30 Comments

Thanks for all the tireless work Brian. It is important that the true details are shown.

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Not in favour. Thank you for your work and for bringing some reality to this plan. I felt a little like i was in a science fiction movie when in city chambers.

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The Citizen of the Year Award should go to you Brian for your diligence in unearthing the hidden facts of housing in Vancouver. We can only hope, and must work toward, having these facts influence the decision-making at City Hall.

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Thanks for documenting and presenting this mind-boggling overview. I don't think there's much joy for anyone in the current planning paradigm, including for developers who have cast doubt on their probable uptake of rental projects under the Broadway Plan, and by extension the Vancouver Plan. No joy for renters with median household income and below who would like to live in something decent and affordable. That will be a lottery with few winners.

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Jul 20, 2022·edited Jul 20, 2022Liked by Brian Palmquist

Great work, Brian. Here are a few other projects and plans that you may have missed:

Cambie Corridor

Oakridge

Onni-pearson dogwood

Heather Lands

Oakridge Transit Centre

Hogan's Alley revisited

I realize that some of these projects and plans may have been approved prior to 2018, or may not have been approved yet, but since they are so large, they will have a significant impact on your figures and basic argument.

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This is truly enlightening and frightening! Will there ever be a council that can think outside the prevailing ideology that more is better? Kennedy was a good MP for Nth Bby and led the charge against the pipeline expansion. This tho? Not so much. Smart and thoughtful growth that doesn’t outpace infrastructure development isn’t too much to ask.

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We already have city plans in place which were yesrs in the making and went through a public hearing process and passed into law by council. The Vancouver "plan" is just a device I can see as to bypass all that zoning which had neighborhoods as their guide to plunk down massive twin towers on a podium base everywhere instead. Oh and in answer to the question. I am opposed to the vancouver plan.

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Looking over this report, I have a feeling that the numbers are huge because of the market we are currently in for DEVELOPMENT and SPECULATIVE real estate. I suspect that the market is more sophisticated than it used to be 10 or more years ago.

In other words, in the past, developers and speculators would buy lands from other speculators based on a hunch or on their experience and intuition regarding development potential.

Now, since the market is so hot, and there are so many properties on the market that are held by speculators, the developers and speculators can afford to be more choosy with what they pursue.

Consequently, the land holders/sellers have to take their sites further along in the development approval process. Where in the past they could sell based on "OCP says such and such development potential", now they have to apply for rezoning, obtain rezoning, apply for a development permit, and maybe obtain a development permit in order to sell the property to a developer or another speculator.

So, what I am saying is, of those 380 plus sites, maybe half or more are owned and being pushed through the development approval process by owners who have no intention of developing the sites as proposed. They are simply looking to increase the property's value and improve its salability.

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THANK YOU Brian - this is a huge amount of data to assemble and present clearly. Our publicly funded City government needs to serve our citizenry (and council) by making planning permit activity visible, in an accessible way, once projects are underway.

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No, I’m not in favour of the Broadway Plan and will not vote for any mayoralty candidate or counsellor who is. I have already expressed my concerns via email prior to the vote. I will lobby my family and friends to do their homework regarding the faulty info city council is peddling. We deserve better than an 11th hour end run in July when there is an election in October. This council has put their cards on the table though, so residents clearly see what they stand for - densification, major disruption and development and lack of transparency; not to mention less affordability.

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Thank you for calling out some of the dubious statistics that seem to be presented these days. Is it under another name, or is the Heather Lands Rezoning included in these numbers?

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I was demo-evicted  from my home for the last 5 years and it is on your list.

The same development t company cleared out 3 other houses around the same time. All are on your list. I can share the

REAL NUMBERS OF RENTERS DISPLACED FOR NEW DEVELOPMENT

I was keeping tabs and informing / advocating for renters at my house and the other 3 houses all tenants were forced to move between May 2022-Aug 2022. Rezoning & development applications are still pending according to shape your city but 1 home was demolished yesterday and the other 3 will probably be gone by the end of this week.

All 4 properties have tenant relocation and protection policies as far as i know none were actually enacted and  developers obligations to minimize disruption to tenants and ensure they were relocated to long term housing was not met.

  I was treated horribly by the developers and the city staff supposed to protect tenants and hold developers accountable. I was not compensated,

( I should have been compensated 20000) 

I was evicted without due process or cause.  I had no assistance to navigate barriers to relocation I have due to disability and low income.  I  was only able to find temporary housing and I was harassed by developer for a year before being forced out of my home and twice being locked out without warning I did not have the assistance I needed to move al of my belongings

Renters displaced @

4088 Columbia - Where I was lease holder

5 Adults in private rooms sharing a 5 bed house  ( 3 Low income w/ disability) 

183 West King Edward ave

5 Adults in private rooms sharing a 5 bed house & 2 Adults in basement suite

Total 7 ( 6 People Of Colour  )

Also on your list is the development planed for the site these homes are on =

187 W King Edward Ave (DP-2021-00469)

-16 Townhouses selling for over 1 million each

165 West King Edward Ave

8-10 vulnerable tenants renting @ this sober living house for people in recovery run by ? Private organization

157 West King Edward Ave

Total = 6 Renters displaced

4 renters in 3 bedrooms on main floor

2 renters in basement suite

The new development planed to replace these homes  =

163 W King Edward Ave (DP-2022-00029)-

19 (1-3 bed)  Townhouses selling for over 1 million each

The 4 houses being demolished will not be replaced by any rental housing or affordable housing.

IN TOTAL 28 RENTERS DISPLACED 

AT LEAST  WERE 12 VULNERABLE / DISABLED &

10 AT LEAST RENTERS ( 3 with disability)  ARE ONLY HOUSED TEMPORARILY AND WILL AGAIN BE AT RISK OF HOMELESSNESS IN A FEW MONTHS

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author

Thanks, Adam. These are outside Riley Park/ South Cambie. I will cover them when I get to their neighbourhood. I meant to include projects in progress in RS/SC, just forgot

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