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  #321  
Old Posted Jun 4, 2019, 9:18 PM
GenWhy? GenWhy? is offline
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This plan is to curb and moderate gentrification, displacement, dramatic price increases (land / rents for commercial, industrial, residential), while enabling growth.

Not easy thing to do.
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  #322  
Old Posted Jun 4, 2019, 10:41 PM
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Originally Posted by GenWhy? View Post
This plan is to curb and moderate gentrification, displacement, dramatic price increases (land / rents for commercial, industrial, residential), while enabling growth.

Not easy thing to do.
The price of land is going to skyrocket. Nothing you can do about that. If the land doesn't gain value then obviously its not profitable to build there and nothing gets built.
What you can do is make sure the housing is somewhat affordable and that adequate commercial space is available and used for useful businesses for residents.

One suggestion that was thrown around was allowing for density to be sold. That allows some of the existing buildings to be maintained and larger towers to be built nearby so we get a variety and maintain many of the existing spaces. Pretty much everyone pushed for mixed commercial/residential buildings.
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  #323  
Old Posted Jun 4, 2019, 10:51 PM
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Originally Posted by misher View Post
The price of land is going to skyrocket. Nothing you can do about that. If the land doesn't gain value then obviously its not profitable to build there and nothing gets built.
What you can do is make sure the housing is somewhat affordable and that adequate commercial space is available and used for useful businesses for residents.

One suggestion that was thrown around was allowing for density to be sold. That allows some of the existing buildings to be maintained and larger towers to be built nearby so we get a variety and maintain many of the existing spaces. Pretty much everyone pushed for mixed commercial/residential buildings.
If the land is too expensive then affordable things do not get built. Commercial and industrial tenants are over taxed. As do older buildings and existing tenants.

If land is cheap then certain things can get built making relative profit pending the limitations imposed by policies. If the land is a normal price (in the Vancouver context) and policies are in place regulating heights, types of housing and mixes (rental affordability and % of family units and amenity space), then the pieces fall into place. When land prices increase to the point they are at you get lots of displacement from redevelopment - especially older buildings.

By allowing light industrial to be built with office and residential would go a long way.

Not sure what you mean by selling density. By and for whom?
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  #324  
Old Posted Jun 4, 2019, 11:02 PM
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Vancouver land is not "worthless", just the limits imposed on it make it "worthless" to develop. The land with the most "potential" is very limited. These are areas like the Metro Core and some arterials. With contrasints on where you can develop that impacts land price and their potential.

Everyone is scrambling for the same C-2 sites and tower potential sites but no one is "allowed" to touch the RS sites... catch my drift. This Plan will not solve that but it should react in anticipation of overarching RS and community changes outside the Metro Core. They will only work together. Otherwise you get issues like Woodlands, West End, etc. The not here but over there effect.
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  #325  
Old Posted Jun 4, 2019, 11:25 PM
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Originally Posted by GenWhy? View Post
Vancouver land is not "worthless", just the limits imposed on it make it "worthless" to develop. The land with the most "potential" is very limited. These are areas like the Metro Core and some arterials. With contrasints on where you can develop that impacts land price and their potential.

Everyone is scrambling for the same C-2 sites and tower potential sites but no one is "allowed" to touch the RS sites... catch my drift. This Plan will not solve that but it should react in anticipation of overarching RS and community changes outside the Metro Core. They will only work together. Otherwise you get issues like Woodlands, West End, etc. The not here but over there effect.
There seemed to be consensus in maintaining the industrial sites north of the Arbutus bike path around 4th and Fir.
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  #326  
Old Posted Jun 5, 2019, 12:05 AM
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There seemed to be consensus in maintaining the industrial sites north of the Arbutus bike path around 4th and Fir.
Correct. They are the City and regions sacred cows.
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  #327  
Old Posted Jun 5, 2019, 6:16 AM
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Oh dear squeezied, I guess you can never get away from the curse of having such a foul mouth.

(1) Vancouver IS still losing out to the suburbs when it comes to creating density. How else can the suburbs squeeze so many people in at such a short time frame, as compared to Vancouver?

(2) Let me ask you this: If Burnaby, or other municipalities, never built those high rises, where do you think those people would go then?

(3) Have we ever talked about "walkability", and who is scrambling to change directions now huh? FYI, Brentwood, Metrotown, Kingsgate area, and many other high density town centres have improved on their walkability over the years, more so than you can imagine. How much has Vancouver improved on its walkability in recent times, especially areas outside downtown? Seems about the same to me since the 60s.

(4) Of course those town centres are a lot denser than anywhere in Vancouver outside downtown proper. Don't you see the darker patches? It doesn't matter the highrises are surrounded by SFHs, because if mid-rises and townhomes were built instead and these surrounded by SFHs, the density would be reduced. Vancouver isn't massively turning SFH neighbourhoods into high density sites like you claim. Cambie Street corridor does not represent the whole of Vancouver.

(5) Of course the rate of population increases have to do with density creation, especially for municipalities that do not have any more land for SFH neighbourhood growths, such as New Westminster and Burnaby. Geez. Where else do you think so many additional residents can be squeezed into? Laneway housing or perhaps chicken coops?
Vin, do you even bother reading what I posted before? I’ve explained in quite detail but evidently you either choose to ignore it, glance over it, misinterpret it or your mind is just too dense with your flawed logic to absorb any rational thinking.

(1) You claim that Vancouver is losing out and ruining itself by not densifying or adding enough population. What you fail to understand or choose to acknowledge time and time again is that highrises are not the only vehicle for adding density effectively. If you actually look at the density map which you’ve claimed to have done so, you would see neighbourhoods of modest heights in Vancouver having higher densities than the majority of suburban town centres with highrises. The reason why suburban town centres are not as dense as you seemingly believe is because the towers are spaced far apart from each other, lowering the effective density. You can argue that it is much more ‘liveable’ for residents to have distance from neighbouring towers and whatever reasons you have to support highrise towers but that is not the point. The point is Vancouver has continued to densify in no insignificant amount, albeit not in the form you envision.

(2) If Burnaby didn’t build highrises, people would likely live further away and exacerbate sprawl in outlying suburbs. But that is not the point. Your original point was that was that Burnaby was able to preserve lands for parks and recreation within the city because highrises curbed single family housing in these parks and natural reserves. You fail to understand that whether or not Burnaby builds highrises or not those parks would remain as parks. Do you honestly think that the construction of highrises was the reason there is no single family housing development on the steep mountainside of Burnaby Mountain, the marshlands of Deer Lake or construct float homes in Burnaby Lake?

(3) You’re the one arguing how Vancouver isn’t walkable aside from downtown. Do your words have no substance that you couldn’t be bothered remember what you say?
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Originally Posted by Vin View Post
Other than downtown, where else is Vancouver really "walkable"? The city is blessed with a lot of coastal land which makes it rather walkable, but that's no excuse for the inability to improve the inland areas. At least Burnaby town centres are increasingly walkable as compared to 10 years ago, and will get more compact in the coming years.
I’m just going to paste the exact thing I wrote previously because evidently you couldn’t be bothered to read or understand things:
“You really have no idea what walkability is. What does 'coastal' lands have anything to do with walkability? Inland areas can't be walkable? You make it sound as though only highrises allow neighbourhoods to be walkable, which is ludicrous. Again, Collingwood, Marpole, Kitsilano and the West End... all walkable. Even most of the SF neighbourhoods in Vancouver are very walkable with the grid layout with retail and shops lining a good portion of the arterial roads, particularily in the northern half of the city. Burnaby, as well as most other suburbs, has large-scale blocks with windy curvy streets and its arterials are just lined with more SFH. There's a good reason why people drive more in the suburbs than in Vancouver, because that's how it was designed. And frankly, while it's great that Burnaby is building high rises in its town centres, don't fool yourself into thinking these are in the same walkability level as you'd find in Vancouver. These towers are still very suburban in design with surface parking, driveways and empty lawn. Google Vantage in Brentwood if you have no idea what I'm talking about. I don't see much pedestrians there, for a good reason. Before you respond, look up what walkability is, because evidently you have no idea what it means.”

(4) Refer to (1). Your claim that town centres are a lot denser than anywhere in Vancouver outside downtown proper is just outright false. Kitsilano is denser than Brentwood, Lougheed or Edmonds. Only Metrotown is denser. Even so, the Olympic Village is denser than Metrotown. Yes humble mid-rise neighbourhoods can be denser than highrise neighbourhoods so don’t fool yourself into thinking only highrises can accommodate high densities.

(5) Clearly you don’t understand the point. Surrey increased in population the most by turning its agricultural and forested lands into SF housing. Do you think Surrey is the most progressive then? Population itself says nothing about the type of development that occurred in a municipality. And don’t kid yourself, Burnaby was still subdividing larger lots into smaller single family houses in the past 30 years. You claim that suburbs have added large populations to their municipality. The fact is Vancouver is less than 5% of the metro area and added 20% of the regional growth in the last 30 years. That is impressive for a city that has already built out; they are clearly not ‘losing out’, whatever that means.

Now stop scrambling to change directions and actually address the core of my comments, not just bits that you can take the topic off to a tangent.

p.s. I like how you think I’m fouled mouth by calling you arrogant and ignorant. When you continue to subscribe to flawed logic you will get call out for that.
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  #328  
Old Posted Jun 5, 2019, 8:22 AM
Krissy Krissy is offline
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Even so, the Olympic Village is denser than Metrotown. Yes humble mid-rise neighbourhoods can be denser than highrise neighbourhoods so don’t fool yourself into thinking only highrises can accommodate high densities.
Lol don't mention about the Olympic Village being successful, Vin would flip! Doesn't matter if it's denser than Metrotown or if it's packed with pedestrian activity, it's a failure to him if it isn't tall. #vinlogic
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  #329  
Old Posted Jun 5, 2019, 2:08 PM
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Originally Posted by Krissy View Post
Lol don't mention about the Olympic Village being successful, Vin would flip! Doesn't matter if it's denser than Metrotown or if it's packed with pedestrian activity, it's a failure to him if it isn't tall. #vinlogic
It is pretty squat and ugly!
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  #330  
Old Posted Jun 5, 2019, 2:20 PM
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Originally Posted by Krissy View Post
Lol don't mention about the Olympic Village being successful, Vin would flip! Doesn't matter if it's denser than Metrotown or if it's packed with pedestrian activity, it's a failure to him if it isn't tall. #vinlogic
I think his point is that it could've been even denser. Keeping the size of the floorplates the same, adding height would add a lot more density to the area
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  #331  
Old Posted Jun 5, 2019, 5:33 PM
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Originally Posted by osirisboy View Post
I think his point is that it could've been even denser. Keeping the size of the floorplates the same, adding height would add a lot more density to the area
In the meantime: while Vancouver's City Council is arguing if they should add more laneway housing or chicken coops to the West Broadway corridor....

Burnaby highrise will be the region's tallest vertical village
https://vancouversun.com/business/commer...-be-the-regions-tallest-vertical-village
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  #332  
Old Posted Jun 5, 2019, 6:29 PM
GenWhy? GenWhy? is offline
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Metrotown: Area - 730 acres, Population (2016) - 29,000, Density - 36.73/acre

Broadway: Area - 2,125 acres, Population (2016) - 78,000, Density - 36.70/acre

Downtown: Area - 914.29 acres, Population (2016) - 78,000, Density - 85.31/acre

West End: 489.27 acres, Population (2016) - 47,000, Density - 96.06/acre

Fairview: 808.03 acres, Population (2016) - 33,620, Density - 41.61/acre

Mount Pleasant: 904.40 acres, Population (2016) - 32,955, Density - 36.44/acre

Last edited by GenWhy?; Jun 5, 2019 at 8:49 PM.
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  #333  
Old Posted Jun 5, 2019, 6:34 PM
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Metrotown should aspire and grow to the calibur of Downtown Vancouver's density, for it is Burnaby's actual Downtown. That's great news for the region.

Broadway doesn't have parking lots and industrial sites to work with to build on, and it doesn't want to create the same mess Burnaby did with destroying all the older multi-family builings in a hurry. Lot assembly is a biggie in Vancovuer for new construction as well as land costs. 12-storeys along broadway would make it very dense for the region, so even acheiving 20-storeys for affordable rental would be a boon for constructability and easing the gentricifaction and land price escalation.
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  #334  
Old Posted Jun 5, 2019, 6:49 PM
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If you choose to focus your energy on a pissing contest about how comparatively tall a neighbourhood’s buildings are and how supremely important that is, well that’s your problem. The rest of us can cope with that and focus on other things. I don’t foresee a day when that will be a determining factor in a Vancouver city council election, meaning that most of us don’t really care and you can either choose to let it go or continue to suffer in opposition to that reality.
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  #335  
Old Posted Jun 5, 2019, 7:33 PM
Krissy Krissy is offline
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Originally Posted by osirisboy View Post
I think his point is that it could've been even denser. Keeping the size of the floorplates the same, adding height would add a lot more density to the area
Vin's point was that Vancouver is a failure for not having enough density outside of downtown and that Burnaby's town centres is leading the way in dense development. This is false. As squeezied has pointed out, the Olympic Village is even denser than Metrotown. See squeezied's point #1, if the Olympic village were to emulate Burnaby's town centres there will be less density as these suburban towers are spaced far apart, a large part due to surface parking/driveway and empty lawns as part of their development. I know as I live in one of these developments.

Vin is critizing Vancouver for no apparent reason other than the fact that they aren't building as many tall buildings as he wants. (I'm pretty sure he's taking out his anger on Vancouver for not building mega malls as well) It's clear to me he actually doesn't care about density given all his flawed logic on the matter.
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  #336  
Old Posted Jun 5, 2019, 8:22 PM
GenWhy? GenWhy? is offline
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2016 census puts Mount Pleasant Industrial with O. Vill (247.10 acres) which is about 35.52 person an acre.

Since Southeast False creek is only 79 acres and is planned to house about 13,000 people... it's density could be 164.56 persons an acre. I'm optimistic about the higher population density due to many rezoings are going for higher heights and densities in the actual plan. Even know it's like 100 per acre.

In summary, for Broadway we can build smart like in OV for the whole corridor and make it really liveable and walkable.
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  #337  
Old Posted Jun 5, 2019, 8:33 PM
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Originally Posted by GenWhy? View Post
2016 census puts Mount Pleasant Industrial with O. Vill (247.10 acres) which is about 35.52 person an acre.

Since Southeast False creek is only 79 acres and is planned to house about 13,000 people... it's density could be 164.56 persons an acre. I'm optimistic about the higher population density due to many rezoings are going for higher heights and densities in the actual plan. Even know it's like 100 per acre.

In summary, for Broadway we can build smart like in OV for the whole corridor and make it really liveable and walkable.
Interesting, still with plenty of commercial space in the OV area. Any idea what the current SEFC population is?
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  #338  
Old Posted Jun 5, 2019, 8:34 PM
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Interesting, still with plenty of commercial space in the OV area. Any idea what the current SEFC population is?
8,000? per 2016 census.
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  #339  
Old Posted Jun 5, 2019, 8:37 PM
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Originally Posted by Krissy View Post
Vin's point was that Vancouver is a failure for not having enough density outside of downtown and that Burnaby's town centres is leading the way in dense development. This is false. As squeezied has pointed out, the Olympic Village is even denser than Metrotown. See squeezied's point #1, if the Olympic village were to emulate Burnaby's town centres there will be less density as these suburban towers are spaced far apart, a large part due to surface parking/driveway and empty lawns as part of their development. I know as I live in one of these developments.

Vin is critizing Vancouver for no apparent reason other than the fact that they aren't building as many tall buildings as he wants. (I'm pretty sure he's taking out his anger on Vancouver for not building mega malls as well) It's clear to me he actually doesn't care about density given all his flawed logic on the matter.
I felt like Vin but I was a bit convinced by the numbers so I shut up lol. I do hate squat low rise buildings in OV though, towers look so much better.
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  #340  
Old Posted Jun 5, 2019, 8:45 PM
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I felt like Vin but I was a bit convinced by the numbers so I shut up lol. I do hate squat low rise buildings in OV though, towers look so much better.
More are coming and better looking (fingers crossed) but depends on the City for some relaxations.
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