Sun
The lack of affordable housing receives a lot of attention in Canada’s least affordable city.
Often overlooked is the scarcity of industrial land. Its neglect is understandable: Residential real estate is something we can all relate to; a site for a plant or warehouse seems to have no human dimension.
But mixed land use — residential, commercial and industrial — is crucial to the city and the region. Without places to work, people have little reason to stay here and, in any case, would have no income to do so. Vancouver would be wholly dependent on the kindness of strangers, tourists visiting a hollowed-out resort town.
Industry is a prerequisite for a diversified economy, the lifeblood of any major metropolis. Not only is it a job generator and taxpayer, but some businesses need suppliers close at hand to deliver goods, such as perishables, several times a day.
In 1973, Vancouver had about 2,400 acres of industrial-zoned land. By 1995, the figure had dropped to about 1,700 acres, prompting city council to adopt policies to preserve what was left. As a result, the amount of industrial land has changed little in the past decade, totalling about 21.5 million square feet of floor space in Vancouver’s industrial areas. However, the latest inventory revealed that only 89 acres designated for industrial uses remain undeveloped, leaving little room for industry to expand.
In all of the Greater Vancouver Regional District, comprising 21 municipalities, there are just 26,089 acres of industrial land, of which 6,859 are vacant. Of that, 700 acres are under federal jurisdiction (specifically, the port authorities and Vancouver International Airport).
According to a GVRD study, approximately one-third of the vacant land could be developed within a year, another third over two to 10 years and the balance, 1,960 acres, beyond 10 years. About 90 per cent of the longer-term land availability is within Surrey’s city limits.
Much of the available land is divided into small parcels, poorly located or vulnerable to traffic congestion, and these limitations have driven some businesses out the region. Kal Tire, for example, recently built a 230,000-square-foot tire retreading plant and distribution centre in Chilliwack, largely because it couldn’t find a suitable site in the GVRD.
The shortage of industrial land has driven up the cost, but it still trails the price of residential property by a wide margin, creating economic and political pressure to build housing instead. Although business pays a higher tax rate, municipal revenue from 100 condo units would be greater than that from a single factory occupying the same space.
Preserving industrial land has become a priority for some municipal councils, but they have few tools to prevent the encroachment of competing demands.
For this reason, there is growing interest in creating something akin to the agricultural land reserve, a regulatory system established by provincial legislation in 1973 to preserve scarce agricultural land in the province. In fact, a report by the B.C. Competition Council last week, recommended that industrial land and transportation corridors be protected using a similar structure to the ALR.
We must exercise great caution in taking away regulatory powers of municipalities and handing them to the province. But ensuring what little industrial land remains is preserved might be a compelling enough reason to do so.
© The Vancouver Sun 2006