[Vancouver, B.C., December 9, 2024] A number of Vancouver’s most experienced and awarded planning, urban design, developers and architects have signed an open letter to Mayor and Council asking to pause the Broadway Plan and meaningfully consider the many issues raised in the letter (image above, PDF and text below).
Issues raised in the letter include; the serious impact on tenants threatened with eviction, inadequate tenant protections, the loss of thousands of older affordable units, land banking and profit speculation, the impact on community and social fabric and the focus on essentially one type of housing; small, mostly expensive units in towers rather than a range of housing options, including missing middle, which fit more sympathetically into the neighbourhoods Vancouver residents value so much.
Below are their additional comments accompanying the open letter.
Michael Geller, planner and developer and adjunct professor at SFU Centre for Sustainable Development as well as a frequent commentator on housing and development issues said: “Given the broad experience and expertise of the signatories to this letter, i hope City Council will pause the Broadway Plan and address the concerns being expressed.”
Scott Hein, former senior urban designer/development planner for the City of Vancouver, led the city’s Urban Design Studio for most of his 20-year career, founding board member of Urbanarium. Adjunct Professor Urban Design UBC, Recipient of the Architectural Advocacy Award from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada, said: “Sadly, the policies before council have lost their way. They will not lead to greater affordability. The opposite will occur with an exploitive/unnecessary bidding up of land costs producing higher rents and sale prices. The Mayor and Council have given up on bringing down the cost of housing through better management of existing zoning entitlements. They instead promote speculative behaviour that only benefits the have-mores. Shame on them for considering such uninformed ideas .”
Patrick Condon, Professor UBC School of Landscape and Architecture, author Broken City. Former city planner, James Taylor Chair in Landscape and Liveable Environments, founding chair of the UBC Urban Design program: “The letter is important because it clearly articulates, by a group of people who collectively have hundreds of years city building experience, and who are in many cases responsible for Vancouver’s international fame as a well planned and equitable city, a rethink of this plan for a second Vancouver downtown.”
Sean McEwen, Architect and affordable housing advocate: “When so many knowledgeable planning and development professionals ask Mayor and Council to reconsider a policy initiative as impactful as the Broadway Plan, our elected officials, including Provincial MLA’s, should take notice, and pause expediting approval, before serious damage is done to the physical and social fabric of our neighbourhoods.”
Larry Beasley is the former co-chief Planner of Vancouver from 1994 to 2006, author Vancouverism: “With something which impacts the whole city and so many settled communities, we need a widely shared path forward with the best advice we can secure from everyone – and we need to aggressively protect existing affordable housing stock. So, a short pause for a careful process to make sure that happens is essential. Disruption and displacement with so many victims is just too destructive for a responsible city.”
Filmmaker and local activist, David Fine mobilized this letter and is working on a documentary titled “Is this the city we want to build”. It features interviews with a number of the signatories of the letter as well as interviews with tenants who tell their stories of what it’s like to be threatened with the demolition of homes they love and do not want to be forced to leave. A 3-minute teaser for the film will be shown to City Council at a committee meeting on Wednesday, December 11, 2024, where they will consider major Broadway Plan amendments. The 3-minute teaser is available for viewing on Youtube here.
*************
Text version below
Open letter to Vancouver Mayor and Council. Dec 9, 2024
We, the undersigned, write with concerns about the Broadway Plan and especially the staff report to further expand the Plan. We appreciate and support the good intentions of bringing more housing and affordability to Vancouver’s crippling housing crisis, but as experts with years of high level experience in planning, development and architecture, we write to ask that Mayor and Council pause and consider the many issues with the particulars of the Plan and how it will impact our city.
- The Broadway Plan promised a measured buildout over 30 years, but we are seeing a frenzy of profit speculation, land banking, flipping and land inflation into the heart of vulnerable established, mixed use neighbourhoods due to the plan which, by the city’s own estimates, will demolish thousands of existing, affordable homes, resulting in forced resettlement to thousands of people in pursuit of what may be little if any net increase in affordable housing. This does not meet the City’s own affordability needs requirements in the Housing Needs Assessment released last June 25, as required by the Province.
- In a 30 year build out, existing good, affordable housing should be protected, not demolished. Renewal of aging housing can happen later in the plan when replacement housing is there for impacted tenants to transfer directly to.
- The destabilizing impact of evictions extends far beyond the people who are directly impacted as many in similar buildings live in fear of the same outcome. “when am I next?”. This is causing considerable emotional distress for thousands.
- The “Enhanced Tenant Protections” are helpful, but do not consider the many issues being experienced by tenants who are subject to eviction. The disruption and anxiety for many vulnerable renters is considerable and the protections do not adequately compensate or address meaningful failures in the Tenant Protections. Under the plan, many tenants are not being offered anything like equivalent replacement units when they do eventually return at some point in the future. The best ‘tenant protections’ is not to evict tenants!
- The experience of years of good planning practices, which Vancouver has been lauded for, are being ignored in favour of a reliance on one type of housing; small, expensive units in towers. Towers concentrated on Broadway and the immediate areas near transit make sense, but as we move blocks away from transit, we should encourage a range of housing which will suit families; low rise apartments, row houses, townhouses and infill which is sympathetic to neighbourhoods and organically enhances the community and social fabric so highly valued, instead of in conflict with it by dropping towers in the middle of RT and RM zones.
- Staff insist that the public consultation was robust, but much of the consultation took place at the onset of the pandemic and the vast majority are only now appreciating the extent and scope of this detailed plan. Residents understood the broad concept of a
revitalized Broadway and towers adjacent to transit nodes, but are shocked to learn of evictions, demolition and towers on residential streets many blocks away from the actual transit area. A meaningful public consultation about how the Plan is going so far and where it will go next is vital.
- The 350 page Broadway Plan amendment report was made available on December 4th and subsequently revised further the next day, adding 53 more pages. This leaves a scant 3 business days for public and experts to analyse and respond before Council considers the report for approval on December 11th. This is not a reasonable amount of time to consider the implications of a 353 page amendment document.
- The city signed on to the Regional Planning Strategy which supports job creation across the region. The Broadway Plan’s idea of attracting jobs to the Plan area is counter to the agreed strategy. The Broadway Plan seeks to bring people closer to their jobs in the Plan area, but instead it serves to drive families further away because they seek ground oriented and more spacious housing for their families, something which The Broadway Plan makes less attainable, not more. This means more commuting, more congestion and more emissions, not less.
We write to ask that the city pause the plan and consult more widely with the public and experts with many years of experience in planning, housing and development to discuss how to do the Broadway Plan more effectively to achieve the goals we all share, to build “A Better City” and to truly address our housing crisis.
Signed:
Ralph Segal, Former Chief Urban Designer, City of Vancouver.
David Ley, OC, FRSC, PhD, Urban Geographer, Professor Emeritus UBC, Order of Canada.
Christina DeMarco, Urban and Regional Planner, former lead planner for the Metro Vancouver Regional Growth Strategy.
Dr. Penny Gurstein, Professor Emeritus and Former Director, School of Community and Regional Planning, UBC.
Larry Beasley, CM, FCIP, Former Co-chief Planner of Vancouver, author Vancouverism.
Scot Hein, Former senior urban designer/development planner for the City of Vancouver, led the city’s Urban Design Studio for most of his 20-year career, founding board member of Urbanarium. Adjunct Professor Urban Design UBC, Recipient of the Architectural Advocacy Award from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada.
Brian Palmquist, Award winning architect and auther, AIBC MRAIC BEP CP LEED AP
Arny Wise, B. Comm., M.Sc.(Planning) U of T, Professional Planner MCIP, RPP (retired), Board of Directors, Toronto Economic Development Corporation (1990-1999).
Sean McEwen, Architect, AIBC, FRAIC. Affordable housing advocate.
Patrick Condon, Professor UBC School of Landscape and Architecture, author Broken City. Former city planner, James Taylor Chair in Landscape and Liveable Environments.
Barbara Gordon, Retired Architect AIBC and retired Director of Capital Planning, UBC
Lance Berelowitz, AA Dipl RPP MCIP, Principal Urban Forum Associates.
Elizabeth Murphy, private sector project manager formerly with the City of Vancouver’s housing and properties department, BC Housing and BC Buildings Corp
Michael Geller, FCIP, RPP, MLAI, Ret. Architect AIBC, Adjunct Professor, SFU Centre for Sustainable Development; School of Resource and Environmental Management, Faculty of the Environment.
Bill McCreery, BArch UMan; Sub Lt. RCNR, helped create North and South False Creek and thousands of units of developer & public housing in Vancouver.
Tom Phipps, Retired Senior Planner City of Vancouver (33 years)
Elvin Wyly, Urban Geographer, Housing Researcher
Graham McGarva, FRAIC, Retired Architect AIBC, M.A.
Sandy James, LEED AP City Planner, Managing Director Walk Metro Vancouver
Erick Villagomez, Lecturer UBC School of Communiy and Regional Planning, Principal, Mētis Design|Build, Editor-in-Chief, Spacing Vancouver
Norman Hotson, Retired Architect AIBC, FRAIC, RCA, HonPIBC
Mary Pynenburg B. Arch M. Pl. Former Project Manager and Director of Planning (New Westminster & Kelowna) MRAIC (Retired) MCIP (Retired)
END
********
