I Said, They Said

CC #132: "Commitments" made by city staff at today's Council meeting ... and questions arising...

Can you spot where the general public or neighbourhoods are included above?

The post below is 598 words, takes 3-1/2 minutes to read—30 seconds more than citizens are now allowed for presentations at Vancouver Council meetings.

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My previous City Conversation #131 was distributed to Mayor and Council the night before today’s meeting, at which I delivered CC #131’s remarks. it appears at least some Councillors had read my notes (there was a bare quorum and the Mayor was absent, as he has been for a third of Council meetings since taking office). I will need to review the meeting minutes carefully (not published yet), but city staff were forced to make some off script verbal commitments under questioning by Councillors. Given the two year time frame for the development of the first Vancouver Official Development Plan (ODP), based on the Vancouver Plan, I thought it would be good to capture what I heard for future reference:

Regarding the integration of the Vancouver Plan with Provincial Bills 44, 46 and 47:

So far, neither Council nor staff have any appetite to resist implementation of these Bills¹—neither their intent to eliminate most public hearings among many egregious effects, nor their two-year implementation timeline (for Vancouver) inherent in another Bill, 18.

Vancouver’s 22 neighbourhoods are not at all mentioned in the Vancouver Plan, which is slated to become the Vancouver ODP:

Several Councillors asked about neighbourhood consultation. The Vancouver Plan says nothing about this and reports virtually none that occurred. Meanwhile, the staff report recommending use of the Vancouver Plan to frame the Vancouver ODP specifically excludes the public from its “governance structure” (the word public is nowhere to be found in this key diagram at the head of this post). Under questioning, city staff insisted there would be robust consultation with neighbourhoods during the local area planning that would occur after the ODP is adopted. Stay tuned and stay vigilant.

BUT city staff also noted that part of their work would involve determining how existing neighbourhoods might best (presumably in their opinion) integrate with the Vancouver Plan’s seven “neighbourhood types.” Remembering Vancouver already has 22 neighbourhoods, stay alert about new neighbourhood boundaries and the methods for determining them—or eliminating yours.

Some unexpected fallout from staff/Councillor discussions about Bill 18, the Vancouver Charter Amendment Act, which received third reading² April 10, 2024—I missed that one entirely:

Staff interpret Bill 18³ as saying that while they must hold public hearings associated with adoption of the Vancouver ODP (good!), they are already not allowed to hold public hearings for rezoning projects that are consistent with existing or proposed ODPs such as False Creek North, Coal Harbour, etc., until these ODPs are folded in to the Vancouver ODP, presumably within two years. It’s not clear what that will mean in practice but to me, it doesn’t sound good. It’s also not clear whether, for example, an ODP for Jericho Lands approved after a public hearing currently scheduled for later this year will immediately preclude public hearings for any compliant project within that ODP. I think so and that’s worrying. Be wary of “No, it doesn’t really mean that!” explanations over the next while.

And once our existing ODPs are folded into the Vancouver ODP, then there will be no public hearings for rezonings that are consistent with that ODP. Period. Ever.

I still worry that the Vancouver Plan/ODP will eviscerate the life and soul of our city. How will we ever get any of it back? When city staff can prepare a report such as today’s that proposes a “governance structure” for the Official Development Plan implementation with absolutely zero input from the community and its neighbourhoods, how can we dare to hope for a democratic future? Answer: we cannot; we are lost. Our city is destroyed.

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Brian Palmquist is a Vancouver-based architect, building envelope and building code consultant and LEED Accredited Professional (the first green building system). He is semi-retired, still teaching, writing and consulting a bit, but not beholden to any client or city hall. These conversations mix real discussion with research and observations based on a 50-year career including the planning, design and construction of almost every type and scale of project. He is the author of the Amazon best seller and AIBC Construction Administration course text, “An Architect’s Guide to Construction.” and hoping to start in 2024 a book about how we can Embrace, Enhance and Evolve the cities we love.

1. I will write a bit more about these Bills in a forthcoming CC

2. Third reading appears sufficient to Council and staff to enact the Bill’s provisions.

3. The specific clause in Bill 18 is 559.02.