It’s no secret that municipal election season generally means a slowdown in the approval process for developers throughout Metro Vancouver. Rezoning applications in particular can represent an undesirable political issue that most mayors and councilors would prefer not to deal with during a re-election campaign, and planning staff usually direct rezoning applicants accordingly, regardless of whether the application would be contentious at a public hearing.
Nowhere is this more evident than in the City of Vancouver. With most rezoning applications publicized in the media, and with well-organized community groups speaking at most large-scale rezoning public hearings, staff and council have been reticent and discouraging of new applications over the past several months. Vision Vancouver has a well known track record of approving almost every rezoning application that staff brings forward, but that is a topic for another discussion…
Here’s a look at the volume of rezoning applications at the City of Vancouver during Vision’s most recent term in office:
Disclaimer: This graph represents rezoning application filings only, and only the most recent applications where projects have been revised. Only a portion of these applications have been approved to date. This is not official City of Vancouver data and I make no guarantees as to its accuracy.
Of note, rezoning applications have been scarce over the past few months after a 3-year high earlier in the year, and perhaps not coincidentally, there have been few truly contentious rezoning applications that would stir up opposition. Smartly, the City is taking time with rezonings in new plan areas such as Marpole and the West End where the communities are still coming to terms with the realities of densification, albeit only moderate densification in most areas.
Rest assured there is a queue of developers that are waiting to file applications after the election. The number that are able to do so early in the new year will be at least partially dependent upon the how Council looks after November 15th.