City of Vancouver staff recommends rezoning over 200 Cambie Corridor lots for townhomes

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Vancouver city staff recommend that the council allow 220 parcels in the Cambie Corridor area, currently designated for single-family and duplex housing, to be rezoned to potentially build some 1,600 semi-detached and semi-detached home units.

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“I think it’s wise. They would be avoiding the need to rezone lot by lot and wasting the council’s time when they go to rezone anyway,” said Tom Davidoff, real estate economist at BC University’s Sauder School of Business.

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The move follows public engagement on the idea of ​​speeding up the process of adding ground-level housing, the so-called “missing intermediate housing” in this area. It would involve the council approving amendments to the already existing bylaws.

It comes as the province recently said it will take zoning powers from municipalities that don’t begin to release plans to allow more second suites, townhomes, tiered duplexes, triplexes and quadruples on parcels that are currently zoned for detached single-family homes.

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Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon and Prime Minister David Eby said their new Homes for People plan, announced in early April, could lead to legislation in the fall that would apply to many areas of the province and “allow up to four units in a single-family home property,” or as many as six units if the property is near transit.

Some municipalities, such as Coquitlam, Victoria and Saanich, have already initiated more active plans and discussed them at a recent BC Union of Municipalities housing conference. Victoria, for example, adopted a missing-middle initiative in January that allows up to six corner, compound, or infill townhome units to be developed on most average residential lots without rezoning.

Others, like Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie, have raised questions about how municipalities will simultaneously cope with increased traffic, environmental impact and the need for more schools and hospitals.

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The 220 detached single-family home lots that have been identified by City of Vancouver staff are those that would not require significant sewer or utility upgrades that would need to be considered in a rezoning to accommodate multi-family development. They sit between King Edward Avenue and 55th Avenue and are in the middle of Oak and Ontario streets.

As of 2018, 625 townhome or townhome units have been approved, are under construction or completed in this general area. These involved 60 rezoning applications that were filed with the city council and took up about 20 percent of all public hearings in a year.

If the council approves the proposed amendment, it would eliminate the need for developers to file necessary rezoning applications for the next set of what could be 1,600 units of townhomes and townhomes, according to a staff report

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The general zoning for these 220 lots would allow townhouse and townhouse developments with a maximum floor space ratio of 1.2 and a height limited to just over 35 feet. The City would charge single-family lot owners or developers a cash contribution to achieve that higher density.

The City can collect enough money to pay for utilities and build the necessary density, Davidoff said.

“It removes the uncertainty and confusing circumstances that can lead to speculation,” he added.

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