Two years after the approval of the Broadway Plan’s densification strategy, the area plan could see some major changes that would enable more towers per block and increase the maximum building heights.
Most of these changes are being driven by the need to comply with the provincial government’s new transit-oriented development (TOD) legislation for residential uses, which has established 800-metre-radius transit-oriented areas around each of the five new subway stations that run through the area on SkyTrain’s future Millennium Line Broadway Extension, and the two existing Canada Line stations.
Eliminating limits on number of towers per block
The Broadway Plan has certain regulations that limit the number of towers that can be built per block. Due to provincial legislation, this existing limit would be eliminated for the many blocks that are within 400 metres of the stations, specifically for zoning that enables residential or mixed-use residential uses as per TOD legislation.
Without these upcoming policy changes, many of these blocks would otherwise see possibly one or two additional towers under the existing policy. It should be noted that this policy accounts for any existing towers, and a block is defined as from street to street, including any laneways.
2024 amendments: Impact of the Broadway Plan’s removal of the number of tower limits per block. (City of Vancouver)
2024 amendments: Area of the Broadway Plan where the number of towers limit policy will be removed. (City of Vancouver)
Height and density increases due to legislation
Additionally, due to provincial legislation, there would also be significant height increases for properties with residential zoning within the transit-oriented areas, where the Broadway Plan currently prescribes maximum heights that are lower than the legislation’s minimums. Most of the Broadway Plan area would see further increases to maximum heights.
Provincial legislation stipulates areas within a 200-metre radius of a station must have minimum allowances of up to 20 storeys and a minimum allowable floor area ratio (FAR) density of a floor area that is up to five times larger than the size of the lot. For areas within a radius of between 200 metres and 400 metres from a SkyTrain station, the minimum allowances are up to 12 storeys and up to 4.0 FAR. For areas within a radius between 400 metres and 800 metres from a SkyTrain station, the minimum allowances are up to eight storeys and up to 3.0 FAR.
The biggest height changes would be within “Uptown/Cambie North: Area C,” which is the area generally between Broadway-City Hall and Olympic Village stations. Currently, the Broadway Plan restricts new buildings to 100% job space, such as office, hotel, and retail/restaurant uses, as a measure to enforce the area’s evolution into Vancouver’s second central business district. It was understood that the building heights in this area would be restricted to mainly low- and mid-rise heights, with the “building heights and densities contingent on protected public views and urban design performance.”
However, due to provincial legislation, Area C’s limits would now be amended to a maximum height of up to 30 storeys for mixed-use residential projects. Retail/restaurant uses would still be required at ground level, and the previous policy’s job space allowances must be retained. But it is noted that the building heights and densities are contingent on the protected view cones of the mountains and Vancouver City Hall that run through the area. Under City Council’s direction, City staff are in the process of relaxing some of the view cone policies.
2024 amendments: Broadway Plan map showing areas with increased building height and density changes, with potential changes of building uses, and/or changes to the number of towers per block limit policy. (City of Vancouver)
Major height changes are also proposed for the Main Street retail village (between East 7th and 13th avenues) due to the area’s proximity to the future Mount Pleasant Station, and the South Granville retail village (between West 10th and West 13th avenues) due to the area’s proximity to the future South Granville Station. For areas within the legislation’s transit-oriented area radius, there would be increased minimum heights and densities of up to 20 storeys and 5.0 FAR or 12 storeys and 4.0 FAR, depending on where they land within the radius. This is up from the Broadway Plan’s existing allowances of up to six storeys and about 3.0 FAR for the purpose of maintaining the “village” character of the retail strips.
For the Granville Street segment between West 5th and West 8th avenues, the existing allowances for up to 10 storeys and 4.5 FAR would grow to up to 25 storeys and 8.0 FAR, with the requirement that the first two levels must be dedicated to job space, including retail/restaurant uses for the ground level. This is due to South Granville Station’s transit-oriented area.
Some other height and density changes introducing new high-rise towers to align with legislation are for the smaller pockets of blocks near the future stations of Great Northern Way-Emily Carr and Oak-VGH.
Additionally, many blocks along the southern portions of the Broadway Plan area currently limit new buildings to up to six storeys and 2.7 FAR. As these “Low-Density Residential Areas” are within the outer band of the 800-metre radius for transit-oriented areas, the forthcoming changes to align with legislation would increase the minimums to up to eight storeys and 3.0 FAR.
2024 amendments: Increases to height and density for the Broadway Plan’s Low-Density Residential Areas. (City of Vancouver)
Height and density increases due to City initiative
For the segment of Burrard Street from West 1st Avenue to West 8th Avenue, the area already meets the legislation’s requirements, but City staff are recommending further increases to height and density to “better align with the policies for adjacent areas.” The changes would bring this stretch of Burrard Street to up to 20 storeys and 6.5 FAR — an increase from the existing policy of up to 10 storeys and 4.5 FAR.
Additionally, “minor” increases to the maximum building heights are being contemplated by City staff for the vast majority of the Broadway Plan area, which would be considered on a case-to-case project basis to enable a greater range of building forms, more on-site public open spaces from new developments, and provide design flexibility to enable maximum densities to be achieved on larger properties.
In essence, the current maximum densities would remain the same, but how that density is built could change. For example, the floor area of the wider base podiums could be redistributed to a taller tower to create more landscaped open spaces at ground level.
City staff anticipate no additional height will be required in most cases. But in situations where additional height is needed, it is expected to be in the range of one or two more storeys to no more than five more storeys.
Some developers have previously expressed that the Broadway Plan’s existing height and density limitations may not support a financially viable development for some sites.
2024 amendments: Broadway Plan areas impacted by potential modest building height increases. (City of Vancouver)
If these various policy changes are approved, it could push the Broadway Plan’s estimated 2050 population to well north of the previous forecast of 50,000 additional residents and 40,000 jobs, based on the existing 2022-approved area plan’s prescriptions and stipulations.
An online survey on the proposed amendments to the Broadway Plan’s policies is open through July 14, 2024. The received feedback will be used to finalize the amendments for City Council’s approval in November 2024.
According to City staff, as of this month, over 50 projects in the Broadway Plan area are in-application or approved, totalling nearly 9,000 new homes and three million sq ft of job space.
Daily Hive Urbanized also previously reported that as of the end of March 2024, a total of 150 projects of all types of uses are in various stages of the development pipeline under the Broadway Plan, including 120 projects with at least some residential uses, with 50 projects being 100% residential use and 67 projects being mixed-use with residential as one of the types of uses.
The mix of the types of homes in the pipeline entails 17,076 secured purpose-built market rental housing units, 3,694 secured purpose-built below-market rental housing units, 1,436 strata condominium units, and 263 social housing units. Altogether, there are a total of 22,469 homes proposed within the six square kilometre area plan spanning about 500 city blocks.
The remaining 30 projects are 100% non-residential — such as offices, hotels, retail, restaurants, and/or industrial.
The total amount of non-residential space in projects that are 100% non-residential or mixed-use residential is 9.3 million sq ft. This includes 5.56 million sq ft of office space, 794,000 sq ft of hotel space, 748,000 sq ft of retail and restaurant space, 694,000 sq ft of industrial space, and 230,000 sq ft of various other types of non-residential uses.
Ian Brackett, a senior broker for Goodman Commercial, previously told Daily Hive Urbanized the Broadway Plan’s existing policy that limits the number of towers per block is a major contributor to the pace of applications seen to date by developers. He says the tower limit policy has created “an all-or-nothing scenario” and “a site that cannot achieve a tower form is largely frozen in its current state.”
The owners of the other properties on each block that are not eligible for towers can strive for a medium-density redevelopment option. However, Brackett says the permitted lower density is not enough to make these viable as development sites in many instances.