When an unprecedented number of Broadway Plan development applications began overwhelming their inboxes, City Planning staff knew they had a problem. Faced with unbridled development and the displacement of as many as 2,000 renters in the area from Clark Drive to Vine Street and from 1^st Ave to 16^th, they knew they had to do something.  

What followed in March 2023 was a proposal to Vancouver City Council to slow the pace of change in the Broadway Plan area. But the majority of Councillors rejected staff’s advice, and in a 7-3 vote nixed the plan, with ABC Councillors and OneCity Cllr. Christine Boyle voting against it. Mayor Ken Sim recused himself due to a conflict of interest (he has many business ties in the area).

Since September 22, 2022, the City has been awash in rezoning and development applications for high-rise towers up to 18, 20, or 30+ storeys depending on the location, reports CityHallWatch. According to the City media watchdog, there are about 10 redevelopments now being considered in Kitsilano; 20 in Fairview, and 30 in Mount Pleasant.

Here is a partial list of proposed towers on an interactive map created by CityHallWatch: https://cityhallwatch.wordpress.com/2024/02/20/map-broadway-plan-rezonings-and-interest-feb2024/. See a full list of Kitsilano tower applications below.

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Last year, a young student told Council that she had moved seven times in the previous five years looking for suitable rental accommodation in Vancouver. The only reason she found a place, she said, was because she offered her landlord higher than-asked-for rent. “It’s important that development is slowed a little, she said at the time, adding that the coming demise of affordable housing in the Broadway Plan area is about gentrification. “It’s important that development is slowed a little, she said at the time, adding that the coming demise of affordable housing in the Broadway Plan area is about gentrification. “It [Broadway Plan] threatens students, seniors, new immigrants.”

Former Vancouver renter Linsea O’Shea, a single mother with three children who lived in an affordable Eastside co-op for 19 years until she and others in her building were evicted, wrote in an email to UKRA that by pushing more and more unaffordable housing, Vancouver is destined to become a city of haves and have nots. “I foresee a near future of the elite and those housed by BC Housing, and very, very few in between. Civic and provincial governments need to listen to the citizens experiencing the housing pain points rather than those causing it.”

Volunteers to Hold Town Hall March 14

Residents may not be aware of how the Broadway Plan will directly affect their communities. They may have questions regarding how the tenant protections work, or how shadows from towers will affect their home. Will up-zoning the area create affordable housing or will it cause rents to rise?

Since the City of Vancouver no longer hosts open houses for the Broadway Plan (we have just learned the City is planning to hold a meeting about the Broadway Implementation Plan sometime this summer, TBO), a group of community advocates, experts, and planners has volunteered to walk residents through the coming changes to their neighbourhoods.

On March 14, a Town Hall meeting about the Broadway Plan will be held at Kitsilano Neighbourhood House, 2305 W. 7^th Ave, from 6:00 (doors open at 5:45) to 8:00 pm. The event will focus primarily on the eastern portion of Kitsilano. Residents are invited to join discussions, ask questions, and hear from planning and architectural experts. The City of Vancouver and two developers of proposed towers were invited to attend but all have declined.

The free event is being hosted by CityHallWatch and local area resident/community groups, including UKRA. Town Hall meetings are in the works for Fairview and Mount Pleasant neighbourhoods as well.

Upper Kitsilano residents are all invited to attend the meeting, as once the Broadway Millennium extension line is approved to UBC — which the Mayor and Council plus Premier David Eby are all advocating — the same thing will happen here. We will be looking at towers between 18 to 40 storeys on Broadway and side streets, with the highest buildings located near the subway station proposed for Macdonald and Broadway and at Alma St. /Jericho Lands.

Kitsilano sites with tower applications include:

1855 West 2nd Avenue (17 storeys) (in the pipeline)

• 1960 West 7th Avenue (20 storeys) (https://www.shapeyourcity.ca/1960-w-7-ave) (comments open Mar 13 – Mar 26, 2024)
• 2096 West Broadway (30 storeys) (https://www.shapeyourcity.ca/2096-w-broadway-and-2560-2576-arbutus-st) (comments Sep-Oct 2023)
• 2103 West Broadway (30 storeys ?) (11 storeys proposal was rejected by City planning as insufficiently tall, but something higher is in the pipeline)
• 2172 West 14th Avenue (18 storeys) (https://www.shapeyourcity.ca/2156-2172-w-14-ave)
• 2175 West 7th Avenue (20 storeys) (https://www.shapeyourcity.ca/2175-w-7th-ave)(Jan 24 → Feb 06 2024) (replacing mature rental)
• 2233 West 3rd Avenue (20 storeys) (in the pipeline)
• 2225 West 8th Avenue (20 storeys) (in the pipeline)
• 2226 West 8th Avenue (20 storeys) (in the pipeline)
• 2267-2275 West 7th Avenue (22 storeys) (in the pipeline, replacing mature rental)
• 2520-2532 W16th (5 storeys) (https://www.shapeyourcity.ca/2520-2532-w-16-ave-and-3223-larch-st) (Feb 7-20) Note – this one is just outside the Broadway Plan area.

A special thanks to CityHallWatch for compiling this information.