Should Vancouver relax some view corridor building restrictions to allow for more housing?

In 1989, Vancouver council created 26 protected view cones or view corridors to ensure the mountains and the ocean could be seen from certain parts of the city. For nearly 35 years, that has limited the size and shape of some high-rise towers, especially in downtown Vancouver.

Former city planner Brent Toderian said the view corridors have had a big impact on the city’s development.

“Even as the downtown grew, there would be these strategic points to connect to the mountains and connect to the water. It was a way of building our city with density and height, but still having respect for and being connected to our amazing setting,” he said.

But there was also a downside. Vancouver councillor Peter Meiszner said the view corridors have made building difficult in some areas of the city.

“So what’s happening with some of these view cones is it’s slicing the floor plates by a third. So we are getting triangular buildings, and that just means less units for people, and in a housing crises, we need to do everything we can to reduce barriers,” said Meiszner.

He wants the city to look at the potential upside of relaxing some of those view corridor restrictions. “The motion to council is for staff to report back with a list of all the view cones, and how much housing capacity could be freed up if some of the lower priority ones were to be relaxed,” he said.

If his motion passes, it won’t be the first time the view corridors are re-examined. A comprehensive report was presented to city council in 2010 recommending some changes, but it was shot down.

“I there I think was a strong political interest in making changes to the view corridor policy then, but the amount of public comment and public support for protecting them I think surprised that council. And at the very last minute, they decided to make no changes at all, and as a matter of fact new view corridors were added in that exercise,” said Toderian, who was the city’s chief planner back then.

But that was before the housing crisis, and Meiszner thinks this council is ready to make changes.

“It will add housing units if we can eliminate some of these lower priority view cones,” he said, adding “This is not about making sweeping changes to the big panoramic view points around Vancouver like Queen Elizabeth Park, which everybody values and loves. This is just targeting those lower priority view cones, many of which people may not even know about.”

Toderian says he’s in favour of taking another look at the 26 view corridors. “I do support the idea of an open-minded review where we can have serious conversation about what is in the most public interest. Where does the public interest really lie?”

He said there are benefits to the view corridors, but council will have to decide if building more housing is now more important.

“Protecting those views has added value in our city and helped our city be better for decades, I can tell you that absolutely. I can also tell you absolutely that in protecting those view corridors, we have foregone the ability to have additional people downtown, additional housing,” said Toderian. “The question is, what do we value most? This is a values conversation.”

In 1989, Vancouver council created 26 protected view cones or view corridors to ensure the mountains and the ocean could be seen from certain parts of the city. For nearly 35 years, that has limited the size and shape of some high-rise towers, especially in downtown Vancouver.