The Vancouver City Council approved sweeping changes to its zoning and development bylaws as part of an effort to streamline and speed up housing construction.
The council unanimously voted Tuesday to approve the measure that rezones 4,292 parcels in the city's high-growth Broadway and Cambie corridors into three new districts that will eliminate the need for zoning hearings for each proposed project.
City staff told the council that the changes will enable developers to bypass one of the biggest delays in Vancouver’s housing pipeline, cutting as much as a year from the approval process.
Provincial and local governments have tried a variety of approaches to increase residential construction as the country grapples with a housing shortage.
The measures include new minimum residential construction targets, which would add tens of thousands of rental units in Vancouver and other cities in the next five years.
Vancouver, the province’s largest city, fell short of targets in the first year of the province’s requirement under the Housing Supply Act.
Some of B.C.'s biggest developers have asked the province and federal government to ease restrictions on building and foreign investment. The British Columbia Real Estate Association and other property industry groups in recent weeks called on the government to establish a permanent policy roundtable to speed up project approval.
Despite an unprecedented surge in rental development, builders say they can't finish projects fast enough. Greater Vancouver's multifamily vacancy rate is hovering below 5%, up from 2.5% a year ago, according to CoStar analytics.
Under the new measure approved by the council, projects that meet the standardized zoning rules can bypass the public hearing process to directly apply for a development permit.
Residents will still be able to submit comments and questions about projects during the permitting process.
“This is a major step forward in delivering the homes Vancouverites need faster,” Mayor Ken Sim said in a statement. “We’re cutting unnecessary delays in the development process so that growth brings real benefits for everyone.”
Vancouver Chief Planner Josh White told the council that the move marks “a sea change in how our planning system works, with less site-by-site customized rezoning and more standardization and predictability.”
However, the removal of public hearings sparked significant opposition last month, when many of the more than 70 residents that spoke at a public hearing condemned the provision.
Residents argued that eliminating public hearings on individual projects could diminish government accountability and could undermine the livability of the area's neighbourhoods.
Sim said the city will still receive unfettered feedback from the public, "just not in a public hearing format."
He added that "we can take that feedback and inform our future decision making."