West Vancouver passes multi-unit housing bylaws after ultimatum
Province had threatened to pass bylaws itself after municipality had earlier rejected multiplex developments
The District of West Vancouver has passed bylaws that pave the way for multi-unit housing on single-family lots in the city.
The decision from the district's council on Monday comes after the B.C. government had issued an ultimatum earlier this summer, with the housing minister threatening that the province would pass the rules itself and issue penalties if bylaws were not passed.
B.C. had introduced Bill 44 last November, with the rules asking municipalities to change zoning rules to allow for four-unit buildings on single-family lots and up to six units on lots near transit hubs.
West Vancouver's mayor and many councillors were vehemently opposed to the rules, arguing that the province did not recognize the nature of housing in the area, but a provincial deadline and the ultimatum meant they had to budge.
"This idea that you can design a municipality sitting at a desk in Victoria — it doesn't work," said Mayor Mark Sager in an interview with CBC's The Early Edition Monday. "I mean, we have certain areas in our community where what [the province is] proposing is actually impossible to do, and it isn't going to create new housing."
Sager's municipality had until the end of August to pass the bylaws, after Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon had given them a 30-day non-compliance order in late July.
The mayor said the province had turned down the municipality's requests for an extension, and that he wanted to meet with the minister to show him how the municipality was adding dense housing in areas where it was appropriate.
"Proper planning is the responsibility of the local municipalities," Sager said. "We need to ensure that when we create new housing that we have the proper infrastructure to support it.
"I mean, we're living on the North Shore in complete gridlock every day now ... these things all need to be discussed," he added. "Rather than fighting with [Kahlon] through the media, we'd just like the opportunity to sit down and talk about real solutions."
Municipalities feel dictated to: professor
Andy Yan, a housing researcher and director of Simon Fraser University's City Program, said the province's housing legislation has touched on the idea of B.C. municipalities having a responsibility to ensure people of all income classes live within their boundaries.
"Eighty per cent of the workers who work in West Vancouver have to commute in," he told Amy Bell, guest host of CBC's BC Today. "It's funny to kind of go in and see its implication towards transportation infrastructure, and how that contributes towards the ongoing traffic challenges in the city."
Yan said the province has been passing legislation that is allowing for more multi-unit housing, but has missed out on legislation enabling the construction of co-op and other types of affordable housing.
"It's missed out an element of enabling communities to feel like this is something that they're working together with [the province], as opposed to being dictated from on high," he said.
Speaking in favour of the motion, Coun. Nora Gambioli told Monday's council meeting she felt the district hadn't done enough to tackle housing challenges and the zoning changes would apply to less than three per cent of the total number of lots in the district.
Gambioli said that amounts to just over 380 individual lots, while zoning for all other properties in the district would remain unchanged.
"We're not that special. We're not more special than every other municipality in the province, and I think we need to do our part," she said.
In a statement, Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon said he was encouraged to see that West Vancouver had passed its bylaws to align with the province's rules.
"Ministry staff will evaluate and monitor the implementation of these bylaws by the District of West Vancouver and other local governments to ensure its success in helping to deliver more small-scale multi-unit homes," he said.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from The Early Edition, BC Today and The Canadian Press