Proposed Vancouver view cone policy relaxations could enable up to 215 million sq ft of additional building floor area for housing and job space

No, that figure is not a typo.

Select relaxations to the City of Vancouver’s strict view cone policies — which currently limit the height and shape of buildings to protect northward views of the North Shore mountains and southward views of Vancouver City Hall — could enable additional development capacity of between 108 million sq ft and 215 million sq ft of building floor area for market housing, rental housing, affordable housing, office space, hotel uses, retail/restaurant space, entertainment space, institutional space, and other uses.

That is the preliminary estimate of potential additional building floor area made by City of Vancouver staff based on their analysis of the potential impact from their proposed amendments to the view cone policies. This would be the most significant change since the View Protection Guidelines were first formalized in 1989.

The upper end of the potential additional development capacity, 215 million sq ft of building floor area, is equivalent to 179 Olympic Village neighbourhoods, 143 Bentall Centre office complexes, 430 Telus Garden office towers, 326 Living Shangri-La towers (Vancouver’s tallest building), 54 Senakw rental housing developments, or 332 Hudson Bay Vancouver flagship store buildings.

City staff have outlined their proposed view cone policies changes to Vancouver City Council, which will be deliberated in a meeting scheduled for next week.

Although the amendments would have a huge impact on housing and economic development, the changes would leave the 1989 view cone policies largely intact.

Currently, based on the 1989 view cone policies and subsequent additions over the decades, there are 38 public views, each originating from one of 18 origin points from a public space. The proposed 2024 Public Views Guidelines would reduce the number of public views by 14, from 38 to 24, amend 11 public views, and reduce the number of origin points by two for a total of 16.

Maps of existing 1989 view cone policies, with previous amendments:

Map of new 2o24 amendments:

“This work was undertaken to identify views which may have changed over time, which no longer capture their intended subjects, or which have inaccessible vantage points. This includes instances of permanent obstructions, either partially or fully, or having limited access for public enjoyment,” reads a City staff report.

“The work and recommendations presented in this report attempt to strike a pragmatic balance between supporting the delivery of housing units, job space, and hotel rooms while ensuring Vancouver continues growing as a liveable, equitable and vibrant community. These should be viewed not as mutually exclusive, but as complimentary city building objectives. In addition, they support City priorities to simplify and streamline the approvals process by right-sizing development and design requirements with clear and actionable criteria.”

Removal of the underside of Queen Elizabeth Park view cone

The single most significant change would be a partial relaxation to View Cone 3.0 emanating from the designated public viewpoint of the North Shore Mountains atop Queen Elizabeth Park, next to the Bloedel Conservatory. This would enable greater height on 2,998 lots across 2.5 sq km of land within portions of the Cambie Corridor, Central Broadway, Southeast False Creek, Northeast False Creek, and the Downtown Eastside.

Such changes to View Cone 3.0 emanating from Queen Elizabeth Park would enable up to 107 million sq ft of additional building floor area, accounting for half of the upper end of the new total potential development capacity. The average change of potential building height would be 115 ft, with some sites seeing up to 41 storeys in potential added height.

View Cone 3.0 changes would be particularly beneficial for enhancing the sites within the Broadway Plan near SkyTrain’s Broadway-City Hall and Olympic Village stations.

Opening up the West End

The second most impactful change would be the relaxation to View Cone 20.0, emanating from the intersection of West Broadway and Granville Street — the location of SkyTrain’s future South Granville Station — to protect mountain views.

View Cone 20.0 would be narrowed due in part to Squamish Nation’s Senakw towers entering the existing western boundary of the view cone, and the lower boundary would be raised in height to align with the uppermost extent of British Pacific Properties’ mountainside residential developments on the slope of West Vancouver.

These changes to View Cone 20.0 would impact 597 lots on 0.6 sq km of land, overwhelmingly within downtown Vancouver’s West End neighbourhood, and open up the potential for up to 21.1 million sq ft of building floor area. The average height increase would be 100 ft, with some sites seeing up to 21 storeys in potential added height.

View cone changes at Vancouver City Hall

The third biggest change for its impact on development capacity is the amendment to View Cone 9.0 emanating from Cambie Street in the areas of West 10th and West 12th avenues — immediately adjacent to Vancouver City Hall. This is accomplished by relocating the origin point of the view cone to the existing pedestrian plaza with the “Walking Figures” sculptures next to the Broadway-City Hall Station entrance building, as opposed to the current origin point in the middle of the Cambie Street roadway. As well, this view cone’s boundaries would be narrowed by using the existing Living Shangri-La, The Stack, Royal Centre, Fairmont Pacific Rim, and The Rise as the physical markers for reframing the boundaries.

Such major changes to View Cone 9.0 would enable up to 13 million sq ft of additional total building floor area on 326 lots across 0.5 sq km of land, with an average change of potential building height of 66 ft and height increases of up to over 30 storeys.

This would be particularly beneficial for transit-oriented development near Broadway-City Hall and Olympic Village stations and select sites within the downtown Vancouver peninsula, including the Central Business District, North False Creek, and Northeast False Creek. A small number of lots would also see significant maximum height cuts by as much as over 20 storeys.

Removing view cones covered by trees and structures

The view cones that would be completely eliminated entail view cones C1 and C2 emanating north from the Laurel Landbridge (pedestrian overpass above West 6th Avenue), view cones E1 and E2.2 emanating north from the middle of the Cambie Street Bridge towards the mountains, View Cone E3 emanating south from the middle of the Cambie Street Bridge towards City Hall, View Cone F1 emanating north from Choklit Park in Fairview, and View Cone 12.1 emanating north from the middle of the Granville Street Bridge.

The recommendation to eliminate view cones C1, C2, and F1 is driven by the fact that the protected mountain views from the origin point are completely blocked by trees, bushes, and other vegetation.

The removal of the view cones C2 and C2 from the Laurel Landbridge would open up 2.9 million sq ft of building floor area potential while axing View Cone F1 from Choklit Park would open up 2.2 million sq ft.

The rationale for removing View Cone E1 is that the spires of BC Place Stadium’s roof already intrude into the existing view cone, while View Cone E2 severely limits Northeast False Creek’s development potential. The amendments would enable 1.85 million sq ft of additional building floor area for View Cone E1 and 2.8 million sq ft for View Cone E2.

The removal of View Cone E3 would better enable transit-oriented development around Broadway-City Hall and Olympic Village stations, including the potential Vancouver City Hall campus redevelopment.

Another notable change is the relocation of the origin point for View Cone J emanating north from Creekside Park near Science World. As the current origin point is obstructed by trees, bushes, and the playground structure, the origin point is relocated closer to the north end of the park. This would result in a net gain of 1.3 million sq ft of building floor area within Gastown, Downtown Eastside, and Railtown, with height limit reductions for areas in Chinatown. This change could benefit the future Army & Navy department store redevelopment.

It is also made apparent that View Cone B emanating from the False Creek South seawall at Charleson Park would remain unchanged, which would continue to limit the future redevelopment potential of the existing St. Paul’s Hospital campus on Burrard Street in the West End. No changes are planned for View Cone D emanating from the False Creek South seawall at Heather Bay, which is partly obscured by the masts of the sailboats in the marina in front of the origin point.

In addition to contending with view cone policies, building developments have had to consider building shadowing guidelines, which have acted to further reduce potential building heights and forms to reduce shadowing on public parks, plazas, retail streets, and major intersections.

City staff are now proposing to simplify the Solar Access Guidelines to minimize building shadowing during the spring and fall equinoxes from 10 am to 4 pm. This single, consistent approach to evaluating shadowing impacts would apply to 85% of Vancouver’s land area, as opposed to the current approach that can highly vary based on location.

Additionally, City staff are recommending City Council’s approval to perform further comprehensive reviews to further refine the view cone and building shadowing policies, including reviews of the view cones emanating from the middle of the Granville Street Bridge — potentially a relocated origin point — and from Trout Lake in relation to its impact to the provincial government’s designated Transit-Oriented Area around SkyTrain’s Commercial-Broadway Station.

City staff note that their building development floor area estimates reflect the order of magnitude and suggest further refinement in the future to account for current improvements on the lots, the condition or value of any existing buildings, or other development policies that may otherwise limit or shape the development on these parcels.

City staff are amending the view cones and building shadowing policies following previous direction from Vancouver City Council. If approved, this would be one of the most significant changes to Vancouver’s development policies not imposed by the provincial government in decades.

Source