West Kitsilano Residents Association

To Mayor Stewart and City Councilors Re: Public Hearing July 23 Item 3: Amendments to the Zoning and Development By-law to Increase Rental Housing in the C-2, C-2B, C-2C, and C-2C1 Commercial Districts West Kits Residents Association (WKRA) is opposed to the approval of these Amendments. We agree with the need for rental units in the commercial areas of our neighbourhood, but: the City has not yet brought in needed protections for existing rentals by requiring 1 to 1 repl...Continue reading

Neighbourhood Based Planning Petition A new petition is calling for neighbourhood-based planning in Vancouver. If you agree with it, please sign and share with your contacts. It can be found here:... https://www.change.org/p/city-of-vancouver-council-official

On July 21st, City Council will be debating and voting on Councillor Dominato's motion B6 that will encourage spot rezonings anywhere in the RS and RT areas of this city and also encourage even larger MIRHPP projects along arterials and around transit. https://council.vancouver.ca/20200707/documents/b6.pdf Our letter to Council opposing this Motion follows.... We encourage you to write to Council to let them know your views. ---- Dear Mayor and City Council: The Board of Directors of West Kitsilano Residents Association is opposed to Motion B6, not because we disagree with the idea of innovative housing options for missing middle housing types, but because of several other problematic aspects of the motion, as follows: 1. Lack of a neighbourhood-based process to determine possible sites. The Motion leaves open the possibility that any location would be deemed possible, thus opening up much of the City to land speculation, increased land values leading to land assembly, demolition of character houses and displacement of existing residences of affordable rental units. 2. Inclusion of 'freehold' townhouse options, i.e. strata. This will lead to increased speculation along with land assembly as developers rush to assemble sites and apply for rezonings. 3. Inclusion of RT zones. RT zones already provide the kinds of innovative missing middle housing options that the Motion is asking for: infill, multiple conversion dwellings, and duplexes as well as providing many of the City's ground-oriented rental units. Why would the Motion seek to destabilize these areas of the City? 4. Inclusion of stacked townhouses as an option. Stacked townhouses are very little different in FSR, mass and bulk than four-storey apartment buildings and, combined with the freehold ownership option would lead to spot rezonings, demolitions, construction of overshadowing apartment-scaled buildings, and land assemblies. 5. Inclusion of a somewhat unrelated issue of asking for even larger MIRHPP projects, even though the size of MIRHPP projects under existing rules has led to strong opposition by many neighbourhood residents. 6. The timing of the Motion, which seeks to by-pass and supersedes the planning underway for a citywide plan. Please vote against this Motion. Thank you. Jan Pierce Larry Benge Per Board of Directors West Kitsilano Residents Association

Public Hearings During COVID-19 On April 14th, City Council is set to consider whether Public Hearings for rezonings should occur during the COVID-19 Emergency. The following letter was sent for their consideration at the April 14 virtual Council meeting. LETTER:... Dear Mayor and City Council: On the Agenda for the upcoming April 14 Council Meeting, City staff has put forward as Item 1, a rescheduling of the next 'Public' Hearing to May 5. As previously proposed by staff, these hearings will be of a new type. But there is no item on the April 14th Council agenda to allow for discussion of this proposal. Nor does the Memo accompanying this Item give any further details or information about the way these hearings are to be conducted. We urge you to insist that the Hearing plan being put forward is considered carefully by City Council. We ask that you consider the following questions in your deliberations: 1. Does the opportunity to make a telephone call (one of the methods of communicating being proposed) meet the requirements for a Public Hearing which calls for members of the public to be able to make a speech or presentation to Council? In our view, it is fundamentally different. 2. Will the opportunity offered to go to City Hall to make a presentation put vulnerable people at risk both because they may have to travel by public transit and because they will have to enter City Hall, take an elevator, potentially be in some kind of line, interact with both staff and other members of the public? 3. Will a speech to an empty Council chamber to a faceless Council send the message that, even as the Mayor and Councillors feel that attending the Hearing is unsafe, it is acceptable for the public to take that risk? 4. Should not Council determine, through due debate and discussion, procedures related to Council Meetings and Public Hearings? This is their role, is it not? 5. Will rezonings passed under these conditions have legitimacy in the eyes of the public? It is our view that the answers to these questions will show that rezoning hearings should be delayed until this state of emergency is past. Thank you. Jan Pierce Larry Benge Per Board of Directors West Kitsilano Residents Association

Open House Update "On March 11th, hundreds of residents attended the City of Vancouver Open House at Kitsilano Neighbourhood House. Line-ups outside are an indication of how many people took the time to go in person to express their point of view and ask questions. Good news! The City has now placed the RT7 and RT8 areas of Kitsilano into a yellow evaluation area. We are hopeful that further consideration will lead them to recommend that these areas be excluded from the "Blue...Continue reading