save brentwood park
Provincial Government Over-Reach
New Legislation
In November 2023, the Provincial Government quickly and quietly introduced new housing policies without consulting local governments or citizens that dramatically reduces local governments' roles in land use planning and will profoundly affect Brentwood Park and other well-established communities.
Bills 44 and 47 - new housing policies have completely transformed land use policy, forever altering development approval processes across British Columbia. Control of local development planning has been shifted from municipalities to the Province, and the Province has eliminated any requirement for consultation with the public.
Bill 16 - Transportation Act - now allows the Provincial Government to expropriate private property within Transit-Oriented Development Areas (TODAs) to facilitate the creation of new housing developments, not just the transportation infrastructure projects that the Act initially intended to apply to.
Major changes:
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Single family zoning is obsolete - up to 6 separate dwelling units, up to 4 stories (12 meters) high are now permitted on the average lot in Brentwood Park
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Automatic approvals for high density development in Transit Oriented Development Areas (minimum up to 12 stories in some areas of Brentwood Park)
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No essential due diligence like traffic studies
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No parking requirements in some areas, and minimal requirements in others
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No requirement for public hearings
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Local nuances that make each community unique are disregarded by the Province
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Power rests with developers rather than citizens or municipal governments
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Municipal government authority on local land use planning significantly reduced
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Province is able to bypass and over-ride local mayors and councils
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Developers have unbridled densification opportunities
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Communities will be left in the hands of developers who have no interest in preserving them
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Flawed Rationale
The Provincial Government's goal is to drastically, and in short order, increase housing supply which they believe will lead to affordability. Even if policies are well-intended, the rationale is flawed. New market-driven development does not lead to affordability.
What happened to Democracy?
Democratic governments function to serve the people’s interests and establish frameworks that prevent unilateral decision making. One core tenet of democracy is representation of the people. Without forums or town halls where citizens can voice their concerns, there is no way that governments can verify if their policies are indeed benefiting their citizens, and not providing out-sized benefit to special interest groups and individuals. Recent changes to housing policies allow the Provincial Government to bypass this basic democratic process of ‘checking power’. Government over-reach and lack of transparency leaves no room for compromise, eliminating a vital channel between the government and its people.
Why Public Consultation was Eliminated
Public consultation can be onerous and time consuming and can slow down the rate of multi-family housing development. However, the "Housing Crisis" cannot be fully attributed to a lack of supply. In fact, in recent years, there has been a flurry of new construction across Metro Vancouver, and there is currently ample inventory of housing supply on the market, both for sale and for lease. The issue that we are currently facing is one of affordability.
Just because public consultation is time-consuming doesn't mean that it should be abolished. What is really behind the elimination of public consultation in the Province's new legislation? A public petition calling for the repeal or amendment of Bill 44 that was launched March 31, 2024 (click here for link) and spells out the power of special interest groups in the real estate and development industry and their influence on the Province's legislation.
What's in a TODA?
Transit-oriented development areas (TODAs) have been around for decades all over the world. The City of Burnaby has envisioned TODAs within its four town-centre plan (Metrotown, Brentwood, Lougheed, Edmonds-Highgate) since possibly the 1960s. Until recently, these huge TODAs have never been portrayed as perfectly round - like the provincially imposed TODA rings of Bill 47.
What's the difference between these TODA depictions?
The primary difference is that irregular-shaped TODA areas reflect countless considerations apparent on the ground. The two images on the left and centre reflect and respect existing property lines, topographical and ecological features, transportation routes and other characteristics. A perfectly round TODA ring is imperfectly indifferent to everything - literally. A round TODA's imposition from above is emblematic of an absence of democracy. Convenient, simplistic, yes. Democratic, no.
Local folks, businesses, and governments can come together to bring back the zig, zags, and jogs to TODAs, through the normal function of democratic mechanisms at the local level such as public consultations, and locally elected officials responsible for long-term land use planning!
In this regard, we contend that Brentwood Park and its green spaces can co-exist symbiotically with the more dense concrete groves to its south. An exemption under Bill-47 was always conceivable, and certainly reasonable.
Reference Links
