A rezoning application for a tower at 701 Kingsway and Fraser Street was recently posted on the City of Vancouver's ShapeYourCity website. This proposed tower would shade Robson Park, an outcome which is clearly contrary to the direction of Broadway Plan. The City is holding a virtual Q&A comment period for this tower rezoning from February 7th to the 20th (further details at this link). We wrote about this rezoning application in a previous post.
Solar access to Robson Park is meant to be protected from new developments under the Broadway Plan (no new shadows on the equinox from 10am to 4pm)
One of the important items to keep an eye on is the violation of solar access requirements for parks set forth in the Broadway Plan. The first rezoning that went through under the Broadway Plan was 2015 Main Street (on January 30, 2024), and it omitted the requirement for private balconies for all units. Now with the 701 Kingsway proposal, there's a rezoning that would introduce new shadows onto a protected park (on the spring/fall equinox, 10am to 4pm).
March 20, 10am shadow rendering. We used a rough massing model for 701 Kingsway (upper floor outline as an extrusion, for illustrative purposes) March 20, 10am shadow rendering. We used a rough massing model for 701 Kingsway (upper floor outline as an extrusion, for illustrative purposes)
A total building height of 277 ft. (84.6m) is being requested, with a Floor Space Ratio of 8.5. A total of 201 rental units are proposed, with 20% of the floor space that fit the City's definition of below market (with no upper limit on rents for the other 80%). Commercial uses are included at grade along with 60 underground parking stalls.
Elevations from submission by applicant
There are many issues with this rezoning application apart from the shadow impacts on the two parks (Robson and McAuley). This includes high levels of land price inflation, a tower form that does is not human scale urbanism and an ecologically unsustainable building type. This rezoning would be gentrifying this part of Kingsway around Fraser Street (an area that has its own unique character, some stores would have to shutter or relocate).
Is the Broadway Plan turning into an unmitigated urban planning disaster, bereft of sound analysis? Does the "upzone everything everywhere" mantra have many consequences on urban form, livability and affordability? Did the Broadway Plan end up being a very weak document because it did not benefit from the input of a citizens' assembly or community liaison group, or even have meaningful public consultation? Based on the development applications that have come forward to date, could one say that the Broadway Plan is an example of top-down planning by unaccountable bureaucrats?
McAuley Park
June 21, 10am McAuley Park is completely shaded on the longest day of the year
McAuley Park
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