People exit the Broadway-City Hall SkyTrain station in Vancouver, on March 20.Isabella Falsetti/The Globe and Mail
The City of Vancouver is moving to prezone huge swaths of its Broadway Plan area, a 500-block section of the city that stretches from Vine Street to Clark Drive and 16th to 1st Avenues.
The prezoned areas will allow developers to skip the lengthy and expensive site-specific rezoning process that includes public oversight. Developments would head straight to the development permit stage, without triggering a public hearing. The new simplified zoning allows a variety of rental housing types up to six storeys and, in some areas, 20-storey rental or strata condo towers that include 20 per cent social housing.
Housing advocates have criticized the move, saying it reduces public engagement and transparency. And prezoned areas will only increase with the city’s Vancouver Plan that is also under way, leaving the public out of the discussion around specific projects, and issues of height, density, environmental impacts, unit sizes and shadowing, said housing activist Randy Helten.
His group said the “area-wide rezoning for tower districts and six-storey districts” amounts to “deregulation.”
“Where did this come from?” asked Mr. Helten, a member of the CityHallWatch volunteer citizens group that monitors the Plan and posts regular development updates on its website. “The Broadway Plan was adopted in 2022 … turbocharged in December, 2024 with massive changes, and suddenly, just three months later, there’s this rezoning. There’s just so much going on. It’s like the fire hose of planning.”
The changes to fast-track development are outlined in a publicly available report and will soon go to council and then referred to a public hearing. Between March 4 and 18, the city sent out notification postcards to those living within the areas impacted. City staff also got feedback online, which they will include within their report to council.
Mr. Helten and others argue that the process should start over because of lack of public awareness and information. They also charge that the changes as written are vague and difficult to fully understand.
Former senior city planner Christina DeMarco said the city needs to show a clear map that makes it easy to understand which properties will be affected. The current map is a vague colour-coded guide that doesn’t show specifics. She also recommended a table that shows current zoning rights versus the proposed zoning changes, as well as details of the prezoning, such as permitted use, height, density and setback. She also suggests that city staff should hold at least two in-person open houses to answer questions from the public.
The Broadway Plan originally had a target to build 30,000 homes in the area over a 30-year span. That was increased to 41,500 units in mid-December, representing housing for an additional 64,000 people, according to the city. CityHallWatch and other housing advocates are concerned about the reliance on apartment towers for that density, and estimated the number of towers within the area had increased from 350 to 550, once built out. The city said the increased density aligns with the provincial legislation around transit-oriented housing. But critics say the plan covers several blocks outside of transit stations and, because the area already consists of one-quarter of the city’s rental stock, thousands of renters will, over time, be displaced. The city introduced enhanced tenant protections to address the displacement.
Mr. Helten sees the move to prezoning as aligned with the interests of those who want to grow real estate development, to the exclusion of affordable housing, urban planning and public engagement. He estimates there are about 150 developments in the pipeline so far, although many are on hold due to the current market downturn.
“And with an economic crisis facing us, you could see foreign money flowing in and buying up our housing, the hedge funds and so on. So, when you ask me about this rezoning policy, I see this as just one piece of the entire puzzle of what’s going on in eliminating public oversight and checks and balances. I call it radical deregulation.”
The recent changes include the Cambie Corridor Plan, where there are allowances of up to 26 storeys. According to the city, the “city-initiated rezoning” is to make development approvals easier, reducing the processing time by 12 to 15 months and costing less in fees. When an application is made for a development, the city will still notify neighbours and consider their feedback. Strata units are not allowed on sites with existing purpose-built rental buildings.
City director of Community Planning, Neil Hrushowy, said in an e-mail that prezonings match the visions of the two plans that were the result of years of considerable public engagement.
“Both the Broadway and Cambie Corridor area plans were approved by council following extensive, multiyear engagement processes,” said Mr. Hrushowy. “These plans provide policy direction for the areas but often require a rezoning to enable new types of development. Once adopted, the city assesses opportunities to initiate area-wide rezonings to match the visions of the area plans [also known as prezoning].
“When council approved the Cambie Corridor Plan in 2018, they directed staff to explore opportunities for city-initiated rezoning of sites that generate rental housing with 20 per cent below-market units. Similarly, the Broadway Plan outlines that development will be implemented both through privately-initiated rezonings as well as city-initiated rezonings where opportunities arise. Since adoption of the Broadway Plan in 2022, the city has begun implementing the plan and initiating zoning changes.”
Developer and real estate consultant Michael Geller, who’s been following the Broadway Plan closely, said he’s in favour of the change, but also concerned that pre-zoned areas might push prices upward.
“In principle, I think pre-zoning is a very good idea, provided what the land is being zoned for is appropriate,” said Mr. Geller. “So, in this regard, while I have no objections to the prezoning for six-storey buildings along the Broadway Corridor, I do think it’s wrong to prezone for 18- and 20-storey buildings in an area where they’re out of scale, and out of context.
“What remains to be seen is what impact the prezoning has on values, since we have witnessed considerable land price escalation, even when projects had to go through [site-specific] rezoning.”
Commercial broker Ian Brackett, of Goodman Commercial, said it’s “a very positive step and hopefully other municipalities will follow suit.”
Prezoning allows developers to move forward with more certainty and shorter timelines, keeping costs down. As well, he said projects will still need to meet city criteria through the development permit process. But none of this means a development bonanza any time soon, he added.
Although the six-storey rental is a desirable option, the problem for developers is the cost of assembling single-family houses isn’t economically viable, said Mr. Brackett. For high-rises, the below market requirement can add $17- to $18-million to a typical 18,000 square foot site, he said.
“We’ve seen very limited uptake of the strata options because the presale market has been soft and the 20 per cent social housing requirement is a huge burden,” said Mr. Brackett.