Potential High-rises Among Many Changes Ahead
By Carol Volkart
Eighteen-storey towers on and around Dunbar Street. Six-storey apartment buildings in large swaths of the neighbourhood. More retail strips. Multiplexes everywhere.
That’s the future of quiet little Dunbar under the Vancouver Plan. Passed in 2022 by the previous council, it’s a framework for the transformation of the city – and our neighbourhood – over the next 30 years.
Think of the Vancouver Plan as a mixed bag of plans, strategies and policies, all at different stages, many needing major staff work before getting city council approval. Some will take years; others are already transforming the city. Outside our area, but very visible right now is the Broadway Plan, part of the Vancouver Plan, which is bringing towers to 500 blocks of the Broadway corridor.
The map below shows what our city looks like through the lens of the Vancouver Plan. Note the fuzzy borders; that’s because exact boundaries for many of the planned areas haven’t been set yet.
How soon will you see changes in Dunbar? That depends on where you live. Because – and this may be a surprise to many – the Vancouver Plan has already placed your home in one (or more) of four categories that you’ve probably never heard of before.
Each category – or “neighbourhood type,” as the city likes to call it – has its own purpose and allowable building types and heights.
Also affecting what can be built in any area are other Vancouver Plan policies and strategies. These include proposals like the Social Housing Initiative, which will permit up to 18-storey social housing towers on and around Dunbar Street (more about this later.)
The four “neighbourhood types” in Dunbar are called multiplex areas, neighbourhood centres, rapid transit areas, and villages. Exactly which your home fits into may not be clear, as many boundaries are still to be defined.
Here’s some information about each type, plus descriptions of two major city strategies that will also affect our area – the Social Housing Initiative and the Secured Rental Policy.
Multiplexes
Where: Everywhere.
When: Now. (Approved by council in 2023.)
What: Allows up to six units of housing per lot, or eight if it’s rental. Mostly two to three storeys.
Villages
Where: Four in the Dunbar area, at 16th and MacDonald; King Edward and MacDonald; 33rd and Mackenzie; and 41st and Mackenzie. Boundaries are still being worked out, but villages will generally be within a 400-metre radius of small retail areas.
When: Council approval expected in spring of 2026; 18-month planning process happening now. After approval, projects complying with pre-zoning in these areas can be built without public hearings.
What: Multiplexes, townhouses, and up to six-storey apartments, plus added retail. (Up to six-storey social housing buildings are also proposed for this area under the overlapping Social Housing Initiative.)
Get Involved: After a survey and several open houses and virtual information sessions in late 2024, a second round of public engagement on villages is expected later in 2025.
Neighbourhood Centre
Where: Dunbar Street and one or two blocks around it.
When: No timeline set for detailed city planning of neighbourhood centres; but work is expected to begin in a couple of years. However, the overlapping Social Housing Initiative that would allow up to 18-storey towers in this area is being pushed ahead, and is expected to go to council for approval in late 2025.
What: The Vancouver Plan proposes six storeys on Dunbar and up to 12 storeys “within a block or two of the local shopping street.” But the Social Housing Initiative covering the same area suggests up to 18-storey towers in neighbourhood centres, which could mean towers on both Dunbar and surrounding blocks.
Rapid Transit Area
Where: Area around Dunbar bus loop at 41st Avenue.
When: No timeline for detailed city planning of this area, which depends on TransLink’s plans and funding. However, provincial Transit-Oriented Area legislation, passed in 2023, sets out minimum heights the city must allow.
What: The Vancouver Plan suggests a “distributed pattern of development that allows for mid to high-rise buildings (generally 12-18 storeys, with taller buildings in strategic locations) close to the station and also off of main streets.” That’s higher than the province’s requirement that the city allow at least 12-storeys within a 200-metre radius of the Dunbar bus loop and eight storeys within 400 metres.
Social Housing Initiative
Purple (all along Dunbar) allows social housing of up to 18 storeys. Yellow allows six storeys.
Where: In villages and neighbourhood centres
When: Staff report is expected to go to council for approval in late 2025, after which social housing buildings could proceed with no rezoning (or public hearing.)
What: Up to six storeys in villages, and up to 18 storeys in neighbourhood centres. Social housing buildings must be owned by non-profits or government, with at least 30 percent of units rented to households below set income limits. This has caused controversy because it means most of the units in these buildings – 70 percent – can charge market-level rents.
The city defines social housing as “social housing, supportive housing and cooperative housing.” One of these, supportive housing, is controversial because it can include large numbers of at-risk people, including substance abusers, in one tower, raising fears of disorder and drug dealers in surrounding communities. It’s not known how Mayor Ken Sim’s Jan. 23 announcement of no net-new supportive housing in Vancouver will affect the city’s Social Housing Initiative.
Get Involved: There will be a second round of public engagement in June 2025.
Secured Rental Policy
Where: Along arterials like Dunbar, 41st and part of King Ed, as well as on local adjacent streets.
When: In effect since 2021.
What: Allows up to six-storey rental apartment buildings on arterials without rezoning, as well as up to four- storey rental apartments off arterials.
Thanks, Carol, for this very clear explanation of planning complexities affecting Dunbar, including the vagueness around timelines and borders. For those who disbelieve what you’ve written, I am reminded of Sinclair Lewis’s 1935 book, “It Can’t Happen Here.” Much of what Lewis predicted is already happening in today’s world, so it can happen here!
Thanks for the comment, Brian. The city’s actions might seem amazing, but we’re now seeing the results on our streets every day. You’ve been a good observer of how all this came about yourself. For readers who don’t know, Brian also writes on city issues at https://brianpalmquist.substack.com/
Thank you for this. It gives us a choice of either sticking our heads in the sand or engaging with what’s being planned, most probably through our votes which, apparently, is what happened with a much smaller but similar situation in Kelowna where the growth advocates were voted out.
Yes, our votes are our (pretty much only) power. We get our next chance to tell city council what we think on April 5, when there’s a byelection for two council seats. There will be advance voting and mail-in voting as well, so no reason not to make our voices heard!
Carol!
You are doing us all a great service – I had no idea what’s been going on behind closed doors and I’m on the city’s email list! Please keep up the very important work. And if you have any other suggestions as things move along I’m certainly listening. I’ll be as vocal as I can! This is the kind of stuff that can keep me awake at night I tell ya.
Thanks for the comment, Christine. So interesting that you see it as happening “behind closed doors.” I wonder how many other people feel that way? The city continually refers to it as a “robust” engagement process
Most of the things that have made Vancouver such a great city in which to live in the past will be destroyed with these plans. Skiing on the local mountains? Too crowded. Beach time? Too crowded. Hiking on the local mountains? Too crowded. Walking in Pacific Spirit Park? Too crowded.
Where are the plans for more parks, schools, hospitals and other public amenities?
Crowding will cause more stress due to noise, traffic jams, other side effects of jamming too many people into a limited space. That will lead to mental and physical health problems.
And how will all of these people be housed after the “big one” earthquake which will destroy older buildings, and make buildings inhabitable due to no electricity, heat or water for perhaps months?
Thanks for the comment, Linda. The lack of amenities for a bigger population is an important point. Proper planning would ensure amenities go along with growth, but that doesn’t seem to be happening.
The lack of engagement and consultation on such major policy shifts is unbelievable. I was fine with the City-wide mandated changes to zoning to increase density, but building huge towers on residential streets makes no sense whatsoever. How is the City able to push this through on the quiet? Why have these consultations not been promoted and more explanation provided? This could have huge impacts on individuals who aren’t even aware these changes are coming, let alone consulted about them.
Thanks for the comment, Simon. There does seem to be a big change from the past in how much people know about plans for their neighbourhoods. I’m exploring that issue now for a future article. Stay tuned!