We appreciate someone following what is going on at Vancouver City Hall. If the Vancouver City Council had as much background as Brain Palmquist in architecture and construction we wouldn't have as much rubber stamping of projects from those who are not TECHNICALLY qualified to assess the construction of a building or supporting infrastructure. Therefore Rezoning Approvals by members of the City Council and the Mayor is strictly blind faith.
E-mail from Kent MacDougall, Rezoning Planner, Aug 9, 2021. Quote: The Urban Design Panel (UDP) does not approve or refuse projects or make policy decisions. The Urban Design Panel has been muted from City planning.
Um, the criticism I believe was largely that the modeled towers were far bulkier than was possible, creating a false massing, not that the heights were necessarily wrong ... the post above counters the criticism by addressing that which wasn't criticized, while ignoring that which was. This does not refute the criticism, which remains.
Doing the math on the proposed towers ... the average FSR is about 6.5 and the average height is 18.7 ... so the average floor area is maximally about 4,171sf (assuming 100' lot assemblies) whereas the render was for ~6000+ sf lots ... so the renders showed about 50% extra bulk per floor ... so they were wrong, and saying the heights weren't doesn't change their wrongness.
Math here ... and lo ... I was right then when I suggested that the renders were off by 50% (as in, 50% too much bulk):
E-mail from Kent MacDougall, Rezoning Planner, Aug 9, 2021. Quote: "The Urban Design Panel (UDP) does not approve or refuse projects or make policy decisions."
A copy of the email and 7 months of correspondence with Kent MacDougall is available. Just give me an email address and I will be happy to forward.
Here is the elephant in the room and its called transportation.
Despite popular opinion that subways are the magical answer to transit needs, they are not and far from it.
In the real world (the world outside the metro Vancouver bubble), subways are only built when ridership on a transit route exceeds about 15,000 persons per hour per direction on a transit route. In Europe, this number is over 20,000 pphpd for two reasons: 1) The modern tram can accommodate traffic flows in excess of 20,000 pphpd and the experience that subways built on lightly used transit routes tend to suck money away from other non subway transit routes.
It is also worthwhile noting, that Thales New Release regarding their winning of the $1.47 billion re-signalling program for the Expo and millennium Lines stated the following:
"When the programme is fully implemented, the Expo Line will be able to accommodate 17,500 passengers per hour per direction, and the Millennium Line will be able to handle 7500 passengers per hour per direction, a 32% and 96% increase respectively."
So, the Broadway subway will have a maximum capacity of one half the capacity deemed necessary for building a subway!
For further insult, if one takes the subway to go to downtown Vancouver, one will have to transfer either onto the capacity constipated Canada Line (it can only operate 2 car trains) or travel further to the Expo Line interchange and face a rather long and unpleasant transfer.
Part of the subway plan is to put bus routes like the Fraser St., Kingsway, and Arbutus terminating at subway stations. This means for many, where there was originally a direct service to downtown Vancouver, one will have to make one or two uncomfortable transfers.
Taking the car will be both much faster and much easier.
For those who think the subway will be expanded to UBC, well think again, ain't going to happen, with one exception and that is the abandonment of the Expo Line extension to Langley (cost adjusted for inflation $4.5 billion and TransLink claims that ridership on that part of the line will be less than the current 99-B express bus) and if allowed, funding will be transferred to the UBC subway. it is interest that $4.5 billion will pay for the Broadway extension to Alma, with aerial viaduct to UBC!
Still, the same issues with the Broadway subway will persist, with ridership being mainly $1 a day U-Pass holding students, which means massive subsidies to keep the subway in operation.
It even gets better. The trains used on the Millennium Line are proprietary and there is only one supplier Alstom and now only one customer, TransLink and when the last paid for train leaves the factory back east, production will cease because no one wants the damn thing.
This now means huge maintenance costs, of both the trains and subways will canalize the rest of the transit system, yet almost useless in attracting potential ridership along the massively densified Broadway.
No wonder TransLink is on the stump pleading for more money.
Within 20 years Broadway will be the scene of daily gridlock and congestion, with streets full of electric cars trying to go where transit doesn't.
We appreciate someone following what is going on at Vancouver City Hall. If the Vancouver City Council had as much background as Brain Palmquist in architecture and construction we wouldn't have as much rubber stamping of projects from those who are not TECHNICALLY qualified to assess the construction of a building or supporting infrastructure. Therefore Rezoning Approvals by members of the City Council and the Mayor is strictly blind faith.
E-mail from Kent MacDougall, Rezoning Planner, Aug 9, 2021. Quote: The Urban Design Panel (UDP) does not approve or refuse projects or make policy decisions. The Urban Design Panel has been muted from City planning.
Um, the criticism I believe was largely that the modeled towers were far bulkier than was possible, creating a false massing, not that the heights were necessarily wrong ... the post above counters the criticism by addressing that which wasn't criticized, while ignoring that which was. This does not refute the criticism, which remains.
Doing the math on the proposed towers ... the average FSR is about 6.5 and the average height is 18.7 ... so the average floor area is maximally about 4,171sf (assuming 100' lot assemblies) whereas the render was for ~6000+ sf lots ... so the renders showed about 50% extra bulk per floor ... so they were wrong, and saying the heights weren't doesn't change their wrongness.
Math here ... and lo ... I was right then when I suggested that the renders were off by 50% (as in, 50% too much bulk):
https://x.com/ianwrob/status/1522496619748286465?s=20
E-mail from Kent MacDougall, Rezoning Planner, Aug 9, 2021. Quote: "The Urban Design Panel (UDP) does not approve or refuse projects or make policy decisions."
A copy of the email and 7 months of correspondence with Kent MacDougall is available. Just give me an email address and I will be happy to forward.
Here is the elephant in the room and its called transportation.
Despite popular opinion that subways are the magical answer to transit needs, they are not and far from it.
In the real world (the world outside the metro Vancouver bubble), subways are only built when ridership on a transit route exceeds about 15,000 persons per hour per direction on a transit route. In Europe, this number is over 20,000 pphpd for two reasons: 1) The modern tram can accommodate traffic flows in excess of 20,000 pphpd and the experience that subways built on lightly used transit routes tend to suck money away from other non subway transit routes.
It is also worthwhile noting, that Thales New Release regarding their winning of the $1.47 billion re-signalling program for the Expo and millennium Lines stated the following:
"When the programme is fully implemented, the Expo Line will be able to accommodate 17,500 passengers per hour per direction, and the Millennium Line will be able to handle 7500 passengers per hour per direction, a 32% and 96% increase respectively."
So, the Broadway subway will have a maximum capacity of one half the capacity deemed necessary for building a subway!
For further insult, if one takes the subway to go to downtown Vancouver, one will have to transfer either onto the capacity constipated Canada Line (it can only operate 2 car trains) or travel further to the Expo Line interchange and face a rather long and unpleasant transfer.
Part of the subway plan is to put bus routes like the Fraser St., Kingsway, and Arbutus terminating at subway stations. This means for many, where there was originally a direct service to downtown Vancouver, one will have to make one or two uncomfortable transfers.
Taking the car will be both much faster and much easier.
For those who think the subway will be expanded to UBC, well think again, ain't going to happen, with one exception and that is the abandonment of the Expo Line extension to Langley (cost adjusted for inflation $4.5 billion and TransLink claims that ridership on that part of the line will be less than the current 99-B express bus) and if allowed, funding will be transferred to the UBC subway. it is interest that $4.5 billion will pay for the Broadway extension to Alma, with aerial viaduct to UBC!
Still, the same issues with the Broadway subway will persist, with ridership being mainly $1 a day U-Pass holding students, which means massive subsidies to keep the subway in operation.
It even gets better. The trains used on the Millennium Line are proprietary and there is only one supplier Alstom and now only one customer, TransLink and when the last paid for train leaves the factory back east, production will cease because no one wants the damn thing.
This now means huge maintenance costs, of both the trains and subways will canalize the rest of the transit system, yet almost useless in attracting potential ridership along the massively densified Broadway.
No wonder TransLink is on the stump pleading for more money.
Within 20 years Broadway will be the scene of daily gridlock and congestion, with streets full of electric cars trying to go where transit doesn't.
This is the future folks.