Incremental & Organic

 
The 2010 Norquay mass rezoning set as an objective for the local area “to evolve incrementally and organically.” Planners revel in such glib fantasies. Build in mechanisms to address plan consequences? Never.

 

 

At the start of 2017 a big newish Norquay house is up for … REDEVELOPMENT. This house was built in the year that Norquay planning started — 2006. Ten short years.

 

 

In the greenest city, you are now invited to fork over $3.2 million for the privilege of sending a quite serviceable house straight to the landfill. Well, maybe six bedrooms and 2800 square feet are both too much and not enough? Or maybe a greedy developer got whiplashed in the 2016 turnaround, and is getting desperate to flip?

For that $3.2 million, you get an almost-new house to tear down. Besides that you get a Halloween 2016 (check that date) development application to build two new duplexes:

        http://development.vancouver.ca/pc5651earles/index.htm

Everybody likes new, right? Ten years. So OLD. Just think how incremental and organic it could be to cram two of these boxes (see below) onto one lot. And set a fine precedent for all those surrounding teardowns.

 

 

Here’s hoping that incrementalism is taking hold, and that a #vanre crash is underway that will shut down this nonsense. P.S. This property sold on 17 January 2016 for $2,405,000. The 1 July 2016 assessment was $2,497,000 (land at $1,982,000 and buildings at $515,000).