Government Relations Update #228

• At Vancouver’s Regular Council meeting of 17 October, the first item on the agenda (aside from approval of minutes) is a presentation by Kaye Krishna and Gil Kelley on “Planning and Development Priority Projects and Processing Times”. If the slide presentation is posted at some point, it will be linked in a future edition of GRU. In the meantime, you can watch the presentation live starting at 9:30am on Tuesday via the city’s video feed. Also on the same Council agenda is a staff report titled: “City Core 2050 and Related Planning Programs”. Related to the first item, Kaye will be one of the panelists at GVHBA’s Breakfast Meeting on Wednesday 01 November at Burnaby’s Riverway Golf Clubhouse, along with Emilie Adin of North Vancouver City and Jean Lamontagne of the City of Surrey to discuss development and permit processing. The panel discussion will be moderated by Anthem Properties’ Randene Neill, previously of Global BC News. Register for this event here. 
• In this article, UBC Professor Tom Davidoff says that Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson’s proposed presales-to-locals-only   requirement will not address the root of the problem. Here is REW.ca’s Joannah Connolly commenting  on the subject, and here’s   a statement from UDI.  
• In the Courier, Mike Klassen pens an op-ed  on the yin and yang of Vancouver politics.
• On the agenda  of New Westminster’s Regular Council meeting of 16 October is the Queen’s Park Heritage Conservation Area: Work Plan (page 332 – 337).
• At Richmond’s Planning Committee meeting of 17 October, a staff report confirms that the mandatory five-year review of the OCP Regional Context Statement has been completed, and continues to be consistent with the Metro Vancouver Regional Growth Strategy, and no changes are required of the RCS. The report is on pages 53 – 85 of the agenda.

• Richmond has postponed (for the second time!) its Energy Step Code Builders’ Breakfast, scheduled for Wednesday 18 October. Watch this space for word of the rescheduled date.

• School District 43 is hosting a meeting on the timing of new Burke Mountain schools, on Thursday 09 November. Full details here. 
• We receive a notice from Maple Ridge, stating that their building officials will be on a two-day training session on 16 – 17 October, so limited plan checking and inspection services will be available on those two days. Please plan accordingly.
• Maple Ridge launches its new open government on-line portal next Tuesday, according to this article from the Maple Ridge News.
• Here’s a story from the Tri City News  on Port Moody’s OCP amendment to prioritize higher density development. The new council member seems willing to jump into the NIMBY fray right off the bat, by prioritizing traffic concerns over housing supply.

• Coquitlam has put out its annual call for committee volunteers – see the web page for full details.

• On the agenda of Delta’s Regular Council meeting of 16 October is the new Development Cost Charge Imposition Bylaw, which includes a review of DCC projects and rates. The report recommends a modest increase in rates across most categories. When Delta announces their public consultation schedule, it will be included in a future GRU. On the same agenda is this report that proposes the next steps in Delta’s new “City” status.
• Delta Mayor Lois Jackson fears that mobility pricing will result in higher costs for people who live in outlying areas and end up driving further, according to this article from the Delta Optimist.  With all due respect to the Mayor, that’s exactly how it’s supposed to work. The trade-off between housing cost and transportation cost is a long-established principle of urban planning. And in this related article,  the Mayor also advocates for light rail further out to the Fraser Valley.
• In Metro News, Nathan Lauster weighs in  on the ongoing East Clayton parkers-vs.-tenants controversy. And there’s more: from Landlord BC and the BC Non-Profit Housing Association, in this story.
• The removal of tolls has put some money back in the pockets of South-of-Fraser commuters, but has apparently created   a new set of problems. And if time is money, then it could very well be a saw-off.

• On Saturday 28 October, from 12noon – 2pm, the Surrey Schools Coalition is holding a public rally on the need to get Provincial Government commitment on funding to build new schools in Surrey’s high growth neighbourhoods. The rally will take place at Earl Marriott Secondary, and will feature food trucks, children’s entertainment, and presentations from the Coalition. The SSC is a non-partisan advocacy group that includes the Surrey District PAC, Surrey Board of Trade, UDI and HAVAN.
• Langley City is holding a Neighbourhood Meeting as part of its #LangleyCityConnects series on Thursday 19 October, 6 – 8pm at the HD Stafford Middle School. Check the webpage for full details.

• At West Vancouver’s Regular Council meeting of 16 October, this staff report provides an update on the OCP Review.
• Here’s a story   from the North Shore News on North Vancouver City’s adoption of the Energy Step Code. These zoning bylaw amendments are expected to be adopted at their next Council meeting on 16 October (Items 3, 4 & 5 on the agenda, see pages 25 – 36 for the actual bylaw language).   On the same agenda, Item 16 is the “Discontinuance of 50% Waiver of City Development Cost Charges for Market Rental Housing” (pages 153-181).
• Have I missed something? Has North Vancouver District sent out any information to builders or designers regarding their potential adoption of the Energy Step Code? A key element of the Local Government Best Practices Guide is industry consultation. The District has already signaled to the Province that they wish to opt-in to the Step Code (Step 3 for Part 9 residential on 01 July 2018), but they need to demonstrate that they have reached out to the building community (as Richmond and North Vancouver City have done). If you know of any such consultation, please let me know.
• Here’s an op-ed from Kenneth Chan in Daily Hive Vancouver  making the case for a SkyTrain line to the North Shore. In the absence of a third auto crossing, improving access to the North Shore, and ensuring that through traffic to the Sea to Sky Highway can flow relatively smoothly will require something beyond a new Seabus.

• The Mayors’ Council is asking the Provincial Government for a TransLink governance review to provide “the structure, the funding model and the certainty to make good transportation decisions”, according to this story from The Sun. Apparently, it’s on Minister Robinson’s to-do list, but it’s not at the top.
• In this Global BC piece,   TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond admits that the short Canada Line station platforms were underbuilt as a cost saving measure, and cannot be easily converted to allow for longer trains. In the meantime, the purchase of 22 new cars (already in the works), to increase service frequency, will be able to meet additional demand for the next two decades or so.
• According to the agenda of Metro Vancouver’s Regional Planning Committee meeting of 13 October, MV will be working with TransLink to prepare a Regional Parking Study, essentially, an update to the 2012 Metro Vancouver Apartment Parking Study (page 42 of the agenda).
• Metro Vancouver will be holding a Council of Councils meeting on 21 October, and on the agenda   (among other things) are updates on the DCC Program; the TransLink 10-year Plan; and the Mobility Pricing Commission.
• From the Price Tags blog, a bit about Mobility Pricing, and support for the concept from the BC Chamber of Commerce.

• Here’s a good read  by CBC reporter Neil Macdonald, titled: “This should not be a news flash – Canada’s biggest cities are now out of reach for millions”.
• I’m trying to figure out the gist of this Frank O’Brien article in BIV.  Is he suggesting that, because the price of condo apartments is continuing to increase, that supply doesn’t help affordability? Surely not!
• Self-declared housing expert columnist Douglas Todd talks with Andy Yan about Vancouver’s ethnic Chinese irked by inequality and tax avoidance. So, surprise surprise – everyone with a Chinese surname cannot be placed in a nice, neat homogeneous category.
• In this op-ed from REW.ca, UDI’s Anne McMullin wants to see more density in metro Vancouver’s single family zoned neighbourhoods.
• I don’t want to purposely slag someone who, as a professional accountant, should know better, but this op-ed by the President and CEO of the Chartered Professional Accountants of BC demonstrates the dangers of simplistic interpretation of statistics. Check out the second paragraph of her op-ed: is it really possible that this could be true? That people are paying for their housing, with no money left over for food, utilities, clothing, or any discretionary expenses? These are the types of conclusions people reach when they simply compare median incomes to some sort of average/median/benchmark housing cost.
• In another situation where I might question the data, this North Shore News article points out incidences of high property values and low income, and seems to attach most of the blame on immigrant families and unreported income. It’s difficult to provide full comment without seeing the full data set, but I’d also wonder what percentage of these cases are people who have lived in the same house for decades, seen the value of that property increase dramatically, but are now seniors on a fixed income. Especially in West Vancouver, that seems to be a scenario just as likely as the wealthy-but-poor immigrant situation.

• From The Urbanist, here’s a blog post  about contemplated updates to Puget Sound’s Regional Centers Framework.
• Planetizen has created a list   of the “100 most influential urbanists of all time”. As you can see by the comments section, there’s nothing quite like a list to generate controversy.
• If you’re a fan of Chicago architecture, check out this piece  from CityLab, titled: “Architecture beyond the A-list”.
• From The Guardian, more architectural eye candy. 
• Here’s an article from The Courier  on the unveiling of earthquake-proof concrete at UBC.
• And finally, here’s a bizarre video  from 2015, showing ‘herd behaviour’ by thousands of tumbleweeds in Montana.