3609-3687 Arbutus St rezoning application

In 1999 Council initiated plans for a Building Line Review. The review was postponed due to issues raised by the public and staff. In 2007 it was decided that the review be postponed indefinitely, or until at least after the development of a new long range transportation plan, noting that the principles of the 1997 Transportation Plan apply, including no increase in arterial network capacity and giving priority to pedestrians, bikes, transit and good movements over private automobiles except in particular cases. To date there has been no subsequent review on retaining or eliminating building lines.  

If the project is approved by Council and developed, the applicant will be using some of the typical Vancouver rental advertising methods. They will have a combination of site signage, a project website that will take rental inquiries starting about 12-18 months before occupancy, Craigslist and Facebook market place will also be used. There isn't a guarantee that they will be reaching out to local employers directly but are hopeful that their advertising will reach a wide audience.

The Affordable Housing Choices Interim Rezoning Policy(External link) rezoning policy was introduced to encourage ground-oriented and mid-rise affordable housing types and tenures, including purpose-built rental apartments and townhouses (you can also refer to the city board for an overview of this policy). This policy also demonstrates the “transition zone” concept where ground-oriented affordable housing types provide a transition between higher density arterial streets and single-family areas. This site is identified as 500 m from the local shopping area and fronting an arterial street with Translink's Frequent Transit Network, thus allowing for 6-storeys under the policy. The City’s Housing Vancouver Strategy(External link) also aims to provide for an increased number of affordable housing projects across the City.

Comments submitted before and after the Virtual Open House period are received, analyzed, and included in the Council Report for Public Hearing and Council’s consideration. Generally, concerns are grouped into common themes and then discussed in the report. The total number of responses received both before and after the open house are included. Comments can be received  up until the Council Report is finalized and sent for review to senior staff approximately two months before the Public Hearing (date to be determined). Comments submitted under one username they will be counted as one response. Petitions and from letters are usually noted separately if signed by a number of people. For example, the report might say a petition was received signed by x number of respondents.  

The proposal for secured rental units rather than condos (market sales) is submitted in part of the applicant’s decision to deliver more affordable housing under an enabling policy, which in this case it is the Affordable Housing Choices Interim Rezoning Policy. One of the requirements of this policy is location and form of development – this proposal is shown in the dark blue areas of the map  (see page 3 of the Policy or page 7 of City boards for larger map) which allows for sites “fronting an arterial street that is on Translink’s Frequent Transit Network and within close proximity of a local shopping area.”

The amenities will be open to all residents of both buildings and will also be a pet friendly building.

The Development Cost Levy (DCL) waiver provides an incentive to developers to provide for secured residential rental and social housing projects, which is seen as an overall community benefit. Staff constantly monitor the DCLs collected and what the needs are (which are paid for by DCLs). In fact, as a result of this analysis, on November 26, 2019, City Council approved the removal of the Utilities DCL waiver for secured market rental housing effective September 30, 2020. Projects with submitted applications will be provided in-stream rate protection for another year. The Rental Incentive Programs Bulletin provides  more details on this, rent level criteria for DCL waivers,  and other DCL related matters.

Shadow analysis and conditions related to mitigation of shadowing impacts, where possible, are usually included as conditions of an approval of a project if the proposal is supportable in principle. Sometimes projects are required to be redesigned at the rezoning stage if sufficient improvements are warranted. In other cases, the design development would occur during the subsequent development permit review stage, at which time there would be further neighbourhood notification. It should be noted that for the project at 3609 – 3687 Arbutus Street, shadowing impacts would only occur in the morning for properties located on the west side of the north-south lane behind the project.

Regarding public feedback, comments, letters, emails, and phone calls that were submitted since May 2020 will be included and analyzed as part of this rezoning application. A summary of the feedback will be part of the Council Report that goes to Public Hearing (date to be determined).

The Affordable Housing Choices Interim Rezoning Policy rezoning policy was introduced to encourage ground-oriented and mid-rise affordable housing types and tenures, including purpose-built rental apartments and townhouses (you can also refer to the city board for an overview of this policy). This policy also demonstrates the “transition zone” concept where ground-oriented affordable housing types provide a transition between higher density arterial streets and single-family areas. This site is identified as 500 m from the local shopping area and fronting an arterial street with Translink's Frequent Transit Network, thus allowing for 6-storeys under the policy. The City’s Housing Vancouver Strategy also aims to provide for an increased number of affordable housing projects across the City. 

Staff are continuing to review the application throughout the rezoning process, including whether a Traffic Management Plan is required from the applicant. The review also includes considering public feedback and whether traffic issues can be dealt with as part of the subsequent Development Permit application or as further documentation required as part of the rezoning review.

The Affordable Housing Choices Interim Rezoning Policy allows for at most 6-storeys in this location. It is not possible to go higher at this time

You’re correct that there is no City requirement for the starting rents for market rate units to be capped. As with other market rental, the rents will likely be similar to other newer rental units in the neighbourhood. Ultimately, the property manager will want the units to be tenanted, and rents will reflect what market will bear. All market rental is subject to the Provincial Residential Tenancy Act which does set limits on the amount rents can be increased during a tenancy.

Market rents for new rental apartments in Vancouver are of course very high, and are generally not affordable to households with moderate incomes. In part this is because of limited supply and high and increasing demand. The upward pressure on rents has increased significantly in recent years at the same time as the costs of homeownership have become out of reach for many households.

We also know that market rents are lower in older buildings, and adding new rental housing supply is important to ensuring that more affordable rental units are available in Vancouver in the future. Over the last decade, the City’s rental incentive programs have been helping address the long gap of time when no new secured rental housing was being built in Vancouver (see graph below).

Programs that support the delivery of new rental buildings with a below-market component are one of the ways the City is seeking to address the City’s rental housing crisis. You are correct that many households with moderate incomes are spending significant proportions of their incomes on rent in order to be able to live in Vancouver, and that there will be a much greater need for the below-market rental units than any single project can deliver, but projects of this type do get approved and built one at a time. Much more of this type of housing, as well as other affordable housing such as social housing, is needed. 

To help ensure fairness, and that the below-market units are made available to those in need, there are specific eligibility criteria that apply. The below-market units are enabled by incentives provided by the City that allow more market rate units than could otherwise be built. Renters who choose to live in the market rate units make the project work overall, but the market rents for those units aren’t different than they would be in a building with no below-market units.

If this project is approved (or in another project nearby) I really do hope that you are able to access one of the units available for moderate incomes. The City isn’t involved in selecting tenants, but I do encourage you to review the eligibility criteria that will apply (https://bylaws.vancouver.ca/zoning/policy-rezoning-mirhpp.pdf ) and reach out to the developer to see if there is a waiting list you can go on – recognizing that even when a project is approved it will take a couple of years to be ready for occupancy. 

There is a little trick you can use to see all of the projects in the city that are in the moderate income rental housing pilot program (MIRHPP). Go to this webpage: https://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/rezoning-applications.aspx and scroll down to the map. You then click on ‘application approved’ and deselect everything except ‘Moderate Income Rental. You can do the same for the tabs ‘Application in Review’ and ‘Upcoming Public Consultation’. This way you can see MIRHPP projects that are in application and approved. Not all of the projects with below-market units will be in this list (including 3609 Arbutus) because it comes in under a different policy, but the map will represent most of the projects under application that have below-market units.