West Vancouver to reconsider rezoning requirements following provincial ultimatum

District of West Vancouver councillors say they’ll reluctantly take a second look at the province’s demand to rezone single-family lots to allow the building of multiple housing units.

West Vancouver council met Monday afternoon to consider the issue after B.C.’s Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon put the district on notice last week that he expects the municipality to comply with provincial requirements to rezone outstanding properties to allow multiple units – within the next month.

At a special council meeting Monday, councillors voted to request a one-month extension of that deadline, to Sept. 23. But after Kahlon said in an interview the province would step in if the district didn’t meet his 30-day deadline, on Wednesday council reluctantly moved up their consideration of the zoning changes to August.

The moves this week come after the district received a 30-day non-compliance notice from the province on Thursday, after voting in May to reject passing bylaw amendments that would have had the municipality fall in line with provincial rules about adding density on single-family properties.

The legislation requires that municipalities legalize between three and six housing units on single-family lots. The number of housing units varies with the size of the lot and distance from transit routes.

While some municipalities have requested more time to pass required legislation, West Van has been the sole municipal government to reject provincial housing rules outright, according to the province.

Municipalities were supposed to approve new housing regulations by June 30.

As housing minister, Kahlon has sparred with West Vancouver on new provincial housing rules, with Kahlon recently criticizing the district for failing to meet provincial targets for housing.

When West Van unanimously voted to reject the rules in May, councillors lambasted the province for forcing blanket zoning policy that ignores decades of careful planning by local government.

On Monday, Mayor Mark Sager and most other councillors made it clear they still aren’t happy with being criticized by the province or with being told how to rezone property in the district.

“I take exception to the idea that we’re not doing our part,” said Sager, adding local councillors are elected to listen to the public when making land-use decisions. “Over the years it has worked quite effectively,” he said.

Coun. Scott Snider said he disagreed with the province dictating how local government should zone properties. But he said he also feared what could happen if council didn’t fall into line.

“If we leave this in the hands of the provincial government, we don’t know exactly where this is going to end up,” he said. “That has some significant risks for us moving forward.”

Councillors also pointed out that some decisions to move forward on creating housing are in the hands of the private sector.

Winnie Yip, senior community planner, told council under the changes requested by the province 313 properties would see an increase in density. She said most of the properties impacted by the changes are former land use contract sites which in the past have specifically disallowed coach houses. Most of them are in the Ambleside and Dundarave neighbourhoods.

Coun. Sharon Thompson said it’s frustrating that so many other communities have adopted the provincial rules, when most municipalities aren’t happy about them.

“Are we going to play chicken with the government and see who wins?” she said, adding she’d been warned by one MLA if West Van didn’t comply, “They’re going to come after you with a big stick.”

Thompson added it wasn’t fair to single out West Vancouver for not meeting provincial housing targets. “Nobody’s met their targets,” she said.

Coun. Nora Gambioli offered a different perspective, arguing that West Vancouver isn’t that unique when it comes to housing. “I think we need to do our part for housing,” she said, adding for the entire 12 years she has been a councillor, “we have not done enough.… Our choice is to consider this zoning or have the province do it for us.”

In an interview with CBC Radio on Monday, Kahlon said it was up to West Vancouver to meet the provincial deadline.

“We’ve given them the 30 days,” he said, adding, “if they don’t, we’ll have to take the next steps …”

On Monday, Coun. Christine Cassidy described the provincial approach as “socialism … bordering on communism,” adding she has no confidence the government will be able to “build ourselves out of this problem” which she said is being caused by “the unprecedented immigration that is coming into this country.”

She added, “I take great exception to the fact of West Vancouver being deemed in the media to be a privileged community of rich people.”