Category — Neighbourhoods

When Vancouver city council voted unanimously yesterday to demand an action plan from the BC Pavilion Corp. to bring its new digital signs into compliance with city policies, the city was simply asking PAVCO to do what it has always said it would do.

Ultimately, the crown corporation can do what it wishes as a creature of the provincial government, but that has never been PAVCO’s approach.

From the very beginning of the rezoning process that led to the construction of the new roof, PAVCO worked through the city’s rezoning processes.

Just how that would happen was laid out in an Upgrade Commitment Agreement attached to council approval of the project. (The highlights, including PAVCO’s agreement “not to fetter council discretion regarding False Creek North Official Development Plan Amendments or otherwise,” are on page 40.)

The city has been a strong partner, agreeing to wave all community amenity charges in consideration of the roof construction and approving a whole range of new policies under the Northeast False Creek High Level Review to facilitate development. PAVCO overlooked the sign issue. It’s not too late to seek a resolution satisfactory to residents.

Vancouver planning director Brent Toderian has provided this useful review of the re:CONNECT winners – and the judges’ comments — in the city’s recent contest to reimagine the Georgia Viaducts and the East False Creek flats.

Work is continuing at the city to integrate the contest proposals with in-house work that will inform public consultation on a new transportation, scheduled for release in the spring.

The city’s latest report on building permits, issued in the dying days of the election, confirm what is obvious to any door-knocking politician: Vancouver’s neighbourhoods are changing rapidly as builders upgrade homes — and add laneway houses — in every part of the city.

Just three years ago, as voters headed to the polls to elect Gregor Robertson for the first time, the global economy was in free fall. The October 2008 numbers reflected the end of the city’s long building boom. A few months later, building permit activity had dropped by at least half and the new Vision council was scrambling to find $50 million in savings to balance the 2009 budget.

Four hundred and twenty-eight residential units were approved in October this year, compared to 130 three years ago. (By January 2009, the number had dropped to 34, of which 18 were replacements)

Today it’s hard to find a city block in many parts of the city without new construction or renovation. Vancouver specials are being tossed out for a 21st century update: much larger, centre-plan, two-storey homes with full basements, quality stucco exteriors and much finer finishes. (The granite front steps on many of these homes are notable for the observant canvasser.)

Laneway homes, a controversial aspect of 2008 campaign, are routine now: 162 have been approved so far this year, but they weren’t even listed in 2008.

The global economy is still in deep trouble and the US housing market is so grim that cities like Cleveland are bulldozing foreclosed homes to “save” neighbourhoods. Here, in Lotusland, we’re still building, but fewer and fewer residents can afford to buy. It looks like existing homeowners are responding with a quiet housing expansion program right under our noses.

The international invitation to redesign and reconnect the city’s eastern core is drawing global attention but there’s still time to submit your ideas to a contest that offers cash prizes for the best new visions of Vancouver.

Here’s what the city planner Cory Dobson reported this morning in an e-mail blast to people on the re:connect list serve:

Only two and a half weeks remain until the submission deadline for Re:Connect, an open ideas competition for the Viaducts and Eastern Core.  Roll up your sleeves, sharpen your pencils and join the already over 50 individuals from over a dozen countries around that world who are entered to help inspire our city and shape the future of the city’s eastern core.

Registration deadline is Wednesday, November 2nd with submission due by Friday, November 4th. Winners will be selected by an independent jury of renowned local and international architects, urbanists, educators, sustainability and economics experts. There will also be public voting to select a ‘People’s Choice’ winner in each of the categories (online voting will run from November 21-25, 2011). Winners will be celebrated and profiled at a public forum in early December.

Please refer to the website vancouver.ca/reconnect for additional information or to register for the competition.

Submit your ideas today and help shape Vancouver!