Could BC Housing’s project to build the controversial new supportive housing tower next to SkyTrain’s future Arbutus Station in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood be re-contested in the court of public opinion?
This follows the BC Court of Appeal’s ruling on Monday, which sided with the Kitsilano Coalition for Children & Family Safety Society, an organization opposed to the project.
In July 2022, following a marathon public hearing, the previous makeup of Vancouver City Council approved BC Housing’s rezoning application to build the 13-storey supportive housing building with 129 studio units at the site of 2086-2098 West 7th Avenue and 2091 West 8th Avenue — the northeast corner of the intersection of Arbutus Street and West 8th Avenue.
Shortly after in October 2022, the Kitsilano Coalition filed a petition in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, seeking a judicial review of City Council’s decision. They requested that the court direct the City of Vancouver to completely redo the rezoning process, including holding a new public hearing. In their petition, the group charged that the City’s approval process for the project lacked transparency, fairness, and democratic principles, including the public hearing meetings led by then-Mayor Kennedy Stewart.
Then in April 2023, the Government of British Columbia introduced legislative amendments for the Municipalities Enabling and Validating Act to override the petition before it could be heard by the BC Court of Appeal, and enable the supportive housing project to proceed. These amendments were made at the request of the current makeup of City Council, which asked the provincial government to intervene in the petition filed by the group.
At the time, there were concerns by the provincial government that Kitsilano Coalition’s October 2022 petition would delay the municipal government’s adoption and enactment of the rezoning bylaw, which was the next step for the project at the time following its approval in the July 2022 public hearing.
A Supreme Court judge sided with the provincial government’s authority in a November 2023 ruling by verifying the provincial powers to make such legislative amendments. However, Kitsilano Coalition subsequently appealed.
2023 revised design of the Kitsilano supportive housing building at 2086-2098 West 7th and Avenue 2091 West 8th Avenue, Vancouver. (Human Studio Architecture and Urban Design/BC Housing)
In Monday’s decision by the BC Court of Appeal, all three judges ruled that the provincial government’s legislative amendments amounted to an interference with the adjudicative authority of the court.
They cited past legal precedents, where it was determined that “while a Legislature may not interfere with the Court’s adjudicative role, it may amend the law which the court is required to apply in its adjudication. The difference between amending the law and interfering with the adjudicative function is fundamental to the proper roles of the legislature and courts in our parliamentary democracy.”
However, in this particular case of how the provincial government pulled the rug out of the court’s ability to directly rule on the petition, “the Court is made irrelevant to the matters raised in the Coalition’s petition.”
Furthermore, “the result, moreover, is not to affect or even negate any private rights, but to sanction a possible breach of procedural fairness in local municipal government and/or ignore provisions of the Vancouver Charter designed to ensure public participation in decision-making by elected officials.”
Although City Council approved the rezoning application in July 2022 with the intention to begin construction in Fall 2023, the petition and subsequent appeal have delayed the start of construction. Shovels have yet to hit the ground at the development site.
The various legal challenges by Kitsilano Coalition also ran concurrently with the project’s development permit application process. Following the rezoning approval, the development permit application was submitted to the City in November 2022. The development permit was approved by the City’s Development Permit Board in August 2023, and the development permit was issued in January 2024.
Site of the homeless supportive housing project at 2086-2098 West 7th Avenue and 2091 West 8th Avenue, Vancouver. (Google Maps)
During the public hearing in July 2022, most opposition to the project focused on concerns about its suitability as a location for housing people experiencing homelessness, the building’s height and design, and public safety due to its proximity to St. Augustine Elementary School, playgrounds, and a public park.
Critics frequently cited issues of public disorder and safety in other neighborhoods following the opening of supportive housing projects, arguing there is often a lack of accountability and inadequate response to concerns raised by residents and businesses.
Additionally, opponents contended that the building would not offer sufficient support services and argued that it should prioritize housing for families rather than exclusively for single individuals.
Daily Hive Urbanized has reached out to the provincial and municipal governments on what this decision means for the future of the supportive housing project.