In December, Vancouver City Council authorized a suite of actions focused on “supporting development practicality and unlocking brand-new real estate supply” throughout a time when it has been challenging for designers to progress with jobs due to market conditions.The first product noted
in the personnel report detailing the suite of actions was the development of a new Rental Development Relief Program, but personnel stated they would also”continue advancing targeted policy, process, and regulative efforts to enhance task expediency, sustain real estate supply, and assistance cost”with efforts outside of that suite of actions.One of the efforts they teased was” Streamlining Rental Opportunities in C-2 Zones” and personnel have now returned with complete information and a proposition to produce a brand-new simplified C-2A mixed-use zoning district schedule that would: In particular community strategy locations where a rezoning is currently needed, enable 6-storey, mixed-use structure where 100% of the residential period is secured as rental.Allow for 6-storey hotel use.Allow as much as eight storeys in TOAs.Simplify and modernize low-rise mixed-use regulations.Additionally, the City has proposed that 2,348 parcels– a vast bulk(88% ), but not all parcels– presently zoned C-2, C-2B, C-2C, and C-2C1 be rezoned into this new C-2A zone, eliminating the need for site-specific rezonings and enabling designers to proceed directly to the development application stage. The City has actually formerly taken this”prezoning”approach with social real estate and parts of the Broadway Corridor.According to a map offered by personnel, the majority of the parcels to be rezoned are located in east Vancouver, and particularly along Main Street, Fraser Street, Victoria Drive, and Kingsway, although there are some within the Broadway Passage as well.< img alt=""height="654 "src ="// www.w3.org/2000/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20851%20654'%3E%3C/svg%3E" width="851 "/ > All highlighted websites would be rezoned to C-2A. “The proposed C-2A district schedule would continue to permit the exact same scale and type of rental real estate currently allowed the C-2, C-2B, C-2C and C-2C1 districts, and would extend those arrangements to extra locations where this form was previously not allowed, but enabled through rezoning,” said staff.On enabling six-storey hotel usage, staff stated rezoning applications for hotels can currently be thought about in the previously mentioned zones, but that”the included expense and unpredictability of carrying out a rezoning increases the threats for smaller hotels and decreases their practicality”and that prezoning will supply a standardized path.As for allowing as much as 8 floors in transit-oriented areas (TOAs), personnel said this was to comply and align with the Province’s TOA legislation and note that just sites that are Tier 3(400 to 800 m from SkyTrain stations )and Tier 5(200 to 400 m from Bus Exchanges) are consisted of in the proposed rezoning.On the final point of streamlining low-rise mixed-use guidelines, staff are proposing that the new C-2A zoning district
schedule preserve maximum densities, however provide a more generous maximum building height, saying this would “accommodate a greater series of style approaches, [and] offer versatility to attend to different site conditions, such as sites that are sloped, irregularly formed, or larger than requirement.
“The City says they informed the owners of the 2,348 parcels of the City-initiated rezoning back in December. For in-stream applications on sites presently zoned C-2, C-2B, C-2C, or C-2C1 that are set to be rezoned to C-2A, the City says designers will be able to apply to develop under the brand-new C-2A policies with a brand-new advancement application.On Tuesday, Vancouver City Council approved the recommendation to refer the abovementioned proposition to a future public hearing.