Vancouver ponders development acceleration, public hearing elimination

A public hearing on a controversial rezoning plan for the Broadway and Cambie Corridors will begin Tuesday.

Vancouver city council is considering big changes to its zoning and development rules.

A public hearing Tuesday evening could result in getting rid of such hearings in an effort to streamline home construction in large parts of the city – but some are concerned this is eroding the democratic process.

“It’s not that radical to think that people that are actually affected by redevelopment should have a voice and a say,” Fairview renter Teresa Alfeld told CTV News in an interview in her apartment on Tuesday.

Alfeld’s building has recently been approved for rezoning.

She’s among those who’ve signed up to speak at the public hearing on proposed changes that would streamline the development process.

“Things don’t have to go this way,” Alfeld said. “We don’t have to say, ‘Yes, let’s pre-zone the area, let’s cause massive land lift, let’s give a gift to developers. There’s actually an opportunity to fight back. The irony is that we’re speaking at a public hearing about keeping public hearings.”

The changes would mean property owners would be able to go straight to a development permit application.

They wouldn’t have to apply for rezoning in areas including the Broadway and Cambie corridors.

For those who believe more supply will moderate the city’s housing affordability challenges, the changes are considered positive.

“The pre-zoning is a good thing,” said Tom Davidoff, an economist with the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business. “It’s going to make the process faster so you’ll have a somewhat attenuated process for getting each project approved…That said, there are still very onerous requirements in terms of affordability and the tenure of housing units, so I would be surprised to see a big flood of projects until things turn around.”

While many renters are concerned about the removal of older buildings which have traditionally had more affordable rents, people believe more density is needed in a region where home construction has not kept up with a growing population.

“There’s a famous quote: ‘It’s easier to elect a pope than to approve a small apartment building in the city of Vancouver,’” said Russil Wvong with the Vancouver Area Neighbours Association, a group which regularly advocates for more density. “Part of the problem with a public hearing process is that people are self-selected instead of randomly selected.

“If you do a poll – or Burnaby held a workshop with randomly selected participants – what you find is that two thirds of people support more high rises near a SkyTrain.”

Not all experts are on board. Last week, 31 experts including urban planners, architects and academics sent a letter to city council expressing concern ahead of some of the key decisions, including this one related to the Broadway plan.

If Tuesday’s staff recommendations are approved the changes would affect more than 4,000 parcels of land with Alfeld concerned many others will suffer the same fate she will—displacement.