Yes. The NDP government has a majority of seats in the BC legislature so any legislation they propose will be passed.
1 Like
Yes, this has little practical impact as developers in Vancouver buy up land around rail stations as soon as they know where the stops are. The requirements are more to prevent objections from residents slowing down the process when towers are proposed.
1 Like
In the Vancouver area I live in, 4-6 storey apartment buildings is the norm and they fit in well here. There is a very active street life. What concerns me is the 40-60 story towers being proposed in some nearby developments.
2 Likes
Canada is adding 500,000+ immigrants per year and they invariably head to the major cities.
4-6 storeys won’t really cut it.
Only way to fix this now and accomodate those folks is to build up. A lot.
Sure it will. Toronto is notorious for its missing middle (don’t know about other Canadian cities). If you overkill with high apartment blocks (well away from the train station) you create a whole new set of problems. You should know that from London.
1 Like
Sorry, reply was more about Vancouver. Toronto can still grow outwards.
They don’t have a lot of space so they need to build up.
4-6 won’t get you anyhwere in 5 years. You will be back at square one due to the 500k immigrants/year.
Canada seems like it has options. It could subsidize development of a new city along Lake Erie with a high speed rail connecting it to Toronto. It’s two hours by car ignoring the nightmare of traffic near the city,. High speed rail could make that <45 minutes. They have many miles of beautiful lake front that’s barely been touched.
But what about the vineyards?
That is by Lake Ontario (I think)
1 Like
Canadian federal government is “bribing” municipalities to slacken their zoning restrictions to encourage more housing. Vancouver is on board. Toronto is now following suit. Biggest change is for more liberal zoning in single family home neighbourhoods which I agree with.
2 Likes
I have no problem with greatly increasing the number of 10 to 20 storey buildings but 40 to 60 storey buildings create wind tunnels, perpetual shade and would destroy much of the appeal of living in Vancouver.
Housing supply should explode in Vancouver in the next few years as single family homes become four-plexes, 10 to 20 storey buildings are built around transit hubs and lower height apartment buildings on all major streets. That should also keep street life buoyant.
1 Like
I like this -
“Fraser also asked for minimum height requirements and stronger density requirements near transit, a streamlined permitting process, and a reduction of parking minimums.”
2 Likes
where i live, that brings out the torches and pitchforks. but we did away with SFH zoning in my town all the same.
1 Like
Lots of contentious city council meetings here as well, but we are moving toward a few higher-density projects. One of them right down the street from us. There is a huge weedy lot there now and the guy that owns it has been trying to build like a dozen fancy houses. Now I think that plan has shifted to about a hundred or so units of condos or maybe a senior-care facility
2 Likes
At least the seniors aren’t out burgling and stealing cars. Usually. And as boomers age, senior living areas will be in high demand. Surprised there aren’t even more.
1 Like
Yeah it seems like a decent fit to me. Main drawback would be all that ambulance traffic, but that’s probably less than the extra traffic from a bunch of younger condo-dwellers.
1 Like
There is always some opposition to changing the zoning away from SFH but it is incredibly selfish to fight it where housing is in short supply and expensive as is the case in Vancouver.
On my block, the small older houses have mostly been knocked down in recent years and replaced with large houses with maybe just a couple living in them. Would much rather see the remaining houses become four-plexes. I love our old house but it should be replaced with a four-plex after we leave it.
The land behind our back yard was rezoned for a six story apartment building so will be interesting to see if that happens.
1 Like
the SFH owners are the ones getting wealthier on the restriction and scarcity of housing. the motivation is hard to get past.
you could also develop your lot into a 4plex. leave it to chance and…the tear down that follows will be for a SFH built to the inch on all sides of what zoning allows
1 Like
I had thought of this but we would have no place to live during the lengthy construction period as this is our only residence. And it would be disruptive at our age to relocate temporarily to a rental facility. It would however be nice to live in a four-plex where our adult children and their kids could live in the other units.
2 Likes
This is why you need a winter home in Arizona. Yes, to stay in while your house is demolished and turned into a 4-plex. Depending on your lot size, you could simply add to the back without leaving.
1 Like