1088 W 12th Ave rezoning application

Application drawings and statistics are posted as-submitted to the City. Broadway Plan Section 11.4.2 anticipates a consistent four-storey podium in this location. Following staff review of any rezoning application, a referral report including recommendations and conditions of approval is presented for Council’s consideration. The conditions of approval often include requirements related to form of development/building design.

Broadway Plan Section 11.4.4 notes circumstances where additional height generally up to six additional storeys can be considered. One of these circumstances is sites with a frontage greater than 45.7 m (150 ft.). This site has a much longer frontage of 76.8 m (250 ft.), which allows the proposed height to be considered.

Application drawings and statistics are posted as-submitted to the City. Broadway Plan Section 11.4.12 anticipates floor plates up to 6,500 sq. ft. for sites with a frontage greater than 45.7 m (150 ft.). Section 9.10.3 allows consideration of minor increases in density for delivery of ground floor local-serving retail/service uses. This site has a frontage of 76.8 m (250 ft.), allowing consideration of additional density in the form of a larger floor plate as well as additional height. Following staff review of any rezoning application, a referral report including recommendations and conditions of approval is presented for Council’s consideration.

One of the big moves for the Fairview neighbourhood in the Broadway Plan is to encourage additional local-serving shops and services integrated with new apartment buildings throughout the area. This aims to create a more complete and connected neighbourhood with a greater diversity of shops and services along Broadway, as well as new local-serving retail and services in residential areas, such as corner grocery stores, cafes, bakeries, and small pharmacies.

Thank you for your question. Eligible existing tenants in the Broadway Plan area shall be provided Right of First Refusal to move back into the new building at their current rent (at the time of rezoning application) or at a 20% discount off city-wide average market rents per unit type, as published by the CMHC and set at the time of Occupancy Permit, whichever is cheaper. See the 2024 Right of First Refusal rates below.

Returning tenants will be offered first choice of a unit, appropriate to their household as defined by the CMHC National Occupancy Standard. If the number of desired bedrooms has increased or decreased from the initial unit type (ie want a 3-bedroom unit in the new building but had a 2-bedroom previously), the returning tenant will be offered the 20% discount off city-wide average market rents for that unit type (3 bed), and not their current rent.

You can reference the Tenant Relocation and Protection Policy Bulletin for more information. 

In terms of storage, the High Density Housing for Families with Children Guidelines require 2.3 sq. m (25 sq. ft) of bulk storage for each dwelling unit. The preference is for in-suite storage for all family-sized units. This will be included as a condition of the rezoning. 

Amendments to the Broadway Plan were approved by Council in December 2024 to enable building height flexibility of up to ~6 additional storeys for projects on larger sites (>150 ft. frontage) and in other circumstances. This site has 250 ft. of frontage, therefore is eligible for up to 26 storeys.

The Broadway Plan includes built form and site design policies, to regulate the design of new buildings. Applications are required to meet these policies, and are reviewed by the City’s Urban Design staff at both the Rezoning and later Development Permit stages. 

Part of the rezoning process also includes a review by Engineering. Their review results in detailed rezoning conditions, and a Servicing Agreement, which forms part of the conditions of approval. In addition to water and sewer upgrades, the Servicing Agreement may also include public realm improvements, such as upgraded sidewalks, boulevards, street lighting, laneways and green infrastructure measures. The applicant is required to pay Utilities Development Cost Levies (DCLs) which are used to help pay for facilities made necessary by growth, including parks, childcare facilities, affordable housing and engineering infrastructure delivered via the City’s capital planning program.  

Thank you for your question. Generally, receiving and processing an application does not indicate staff support for all aspects of a proposal.

In many cases, form of development inconsistencies (ie. non-provision of balconies for all units) are remedied through the staff review process, via conditions for the later development permit. The final report to Council will outline the form of development that staff support once the review process has finalized.

Below-market units are units secured at an affordability rate of 20% below City-wide average market rents, as published by CMHC.
For the subject proposal, 20% of the proposed residential floor area will be secured for below-market rents. 

For 2025, the maximum below-market rents under the Broadway Plan are as follows:

Studio: $1,294
1-bedroom: $1,470
2-bedroom: $2,052
3-bedroom or larger: $2,819

Tenants who have been living at the development site for more than one year prior to the rezoning application being made are eligible for protections and compensations under the City’s Tenant Relocation and Protection Policy. This includes the right of first refusal to a unit in the new building at their current rent, or at the below-market rates, whichever is cheaper. Returning tenants are not required to be income tested to be offered their first right of refusal at discounted rents. 

If there are remaining below-market units after tenants have exercised first right of refusal, tenanting of additional units to new tenants will be done through the developer/building management company. New tenants would have to be income tested to qualify for below-market units (household income cannot exceed 4 times the annual rent for the unit (ie. at least 25% of their gross income is spent on rent) and at least one occupant is required per bedroom). 

For more information, please see the Tenant Relocation and Protection Policy Bulletin and the Rental Incentive Programs Bulletin. 

You can also use this webpage to find below-market rental housing in the City.

A Tree Management Plan and Arborist Report have been submitted for the rezoning application, which indicate the street trees along Spruce as to be retained.  The applicant has followed the standard rezoning requirements by providing these arboricultural reports which consider the on and off-site trees.  As the staff review is ongoing, the final number of tree retentions and tree removals are determined at the later development permit stage. 

Also during the development permit stage, staff will review whether the new sidewalk can be positioned closer to the adjacent property line, for improved boulevard width, improve tree growing conditions, and to mitigate future sidewalk heaving. 

Amendments to the Broadway Plan were approved by Council in December 2024 to enable building height flexibility of up to ~6 additional storeys for projects on larger sites (>150 ft. frontage) and in other circumstances. This site has 250 ft. of frontage, therefore is eligible for up to 26 storeys.

The slightly larger floorplates were proposed by the applicant prior to the Broadway Plan amendments, to try and achieve the allowable density on the site. Given the recent Broadway Plan amendments and additional height allowance, Staff expect the floorplate size to be reduced in accordance with the Plan.

 In accordance with Policy 11.1.12 of the Broadway Plan, residential floor-to-floor heights of 3.0 m (10 ft.) are supported for residential uses, and floor-to-floor heights of 12 ft. are supported for office and commercial/retail uses. The form of development will be determined at the development permit stage, and I will flag this matter to the urban designer for further review. 

The Broadway Plan is a 30 year plan, which enables development in the Broadway corridor supported by the extension of Skytrain. The City has received significant development interest, and under the Vancouver Charter, are required to review any application that is submitted. A submitted application does not indicate staff support. A high number of rezoning applications also does not mean buildout will occur at a faster rate than anticipated in the Plan. Rezonings in process today will (if approved) take several years to construct and not all applications received by the City end up being built. For the projects that do proceed to construction, there are several factors that will moderate the pace of development including: market absorption rates (which, in part determine when developers choose to construct, labour capacity, supply and cost of construction materials, construction periods than can span multiple years, and access to capital.