Blanket rezoning of certain sa国际传媒 streets to allow for six-storey buildings could undermine the democratic process and create a monolithic urban landscape, Coun. Ron Cannan warns.听
He was the only councillor at Mondaysa国际传媒 meeting to raise significant concerns about a staff proposal to change the zoning of many blocks along streets like Bernard Avenue, Richter Street, and Gordon Drive to allow for the speedier construction of higher-density residential projects.听
The suggestion is intended to get housing built faster, encourage greater use of public transit, and make for more vibrant neighbourhoods. But Cannan said while he broadly supported those aims, the mechanism of blanket rezoning was not one he favoured.听
鈥淚 personally don鈥檛 support applying the same zoning across large swaths of land,鈥 Cannan said. 鈥淚t think it reduces flexibility in land use. You鈥檙e going to get monolithic, four to six storey buildings.鈥
Council and members of the public should have the opportunity in the future to evaluate specific building proposals that have the potential to fundamentally change the character of neighbourhoods, Cannan said.听
鈥淚f we鈥檙e just going to blanket rezone everything, we don鈥檛 even need a city council. Developers could just go to staff and get a building permit. Maybe some people would like that,鈥 Cannan said.听
Upzoning properties for future higher density projects increases their value, and thus the taxes owners must then pay the city, Cannan noted.听
鈥淭hats鈥 the definition of gentrification,鈥 Cannan said, adding he knows people who鈥檝e already had to move because they can鈥檛 afford the big increases they鈥檝e been hit with in municipal taxes as a result of increased land values.听
Other councillors said they were excited by the staff proposal to blanket rezone hundreds of properties.听
鈥淭his is a really exciting report for me to see,鈥 said Coun. Gord Lovegrove. 鈥淭wo-thirds of our residents say they want to ride transit more, but itsa国际传媒 not yet close enough or frequent enough for them to do so.鈥
Coun. Luke Stack said there is already a significant amount of higher density residential development taking place along those streets identified for the blanket rezoning.听
鈥淚f you go up and down Pandosy or Richter you can see the densification of those corridors,鈥 Stack said. 鈥淭he corridors you鈥檝e selected for this are logical ones.鈥
鈥淲hatsa国际传媒 being proposed today makes a lot of sense,鈥 said Coun. Loyal Wooldridge, adding he wanted to 鈥渃hange the way鈥 sa国际传媒 is built out.听
Regarding the big jump in taxes some people are seeing because of their increased land values, city manager Doug Gilchrist said the municipality should discuss the issue with BC Assessment. The aim, he said, would be to ask BC Assessment to 鈥渂lend in鈥 the higher valuations over time so big jumps in taxes might be avoided.听
Increasing the number of housing units in sa国际传媒 and allowing construction to take place at a faster rate is a commitment the city had to make to the Trudeau government to get a recent $31 million grant, Gilchrist said.
鈥淶oning of course is one of those things that does delay housing coming to market. So being able to pre-zone should alleviate some of the timelines associated with that,鈥 Gilchrist said. 鈥淭he team has been extremely sensitive to try and think through what the impacts might be in doing so. So what they鈥檝e brought you in terms of a recommendation is quite balanced.鈥
Coun. Cannan was the only one to vote against the recommendation to have staff keep developing the blanket rezoning proposal and bring it back for review early next year.听
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