Archive for the ‘Information Resource’ Category
Population Increase 2016 to 2021
for Norquay Village Neighbourhood Centre
A question arose. What do the Canada censuses for 2016 and 2021 show about change of population in Norquay? To put the question more specifically: what do official numbers show about the population impacts of a mass rezoning of 1,912 RS-1 parcels in 2010?
Two quick answers:
One small area shows a change of +113.36%
Area 59153304 encompasses 2220 Kingsway
Overall “Norquay” calculates to a change of +7.81%
This figure is overprecise but a good ballpark, taking into account anomalies like 2 areas with no data for 2016 and 3 fringe areas that fail to map precisely. The no-data areas of 59150442 and 59153293 (south fringe) would show moderate additional increase. The substantial areas of 59151455 and 59151456 that lie outside of Norquay (east fringe and north fringe) have not undergone much redevelopment so far – no incentive from mass rezoning.
See the three tables below for detail.
Reminder: Norquay is the arbitrary inorganic ahistorical 1.5 sq km of East Vancouver that City of Vancouver decided to call “Norquay Village Neighbourhood Centre” starting around 2006. This area approximates the geographic heart of East Vancouver.
Consider: Population figures also is being lowered by uninhabited sites currently under development, or by sites where housing has been destroyed and projects are stalled.
Methodology
Official Canada census materials are forbidding of access. The web-user front-ends to 2016 and 2021 do not interoperate.
Fortunately, a real-estate web site –
– provides straightforward access to the desired population change data. A fine-grained level for 17 separate Vancouver Dissemination Areas coincides fairly well with “Norquay.”
Note: Considerable care has been take to make accurate use of this data. The involved process of transcription and calculation may have introduced error. If you discover error, your contribution will be acknowledged and this information will be updated.
Tables 1 – 3
Sidelight
On 22 March 2024, regarding “the Norquay area,” a yimby troll asserted how “censusmapper” shows the following population increase data –
only 1 area w/ increase of 17%, the rest 0 to 3%
– doing this to justify a companion Big Lie: how “modest but decent” amenities have come to Norquay.
As of 25 March 2024 the yimby troll seems to have deleted the Big Lies.
Stalled Missing Middle
… Is Not Red Tape
One Out of Five
This comprehensive review of Norquay Village Neighbourhood Centre demonstrates that simpler application processes and speedy approval will never guarantee quick completion of new housing projects. This collection of developer-stalled projects degrades public realm in our amenity-deficient mass-rezoned neighborhood.
Housing sometimes take a long time to get built. Developers and senior levels of government blame local municipalities and their staff for these delays. If projects did not have to go through a rezoning, they argue, badly needed “missing middle” housing would be built more quickly. The response is often to make the application process simpler and approval times shorter.
Does improving processing time solve the problem?
The 2010 Norquay Village Neighbourhood Centre Plan pre-zoned a residential area of 1,912 properties (1.5 sq km or 370 acres) for small house/duplex, rowhouse, stacked townhouse, and 4-storey apartment building forms. Development permit applications are posted on the City of Vancouver web site, a 2-week period for public comment follows, and the application is approved with conditions by staff. Final approval is granted when the applicant demonstrates that they meet the conditions. No rezoning is required.
Eye on Norquay looked at the 78 “missing middle” projects approved between 2014 and 2020. The City of Vancouver granted conditional approval to most of the 78 Norquay applications within 2 or 3 months.
But this rapid approval time was not enough to ensure that projects were completed quickly. For 13 of the 78 projects approved between January 2014 and December 2020, construction has not even begun. These are projects that we would expect to have been completed by now, or at least for construction to be well underway. But shovels have not yet entered the ground.
Norquay projects approved 2014-2020 and known to be paused calculates at 18% (14 of a total 78). All projects are detailed in the table at the end of this posting.
Why does it take so long for construction to begin after a project has been approved? Causes include inexperienced builders, financing problems, inability or unwillingness to meet conditions, intention to flip, and/or difficulties with presales.
[ See On Regulation Redesign and Pre-Zoning ]
Case #1
An example is the 4-lot assembly site at 4869 Slocan Street. The application was approved in 2016. The site was subsequently sold and a new application was submitted in 2020. Construction has not yet begun, and the existing houses are being rented.
4869 Slocan Street
Case #2
Construction on this project approved in 2015 began a few years later, but has stopped several times for long periods. The development now seems abandoned.
2115 East 33rd Avenue
Case #3
For instance, an application to build 4 rowhouse units at 4826 Duchess Street was approved in 2019 – but for only 3 units. The site looks unoccupied and is currently up for sale.
4826 Duchess Street
Arrested development does more than delay completion of badly needed new housing. Neighbourhoods look neglected when buildings and landscaping are not maintained on sites with uninhabited houses. These buildings invite squatters, who sometimes start fires because they are trying to work around the gas and hydro services that have been cut off. Empty building sites, even if they are fenced, often become garbage dumps for the surrounding area.
Case #4
A 4-storey apartment was approved for 3 lots at 4715 Nanaimo Street in 2019, but the applicant decided to sell the site. After a fire gutted the one house still standing in September 2021, that house was also demolished. But the debris was left on the ground, and garbage continued to accumulate. The site was finally cleaned up by a new owner in April 2022. This was one of 2 fires on Norquay development sites in 2021.
4715 Nanaimo Street
We can expect to see developers pause many more approved projects as market sales continue to slow.
Three additional Norquay project sites approved in 2021 are now being advertised for sale.
Approved Norquay Housing Projects Currently Paused
Project Address Zoning & Housing Application Approval Current
Type Date Date Status
2115 E 33rd Ave RM-7 Stacked townhouse Sep 2015 Nov 2015 Paused
2421 E 41st Ave RT-11 Duplex + infill Feb 2018 unknown No action
5080-5104 Chambers St RM-7 Stacked townhouse Sep 2018 unknown Demolition
4826 Duchess St RM-7 Rowhouse Nov 2019 Feb 2020 No action *
2628 Duke St RM-9A 4-storey apartment Jun 2018 Jul 2018 Demolition
4846-4856 Earles St RM-7 Stacked townhouse Mar 2015 unknown No action *
5056 Earles St RM-9A 4-storey apartment Feb 2020 Jun 2020 No action *
5385 Earles St RM-7 Triplex Feb 2020 Apr 2020 No action
4715 Nanaimo St RM-9A 4-storey apartment May 2019 Jun 2019 Demolition *
4856 Slocan St RM-7 Triplex + infill Feb 2020 unknown No action
4869 Slocan St RM-9A 4-storey apartment Sep 2016 Oct 2016 No action *
[new application] Feb 2020 unknown No action
5092 Slocan St RM-7 Sixplex Feb 2020 Apr 2020 No action *
2632 Ward St RM-7 Triplex Apr 2018 Jun 2018 No action *
2711 Ward St RM-7 Triplex Jan 2018 Feb 2018 No action *
* These building sites have been advertised for sale after projects were approved
Paused = Construction Paused
Demolition = Demolition Completed
Last Generation
Vancouver City Planning 1960 to 1995
A Scraped Checklist
Note: The information provided in this posting is intended as backstory, to complement the information recently assembled for Endgame Kitsilano. Vancouver City Planning is very hard to make sense of. Hope this helps.
The appended listing of 88 bibliographic items derives from a read-through of over a thousand records in the online catalogues of Vancouver Public Library and the University of British Columbia.
The foremost principle of selection is relevance to the history of Vancouver’s fabled 23 neighborhoods, and relevance to facets of what city planners notably did to Vancouver in the three decades that led up to the dubious and nonproductive CityPlan era of 1995-2010.
This curated listing offers the browsability of a virtual library shelf. Keyword stabs into electronic aether for scattered records can never allow a user to take this sort of easy look-see.
More than one city planner tells the story of having had to “go to the library” to find a copy of their own department’s published materials. (These are the people in charge of keeping track of what happens to Vancouver’s built form.)
The City of Vancouver Planning Department is an evident accelerating shambles of perpetual turnover and routine loss of institutional memory. Otherwise, planning staff would scan these 88 selected items, not to mention other older materials, in order to make them readily available to the taxpayers who have funded their activities.
Now well into the digital era, current documents require no scanning. Yet City of Vancouver planning materials are regularly disappeared from public access. Nor likely ever to be retrievable from a library. Nor obtainable from the Internet Archive, whose web-crawl access gets mechanically interdicted.
Why do city planners seek to delete their work as fast as something newer can be overlaid? This seems very like the sustainability that sends one usable building to the landfill so a newer one can be “planned” for and profited from. All frenzy to the GDP.
Here is a browsable list of terms to be found among the selected titles: 29th Avenue Station | Arbutus | Broadway Station | Cedar Cottage | Chinatown | Downtown | Downtown Eastside | Downtown South | East Vancouver | Fairview | Gastown | Grandview-Woodlands | Hastings-Sunrise | Joyce Station | Kingsway | Kitsilano | Marpole | Mount Pleasant | Nanaimo Station | Oakridge | Renfrew | Riley Park | Shaughnessy | Southlands | Strathcona | West End | Yaletown
Here is a suggestive list of a few terms that will NOT be found: Collingwood | Dunbar | Fraserview | Kensington | Kerrisdale | Killarney | Sunset | Victoria | West Point Grey.
Why not findable? The likely short answer is, unless the area is one or more of (1) poorer (2) exploitable (3) privileged for special protection (4) north of 16th Avenue – planner radar passed over that area. Until the formulation of those nine feckless “community visions.”
Vancouver City Planning 1960-1995 : a Scraped Checklist
[items at Vancouver Public Library and/or UBC Library] ====================================================================== 1964 ====================================================================== Chinatown, Vancouver, B.C. : design proposal for improvement 14, [2] leaves : illustrations, plans ====================================================================== 1965 ====================================================================== Downtown Eastside : a preliminary study / W E Graham 50 pages "Examines the phenomenon we often refer to as Skid Road, which overlaps the East End of Downtown and the inner part of the eastern residential and industrial redevelopment areas. The study recognizes that planning for the area must be considered firstly in human terms and secondly in physical terms. Facts and figures to justify this are presented. It also attempts to dispel some misconceptions about local habits and inhabitants" – p. 8 "June, 1965" ====================================================================== 1967 ====================================================================== Urban renewal scheme no. 3, Strathcona; summary report 30 leaves : illustrations ====================================================================== 1968 ====================================================================== Cedar Cottage - Renfrew study vi, 18 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 23 x 36 cm. City of Vancouver urban renewal program, scheme 3 : sub-area 1, Strathcona : appendices [72] pages ; 28 cm. ====================================================================== 1971 ====================================================================== Skid road survey : Vancouver 34 pages ; map ; 28 cm. ====================================================================== 1973 ====================================================================== Fairview slopes / Rick Elligott & John Zacharias 54 p. : ill. ; 22 x 36 cm. ====================================================================== 1974 ====================================================================== Broadway West, a community improvement project 9 leaves : ill. ; 22 x 28 cm. "August 1974" Fairview Slopes : the feasibility of preservation / Sussex Group 38, [30] p. [4] leaves of plates : ill., plans ; 22 x 36 cm. Fairview Slopes building heritage : a study of those buildings deserving preservation 61 pages : illustrations, map ; 22 x 36 cm. Fairview town : design concepts, area 6, False Creek / Station Six Team [8] leaves, [8] leaves of plates : ill. ; 36 cm. Gastown Chinatown walking tour 1 map : illustrations ; 53 x 67. 5 cm, on sheet 61 x 88 cm. On the reverse of the map text includes a history, economics, and notes on 37 points of interest in Gastown and Chinatown, with sketches of some of the buildings. Shaping the future : the City Planning Department's goals and objectives for 1974 54 pages : illustrations, plans Precedes the Vancouver City Planning Department's Annual review. ====================================================================== 1975 ====================================================================== Fairview Slopes: a proposal for conservation and development / Harold Kalman – Vancouver Heritage Advisory Committee 4 pages Kitsilano area planning program: apartment neighborhood plan 19, [9] leaves West End official development plan 15 leaves : illustrations, maps ; 28 cm. "July 1975." West End planning policies and design guidelines 1975 / 1980 / 1984 Vancouver local areas [no collation] ====================================================================== 1977 ====================================================================== The Kitsilano neighbourhood plan : [summary] 1 folded sheet (16 pages) : illustrations, maps ; 56 x 87 cm., folded to 28 x 22 cm. + 3 sheets. Includes 3 pages of addendum (1980) "November 1977." A review of local area planning : report for discussion, September 1977 ii, 20 pages : illustrations, map ; 28 cm. Yaletown : an area for preservation and change (draft) 26, [11] l. : illustrations "June 1977" ====================================================================== 1978 ====================================================================== Housing families at high densities : a resource document outlining needs, principles, and recommendations for designing medium and high density housing for families with young children iii, 120 pages : illustrations ; 22 x 29 cm. "October 1978." Bibliography: p. 115-120 Kingsway Task Force study : technical report vi, 89 p. : ill., maps ; 35 cm. Bibliography: page 89 Riley Park : a social report / John A. Jessup iv, 67 leaves ; 28 cm. Includes bibliography ====================================================================== 1979 ====================================================================== Grandview-Woodland area policy plan. Part 1, Grandview-Victoria (single family, duplex and conversion areas) 24, [3] pages : maps ; 36 cm. The Marpole plan 71 pages : illustrations, maps ; 28 cm. "October 1979" Vancouver local areas : statistics compiled from the 1971 and 1976 Canada censuses 48 pages : map ; 28 cm. "April 1979" ====================================================================== 1980 ====================================================================== Downtown core height study / Musson, Cattell & Associates 93 pages : ill. Marpole plan summary [no collation] Yaletown, a future of preservation and change 41 p. : ill. ; 28 cm. Bibliography: pages 37-41 ====================================================================== 1981 ====================================================================== 8 years after : case studies under discretionary zoning in Vancouver / Patricia French Ltd. [12] pages : col. ill. ; 28 cm. The First Shaughnessy plan iv, 94 pages in various pagings : illustrations, maps The Vancouver special : report iii, 44 leaves : ill. ; 28 cm. ====================================================================== 1982 ====================================================================== Downtown-Eastside/Oppenheimer design guidelines 30 p. : ill. ; 28 cm. "A written and illustrated summary of the intent of many of the policies and regulations contained in the Downtown-Eastside/Oppenheimer policy plan and Official development plan." "October 1982" "Adopted by City Council, October 26, 1982" Downtown Eastside/Oppenheimer policy plan 73 p. : ill. ; 28 cm. First Shaughnessy plan : background report 40 p. : maps ; 28 cm. First Shaughnessy design guidelines 47 p. [51 p.] : ill. ; 28 cm. "Adopted by City Council May 11, 1982" "May 1982" Grandview-Woodland area policy plan. Part 2, Commercial Drive 32 pages : maps ; 28 cm. "April 1982" ====================================================================== 1983 ====================================================================== Grandview-Woodland area policy plan. Part 3, Britannia area plan 40, 5 pages : maps ; 28 cm. "August 1983" "Approved by City Council April 12, 1983" The Vancouver coreplan : a proposal for discussion 89 pages : illustrations, maps ; 28 cm. "May 1983." ====================================================================== 1984 ====================================================================== An analysis of the RS-1A zones in Cedar Cottage, Grandview-Woodland and Kitsilano / Gillian Cortese 57 p. : maps ; 28 cm. West End : planning policies and design guidelines 4, 18 p. ill ; 28 cm. ====================================================================== 1985 ====================================================================== East Vancouver neighbourhoods study report / East Vancouver Neighbourhoods Study Board ; project managers, Robin Coote, Bill Thomson viii, 40, [29] leaves ; 28 cm. "September 1985" Hastings-Sunrise plan xii, 199, [18] pages : illustrations, maps ; 28 cm. "Approved by City Council, May 28, 1985" Hastings-Sunrise plan : summary 32 pages : illustrations, maps ; 26 cm. "This document is a summary of the Hastings-Sunrise plan, approved by City Council on May 28th, 1985" – p. [1] Mount Pleasant overall policy plan : a framework for community development ii, 76 pages : illustrations, maps ; 28 cm. "December 1985" "Amended March 18, 1986 by City Council" Vancouver local areas, 1971-1981 : statistics compiled from the Canada census 62 p. : maps ; 28 cm. Vancouver Plan Housing Program summary report [Reports to Council, subject:] 1 volumes (various pagings) : illustrations ; 28 cm. "March 20, 1985" ====================================================================== 1986 ====================================================================== Apartment vacancy rates, 1975-1986 4 pages, graph, map tables (Vancouver Plan Monitoring Program - information update) Hastings Sunrise policies and guidelines 4 pages Mount Pleasant : overall policy plan : a framework for community development Rev. March 18, 1986 ii, 76 pages : illustrations. Secondary suites in RS-1 areas 32 pages; maps; Strata title and cooperative conversion guidelines 5 pages The Vancouver plan : the City's strategy for managing change 16 pages : illustrations, maps, charts ; 28 cm. This plan is an outgrowth of: The Vancouver coreplan / City of Vancouver, Planning Dept., as modified in response to public comment and adopted by City Council. "July 1986." A walking tour through history Chinatown / Downtown / Gastown / Mount Pleasant / Shaughnessy / Strathcona / Yaletown [7 leaflets] West End commercial areas policy plan 58 p. : ill., maps : 28 cm. West End: planning policies and design guidelines. 18 pages; diagrams; maps. West End residential areas policy plan. Report 1, Introduction, description and issues 37 p. : ill. ; 28 cm. ====================================================================== 1987 ====================================================================== Broadway Station area plan 196 pages : illustrations, maps ; 28 cm. "Approved as amended, by City Council, June 23, 1987" "July 1987" Draft Southlands plan [Reports to Council, subject:] [14] pages in various pagings ; 28 cm. "December 2, 1987" First Shaughnessy design guidelines and the Shaughnessy architectural and landscape inventory 51 pages : illustrations ; 28 cm. "October 1987" "The Shaughnessy architectural and landscape inventory, adopted by Council on October 20, 1987 is included as Appendix B of this document" Joyce Station area plan vii, 168 pages : illustrations, maps ; 28 cm. "Approved as amended by City Council, May 20th, 1987" "June 1987" Joyce Station area plan summary 24 pages : illustrations, map ; 22 cm. Nanaimo/29th Avenue station areas plan vii, 119 pages : illustrations, maps ; 28 cm. "Approved as amended, by City Council, May 20th, 1987" "June 1987" Nanaimo/29th Avenue station areas plan summary 20 pages : illustrations, map ; 21 cm. Transfer of density policy and procedure 2 pages ====================================================================== 1988 ====================================================================== Downtown South - towards a new neighbourhood : a briefing paper 12 pages : illustrations ; maps Secondary suites in RS-1 areas 1986 and 1987 city wide policy 73 pages : illustrations Southlands plan xiv, 96 pages : illustrations, maps ; 28 cm. "March 8, 1988" Vancouver local areas 1986 : 100% data from the Canada census 52 pages : maps ====================================================================== 1989 ====================================================================== Community development plan for Mount Pleasant 111 pages : illustrations, maps ; 28 cm. "February 1989" Community development plan for Mount Pleasant : summary [25] pages : illustrations, maps ; 22 cm. "May 1989" "Approved by City Council on October 6, 1987" – p. [1] Downtown South urban study / Aitken Wreglesworth Associates 15 pages & appendices; diagrams, maps, tables Evaluation of social mix in Kitsilano : Kitsilano local area planning program 13 pages : tables, graphs Local area planning in Vancouver - citizen participation and priorities 48 pages Updated guidelines for high density housing for families with children 14 pages Vancouver local areas 1986 : 20% data from the Canada census 27 pages : maps ====================================================================== 1991 ====================================================================== Central Area plan : goals and land use policy "Adopted by Vancouver City Council, December 3, 1991" [4], 40 pages : illustrations, maps ; 28 cm. ====================================================================== 1992 ====================================================================== Cityplan : a proposal to set "directions for Vancouver" 16 pages ====================================================================== 1993 ====================================================================== Arbutus neighbourhood policy plan 32 pages : illustrations Greenways and urban landscape inventory implementation 18 pages Report on the Grandview-Woodlands community plan project / Grandview-Woodlands Area Services Team 17, 24 pages : illustrations ; 28 cm. "June 1993" Vancouver CityPlan toolkit ca. 200 p. : ill., maps. May 19, 1993 ====================================================================== 1994 ====================================================================== Choices : results from the Cityplan making choices questionnaire 23 pages : graphs Community profiles Binder - complete set of 23 community profiles Vancouver local areas, 1981-1991 : 100% and 20% data from the Canada Census 55 pages "September 1994" ====================================================================== 1995 ====================================================================== Oakridge Langara policy statement 38 p. : illustrations, maps Vancouver Greenways plan : draft 59 p. : ill., maps ; 28 cm. "June 1, 1995" Appendix Two out-of-scope items for a neighborhood lost in the middle – City of Vancouver rapidly decided to longer regard this inconvenient planning as having "active" status ... ====================================================================== 2004 ====================================================================== Kingsway and Knight Neighbourhood Centre housing area plan "Adopted by City Council July 8, 2004" 39 pages : illustrations (some color) Kingsway and Knight Neighbourhood Centre shopping area : public realm and pedestrian/traffic improvements plan 39 pages : illustrations (some color) "Adopted by City Council July 6, 2004"
Endgame Kitsilano
First Concerted Public Blowback
Note: For backstory on 1960-1995, dig into the city planning documents listed in the complementary posting Last Generation.
At midday on 7 May 2022, a simmering volcano centered in Kitsilano spewed out a genteel glob of lava. On the north side of Vancouver City Hall – invisible from 12th Avenue and in no way disruptive to major arterial traffic – a gathering of three to four hundred people heard from a series of speakers. That Saturday “rally” responded to the looming implications of the Broadway Plan and the Vancouver Plan.
The strongest theme among the speakers was how the frenzies of Vancouver development turn the everyday lives of ordinary people into protracted slogs through hell.
Linsea O'Shea (two-decades resident of Alma Blackwell housing) shared the impacts of dealing with impending demoviction from social housing. Sentheepan Senthivel (proprietor of of Greens Market at 1978 West Broadway) described a 40% decline in revenue matched by persistent City of Vancouver unconcern for the effects of subway construction on his small business. Janice Douglas recounted prolific abuses experienced during Cambie Corridor condo construction.
Recent localized seismic rumblings in the Kitsilano region have attended spot rezonings for 2538 Birch Street, 1805 Larch Street, 3084 West Fourth and 2010 Balaclava, 1477 West Broadway – plus the one underway for 2086-2098 West 7th Ave and 2091 West 8th Ave.
The Sniper’s Bead
Kitsilano and its surroundings have sat in City of Vancouver planner crosshairs for far longer than a decade. The takeout strategy has gelled very slowly.
When they do come for your neighborhood, it tends to be too late already – but until some mean bulldozer clanks down your street, almost nobody wants to see it coming, or is capable of imagining that it could happen here. Everybody is always too busy with their ordinary business of living to get worked up enough to muster troops. This is the magic secret that “planning” knows and uses.
How It Came to This Stage
The fifty-year big picture of how developers have “managed” Vancouver leaves traces in city planner documents. One map from 2006 distills almost everything about this Kitsilano situation into a single visual.
Start with the nine previously-planned “new local area plan areas”: Kitsilano, West End, Downtown, Fairview, Mount Pleasant, Grandview-Woodlands, Southlands, Marpole, Oakridge. Then marvel at the singularity of “other initiatives” for Downtown Eastside / Chinatown / Strathcona etc. Finally consider the nine “vision areas” (see list in Appendix A) peppered with seventeen or so “neighbourhood centres.”
Twenty years ago, Vancouver City Planning dichotomized the entire city of Vancouver – except for that pesky black-sheepish Downtown Eastside region. The whites needed to be opened up for moar, while the greys offered up utter virgin territory that looked so overripe for landrush stakeout.
CityPlan MegaFail
Recall how the City of Vancouver, over the turn of the millennium, had one “co-director” of planning who wheeled and dealed for tower-and-podium with biggies in the backroom. Meanwhile the other “co-director” kept a slew of citizenry pacified by diverting them into the do-nothing go-nowhere busy work of CityPlan. For a total of fifteen years. The laborious and expensive “result” of this huge effort? Nine never-used “community vision” documents produced between 1995 and 2010 (Appendix A). As that era imploded, newbie Brent Toderian terminated every one of those nine “vision committees.”
The first CityPlan implementation of 2002-2004 amounted to nothing more than a dubious spot rezoning (King Edward Village) murked in together with a quickie mass rezoning of 1,577 RS-1 properties. All of this got heralded as Kingsway & Knight Neighbourhood Centre.
The second CityPlan implementation of 2006-2010 turned out to be … the last one ever. Strong and unanticipated community opposition shut down a fake “process.” Then planners hiked off into more than a year of hunkering down. After 55 months the City of Vancouver imposed its unwanted planning onto 1,912 RS-1 properties. Voilà Norquay Village Neighbourhood Centre.
The experience of those two CityPlan implementations sent City of Vancouver planners running. They galloped backward, to focus on replanning their already planned areas. They stayed the hell away from anything more to do with the nine vision communities – except for using “Cambie corridor” to slash a huge swath out of several neighborhoods. They ramped right up on opportunistic spot rezoning. They used STIR / Rental 100 / IRP / MIRHPP / Temporary Modular Housing to inject whatever wherever however. Behold the marvels of how this city has “planned.”
In the section to follow, notice the absence of the Kitsilano region. Why was Kitsilano left until last? Because the hardest nut gets cracked last. In this current round two, the City hauls out its now proven new neighborhood-busting tool – the corridor.
One Decade Gets You Six Community Plans
Under the heading “Neighbourhood Planning Projects” the City of Vancouver [as of May 2022] lists six community plans that emerged between 2006 (start of Norquay) and 2016 (finish of Grandview-Woodland):
2010 55 months Norquay Village Neighbourhood Centre Plan https://council.vancouver.ca/20101104/documents/penv2.pdf 2010 43 months Mount Pleasant Community Plan |1989| https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/Mount-Pleasant-Community-Plan.pdf 2013 28 months West End Community Plan |1975| https://council.vancouver.ca/20131120/documents/WestEnd.pdf 2014 31 months Downtown Eastside Plan |1982| https://council.vancouver.ca/20140312/documents/cfsc5.pdf 2014 33 months Marpole Community Plan |1979| https://council.vancouver.ca/20140402/documents/ptec6-optimized.pdf 2016 60 months Grandview-Woodland Community Plan |1979-1983| https://council.vancouver.ca/20160726/documents/rr1.pdf
In every one of these cases, the City of Vancouver wandered into protracted struggle with recalcitrant residents, ultimately drawing on overwhelming resources and fluid time frames to crush every last one of them.
Last in that line-up of ‘hoods came Grandview-Woodlands. After epic turmoil, and costly restart with Citizens Assembly, that neighborhood finally succumbed, but only after setting a record for timespan of 60 months.
Soon afterward, the Vision Vancouver perpetrators got decimated in the 2018 election. But only to be replaced by moar of the same, a Hodge-Podge Party duly dominated by developer compradors. Almost none of the replacement councillors “represent” anything except the same-old same-old.
City of Inequity
At the outset of vision implementation, CityPlan targeted two adjacent areas of central East Vancouver for “neighbourhood centre” mass rezoning. The apparent assumption? That these immigrant working-class areas ought to go down easy. Then the City of Vancouver ran into Norquay resistance and had to abandon its fantasies of CityPlan. But it still favored going after denser and poorer neighborhoods, as it made that major shift into replanning mode.
Now the 1975-1977 planning documents for Kitsilano meet up with the 2022 juggernaut of The Broadway Plan. At long last, the Kitsilano region goes head-to-head with the so-long-threatened REplanning.
Appendix A – Nine Community Visions
1998 Dunbar
https://vancouver.ca/docs/planning/dunbar-community-vision-full-report.pdf
1998 Kensington – Cedar Cottage
https://vancouver.ca/docs/planning/kensington-cedar-cottage-community-vision-full-report.pdf
2002 Victoria – Fraserview / Killarney
https://vancouver.ca/docs/planning/victoria-fraserview-killarney-community-vision-full-report.pdf
2002 Sunset
https://vancouver.ca/docs/planning/sunset-community-vision-full-report.pdf
2004 Hastings – Sunrise
https://vancouver.ca/docs/planning/hastings-sunrise-community-vision-full-report.pdf
2004 Renfrew – Collingwood
https://vancouver.ca/docs/planning/renfrew-collingwood-community-vision-full-report.pdf
2005 Arbutus Ridge / Kerrisdale / Shaughnessy
https://vancouver.ca/docs/planning/arbutus-ridge-kerrisdale-shaughnessy-arks-community-vision-full-report.pdf
2005 Riley Park / South Cambie
https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/riley-park-south-cambie-community-vision-full-report.pdf
2010 West Point Grey
https://vancouver.ca/docs/planning/west-point-grey-community-vision-full-report.pdf
Appendix B – Four Key Documents
Future Area Planning Programs 27 June 2006
https://council.vancouver.ca/20060627/documents/rr1.pdf
Future Neighbourhood Centres Planning 12 July 2007
https://council.vancouver.ca/documents/pe4_003.pdf
Historic Area Height Review: Policy Implementation 20 January 2011
https://council.vancouver.ca/20110120/documents/penv4.pdf
Vancouver’s Next Community Plans 28 July 2011
https://council.vancouver.ca/20110728/documents/penv1b-VancouversNextCommunityPlans.pdf
Moar Quotations …
… from Bloatorious Era of Vision 2.0* (2018-????)
In the interests of historical presentation and preservation, Eye on Norquay steps out of scope
to host this information resource. Suggestions of other period quotations are welcomed.
Last update: 18 May 2020
See also: Notorious Quotations from the Vision Vancouver Era (2008-2018)
* Vancouver City Council’s abject subservience to City of Vancouver Staff
(as entrenched 2008-2018 by the Vision Vancouver™ Big-Developer Miasma Machine)
Date: 17 November 2019
Person: Adriane Carr
Quotation: Great piece of public art!
Setting: Installation of public art
Topic: $4.8 million chandelier underneath Granville Bridge
Source: https://twitter.com/adrianecarr/status/1196193177868193792
Added: December 2019
Date: 27 November 2019
Person: Kennedy Stewart
Quotation: The most important piece of public art in the history of our city.
Setting: Unveiling of public art
Topic: $4.8 million chandelier underneath Granville Bridge
Source: Douglas Quan. What weighs 3,400 kilos, cost $4.8 million and hangs
from a bridge? Vancouver's 'spectacular' or 'tone-deaf' chandelier.
National Post (29 Nov 2019)
Added: November 2019
Date: 21 December 2019
Person: Ian Gillespie
Quotation: It’s an insular, little fucking village we live in sometimes.
Setting: Interview
Topic: Development in Vancouver
Source: Natalie Obiko Pearson. Loved and loathed, Vancouver developer
Ian Gillespie lures the world’s wealth with luxury towers.
Vancouver Sun (21 Dec 2019)
Added: March 2020
Date: 31 March 2020
Person: Sadhu Johnston
Quotation: This is the Mayor … er … this is the City Manager
Setting: Virtual Vancouver City Council (audio only)
Topic: Opening of a response to Councillor Adriane Carr
Source: Transcript and Voice Clip
Added: May 2020
Date: 12 April 2020
Person: Kennedy Stewart
Quotation: Losing more than half-a-billion dollars in operating funds
in 2020 would devastate the city's financial position,
forcing us to liquefy assets and exhaust every reserve fund
we have — just to avoid insolvency.
Setting: Delivery of Sunday afternoon press release
Topic: COVID-19 impact on City of Vancouver finances
Source: David Carrigg. COVID-19: City of Vancouver at risk of bankruptcy,
says mayor. Vancouver Sun (13 Apr 2020)
Added: May 2020
Date: 15 May 2020
Person: Kennedy Stewart
Quotation: I actually, going into the meeting where this decision
was made, I actually didn’t know that that would be a part
of what was discussed, so I was blindsided.
Setting: Interview on CKNW’s Mornings With Simi
Topic: In camera Council meeting of 13 May 2020
Source: Simon Little. Vancouver mayor says he was 'blindsided'
by closed-door vote to cut police budget. Global News (15 May 2020)
Added: May 2020
Eye on Norquay 
First Three Triplexes
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Triplexes are the most dense form of development permitted on standard single lots in Norquay’s RM-7 Rowhouse/Stacked Townhouse zone,. Since 2013 nine triplex applications have been approved. Three projects have been completed (see photos). The remaining six projects await start of construction.
5189 Clarendon Street — Configuration One — Completed 2016
Unit Configuration
The factor that most affects the livability of a triplex unit is how the units are configured within the building. In these nine applications, three different unit configurations have been brought forward.
Configuration Type One —
Two side-by-side units, with one other unit (usually at the back) extended across the width of the building. Some of these units are long and narrow. This configuration works best on a corner lot, where the third unit can front onto a side street. Each unit is usually three storeys, each requiring a separate set of space-consuming stairs.
Configuration Type Two —
Two 2-level units on the upper storeys with one unit situated at the basement (“garden”) level. The upper units may be either front-back on narrower lots, or side-by-side on wider, shallower lots. With wider units, fewer inside stairways are required.
Configuration Type Three —
One unit on each level. The two units on the first and second levels are accessed by outside stairs. Only the upper storey requires provision of an inside stairway. This configuration seems optimal, providing the greatest amount of usable space and the most flexibility for unit layout. One of the three applications proposing this configuration is nearing completion at 2743 Duke Street. COVID-19 restrictions likely will preclude the open house that would provide an opportunity to examine the inside of that building.
The application for 4856 Slocan Street (configuration type two) proposes a triplex with a fourth unit in a separate building at the back of the lot — in essence, a laneway house. The additional unit was permitted because of the lot’s exceptional 172-foot depth. This project was designed to match the adjoining apartment building, which was constructed by the same developer.
5002 Highgate Street — Configuration One — Completed 2018
Other Considerations
Unit Size —
Most units are 3-bedroom and have an area of approximately 1000 – 1100 square feet.
Affordability —
A unit of 1100 square feet was advertised in 2016 for $1M. A unit of 1300 square feet was advertised in 2018 for $1.2M. A unit of 940 square feet is being advertised in 2020 for $900,000.
Roofline —
Four of the applications feature a gabled roof and five feature a flat or low-pitched shed roof. Flat roofs must be set back from the front of the building. There are very few flat-roofed single family houses in Norquay. To respect neighbourhood context, flat roofs should be restricted to sites on corners, on arterial streets, or adjacent to other flat-roofed buildings (e.g. schools, apartment buildings, or stacked townhouses).
Open space —
Each unit is to have some private open space, either at ground level or in the form of a balcony. In practice, it has been difficult to fulfill this requirement. Ground level open space is at a premium, and most of it is shared. One application features a shared roof garden.
Secondary suites —
These are not permitted in the RM-7 zone. One unit of a triplex may contain a lock-off unit.
Parking —
The RM-7 parking requirement for vehicles is two open spaces for every 3 units. There is no parking requirement for lock-off units. All triplex projects in Norquay provide 3 on-site vehicle parking spaces. Bicycle parking spaces are required as per the Parking By-Law (currently 2.5 spaces for each unit with a minimum area of 65 square metres, and 1.5 spaces for each smaller unit). Functional placement of bicycle parking spaces presents a challenge in all RM-7 building forms.
2743 Duke Street — Configuration Three — Completed 2020
Norquay Sites Approved for Triplexes
Written by eyeonnorquay
7 July 2020 at 8:40 pm
Posted in Information Resource, Monitoring Reviews, RM-7 Comment