October 31, 2023
City of Vancouver
Dear Mayor Ken Sim and Councillors,

Re: Vancouver Plan Implementation – Land Use Policy Rationalization – Repeal of CityPlan Community Visions and many Policy Guidelines

Agenda – Nov.1, 2023:  https://council.vancouver.ca/20231101/pspc20231101ag.htm
Report: https://council.vancouver.ca/20231101/documents/pspc2.pdf

The Coalition of Vancouver Neighbourhoods (CVN) has major concerns about this report and how the Vancouver Plan is being implemented.  The report proposes the repeal of CityPlan Community Visions and many policy guidelines related to community plans, without transparency or meaningful consultation with residents. Many of the policies are still relevant. We request that the policies remain on the City’s website for reference and that the Vancouver Plan is implemented in a more inclusive and collaborative process rather than the current flawed practices.

There has been no public notice of this report beyond posting on the City’s meeting agenda and even the report doesn’t link to the actual polices being recommended for repeal. This reflects our overall concerns about both the process of creating the Vancouver Plan and now the first steps of implementation.

We disagree with the report’s rationale that the CityPlan Community Visions are past their lifespan of “10-20 year documents” when these Community Visions were to be for 30 years as they were further implemented into zoning plans.  While this CityPlan implementation process has been stalled by the City, these policies are not irrelevant.

CityPlan was adopted in 1995, however,  the Community Visions were not completed in each neighbourhood until 2010, well within their 30 year lifespan. These are not all old policies and were intended to be living documents that would go into an implementation process with further amendments over time using similar neighbourhood-based planning processes. In fact the WPG Community Vision, the last approved in 2010 for 30 years, has several directions related to the Jericho Lands planning process that are entirely relevant at this time.

Also, two of the Community Vision implementation Committees are still active with the City and part of our network.  Riley Park/South Cambie (RPSC) has been very involved with the implementation of the Cambie Corridor Plan and the Arbutus Ridge/ Kerrisdale/ Shaughnessy (ARKS) also works with City planners.

We also note that many of the RM4 guidelines included in the report for proposed repeal are related to current and recent community plans such as in Grandview, Mount Pleasant and Marpole. The RM4 guidelines are also still relevant for Kitsilano.

These existing community plans and visions involved hundreds of hours of community collaboration. However, rather than building on this legacy of award winning inclusive public planning processes, the City is instead abandoning best practices for planning transparency and consultation.

The report lacks transparency by not linking to the 72 policies and guidelines being repealed for council and public reference. While some of these policies may be redundant, many are still relevant and are important for historical purposes and planning background. They should at least be retained on the City’s website for public reference.

We remain equally concerned that the City is implementing the Vancouver Plan in the same way the Plan was created, with Council considering repealing existing policy without any meaningful public consultation or involvement, or neighbourhood-based context.

Sincerely,
Steering Committee,  Coalition of Vancouver Neighbourhoods 

Network Groups of the Coalition of Vancouver Neighbourhoods

Arbutus Ridge Community Association
Arbutus Ridge/ Kerrisdale/ Shaughnessy Visions
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
Marpole Residents Coalition
NW Point Grey Home Owners Association
Oakridge Langara Area Residents
Residents Association Mount Pleasant
Riley Park/South Cambie Visions
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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