VANCOUVER – The City of Vancouver has adopted two actions to encourage transit-friendly neighbourhoods and a more diverse housing supply.
Council adopted the Transit-Oriented Areas (TOA) Designation By-law and eliminated minimum parking requirements.
“This is a major milestone in our commitment to expanding housing choices for all Vancouver residents. By integrating housing diversity with transit accessibility, we are paving the way for a more sustainable, inclusive and vibrant city. These measures will help us meet the housing needs of our residents while fostering complete, connected communities,” Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said in a statement.
The new TOA bylaw has adopted minimum densities of rapid transit Skytrain stations within 200 metres near buildings up to 20 storeys, within 400 metres up to 12 storeys and within 800 metres up to eight storeys.
With bus exchanges, the minimum densities are within 200 metres up to 12 storeys and within 400 metres up to eight storeys.
The TOA bylaw is accompanied with a rezoning policy that provides guidance on rezoning conditions, but is not itself a rezoning, a City of Vancouver release said. Property owners will need to apply to rezone their property if they would like to increase height and/or density above what is currently allowed.
Vancouver City Council also voted to eliminate minimum parking requirements city-wide for all land uses, which goes beyond provincial legislation for TOAs and small-scale multi-unit housing and makes Vancouver the fourth Canadian city (after Edmonton, Toronto and Montreal) to remove these requirements, the release said.
Minimum parking requirements had previously been eliminated in the downtown peninsula (2018) and in the West End and Broadway Plan areas (2023).
Amendments to the zoning and development bylaw will now allow multiplex homes in five additional restricted zones: First Shaughnessy District, RT-7 District, RT-9 District, and two CD-1 zones (371 and 463).
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