The following letter was sent to Vancouver City Council.
Download PDF: CVN Letter to council-Motion B1.02.25.19
February 25, 2019
City of Vancouver Council
Dear Mayor Kennedy Stewart and Councillors,
Re: Motion B1 – Emergency Interim Zoning Policy for Broadway Corridor to UBC Meeting Feb.26, 2019
The Coalition of Vancouver Neighbourhoods (CVN) does not support the proposed Motion B1. Although we appreciate the intent of avoiding land speculation and protecting existing rental housing, we disagree with the neighbourhoods in the Arbutus to UBC extension being designated a subway planning area corridor. These measures should be incorporated into the collaborative city-wide planning process rather than as corridor planning.
Some of the facts around this issue are as follows:
- While Vancouver City Council recently approved the technology they would like to see used on the transit route from Arbutus to UBC, no decision has as yet been made by the governing Mayors’ Council or other levels of government on this issue.
- Funding of this project is expected to be made next year, at the earliest, according to TransLink.
- As stated in the Motion’s “Whereas”, City Council passed a motion on Nov. 14 supporting the development of a city-wide plan.
- Again, as stated in the Motion’s “Whereas”, Transit Oriented Development leads the speculative real estate market in most major North American metropolitan areas, especially and including Vancouver.
Some of our concerns with this motion are:
- The proposal to create “an Arbutus to UBC Subway Extension planning area” extending roughly from West 16th Avenue on the south to West 1st Avenue on the north, and excluding the Jericho Lands. These limits are identical to the previously defined ‘Broadway Corridor’ between Commercial and Arbutus and beg the question whether similar planning will follow in this secondary location. It also indicates that this area is being separated out from the City’s earlier declared principle to seek a new ‘city-wide plan’. And why are the Jericho Lands being separated out as well? Is Jericho also not a part of the city-wide plan? This sounds like business-as-usual, not creative thinking in a search for new planning paradigms.
- The establishment of a city-wide plan, or the use of a “city-wide plan process”, should not be one of the presented options, it should be the only option. The previously used and yet to be changed planning processes are a failure. The last election called for a change. This change has to start now.
- The Broadway Planning Process (BPP) should not be used for this corridor or the included neighbourhoods. The area east of Arbutus presents very different conditions, has very different needs, very different resources, and a very different character than the area to the west. The BPP should not be considered west of Arbutus. The entirety of Broadway from Commercial to UBC is not one homogeneous area.
- Any zoning changes, from rental-only zoning to interim rezonings should and must be dealt with in the context of the new city-wide planning process.
- We do not support any Broadway Plan interim rezoning, as per the above.
- All applications for development approval should be considered within the context of a city-wide planning process, or through some creative, as-yet-to-be-determined transitional planning process, which should be developed in collaboration with the affected neighbourhoods.
- No rezoning applications should be considered at the discretion of the Director of Planning.
We do not support this motion. We would prefer to see a city-wide planning process instituted as soon as possible that would facilitate the handling of issues such as these. For that to happen, we need to get started. Let’s get started!
Sincerely,
Larry Benge, Co-Chair, Dorothy Barkley, Co-Chair
On behalf of the Coalition of Vancouver Neighbourhoods
Member Groups of the Coalition of Vancouver Neighbourhoods
Arbutus Ridge Community Association
Arbutus Ridge/ Kerrisdale/ Shaughnessy Visions
Cedar Cottage Area Neighbours
Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood Council
Dunbar Residents Association
Fairview/South Granville Action Committee
False Creek Residents Association
Grandview Woodland Area Council
Greater Yaletown Community Association
Joyce Area Residents
Kitsilano-Arbutus Residents Association
Kits Point Residents Association
Marpole Residents Coalition
Norquay Residents
NW Point Grey Home Owners Association
Oakridge Langara Area Residents
Residents Association Mount Pleasant
Riley Park/South Cambie Visions
Shaughnessy Heights Property Owners Association
Strathcona Residents Association
Upper Kitsilano Residents Association
West End Neighbours Society
West Kitsilano Residents Association
West Point Grey Residents Association
