The Tyee
At a housing summit that concluded on Valentine’s Day, local governments were working out a new stage of their relationship with senior governments.
Housing announcements have been coming fast and furious since the fall — everything from funding and zoning reforms to new programs targeting different housing needs — pressuring local governments and their staff to pivot from their pre-existing plans. …
Perhaps the frankest panellist of all was Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie, who took aim at the province’s decision to override municipal zoning to allow multiplexes of up to four units in single-family neighbourhoods and six units if they’re near rapid transit.
“I’m not a fan of what the province has done,” he said. “I think we’re all agreed… that we need to provide more housing. But as far as I’m concerned, the answer is not to throw it open and have four- and six-plexes everywhere when there’s a whole raft of issues from neighbourhoods to parking to infrastructure.”
Like nearby Burnaby, Richmond has been channelling density on major arterials and transit hubs in a “very strategic and careful” manner, he added. Plus, the two big cities have been implementing in-house affordable housing strategies.
“As far as I’m concerned, we want to stay the course,” said Brodie. “The area of Steveston has nothing but small lots. If you put four, six units on all of those small lots, you’re going to absolutely destroy really a fine neighbourhood in our city.
“We will have to deal with the densification that is going to be decentralized and it’s going to be all over the city. So the effort to control the situation and to provide the services that we need is really limited.” …