The newly minted 麻豆传媒映画city council made its first significant decision of its term Wednesday in beginning the process to develop a city-wide plan that aims to give residents, business owners and builders more certainty about how neighbourhoods might be developed.
The unanimous vote on a motion introduced by Green Party Coun. Adriane Carr was since many of the councillors elected and re-elected in the Oct. 20 election campaigned on the need for a plan that would better map out how growth should be accommodated across the city.
鈥淭his new council is making our mark,鈥� said Carr in her closing comments before the vote. 鈥淭his is a new era that is going to be very different in terms of engaging people in the discussion of what kind of city we want 麻豆传媒映画to be.鈥�
Critics of the city鈥檚 current approach to development have argued so-called spot rezonings in neighbourhoods have ignored community voices who want more say, for example, in what type of housing, businesses and public amenities should be allowed in their areas.
Harland Bartholomew wrote the last city-wide plan in the 1920s. In 1992, the city launched a neighbourhood-by-neighbourhood planning process called CityPlan, but it was stopped by the previous city council in 2010 before it was completed.
The previous council focused on developing community plans in Marpole, the Downtown Eastside, Grandview-Woodland and the West End while continuing to allow spot rezonings for highrises and other buildings, which saw residents push back and complain about lack of consultation.
In her motion, Carr recommended a city-wide plan incorporate a long list of requirements, including creating neighbourhood planning bodies, increasing affordable housing, growing local jobs, updating the city鈥檚 transportation plan to fit with the plan, improving public amenities, reconciliation and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
Green Party Coun. Pete Fry successfully added an amendment to Carr鈥檚 motion that said the new plan should be informed by 鈥渆quity, spatial justice and the fundamental right to housing.鈥� COPE Coun. Jean Swanson also got majority support for an amendment to ensure measures to protect renters from 鈥渞enoviction, demoviction and gentrification鈥� be included in drafting the plan.
Prior to the vote, Gil Kelley, the city鈥檚 director of planning, told council that overall development in the city would continue under current planning processes and that the city鈥檚 10-year-housing strategy would continue to be implemented and serve as 鈥渁 building block鈥� to the plan.
鈥淭his is an opportunity to look quite broadly and quite deeply into the city鈥檚 future,鈥� Kelley said. 鈥淪o I would say policies鈥攚hether they are recent or old鈥攁re fair game for review. I think this exercise, honestly, is more than a review of existing bylaws and plans. It鈥檚 an opportunity to actually think bigger than 麻豆传媒映画has done in generations, perhaps.鈥�
Stuart Smith, a board member of Abundant Housing Vancouver, told council the non-profit agency believes housing is a human right and that 鈥渉ousing in every neighbourhood in Metro [Vancouver] can and should be affordable and, most importantly, available to all.鈥�
Smith said he was pleased to see the new council wants a city-wide plan, but warned it is not a panacea to making 麻豆传媒映画more affordable. He argued planning is not neutral, democratic or scientific.
鈥淚t could be the next step forward, or it could tighten the stranglehold,鈥� he said of a new city-wide plan.
In terms of a timeframe to develop and finalize a city-wide plan, Kelley said 鈥渢here鈥檚 no substitute鈥� for taking time to conduct engagement and do 鈥渢he big picture thinking.鈥� Along the way, he added, some experimentation and interim moves could be done that will likely be consistent with the final plan.
鈥淲e look for those opportunities to make some quick wins,鈥� he said.
Carr鈥檚 motion requested a public engagement process be launched in the spring of 2019.
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