Expanded Broadway Plan proposal fuels density debate in Vancouver

As Vancouver considers an even more scaled up version of its Broadway plan, people on both sides of the density debate are having their say at city hall.

The beefed up plan in front of council would add taller high rises, and more of them, to an already contentious plan to turn the Broadway corridor into what’s been dubbed a second downtown.

“So, I want to understand, who is going to live in these apartments long term?” asked Viara Gioreva, who lives in Kitsilano and says she faces demoviction due to the rapidly changing Broadway corridor.

“My building is currently up for redevelopment, there’s one of those giant signs in front of it… the units that they’re building will not be affordable. The 20 per cent that is secured to be 20 per cent below market is insufficient.”

Another member of the public who came to oppose the updated Broadway plan was Fiona O’Connell, a woman with mobility and other medical issues.

She worries about the displacement of people with medical challenges who live near Vancouver General Hospital and already have long-term affordable tenure in the existing buildings.

“This is madness,” she told CTV News before going into the council chambers. “It’s pure insanity. It’s not going to benefit anyone. It’s going to put people in already affordable housing out on the streets.”

But the changes before council do have supporters, some of whom believe Vancouver must find ways to build as many homes as quickly as possible given the housing shortage highlighted in recent years.

“It makes sense to build … [in] this Broadway area, we do have limited land in Vancouver,” Russil Wvong, a former city council candidate with Forward Vancouver and supporter of the plan told CTV News at city hall. “We have the ocean, we have the mountains. If we want to add more housing, we have to build up.”

For the pro-density majority ABC party, the plan represents a chance to follow through on pledges to build more homes.

“It’s going to take years for those projects to be constructed, so this is not change that’s happening overnight,” ABC city councillor told CTV News at city hall on Wednesday. “It is change but it’s going to bring badly needed housing to our city.”

A major question as city council considers tinkering with the plan is whether agreed upon protections for demovicted renters will stay in place, but Green Party councillor Pete Fry believes there will be no adjustments to those compensation plans.

“I’m hoping and I take confidence in what staff are suggesting, is that the tenant relocation and protection policy that we have crafted will limit the extent of renoviction and protect folks who are kind of demovicted,” Fry told CTV News on Wednesday.

Council began working through 139 registered speakers on Wednesday, a process which could continue Thursday and possibly into Friday.