. Diversity
The West End prides itself as a diverse community that includes people of all ages, incomes, ethnicities and sexual orientations, and that has an eclectic range of building ages, styles, tenures, heights and densities.
2. Villages
Three distinct local business areas (villages) provide shopping, services, amenities and a vibrant experience for locals and visitors alike. These should be strengthened and celebrated!
3. Green and Leafy
The mature green, leafy residential streets provide a quiet, relaxing experience where neighbours converse, gardens flourish, and people regularly stroll by.
4. Walkability
West Enders love to walk! The community has the highest percentage of people in the city who walk to work, and the vast majority of people walk to get around locally.
5. Culture
The West End enjoys a range of cultural places and spaces that add to the livability, character and identity of the community. They help meet creative, social and cultural needs and are valued as spaces that need to be maintained and upgraded as the community grows.
6. Public Spaces and Facilities
The Seawall, West End Community Centre, Joe Fortes Library, Qmunity, Aquatic Centre, and Barclay Heritage Square, are highly valued by West End residents. These important places are viewed as being critical to ensuring livability, especially when space is at a premium in a high density community. These spaces and facilities will have to be maintained and upgraded to meet community needs.
SEPTEMBER 2018 update: MORE breaches to the Plan:
• 2030 BarclayCity announces 10-storey luxury development,
2 suites/floor; no amenity contributions, no rentals
• 1289 Nicola Street: Pending: City announces replacement of affordable rental units with 5 luxury condo units, 1 suite/floor.
The City of Vancouver 2016 Census recorded 47,200 people living in the West End. Together with the population of downtown Vancouver (62,030 in 2016), this is the greatest population density in the city.
The city's 30-year projection, if they adhere to the guidelines of the West End Community Plan, adds an additional 10,000 residents to the neighbourhood.
The 2016 City of Vancouver Census notes the median income of West Enders' at $51,410.
Analysis and Map by Andy Yan, SFU City Program
PROTECT + PRESERVE: media quotes related to promises in the Plan:
"The City is focusing on redevelopment along the arterials in order to protect the leafy side streets of the West End and all of those charming 3-storey walkups." ... "The (West End) Community Plan has been praised for its efforts in protecting the West End's lovely side streets and character buildings, upgrading of public amenities and relocating tenants displaced by redevelopment."
Kerry Gold, Globe and Mail, November 13, 2015
The Plan aims to strike a balance between development pressures and preserving the West End's quiet, tree-lined streets where 45,000 people live in only 112 blocks." "We'll be developing on Burrard Street and some on lower Davie, and over on Alberni, but not in the centre, that will be maintained..."
Vision Councillor Tim Stevenson, CBC News: November 20, 2013
On November 4, 2015, The Canadian Institute of Planners announced winners of its fifth annual Great Places in Canada contest. A jury of seven professional planners named the West End as the winner in the Great Neighbourhood category. The jury stated: "the West End makes it easy, safe and inviting for residents to walk and bike to work, to access thriving local businesses and to explore Vancouver's beaches, trails and Stanley Park. Transit access, traffic calming, street furniture, treed promenades, pocket parks and public spaces reflect a thoughtful approach to place-making. Home to the city's LGBTQ community, the West End's density is evenly matched by its diversity of residents, and by a strong commitment to creating an inclusive community that prioritizes affordable housing."