City of North Vancouver Staff Seek Bonusing Study

City staff seek bonusing study.

The City of North Vancouver may soon look to outside expertise to help get its density bonusing policy in order.

The process by which the city trades extra development density in exchange for community amenities has been a frequent point of contention, both in the community and at the council table, during recent years. City staff are now recommending the city hire an outside consultant to help put together a study meant to tackle a number of issues raised at a public workshop on density bonusing held in the fall.

Among the more frequent critiques at the workshop: that the process lacks transparency and creates confusion; that council goes overboard with density in order to secure community amenities like affordable housing or childcare space; and that there is no benchmark to measure the value of density bonuses, project-to-project to make sure the city is getting a “fair deal.”