By Carol Volkart
A vacancy tax on empty commercial spaces. A Farmers’ Market for Dunbar. Incentives to increase diversity of shops. Changes to make the streetscape more inviting and accessible.
Those were some of the suggestions from a group of local residents who sat down at a Neighbours’ Café on July 25 to discuss the state of retail on Dunbar Street.
The ideas won’t go to waste, said Carmen Smith, who has recently begun organizing Neighbours’ Cafes to bring residents together to discuss local issues. The suggestions will be forwarded to the Dunbar Residents’ Association for possible action. They’ll also go to the city to inform officials of the neighbourhood’s ideas, and to ask about the feasibility of implementing some of them.
Smith said she especially wanted to acknowledge cafe participants for the high quality of the suggestions and “the real range of insights” they brought to the session. “This is meant to be constructive and that’s why we’re reaching out,” she said.
The café’s topic was prompted by concerns about the large number of closed stores on Dunbar Street, as well as the many underused commercial spaces, some empty for years. Previous media coverage has attributed the hollowing out of main streets in Dunbar and Point Grey to skyrocketing commercial property values, taxes and rents; a shrinking and aging population; a high level of vacant or underused homes; unaffordable prices for families, and changes in shopping habits.
Café participants said it’s too easy – and lucrative – for owners to sit on vacant property and benefit from rising land values while doing nothing. They proposed a vacancy tax on commercial property, as now exists for vacant residential property. But make it an escalating tax, they suggested, so the longer the property stays vacant, the higher the tax. “People who buy this kind of property have lots of money,” said one.
Another suggestion was imposing limitations on how long commercial property can be vacant. And, to encourage owners to develop, how about eliminating tax breaks like the reductions they get for allowing community gardens on their vacant land? “These gardens were ill-conceived from the get-go,” said one participant. “They should be removed.”
As for helping businesses, one suggestion was that they be taxed according to income and revenues, which would make it easier for smaller businesses to survive. Another was to change zoning rules to allow the sharing of retail spaces – for example, a spot that was a coffee shop in the daytime could be used for another type of business in the evening.
Regarding the cost of renting in Dunbar, Smith presented research showing prices here are not out of line with those on Commercial, Main and Fourth Avenue. In Dunbar, they range from $47 to $75 per square foot, plus an additional $17.67 per s/ft. On Commercial Drive, they’re from $27.96 to $77 per s/ft, with an additional $14.25 per s/ft. On Fourth Avenue, they’re $39 to $156 per s/ft, while on Main Street, they’re $130 per s/ft plus $20 in additional rent.
Participants also raised concerns about the loss of variety among Dunbar businesses. Gone, for instance, are the bike shop, kids’ stores like the Splash Toy Shop, the vacuum repair and sales store, the heating store, the long-time Enmark Jewellers, Olinda’s women’s clothing store, and the popular Dunbar Produce store, which has sat empty since 2018. All history, along with countless restaurants such as the Cheese Inn and Mexicali, which each had their devoted customers.
How to encourage the return of a diversity of stores that serve important needs in the neighbourhood? Among the suggestions were incentives from the city that would make it easier for a variety of shops to survive in places like Dunbar.
The look and feel of Dunbar’s retail area also came under scrutiny, with some participants critical of the walls-of-glass style of the retail floors in the new apartment buildings along Dunbar Street. The glass walls are often covered so passersby can’t see in, and the result is both uninteresting and alienating, one participant said. The same glass-wall design has meant seeing-eye dogs can’t distinguish between the windows and the doors, causing problems for the visually impaired. It’s a completely different vibe, participants said, on the west side of the 4300 block, where the colourful paint jobs and flowers of the Toña Bakery and vintage Emporium create a warm and welcoming atmosphere.
Retail stores need customers to survive, so part of the discussion focused on what’s happening in the residential areas around Dunbar Street. Participants talked about the hollowing out of the residential area, pointing to the many vacant or underused houses on their own blocks. If all were occupied, retail would be doing fine, one said, especially with the new laneway houses adding density. There’s plenty of potential for density, she said: “I don’t think towers are the answer.”
But another participant said there’s a trade-off between a lively retail sector and densification. She said she’d love to see more restaurants on Dunbar, but “here’s the problem – density versus keeping things the way they were.”
As for who’s actually occupying the existing housing, one resident noted that Airbnbs are big in his area, raising questions about how much they contribute to retail in Dunbar. He suggested Airbnbs be required to post signs, like business licences, out front stating the number of units they’re allowed to have. This would help clarify what’s happening in the neighbourhood as well as identify which Airbnbs are operating legally.
Other participants pointed to the loss of families with kids in the neighbourhood. One noted the long-time daycare where she taught had to close because of low enrolment. Another member of the group said the school near him appears to be full, but he doesn’t see kids walking to it. It’s all cars, delivering kids and picking them up, a possible indication that kids are coming from outside Dunbar, maybe because their local schools are full.
The importance of retail in creating a community was emphasized by one participant who suggested that Dunbar have its own Farmers’ Market as a way of bringing residents together. He suggested it could be done in conjunction with the UBC Farmers’ Market, and possibly be held in the park at the Dunbar Community Centre.
Toward the end of the meeting, Smith got a lively response when she asked whether residents should be more assertive about making their concerns known to City Hall.
“It should be gloves off,” one participant said, adding that King Edward Avenue residents recently proved that in their successful battle against the city’s surprise decision to put the bike lane next to the curb instead of the usual location when their street was upgraded.
She also cited Kitsilano residents’ successful fight against a low-barrier housing facility at 7th and Arbutus, near an elementary school and a children’s park. “The people insisted and insisted and insisted and the city was shamed and that’s the way to go. I don’t see any polite way of approaching the city.”