FINE: Villages — what's not to like? Well, plenty, actually

I was speaker number 29 out of about 230 signed up to share their thoughts on Vancouver's Villages Plan.

Every speaker got five minutes, so I knew it was going to take a while. Hours, in fact, over many sessions. Respect to the Councillors who sit through it all. I wonder how many will make it without a little doom-scrolling.

Most speakers, so far, have opposed the plan. The ones who supported it are mostly the same housing activists who show up at every Council meeting related to housing, as is their right, but it is distinct from the people who actually have a stake in the neighbourhoods and are speaking about plans which will impact them directly.

To be fair, there were regulars from both sides of the issue, but the greatest bulk of speakers seemed to normal residents concerned about how their city might change for the worse.

Speaking at Council is both a bit terrifying and thrilling. Like casting your vote, you do feel like you are participating in democracy in the most direct and pure way, speaking face to face with elected politicians. Well, most anyway. The mayor was absent — again — which is disappointing considering the importance of this issue.

Since so few actually watch hours of Council meetings, here is my five minutes on the Villages Plan:

Thanks for the opportunity to speak today. It is much appreciated. My name is David Fine and I oppose this plan. You’ve heard some people tell you opponents are “selfish people who do not want any change,” but that’s not me and that’s actually not anyone I know who is opposing this plan.

Most of us want convenient, walkable communities with more amenities. We also want more densification options as alternatives to yet more towers with expensive micro suites. We want more neighbours and we know we have to grow this city, but I am speaking in opposition to this plan for the following reasons:

Creating 17 new village areas all at once is a massive rezoning to over 13,000 properties and most residents have no idea what is coming to their neighbourhoods because outreach has been extremely limited, and no, the actual details of this plan were not part of the Vancouver Plan or the ODP so people have not known about this "for years."

I live in the MacDonald and 16th area. I live there because I can walk to absolutely everything I need within a few minutes heading in any direction. A new development in the area advertises itself as "walkable to Connaught Park, Arbutus Skytrain, two grocers, five retail villages, and the Greenway," I wonder how staff came to feel that this is something we need when it already exists organically? I’m in favour of more density options, but the rationale for creating a new village here is confused.

On West 16th, in Kits, there are two new large six-storey developments going up. They will provide many new homes right across from Choices and other retailers, but both large developments would not have been allowed under this Plan because they do not have ground floor retail in an area which is already well served by a popular grocery store, coffee shops and restaurants. All those new units will provide homes and customers for the existing shops — but not under this plan because this plan forbids them.

Existing villages are under pressure, but are complete areas with shopping, libraries and other amenities. Efforts should be directed towards strengthening them before providing competition with over a million square feet of additional retail space.

The Vancouver business improvement associations are opposed to this plan because of the detrimental impact it would have on their existing business areas. They spent two years working with the city on community plans and that work has now been shelved in favour of this new plan which makes all that time and effort wasted.

You’ve already acknowledged the issues around the restrictions on homes in the core village areas, so I will only say that it’s unfortunate that Josh White dismisses this as "only 4% of the total." Those are real homes owned by real people who will be trapped by this plan. It's worth noting that the issue is that homes in the core area will not be able to renovate or enlarge their home unless they demolish and make it mixed use retail. If it burns down in a fire, they can’t even rebuild the same home.

Public feedback indicated support for increased density options, but residents overwhelmingly felt that building with such large massing as six storeys at 3.7 FSR should be limited to the village core and provide a gradual transition in scale to the other densification options.

We need more missing middle, but I cannot find record of any city on earth which allows six storeys by right in residential areas so why would we do this in a city which is already the fourth most dense in North America?

Council recently sent back the Multiplex Housing Policy for refinement so that developments would fit into neighbourhoods in a “thoughtful and livable way”. The same consideration should apply here.

Residential property taxes could also be crippling. Of course land values will go up when there’s the option to build up to six storeys. Staff assurances that there would be little or no land lift is detached from reality. This will impact assessments.

Staff have told us you can defer your tax — with compounding interest — if you are over 55, and if you’ve lived in your home for over 10 years, you can get a reduced assessment, but like my own neighbours, two doctors who moved in just a couple of years ago, they would not qualify for either a reduction or deferment, so what are they supposed to do?

Massive up-zoning like this would be crippling to many people without a shovel going in the ground.

So, in summary, YES, the broad concept of creating walkable communities and providing more density options to build out low density areas is welcome and supported, but this plan is fraught with issues and demands a rethink with meaningful input from residents — and the many experienced ex-city planners, academics, and even developers who have also shared deep concerns about this plan.

Please listen to actual village area residents, rather than activists who speak about other people’s neighbourhoods. Listen to the BIAs who fear the consequences of a poorly thought out Villages Plan. Councillors, please vote NO on this Villages Plan.

That’s it. Got to the end just as the timer was flashing red to indicate mere seconds left in my five minutes. I took a deep breath and got out of there as quickly as I could. Should you wish to see it, here is a link to the live version of the above.

And if you want to hear a barnstormer of a 5 minute comment, check out developer and architect, Michael Geller speaking against the Plan here.

What Council decides in the face of this much public opposition will be very interesting to see. If it is rejected, as I hope, it will mean many thousands of dollars will have been spent on coming up with a huge plan — for nothing. That, in itself, is concerning.

David Fine is an award winning Vancouver filmmaker who is also very interested in Vancouver civic politics. He manages the VanPoli Facebook group which has over 8,000 members, and has written op-eds for various publications on a range of issues.