Broadway Plan – Mount Pleasant. Open House at Heritage Hall June 17, 2024 (4:30-7:30pm). City seeks massive increases in tower height, density and number.

digitalmonkblog

June 16

215-229 East 13th Avenue is a rezoning site
25-55 East 12th Avenue, two apartment buildings are in lot assembly (rezoning site)
270 East 13th Avenue rental building and proposed tower (rezoning site)
254 East 12th Avenue rezoning site
310 East 14th Avenue rezoning site
360 East 14th Avenue rezoning site
45 East 16th Avenue is a rezoning site
10 East 11th Avenue rezoning site
229 East 13th Avenue, site of rezoning application
Incorrect shadow diagrams (left) submitted by applicant and posted by City staff. Compare with correct shadow diagram (right); tower breaks solar access policy for Main Street
Massing of proposed rezoning applications at Carolina St and East 10th Avenue
Approved rezoning at 2015 Main Street. Required balconies were omitted.
Massive towers proposed at Kingsway and E13th would shade schoolyard

The second of four in-person Open Houses on proposed Broadway Plan amendments is scheduled for Monday, June 17, from 4:30pm to 7:30pm at Heritage Hall (3102 Main Street) (see https://www.shapeyourcity.ca/broadway-plan). The proposed changes affect many of the 500 city blocks between Vine and Clark, and between 1st and 16th Avenues (see map).

About 150 development projects are already in the pipeline as a result of the Broadway Plan, which went into effect less than two years ago, on September 1, 2022. Many of the active rezoning applications are already in progress in the vicinity of the venue for this Open House, around Main Street in Mount Pleasant. Many of the sites are currently mature rental apartments, so redevelopment would mean demolition, displacement, and construction. The proposed changes would significantly increase the numbers of current renters affected. This Open House provides residents a rare chance to speak directly to planning staff in person.

Proposed changes would include turbocharging redevelopment in many blocks of the Broadway Plan, by completely removing current limits on the number of towers permitted per block in sections of the plan (see map). The Broadway Plan currently places a limit of two towers per block for residential areas. Under pressure from the provincial government under premier David Eby, the City of Vancouver is proposing these changes; however, planning staff are recommending amendments that are far beyond the requirements of recently-passed legislation.

Above: Map containing highlighted areas for proposed removal of tower limits.

Above: Screenshot of our interactive map to track Broadway Plan rezoning applications. The orange and red markers are sites of active rezoning applications. See our previous post for more details.

Above: Current tower rezoning applications (as of June 2024) in small section of Mount Pleasant, just east of Main Street (Watson Street to Prince Edward St, East 12th to East 14th Avenue)

Above: Staff illustration of a less "constrained" block build-out scenario showing 5 towers on a block. This is what the Province is calling for, and what City of Vancouver is now proposing. The City is actually going beyond what the Province is calling (for example, going above over 5 FSR for 20-storeys and beyond 200m for tower developments in many parts of the plan with tower limits).