Frances Bula
Sun
BLUEPRINT FOR GREENING: TODERIAN’S ECODENSITY PLAN REVEALED Vancouver’s planning department, under new head city planner Brent Toderian, has come out with its draft version of an EcoDensity charter, which gives a little more shape to a term that many people have found so broad it’s hard to get hold of. There’s still a lot of discussion ahead before it’s finalized, but initial reactions are mixed. NPA Coun. Suzanne Anton, part of the political team championing it, says it provides some interesting new directions, while fitting in with the work already done in past decades through CityPlan. She likes the new standards for green buildings, the demonstration projects for new kinds of housing projects, and the fact that it will map the city to show where facilities and park space are needed in denser neighbourhoods. But opposition’s Vision Vancouver Coun. Heather Deal says her first take is that there’s a lot of focus on density and not as much on affordability or on the amenities needed for those dense neighbourhoods. And, she says, the standard for green building — LEED Silver — is not that bold. “It’s yesterday’s standard.”
Vancouver‘s ruling party has decided it wants to push the EcoDensity concept as far as it can.
So Non-Partisan Association Coun. Suzanne Anton will come to council today with radical new suggestions that the city’s own planning department didn’t include as part of its just-released draft EcoDensity charter, suggesting that the city:
– Allow extra height and density for buildings on key sites in the city’s heritage neighbourhoods of Gastown, Chinatown and the Downtown Eastside.
– Allow developers extra height on any building if they are willing to help provide some public benefits.
– Allow builders more floor space than the regular zoning permits for single-family houses if they build “green” houses.
Anton said Mayor Sam Sullivan and the NPA caucus agreed to put these sure-to-be-debated ideas out to the public because the EcoDensity initiative is an important one to them and they want to ensure all ideas are considered.
As well, she said, the city needs to find ways to pay for the public services needed for the dense city it is creating.
“If we gave extra density, that would pay for some major public benefits. The aquatic centre needs to be revamped, for example — this would help finance that. Or a new city hall.”
EcoDensity is the name that Sullivan gave an initiative he launched at the World Urban Forum in 2006, aimed at reducing the environmental impact of urban growth by encouraging dense city development.
The city’s planning department, under new head city planner Brent Toderian, has spent the last year working out what that would mean in terms of standards for green building, what kind of density would be encouraged where, what sorts of services a denser city would need, and how to measure “green” development.
The charter it came out with last week made 16 recommendations, ranging from setting new environmental standards for all buildings to allowing coachhouses in laneways and new kinds of demonstration projects.
Anton said the planning department did a good job but had to work within certain limits. “These are political decisions that we are proposing now,” she said.
Anton’s motions, which are being made after considerable discussion among the NPA caucus, have startled her political opponents.
“Why is this coming at the last minute?” said Vision Vancouver Coun. Tim Stevenson. “I find it amazing that this is being done this way. And this is not tinkering. This is a major shift.”
All of the recommendations, both from staff and the NPA councillors, along with any others that get thrown in this week, will go out for discussion at public meetings between now and February.
Staff will come back with recommendations and spend several months working out how to implement the changes.