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Council Action

What is CityPlan?

A Vision for Vancouver

City of Neighbourhoods

Sense of Community

Healthy Economy -
Healthy Environment

A Vibrant Central Area

Making CityPlan Happen

The City in the Region

CityPlan: Directions for Vancouver

Note: Click here to view the summary version of this document

Council Action

On June 6, 1995, City Council approved the following:

THAT Council adopt CityPlan: Directions for Vancouver as a broad vision for the city.
THAT Council and Departments use CityPlan to guide policy decisions, corporate work priorities, budgets, and capital plans.
THAT future Council reports make reference, where appropriate, to the CityPlan visions, directions, and next steps, noting how proposals relate to CityPlan.
THAT CityPlan provide a context for developing partnership agreements between the City of Vancouver and Greater Vancouver Regional District with respect to the Livable Region Strategic Plan.
City Council also approved a series of actions to begin implementing CityPlan. These are summarized and updated in separate CityPlan handouts.

City Council 1994-1997

Mayor:
Philip Owen
Councillors:
Don Bellamy
Nancy A. Chiavario
Jennifer Clarke
Craig Hemer
Maggie Ip
Lynne Kennedy
Jenny Wai Ching Kwan
Gordon Price
George Puil
Sam Sullivan

What is CityPlan?

Reading CityPlan
CityPlan starts with a three page vision for Vancouver. This includes the "CityPlan Story" which describes the public process leading to CityPlan.

The sections that follow, detail and illustrate the vision. In each section, quotes from the Ideas Book provide examples of people s ideas that started the CityPlan process and have become part of the vision. A facts and figures column provides background numbers that can be used as benchmarks for future comparisons; this information is for early 1995, unless otherwise stated.

Each section also includes a list of next steps to describe key ways that the Plan can begin to be implemented. Some of these can happen fairly quickly, while others are longer term changes. The future CityPlan program will provide updates on actions completed and underway.

Why CityPlan?
Prior to CityPlan Vancouver had many policies but no overall plan to guide decisions. On June 2, 1992, City Council approved:

"THAT the City prepare a City Plan reflecting a shared vision for the future of Vancouver; and
THAT the City Plan program inform citizens about the issues facing the City and present Council policies, and create, fom their advice, a shared sense of direction for the City and its place in the Region.

CityPlan: A Plan Prepared By Citizens
Often city plans are prepared by staff, sometimes assisted by a committee of citizens. The plan is then distributed for public comment. CityPlan is unique. CityPlan was developed by thousands of citizens. Over 20,000 people actively participated by making submissions and attending events. Survey results suggest their choices generally reflect the opinions of the broader population.

CityPlan Makes Difficult Choices
The CityPlan process provided an opportunity for citizens to consider and make many difficult choices. For example:

• Participants considered whether Vancouver should continue to grow or not. Ninety per cent chose to increase housing and job opportunities by taking a share of regional growth.
• Participants considered whether the City should provide funds for such services as housing and culturalactivities or whether to leave them to market forces. Ninety per cent chose to spend their taxes on a range of services.

The directions put forth in CityPlan reflect residents choices on a wide range of issues facing Vancouver in the years and decades ahead.

CityPlan Sets Broad Directions
CityPlan provides a shared vision for Vancouver. It sets directions to guide City decisions about services, development, and budgets over the next 30 years.

However, CityPlan is not a detailed map and budget for the City. The Plan only goes as far as the three-year public process went: to create a plan to guide future planning, development, and civic decisions. The next step is for citizens, Council, and stff to work together to fill in the details.

CityPlan: What's New?

• CityPlan sets some new directions — increasing housing variety and job opportunities throughout the city, creating neighbourhood centres, keeping industrial land, and finding new ways to involve communities in developing and delivering City services; and
  
• CityPlan supports and enhances some existing directions — maintaining neighbourhood character, improving the environment, and ensuring financial accountability.

A Vision for Vancouver

Your Guide to the Future
Vancouver residents have created a CityPlan that will lead to a city of neighbourhoods; a city where there is a sense of community for all ages and cultures; a city with a healthy economy and environment; and a city where people have a say in the decisions that affect their neighbourhoods and their lives.

A City of Neighbourhoods
Vancouverites want a city of neighbourhoods think of them as villages within the larger city, each with its own identity.

Neighbourhood Centres
Vancouverites want neighbourhoods that meet their needs as places to live, shop, play, and feel part of a community. Neighbourhood centres, usually developed from existing shopping streets, will provide a "heart" for each neighbourhood. Here, people will find shops, jobs, neighbourhood-based services, public places that are safe and inviting, and a place to meet with neighbours and join in community life. In single-family areas the centres will also cluster new housing for various ages and incomes. Centres will help the environment by reducing the need to travel long distances from home to jobs and services.

Neighbourhood Housing Variety
People will have more opportunities to live in their neighbourhood as they pass through various ages and stages of their lives. More housing will be available in neighbourhood centres to allow older and younger people to remain in their familiar neighbourhood as their needs change. Residents will have a say in how this new housing looks and how it fits into their neighbourhoods. As the region grows, more housing opportunities will mean less sprawl onto farm and green lands as Vancouver takes a portion of the region s growth.

Distinctive Neighbourhood Characer
Even with growth, Vancouver will keep much of what gives its neighbourhoods their look and feel — trees and greenery, heritage buildings andareas, distinctive area identities, and generally low-scale buildings outside the central area. The major changes in building scale and character will occur in and around the downtown and in neighbourhood centres throughout the city. Around the centres, the existing character of the neighbourhood will be retained or a new character will develop, depending on neighbourhood preferences.

Sense of Community
Vancouver residents want a city where people of all ages, incomes, cultures, and abilities feel a sense of belonging, caring and safety, and have access to the services they need.

Accessible, Community-based Services
Community services such as health and recreation programs, social programs, and libraries will draw on the ideas of the people who use them, making those services widely accessible and responsive to different needs. Services will be located in neighbourhood centres where they are easy to get to. Residents, agencies, and all levels of government, including the City, will work together to solve problems at the neighbourhood level by tailoring services to meet individual and community needs.

Working Together to Promote Safety
Vancouver will be a city where safety is achieved by working to prevent crime and improve unsafe conditions. Greater emphasis will be given toaddressing problems that can lead to crime and to feelings of being unsafe. Area residents, social agencies, schools, police, and other safety providers will work together to make Vancouver a safer place to live.

Addressing Housing Costs
Residents want lower and modest income families to be able to live in the city. Vancouver will seek opportunities for more lower cost housing across the city. The market will provide most housing. New subsidized housing will provide homes for some low and moderate income individuals and families. Private developers will be encouraged, or required, to provide some less costly market housing.

Art & Culture in a Creative City
Vancouverites want art and culture to contribute more to their city s identity, their neighbourhoods character, and their own learning and self-expression. Vancouver will maintain a strong arts community that encourages local artists and reflects Vancouver s diverse cultural heritage. Art and cultural activity will increase through more co-operation between arts organizations and business, recreation, and education partners.

New & More Diverse Public Places
Vancouverites seek new and more diverse public places — places where people can relax, walk, bike, socialize, celebrate, and play. There will be: more parks for areas of the city that need them; streets that serve pedestrians as well as cars; more extensive greenways to explore and enjoy on foot or bike; and more welcoming public places downtown. Nature will be protected and so will the public views to the mountains and water that make up the city s spectacular setting.

Healthy Economy - Healthy Environment
Vancouver residents want a livable city with a wide variety of jobs and a strong sensitivity to the environment.

Diverse Economy & Jobs Close to Home
Vancouver will be a city with a diverse economy, a variety of employment opportunities, and jobs close to home. As the number of jobs in the city increases, Vancouver will continue to be the "region s downtown", with major office jobs concentrated downtown near transit. Areas for industry will be kept so that industries and businesses that serve the city, such as printing, repair services, and warehouses, can be close to customers and workers. Other office, service, and retail jobs will be located in neighbourhood centres closer to where people live and shop.

Transit, Walking, & Biking as a Priority
Vancouverites want to put transit, walking, and biking ahead of cars to slow traffic growth in their neighbourhoods and improve the environment. A greater range of transportation choices will be available. Neighbourhood centres will bring more people closer to shops, services, and jobs, reducing their need to travel long distances. Although the car will continue to play an important transportation role, car use will be less convenient and more costly than it is today.

Clean Air & Water
As the region grows and there is increasing pressure on our environment, the City will give priority to actions that protect the environment —everything from how people travel to how they use water. To tackle air pollution, transit, walking, and biking will become more attractive alternatives to the car. People will pay higher user fees for services like garbage collection and water use to encourage conservation and environmental sensitivity.

A Vibrant Central Area
Vancouver residents want a downtown that is a welcoming city centre and a place to work, live, and visit.

Downtown Vancouver
Vancouver s central area, surrounded by Burrard Inlet and English Bay, and encircling False Creek, will extend its activity to its waterfronts. The central area will have two major office districts — the region s prestige office location n the downtown central business district and the medical-civic "uptown" on Broadway. Surrounding the business districts, different kinds of residential neighbourhoods will provide livable environments for a variety of people. Speciality character and heritage areas, lively retail streets, waterfront walkways, and diverse plazas and open spaces will be welcoming public places for residents, employees, visitors, and tourists.

Making CityPlan Happen
Vancouver residents want a voice in decisions affecting them and their neighbourhoods, and they want a city which maintains sound financial management.

People Involved in Decision-making
People will be involved in decisions that shape their city and neighbourhoods, and help determine the services they receive. CityPlan will create opportunities for residents to participate in Council decisions. Citizens will be encouraged to work with City staff to identify and resolve local issues. The broad community will be involved in city-wide and neighbourhood decisions, and new ways will be found to reach agreement between city-wide and neighbourhood directions.

Financial Accountability
Vancouverites want to do more with the money the City spends. The City will generally increase its revenue from property taxes in line with annual cost of living increases and maintain a balance between taxes and user fees. City services will be more efficiently delivered and more carefully targeted. City spending will be re-directed towards achieving CityPlan directions. The City will provide residents with more detailed information on how and where money is spent.

The City in the Region
As the largest city in the region, Vancouver will continue to play a central role in the region s economy and character.

Vancouver and the Region
CityPlan supports the broad objectives of the Greater Vancouver Regional District s Livable Region Strategic Plan: to set limits on urban development and protect agricultural land and natural areas;

• to create more complete communities that reduce the need to travel;
• to provide more transportation choices to reduce single-occupant car travel; and
• to create a compact metropolitan region to accommodate growth in already urban areas, instead of allowing sprawl up the Fraser Valley.

City of Neighbourhoods

Neighbourhood Centres
Vancouverites want neighbourhoods that meet their needs as places to live, shop, play, and feel part of a community. Neighbourhood centres, usually developed from existing shopping streets, will provide a "heart" for each neighbourhood. Here, people will find shops, jobs, neighbourhood-based services, public places that are safe and inviting, and a place to meet with neighbours and join in community life. In single-family areas, the centres will also cluster new housing for various ages and incomes. Neighbourhood centres will help the environment by reducing the need to travel long distances from home to jobs and services.

Direction (Neighbourhood Centres)
The CityPlan direction is to: create neighbourhoods that provide residents with a variety of housing, jobs, and services; create neighbourhood centres that become the civic, public heart of each neighbourhood; and plan the centres with local people to meet the current and emerging needs of residents and local businesses. To achieve this, Vancouver will:

• involve local people in planning their centre and neighbourhood in a way that fits theirlocal situation;
• focus change in neighbourhood centres andlimit change in the rest of the neighbourhood;
• provide shops and services for neighbourhood residents — from groceries and hardware to daycare and community police;
• provide new and different types of housingin neighbourhoods with limited housing variety now;
• provide opportunities for new jobs and services for people who work at home;
• provide public places for strolling, window shopping, conversation, and entertainment which link the centre with the rest of theneighbourhood; and
• link each centre to other centres and the downtown by transit and greenways.

Next Steps (Neighbourhood Centres)
To make CityPlan s vision of neighbourhood centres a reality, the City should, as a first step, bring people from across the city together with Council and City staff to determine how to plan for neighbourhoods and their neighbourhood centres. Topics to consider include:

• the information neighbourhoods need to startplanning;
• the kind of public participation programs to best involve a large number of neighbourhood people in the planning process;
• how to define neighbourhood boundaries and centre locations; and
• how to determine if neighbourhoods have a fair share of new jobs, services, amenities, and housing.

What's New? (Neighbourhood Centres)
Some Vancouver neighbourhoods already have a diversity of housing and areas with some of the features of neighbourhood centres. The heart of Kitsilano, Commercial Drive, and Kerrisdale each have a variety of shops, community services, and alternatives to single-family homes. CityPlan will enhance this type of centre with new services, jobs, and public places.

CityPlan will also create new neighbourhood centres in today s single-family areas. These centres will make it possible for people to wrk and meet many of their daily needs close to home. These new centres will have an increased variety of jobs and services. They will also have a significant amount of new housing surrounded by a neighbourhood of single-family homes.

Neighbourhood centres will not happen overnight. Over the next 30 years, many existing shopping areas will be used more intensively and additional housing will develop around these streets. Each neighbourhood will actively participate in planning its centre, ensuring that each centre has a unique character and layout.

Neighbourhood centres play a role in making other parts of CityPlan happen. Later sections of this document describe how centres relate to housing, jobs, transportation, safety, and services.

Challenges (Neighbourhood Centres)
Throughout the CityPlan process, Vancouverites said they want more housing and job choices across the city, less need to use cars, and a greater sense of community. They have supported neighbourhood centres as the way to meet these needs. However, creating centres in single-family neighbourhoods will mean significant change. It will be a major challenge to balance the needs of people who are seeking new housing, jobs, and services in their neighbourhoods with those of residents whose homes will be directly affected by centre development.

Another challenge will be to build a process that involves neighbourhoods in planning their centre while providing a city-wide sense of equity in the amount of new jobs and housing accommodated in each centre. A final challenge is to ensure new services and amenities keep pace with a growing and changing population.

Neighbourhood Housing Variety

People will have more opportunities to live in their neighbourhoods as they pass through various ages and stages of their lives. More housing will be available in neighbourhood centres to allow older and younger people to remain in their familiar neighbourhoods as their needs change. Residents will have a say in how this new housing looks and how it fits into their neighbourhoods. As the region grows, more housing opportunities will mean less sprawl onto farm and green lands as Vancouver takes a portion of the region s growth.

Direction (Neighbourhood Housing Variety)
The CityPlan direction is to: increase neighbourhood housing variety throughout the city, especially in neighbourhood centres; and give people the opportunity to stay in their neighbourhood as their housing needs change and, by doing so, take a share of regional growth. To achieve this Vancouver will: continue to provide new housing near downtown jobs and ensure this housing is suitable for different ages and incomes;

• add more housing to single-family neighbourhoods — in new forms — to provide housing for neighbourhood residents at different stages in their lives, and locate this new housing in neighbourhood centres;
• retain single-family homes outside the neighbourhood centres or allow infill housing if local residents want it;
• involve both the City and neighbourhoods in planning the types, appearance, and location of new housing best suited to each neighbourhood; and
• develop new forms of housing that appeal to people looking for features traditionally only available in single-family housing.

Next Steps (Neighbourhood Housing Variety)
To provide for more housing variety throughout the city, Vancouver should: involve residents in defining the features people want in alternatives to single-family housing in their neighbourhoods;

• build demonstration projects for new types of housing that offer the features of single-family housing at higher densities;
• establish the demand for various types of housing in the city;
• look for opportunities to increase the range of housing types in existing multi-family areas for units suitable for families with children; and
• plan housing as part of neighbourhood centres.

What's New? (Neighbourhood Housing Variety)
Over the past 20 years most new housing capacity in Vancouver has been created on abandoned industrial lands and in commercial areas. Housing choice within individual neighbourhoods is generally limited. Apartment areas are primarily in or near the downtown, separate from single-family areas in the rest of the city.

In many city neighbourhoods, people do not have the opportunity to live in rowhouses, garden apartments, or mews — housing that is suitable for young couples, families, and many people approaching retirement. The changing needs of existing residents — children who become adults, and adults who, over time, seek other housing — creates a demand for different types of housing, a demand not currently being met.

CityPlan will help meet these needs. It calls for more housing than would be allowed under current zoning. More importantly, it will increase housing choice within each neighbourhood rather than in separate parts of the city by encouraging new types of housing in neighbourhood centres. In existing apartment areas CityPlan encourages units that have many of the features of ground-oriented housing.

New housing in neighbourhood centres best meets the changing needs of current residents while preserving most of the city s single-family neighbourhoods. It also supports other parts of CityPlan that call for retaining the city s industrial areas and reducing the need to use a car for daily trips.

Challenges (Neighbourhood Housing Variety)
To meet the needs of current residents who would otherwise move into suburban communities, new housing in Vancouver will need to provide some of the features traditionally associated with single-family homes. These features include: an are to garden, play, or enjoy the outdoors; larger units; and locations in family-oriented neighbourhoods. It will be a design challenge to provide these features in medium density housing in a city where land prices are high.

New housing in neighbourhood centres will require the redevelopment of some single-family housing in many city neighbourhoods. This change will require a difficult balance between the need for more housing variety and the desire to preserve traditional single-family neighbourhoods in their entirety.

Distinctive Neighbourhood Character
Even with growth, Vancouver will keep much of what gives its neighbourhoods their look and feel — trees and greenery, heritage buildings and areas, distinctive area identities, and generally low-scale buildings outside the central area. The major changes in building scale and character will occur in and around the downtown and in neighbourhood centres throughout the city. Around the centres, the existing character of the neighbourhood will be retained or a new character will develop, depending on neighbourhood preferences.

Direction (Distinctive Neighbourhood Character)
The CityPlan direction is to: support the creation of a distinctive look and feel for each neighbourhood; and use guidelines based on this character, to determine the design of new development. To achieve this, Vancouver will: f

• focus new development in locations in and around the downtown and in new neighbourhood centres;
• ensure neighbourhood centres are as compatible as possible with their surrounding neighbourhoods;
• continue to require compatible new development in areas with existing character guidelines (downtown and most two-family and multi-family zones), and help residents in other areas establish the desired character of their neighbourhood;
• place more emphasis on landscaping on private sites, including planting new trees and protecting established ones; and
• extend City measures to protect heritage buildings and areas.

Next Steps (Distinctive Neighbourhood Character)
To maintain and encourage distinctive neighbourhood character, Vancouver should:

• create tools neighbourhoods can use to record and assess the character and heritage of their area;
• create an accessible collection of case studies and images of existing neighbourhood centres (from Vancouver and elsewhere) for use in neighbourhood planning;
• develop bylaws and guidelines to help neighbourhoods create the character they want; and
• expand current regulations to protect heritage buildings and to protect trees considered significant because of their habitat, cultural, or heritage value.

What's New? (Distinctive Neighbourhood Character)
Over the past 10 years the City has controlled development in some areas to make sure new buildings are in character with existing buildings — Kitsilano, Mt. Pleasant, Strathcona, and Shaughnessy. CityPlan allows each neighbourhood to choose its own character for future development. More neighbourhoods may wish to retain their traditional character, while some may wish to develop a contemporary character. Others may want a mix.

Even when neighbourhoods determine the character of new development, change will continue to occur. More high-rise development in and around the downtown, and more four-storey buildings along major streets outside downtown will be built. In addition, the creation of neighbourhood centres throughout the city will result in significant physical change, even though their character will be customized to suit neighbourhoods.

There are some current regulations for trees and greenery on private sites. CityPlan places even more emphasis on landscaping, particularly on protecting existing trees. Finally, measures to protect heritage structures would be expanded, perhaps to include financial incentives and relaxing building bylaws.

The Challenges (Distinctive Neighbourhood Character)
Many neighbourhoods in the city are already experiencing change and want actions to maintain their character right away. However, it will not be possible to plan all areas at once. A big challenge will be to decide where to start and how fast we can proceed.

In many areas of the city, development character is controversial. There can be strong differences of opinion within a community about what constitutes an appropriate scale and development character. It will be a challenge to find ways to resolve differences.

New measures to control development character, protect trees, and retain heritage involve more regulation "red tape" and costs. At the same time, many people want less costly government. Balancing these views will be a challenge.

Sense of Community

Accessible, Community-based Services
Community services such as health and recreation programs, social programs, and libraries will draw on the ideas of the people who use them, making those services widely accessible and responsive to different needs. Services will be located in neighbourhood centres where they are easy to get to. Residents, agencies, and all levels of government, including the City, will work together to solve problems at the neighbourhood level by tailoring services to meet individual and community needs.

Direction (Accessible, Community-based Services)
The CityPlan direction is to: provide better access to City services for people who most need them and for people who currently have difficulty getting the services they require; and increasingly deliver services locally and in consultation with users. To achieve this, Vancouver will:

• target services to those mst in need;
• increase opportunities for users to participate in service planning and delivery;
• provide easier access for people who currently feel excluded due to age, language, income, or abilities;
• find opportunities to co-ordinate staff at the neighbourhood level and to share City facilities;
• develop innovative funding and partnerships and support non-profit organizations that deliver services; and
• watch for, and respond to, changing needs.

Next Steps (Accessible, Community-based Services)
To ensure the City provides more accessible, community-based services, Vancouver should: review service priorities and recommend how to target services to make sure those most in need are the ones who receive support;

• reflect the needs of the city s children and youth in City policies;
• work with new regionalized health services to ensure both city-wide and neighbourhood needs are addressed;
• give residents easier access to City services;
• bring City staff and residents together to solve local issues by implementing Council s recent approval of Integrated Community Service Teams; and
• distribute information more effectively by using local media and community organizations to reach the city s diverse communities.

What's New? (Accessible, Community-based Services)
City services were traditionally developed in City Hall and delivered in the same way across the city. That is starting to change. For example, health services are now more neighbourhood- based. CityPlan participants strongly supported tailoring services to meet community and individual needs by encouraging local approaches.

In September 1994, Council approved a new way of developing and delivering City services, Integrated Service Delivery (ISD). The approach is to create up to 24 locally-based staff teams with representatives from Fire, Police, Parks, Library, Health, and other City departments. Each team will base its operation in a neighbourhood and will deal, in an integrated fashion, with community issues. The teams will link with the community and seek to resolve local concerns. Residents will be encouraged to volunteer to help support community services and facilities. The first teams are expected to be in place by mid-1995. CityPlan supports this direction.

Challenges (Accessible, Community-based Services)
The federal government is currently reviewing social programs. The provincial government is changing the way health services are delivered. These programs have a major impact on the quality of life for many city residents. It will be a continuing challenge to effectively integrate social services provided by different levels of government and ensure the needs of Vancouver residents are addressed.

Currently, over 3,000 City staff work outside City Hall in some 90 facilities. Bringing them together so that each neighbourhood has easy access to a full range of services in convenient locations will be a long-term project that requires extended commitment.

Another challenge is creating more accessible, community-based services that are cost effective. To do this we need to establish service priorities and reallocate resources. When service priorities shift, some people may benefit and some may have to go without services they had in the past. Establishing these priorities will require city-wide community input.

Working Together to Promote Safety
Vancouver will be a city where safety is achieved by working to prevent crime and improve unsafe conditions. Greater emphasis will be given to addressing problems that can lead to crime and to eelings of being unsafe. Area residents, social agencies, schools, police, and other safety providers will work together to make Vancouver a safer place to live.

Direction (Working Together to Promote Safety)
The CityPlan direction is to: improve community safety by emphasizing the prevention of crime and reducing unsafe conditions. To achieve this, Vancouver will:

• improve co-ordination between the police, fire, environmental health, emergency planning departments, other agencies, and the community to provide for a safer city;
• provide more personal contact between the police and the public through community-based policing;
• place greater emphasis on social programs for groups in need and at risk and on safety and crime prevention programs that involve the community; and
• design streets, buildings, and public places to make communities safer.

Next Steps (Working Together to Promote Safety)
To ensure the city works together to promote safety, Vancouver should: continue to implement community-based policing;

• promote community involvement in crime prevention by extending Block Watch and Block Parent programs, and encouraging local residents to work more closely in setting safety priorities and allocating resources in their neighbourhoods;
• identify ways to enhance programs designed for groups in need and at risk to prevent problems before They lead to crime; and
• improve safety in buildings and public places by applying "Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design" principles.

What's New? (Working Together to Promote Safety)
Community-based policing means changing current law enforcement practices to include more contact with local community groups and established community organizations, working together to address community problems. Neighbourhood police offices support this process.

In 1993, the City s Safer City Task Force recommended improving safety through community policing. CityPlan participants supported this direction. In October 1994, Council considered a model for community-based policing. At present, the police are in partnership with 10 Community and Crime Prevention Offices, with more planned.

Community-based policing also takes a more proactive approach to safety by addressing social stresses that often lead to crime. This involves City departments co-ordinating their efforts with social agencies and the community through Integrated Service Delivery Teams to take a preventative approach to problems. This prevention effort provides family counselling, youth support, and recreation programming.

CityPlan calls for more attention to safety in the design and maintenance of public places. This includes better street lighting at transit stops, safer streets through better traffic controls, and other fire and emergency measures to improve building and community safety.

Challenges (Working Together to Promote Safety)
Community-based policing and the goals of increased crime prevention through improved social programs are broadly supported. These programs should lead to savings over the long term, but the benefits may not be immediately visible. It will be a challenge to provide the resources required to implement these approaches in a climate of fiscal restraint.

In seeking to make Vancouver a safer city through the design of buildings and public places, the challenge will be to balance the need for improved safety with other concerns such as construction costs and the look and feel of new development.

Some of the challenge of making Vancouver a safer city rests on the actions of individuals, through participating in Block Watch and Block Parent programs, preparing for emergencies, and minimizing unsafe conditions around their home, work, and community.

Addressing Housing Costs

Residents want lower and modest income families to be able to live in the city. Vancouver will seek opportunities for more lower cost housing across the city. The market will provide most housing. Subsidized housing will provide homes for some low and moderate income individuals and families. Private developers will be encouraged, or required, to provide some less costly market housing.

Direction (Addressing Housing Costs)
The CityPlan direction is to: increase the supply of subsidized and lower cost market housing throughout the city through the use of senior government programs, private sector incentives, and City regulations and subsidies. To achieve this, Vancouver will: maintain or increase the ratio of subsidized housing to market housing as the city grows;

• continue current City initiatives supporting subsidized housing and explore new funding sources for this housing;
• use incentives to encourage the private sector to provide lower cost housing, or require a percentage of new units to be more affordable;
• maintain a stock of rental housing;
• ensure City regulations do not unduly increase housing costs; and
• support actions to increase the housing supply, helping to minimize price increases due to scarcity.

Next Steps (Addressing Housing Costs)
To ensure there is lower cost housing in the city, Vancouver should:

• monitor the need for subsidized housing among city residents to determine priorities and direct funds;
• explore ways of raising additional funds for subsidized housing including developing proposals for Capital plans;
• develop and implement incentives and regulations that provide lower cost market housing in Vancouver; and
• identify regulations that add to housing costs and establish a staff/industry/public process to review these regulations and recommend revisions.

What's New? (Addressing Housing Costs)
Currently the City helps provide housing for low and moderate income households by:

• maximizing the effectiveness of senior government funding for subsidized housing by requiring subsidized housing in major projects, leasing City land, and collecting levies on market units in some areas to fund subsidized housing;
• regulating demolitions and strata conversion to preserve some rental housing; and
• allowing secondary suites to provide more affordable homes in some areas.

CityPlan also takes a new, broader view of housing cost. Vancouverites want the City to take an active role in influencing the cost of market housing. Although the market will set the cost of most housing, new regulations and incentives could lead to more lower cost market housing than would otherwise be available. Many of these new initiatives will apply across the city. Some could require lower cost housing as a condition of new development, particularly in neighbourhood centres, as a means of providing housing for a range of incomes.

Addressing housing costs, especially for those most in need, takes money. In the past, the federal government funded two-thirds of new subsidized housing in the city. If recent senior government cuts are permanent, maintaining a constant proportion of subsidized housing will be a difficult challenge. It could require redirecting funds from other City services, imposing new taxes, or requiring development charges.

Subsidized housing can only help some of the people most in need. Most residents will still live in market housing. The city is fortunate in having a large stock of relatively affordable housing — apartments and secondary suites. This housing will only be available to lower income households if there are alternatives for those who can afford to pay more. It will be a challenge to preserve and protect existing lower cost housing and at the same time provid some new moderate cost market units.

In the broader context, Vancouver is part of a regional housing market, and there is only so much the City can do to ensure that "affordable" housing is available. It will be a challenge for Vancouver and the neighbouring municipalities to work together to address regional housing costs as efficiently and fairly as possible.

Art & Culture in a Creative City
Vancouverites want art and culture to contribute more to their city s identity, their neighbourhoods character, and their own learning and self-expression. Vancouver will maintain a strong arts community that encourages local artists and reflects Vancouver s diverse cultural heritage. Art and cultural activity will increase through more co-operation between arts organizations and business, recreation, and education partners.

Direction (Art & Culture in a Creative City)
The CityPlan direction is to: make Vancouver a city where creativity is valued and contributes to our cultural, social, and economic development; and expand partnerships between arts organizations, civic institutions, and the private sector that reflect neighbourhood needs, cultural diversity, and the artist s role. To achieve this, Vancouver will:

• broaden art and culture activity at the neighbourhood level to provide opportunities for resident participation;
• respect our diverse cultural heritage while recognizing our shared responsibility for creating Vancouver s collective identity;
• plan arts programs jointly among civic departments, the School Board, Park Board, and Library Board;
• help keep not-for-profit arts organizations strong; and
• maintain the downtown as the cultural and entertainment centre of the region and seek broader support for regional-scale arts institutions.

Next Steps (Art & Culture in a Creative City)
To encourage a local arts and cultural community that reflects the city, Vancouver should: implement the recommendations of the 1993 Vancouver Arts Initiative, including increasing access to the arts for children and youth and recognizing the contributions of individual artists;

• co-ordinate Vancouver Public Library, School Board, and Park Board cultural programs to better serve individual and neighbourhood needs;
• create needed new arts facilities through partnerships between the private sector, non-profit organizations, and the City;
• continue to implement the Park Board Art Policy including the artist-in-residence programs and community cultural development projects; and
• include public art as part of major private and public developments and along the city s greenways.

What's New? (Art & Culture in a Creative City)
Historically, City funding for art and culture focused on major civic facilities and the arts organizations that used them, such as the Symphony at the Orpheum Theatre, the Opera at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, and the Playhouse Theatre Company at the Playhouse Theatre. Along with the Art Gallery and the Library, these institutions helped form a major cultural and entertainment centre in the downtown.

Over time the City has helped cultural activity spread beyond the downtown, including the Arts Club on Granville Island, the Firehall Theatre, the Vancouver East Cultural Centre, as well as major festivals in several parks. Art activity has also begun to reflect the increasing diversity of the city s population. CityPlan supports these recent directions.

CityPlan shows Vancouverites are not willing to leave funding of art and cultural activity to the private market. CityPlan calls for:

• an expanded range of art and cultural activities;
• increased neighbourhood participation in art and culture; and
• more individual learning and expression.

Overall, Vancouverites will experience the arts more in their everyday lives because more activities and facilities ill be available in their neighbourhoods.

Challenges (Art & Culture in a Creative City)
CityPlan sees more opportunities for citizens to be involved in arts activities. However, since City resources are limited, the challenge will be to pool resources among civic agencies, non-profit organizations, and the private sector, and to find new sources of donations, sponsorships, and revenue.

The City funds major arts organizations and cultural facilities which also benefit residents living outside the city. It will continue to be a challenge to increase regional support for Vancouver-based arts organizations serving the Lower Mainland.

New & More Diverse Public Places
Vancouverites seek new and more diverse public places, places where people can relax, walk, bike, socialize, celebrate, and play. There will be more parks for areas of the city which need them; streets that serve pedestrians as well as cars; more extensive greenways to explore and enjoy on foot or bike; and more welcoming public places downtown. Nature will be protected and so will the public views to the mountains and water that make up the city s spectacular setting.

Direction (New & More Diverse Public Places)
The CityPlan direction is to: ensure that the number and quality of the city s public places matches the needs of a growing and increasingly diverse population; and encourage neighbourhoods and businesses to participate in enhancing the city s public places. To achieve this, Vancouver will:

• acquire new park space in growing areas and areas where there is a shortage of park space now;
• create a greater variety of park sizes, shapes, and uses;
• encourage more intensive, shared use of public space parks, streets, schools, and hospital grounds;
• increase the number and variety of trees on public streets;
• promote lively neighbourhood shopping streets where it is comfortable to buy, sell, stroll, relax, and perform;
• encourage the city s major thoroughfares to develop their own look and feel;
• encourage friendlier residential streets by calming traffic;
• build city-wide and neighbourhood greenways that make moving through the city on foot or bike a more pleasant, interesting experience, including increased access to the waterfront;
• promote more attractive, usable downtown plazas and parks; and
• continue to protect public views of water and mountains.

Next Steps (New & More Diverse Public Places)
To ensure the development of new and more diverse public places, Vancouver should: develop new planning and funding strategies to keep up with parks and open space needs as the city grows;

• pursue the City s greenways initiatives;
• provide user-friendly information that shows people how to pursue traffic calming, make commercial streets more attractive, and initiate events or activities in streets and parks;
• develop public place proposals for future capital plans such as a design competition to transform the Queen Elizabeth Theatre or Art Gallery plazas, park development projects that increase the diversity and intensity of park use, and building a system of greenways;
• produce a document for the public and development industry that shows protected views; and
• develop public places strategies that include better cooperation among City departments and boards, to help achieve these Directions and Next Steps.

What's New? (New & More Diverse Public Places)
In the past, the City has considered parks, plazas, streets, and scenic views as important but largely separate. CityPlan s new thrust is to increase the links between them in future planning and development of public places.

Vancouver has a tradition of a strong park system with both neighbourhood and city-wide parks. Continuing this tradition as the city grows and the population diversifies is becoming more difficult. CityPlan reflects a desire to keep pace with change and improve our park system. It also directs us to be more flexible and creative about how we use our parks.

Streets and lanes form 30 per cent of Vancouver s land area. In the past we have beautified about a dozen neighbourhood retail areas. However, most streets have been used to move traffic, not as public places. CityPlan supports using streets in other ways — greenways are one major direction — to allow pedestrians and cyclists to move more easily, sometimes at the expense of car movement.

Challenges (New & More Diverse Public Places)
Keeping up with park needs as the city grows will mean finding ways to buy, develop, and maintain new parks. However, some approaches such as raising taxes and/or extending development cost levies over the entire city, are likely to be controversial.

A number of CityPlan s proposals will mean that existing users of public space will have to accommodate new users. Examples could include more community use of school grounds, or more pedestrian and bike use of streets. This will raise issues of liability and competing demands for space.

Healthy Economy - Healthy Environment

Diverse Economy & Jobs Close to Home

Vancouver will be a city with a diverse economy, a variety of employment opportunities, and jobs close to home. As the number of jobs in the city increases, Vancouver will continue to be the "region s downtown", with major office jobs concentrated downtown near transit. Areas for industry will be kept, so that industries and businesses that serve the city, such as printing, repair services, and warehouses, can be close to customers and workers. Other office, service, and retail jobs will be located in neighbourhood centres closer to where people live and shop.

Direction (Diverse Economy & Jobs Close to Home)
The CityPlan direction is to: increase the number and choice of jobs in the city; and concentrate major job growth in the downtown, maintain industrial areas, and focus other job growth in neighbourhood centres. To achieve this, Vancouver will:

• encourage continued job growth at a rate that helps balance the number of jobs in the city with the number of workers who live here;
• concentrate headquarters, financial, and related offices in the "downtown", and focus medical, civic, and related offices in the Broadway/Cambie "uptown";
• use existing industrial land for port uses and industries that employ city residents or serve city businesses;
• not support large scale casinos in the city;
• encourage jobs that serve city residents to locate in neighbourhood centres;
• make sure decisions about increasing retail space in the city support the creation of neighbourhood centres, strengthen the downtown, and protect industrial land; and
• support Regional Town Centres to slow the growth in commuting from the region into Vancouver.

Next Steps (Diverse Economy & Jobs Close to Home)
To help maintain a diverse economy and create more jobs closer to where people live, Vancouver should:

• continue to implement the City s Central Area Plan which focuses office growth into a compact downtown and along Broadway between Cambie and Oak;
• implement policies in the City s Industrial Lands Strategy to keep industrial land;
• involve local businesses and residents in planning neighbourhood centres that offer a range of jobs and services close to home; and
• establish an overall job target for the city and consider how to attract jobs to neighbourhood centres.

What's New? (Diverse Economy & Jobs Close to Home)
In 1991, Council adopted the Central Area Plan. The Plan calls for Vancouver s downtown business district to grow and continue as the major centre in the region. The downtown and Broadway near Cambie are the areas of the city designated for major office growth. CityPlan supports the directions established by the Central Area Plan.

CityPlan includes three new directions for the city's economy:

First, CityPlan supports a mixed economy with a wide range of jobs to help provide work for Vancouver s diverse population. Many blue collar workers still live in the city and CityPlan seeks to maintain a range of employment opportunities for all workers.

Second, over the past 20 years industrial land has gradually been converted to housing and large scale retail uses. CityPlan ends this policy, echoing the findings of the City s recent Industrial Lands Strategy. This new direction keeps most existing industrial land for industry, port uses, and other activities which do not easily fit downtown or in neighbourhood centres.

The third new direction is to locate more jobs closer to home. No specific policy currently exists for office and retail activity outside the downtown. CityPlan suggests that new shops and offices, which up until now might have spread out along commercial streets, be encouraged to locate in neighbourhood centres where they can be served by transit and reached easily by surrounding residents.

Challenges (Diverse Economy & Jobs Close to Home)
The City already has the zoning capacity to accommodate job growth in the years ahead, but it cannot guarantee that the private sector will provide the desired jobs. It may be a challenge to maintain the many other factors needed for a vibrant economy: a positive business climate, an attractive and safe city, and adequate transportation to serve workers and move goods.

One of the challenges in planning for future jobs is anticipating the impacts of new technology. For example, new technology and the changing nature of work has enabled many more people to work at home. How many people will decide to work at home in the future is hard to predict, but neighbourhood centres can provide support services for those who do.

Transit, Walking, & Biking as a Priority

Vancouverites want to put transit, walking, and bikin ahead of cars to slow traffic growth in their neighbourhoods and improve the environment. A greater range of transportation choices will be available. Neighbourhood centres will bring more people closer to shops, services, and jobs, reducing their need to travel long distances. Although the car will continue to play an important transportation role, car use will be less convenient and more costly than it is today.

Direction (Transit, Walking, & Biking as a Priority)
The CityPlan direction is to: enhance the transportation system to provide a greater emphasis on transit, walking, and biking within and between neighbourhood centres and the downtown; and make better use of the existing street system for moving people and goods. To achieve this, Vancouver will:

• increase transit use into and within the city by improving existing transit service, using smaller buses, and implementing new rapid transit lines;
• promote walking and cycling by providing better pedestrian and bicycle connections to neighbourhood centres, planning centres for pedestrians, and providing more facilities for bicycles;
• discourage car use by charging car users a larger share of their costs through bridge tolls, gas taxes, and increased parking rates;
• make better use of existing streets for bikes, buses, goods movement, and carpools; and
• encourage land use that reduces the demand for travel by creating neighbourhood centres, focusing more jobs in these centres, and continuing to develop new residential neighbourhoods planned for downtown.

Next Steps (Transit, Walking, & Biking as a Priority)
To ensure a shift in transportation priorities, Vancouver should:

• develop a transportation plan for the city that reflects CityPlan directions and responds to the needs of resdents, businesses, and goods movement;
• support the development of rapid transit links to the downtown and between neighbourhood centres;
• work with BC Transit to improve the transit system by providing a range of transit choices;
• implement High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes and other measures to provide priority for transit users; and
• develop a city-wide greenway system and new bike routes.

What's New? (Transit, Walking, & Biking as a Priority)
Vancouver rejected inner-city freeways in the 1960s. Since then the emphasis has been on squeezing the most auto capacity out of the existing street system, increasing transit use by restricting downtown parking, and reducing transportation demand by approving new housing close to downtown jobs. In the last few years biking facilities have improved.

CityPlan shows Vancouverites are concerned about the impact of increased car use on the environment and the growing impact of traffic on neighbourhood livability. CityPlan reflects people s desire to go further in developing more convenient alternatives to the car.

New directions include:

• neighbourhood centres to help reduce auto trips by putting more people close to shops, services, and jobs;
• rapid transit links serving regional and city centres;
• bus service improvements to better respond to increased demand and a wider range of needs;
• pedestrian and bike route improvements to serve centres; and
• discouraging car use through increasing the cost of gas and parking, introducing tolls on bridges to the city, and reallocating road space.

Challenges (Transit, Walking, & Biking as a Priority)
Because CityPlan suggests change, it will face opposition from people satisfied with the status quo. For example, it will be a challenge to implement user pay systems on car drivers. Without higher costs, other deterrents, and safer, more convenient alternatives, many people will be reluctant to give up the privacy and convenience of their cars.

Transit decisions are currently made by the Province, not the City. Providing more frequent and convenient transit will require major capital investments and significant ongoing operating funds. During a period of fiscal restraint, it will be difficult to convince the Province to respond to City transit priorities in light of other demands for public funds.

Over 80 per cent ofCityPlan participants chose to discourage car use and improve transit. If major new transit lines or roads are needed, it will be a challenge to ensure that residents and businesses next to new routes are not required to unfairly suffer the impacts of new facilities that provide broad city and regional benefits.

Clean Air & Water
As the region grows and there is increasing pressure on our environment, the City will give priority to actions that protect the environment, everything from how people travel to how they use water. To tackle air pollution, transit, walking, and biking will become more attractive alternatives to the car. People will pay higher user fees for services like garbage collection and water use to encourage conservation and environmental sensitivity.

Direction (Clean Air & Water)
The CityPlan direction is to: make improving the environment a priority in decision-making with particular attention to air and water quality; and to involve individuals and businesses directly in actions that protect and improve the environment. To achieve this, Vancouver will:

• consider environmental impacts when making decisions on land use, transportation, and City services;
• make land use decisions that put people close to jobs, shops, and services to reduce travel; and
• use incentives, education, promotion, fees, and regulations to encourage individuals and businesses to help improve the environment and conserve resources.

Next Steps (Clean Air & Water)
To ensure the environment is a priority in municipal decisions, Vancouver should:

• establish spending priorities for City and regional sewer, water, and transportation improvements;
• make environmental improvements a key objective of the City s transportation planning;
• reduce combined sewage overflows by continuing to separate storm runoff and sewage systems;
• expand waste reduction and water conservation programs;
• develop user-pay programs to reduce environmentally harmful actions;
• educate and involve the public in environmental decisions; and
• use the city s regular State of the Environment Reports to monitor environmental change and progress towards City objectives.

What's New? (Clean Air & Water)
CityPlan participants consistently noted maintaining the quality of the environment as one of the most important actions the City can take to keep Vancouver livable. Many actions to improve the environment are already underway. As such, CityPlan continues and enhances existing City approaches rather than setting an entirely new environmental direction.

Some current initiatives supported by CityPlan are:

• recycling to reduce waste going to landfills;
• separating storm and sanitary sewers to reduce overflows into the Fraser River and the harbour;
• City participation in regional programs to improve drinking water quality, sewage treatment, and air quality; and
• legislation to protect trees.

CityPlan supports key directions from the City s 1990 task force report, Clouds of Change, including reducing car use and reducing travel. Through CityPlan s endorsement, these directions can be more strongly pursued as part of an overall vision for the city.

CityPlan encourages people to pay the environmental costs associated with the goods and services they use. For example, the City could charge more "green taxes" like those paid when batteries and tires are purchased, garbage fees based on the number of cans collected, and residential water metering. This "polluter pay" approach is consistent with increasing public sentiment for more personal environmental accountability.

Challenges (Clean Air & Water)
Improving the environment requires actions at all levels (global, national, provincial, regional, city, and individual). As such, the City and its residents are only a part of environmental solutions.

It is difficult to pursue all environmental improvements at once. That means setting priorities. Even by stressing clean air and water, financial constraints mean we must strike a balance between environmental needs and other factors influencing Vancouver s livability.

Governments cannot solve our environment problems alone. Environmental quality also depends on the actions of individuals and businesses to reduce, reuse, recycle, compost, conserve water, reduce auto trips, and buy environmentally sound products. Since many of these actions are inconvenient, we all face the personal challenge of balancing lifestyle preferences against broader environmental concerns.

A Vibrant Central Area

Downtown Vancouver
Vancouver s central area, surrounded by Burrard Inlet and English Bay, and encircling False Creek, will extend its activity to its waterfronts. The central area will have two major office districts — the region s prestige office location in the downtown central business district and the medical-civic "uptown" on Broadway. Surrounding the business districts, different kinds of residential neighbourhoods will provide livable environments for a variety of people. Speciality character and heritage areas, lively retail streets, waterfront walkways, and diverse plazas and open spaces will be welcoming public places for residents, employees, visitors, and tourists.

Direction (Downtown Vancouver)
This section of CityPlan brings together directions specifically related to the central area from other parts of this Plan, in recognition of the central area s key and distinct role in the city and region. The CityPlan directions will:

• concentrate headquarters, financial, and related offices in the downtown peninsula s central busines district; and focus medical, civic, and related offices in the Broadway-Cambie "uptown";
• encourage city job growth at a rate that helps balance the number of jobs in the city with the number of workers who live here;
• maintain existing industrial lands in the city, to help protect pportunities for activities that serve downtown businesses;
• create livable residential neighbourhoods close to central area jobs, for diverse household types and income levels;
• extend measures to protect heritage buildings and areas;
• make sure decisions about increasing retail space in the city strengthen the downtown (as well as support the creation of neighbourhood centres throughout the city and protect the city s industrial land);
• maintain the downtown as the cultural and entertainment centre of the region;
• promote more attractive, usable downtown plazas and parks; encourage major thoroughfares to develop their own look and feel; create greenways; and increase access to the waterfronts; and
• enhance transportation systems to provide a greater emphasis on transit, walking, and biking within and between neighbourhood centres and the downtown.

Next Steps (Downtown Vancouver)
Next steps listed throughout this plan are generally applicable to the central area; below are steps that are of specific interest:

• continue to implement the City s Central Area Plan land use policy, and develop more detailed policies for other aspects of the central area, such as the public realm, transportation, skyline, people, and social issues;
• develop a concept for public places in the central area and specific proposals for future capital plans, such as a design competition to transform the Queen Elizabeth Theatre or Art Gallery plazas;
• develop a transportation plan for the city that reflects CityPlan directions and addresses transportation needs and impacts of the central area; and
• support the development of rapid transit links to the downtown and between neighbourhood centres.

What's New? (Downtown Vancouver)
In 1991 Council adopted the "Central Area Plan Goals and Land Use Policy." CityPlan directions are consistent with this land use policy. CityPlan also emphasizes the importance of public places, transportation, and social issues — all of which are intended as future sections of the Central Area Plan.

Challenges (Downtown Vancouver)
Key challenges for the central area continue to be its transportation impacts and its social needs.

As the region s largest concentration of jobs, the central area is a source of considerable traffic, both in the central area itself and in the rest of the city. The Central Area Plan is designed to have positive transportation benefits. It encourages housing close to jobs; puts offices close to transit; and has reduced the amount of office space that can be built, to be more in line with what the transportation system can serve. The up-coming city transportation plan can help address, in more detail, the role of the downtown in transportation terms.

To address social issues of the downtown also means balancing its prosperity and growth with its impacts on close-by neighbourhoods that are home to low-income people and families. Social needs include basic housing needs, livable neighbourhoods, accessible social services, health programs, and jobs. Through planning programs in the Downtown South and Victory Square, as well as work throughout the easterly downtown, the City continues to actively explore ways to help maintain low-cost housing and to provide supporting neighbourhood services. This is a continuing challenge.

Making CityPlan Happen

People Involved in Decision-making
People will be involved in decisions that shape their city and neighbourhoods, and help determine the services they receive. CityPlan will create opportunities for residents to participate in Council decisions. Citizens will be encouraged to work with City staff to identify and resolve local issues. The broad community will be involved in city-wide and neighbourhood decisions, and new ways will be found to reach agreement between city-wide and neighbourhood directions.

Direction (People Involved in Decision-making)
The CityPlan direction is to: provide opportunities for meaningful participation in a broad range of Council decisions; bring citizens and City staff together to resolve community issues; and ensure a broad constituency takes part in city-wide decisions and neighbourhood planning. To achieve this, Vancouver should:

• increase the opportunity for people to participate in resolving city-wide issues;
• create better processes to involve residents in addressing major cange in their neighbourhoods;
• improve the ability of neighbourhood-based staff to work with residents on decisions about local issues;
• use CityPlan directions as a context for city-wide and neighbourhood planning;
• create better two-way communication about City policies and programs so that more people can be aware of and involved in decision-making processes; and
• make information about issues Council is addressing easily accessible.

Next Steps (People Involved in Decision-making)
To provide more opportunities for residents to participate in decisions, Vancouver should:

• establish processes that allow a diversity of interests and communities to participate in city-wide issues and decisions such as the City s upcoming transportation plan;
• develop a new neighbourhood process to be used in the planning of each centre and its surrounding community which promotes problem solving and resolving differences (see Next Steps in Neighbourhood Centres, page 10);
• set up Integrated Service Teams in each neighbourhood to work with the community to resolve local issues and provide a link with City Hall (see Accessible, Community-based Services, page 18);
• use the ethnic media, electronic links, local City offices, and other means to provide a diverse public with convenient access to information on policies, services, and issues being considered by Council;
• offer a variety of convenient ways for people to communicate their views on current issues to Council and staff; and
• involve the public in the regular monitoring and reporting on the implementation of CityPlan.

What's New? (People Involved in Decision-making)
Vancouver has a strong tradition of community participation in the review of major projects, and the preparation of local area plans. The CityPlan process extended this participation into the development of a city-wide plan.

In the past, participation in City decisions has not been consistent across the city or around different issues. A central theme in other sections of CityPlan is increased citizen participation. Although Council will remain the final decision-making authority, CityPlan provides for broad citizen involvement in guiding:

• major neighbourhood change (neighbourhood centres, housing variety, and jobs);
• neighbourhood character;
• community safety;
• the delivery of City services; and
• financial decisions.

The experience of CityPlan also sets a precedent for broad public participation in future city-wide initiatives. And, for the first time, an adopted CtyPlan will provide a context that will need to be reflected in all new neighbourhood plans. A key step in implementing CityPlan will be to establish new processes for conducting city-wide and neighbourhood planning.

Challenges (People Involved in Decision-making)
Through the CityPlan process people said decisions must work at all levels — for the city as a whole, for neighbourhoods, and for individuals. The challenge is to create neighbourhood processes that balance the needs of individuals with those of their neighbours and the interests of the broad city.

Financial Accountability
Vancouverites want to do more with the money the City spends. The City will generally increase its revenue from property taxes in line with annual cost of living increases and maintain a balance between taxes and user fees. City services will be more efficiently delivered and more carefully targeted. City spending will be re-directed towards achieving CityPlan directions. The City will provide residents with more detailed information on how and where money is spent.

Direction (Financial Accountability)
The CityPlan direction is to: continue to take a cautious approach towards increasing City spending; use CityPlan directions to re-direct the allocation of the City s budget; and provide more public information on the nature and location of City spending. To achieve this, Vancouver will:

• match any increases in services with reductions in other areas or with new sources of funds, such as development cost charges;
• encourage voluntary conservation and consider more user harges for environmental services such as solid waste removal, water, and sewers;
• fund regional road and transit improvements through increased charges for auto use; and
• provide opportunities for citizens to participate in setting City budget priorities and selecting projects for Capital Plan consideration.

Next Steps (Financial Accountability)
To improve the City s financial accountability, Vancouver should:

• develop a strategy to provide funding for amenities and local services to support the development of neighbourhood centres;
• demonstrate that spending by City departments is consistent with initiatives approved by Council, especially CityPlan;
• increase neighbourhood involvement in the budget process by including a list of Capital Plan projects by neighbourhoods and making information on spending by project, program, or service available to the public on a neighbourhood and city-wide basis;
• involve citizens in identifying ways to reduce the need for additional City services through conservation and other initiatives; and
• complete the review of taxation policies currently underway.

What's New? (Financial Accountability)
During the last 20 years, Vancouver s population has grown and changed, creating demands for different City services. At the same time senior governments are "down-loading" costs to local government. Successive City Councils have acted to keep City property tax increases at inflation levels and to offset new costs for staff or services with reduced spending elsewhere. CityPlan continues these policies.

Very few CityPlan participants wanted to see City services cut. Forty per cent were prepared to generally support more City services. A slightly higher share, but not quite a majority, wanted to keep services at current levels. Other sections of CityPlan show that, even when it was clear the choice would require increased funding from city residents, people supported:

• subsidized housing;
• parks and open space that keep pace with a growing population;
• working together to reduce crime; and
• improved transit.

The directions from other sections of CityPlan, combined with the financing choices, indicate a willingness to consider:

• fees to encourage conservation;
• charges to new developments to provide new parks and amenities;
• increased auto registration charges, gas taxes, and tolls on bridges into the city to help fund transit;
• more efficient use of public spaces, such as using road space to create greeways;
• increased co-ordination and efficiency in the delivery of a range of City services; and
• redirecting City spending to match the directions established in CityPlan.

There was also strong support for increasing the level of information available about the City s capital and service spending. This includes clearly identifying areas of the city where money is spent and involving communities in reviewing spending proposals.

Challenges (Financial Accountability)
Financial accountability will involve several challenges. First, it will be difficult to re-direct spending in the face of opposition from those who will not be as well served as they have been in the past. Second, charging user fees for services which have been provided out of general City revenues will be unpopular. Finally, it will be a challenge to maintain a sense of equity in the delivery of City services and amenities in the face of growing and changing demands.

The City in the Region

Vancouver and the Region
Vancouverites have developed a CityPlan which supports the broad objectives of the Greater Vancouver Regional District's (GVRD) Livable Region Strategic Plan. CityPlan springs from the needs of Vancouver residents but its directions to improve air and water quality, provide more jobs and housing opportunities in the City, and encourage walking, biking, and transit will all contribute to the larger region s livability.

The Regional Plan
In December 1994, the GVRD approved the Livable Region Strategic Plan in principle. The plan has four objectives: 1) Creating a green zone to protect agricultural land and natural areas while setting the limits of urban development.
2) Creating more complete communities to closer match employment and resident workers in each part of the region to reduce the need to travel.
3) Creating more transportation choices to encourage transit use, reduce single-occupant car travel, and use transportation facilities to help shape regional growth.
4) Creating a compact metropolitan region to accommodae much of the growth (which would otherwise sprawl up the Fraser Valley), in the already urbanized area to make better use of transit and community services.

Direction (The Regional Plan)
The following CityPlan directions generally support the Livable Region Strategic Plan:

• Housing Variety/Neighbourhood Centres: accommodates housing growth which meets the needs of city residents and helps achieve the regional objective of reducing sprawl.
• Diverse Economy: encourages city employment growth to a level which provides jobs for city residents, and also allows for a better balance of jobs and workers in the rest of the region.
• Walking, Biking, and Transit: supports rapid transit which encourages transit use in the broader region, and supports centres which helps reduce car dependence.
• Clean Air and Water: makes the environment a priority which supports regional initiatives to improve air and water quality, increase sewage treatment, and reduce solid waste through reducing, recycling, and reusing.
• In 1993 Council included major parks and the Southlands agricultural land reserve in the region s inventory of green zone lands.

Next Steps (The Regional Plan)
On July 6, 1995, Vancouver City Council endorsed the Livable Region Strategic Plan objectives and supported specific policies, subject to further implementation of CityPlan directions and development of partnership agreements between the City and Region.

The Reasons for a Regional Plan
Over the last four years the GVRD has done extensive analysis of regional land use and transportation trends. It has also undertaken a public process to look at the impacts of trend growth and to consider options to modify those trends.

The process concluded that the trend to continue to spread low density sprawl throughout the Fraser Valley was unacceptable. The trend would increase development pressure on farmland and other natural areas, cost too much for public services and utilities, increase the distance between jobs and housing, and worsen air pollution due to increased car use. The alternative is the Livable Region Strategic Plan.

The Regional Plan and Vancouver
Overall, the regional plan offers Vancouver slower growth in auto commuting through the city s neighbourhoods, reduced air pollution from autos, and retention of nearby greenlands in Richmond/South Delta and the North Shore.

The Livable Region Stategic Plan also asks for change within Vancouver.
First, it proposes two new transit lines linking the downtown to the region. This direction is generally supported in CityPlan.

Second, it recommends substantial employment growth within the city. CityPlan supports the proposed growth in the central area, industrial areas, and neighbourhood centres. However, CityPlan does not accommodate all the job growth the region suggests. Redirecting some employment to other municipalities helps them become more complete communities.

The regional plan also proposes population growth in Vancouver. The draft population target put forward by the GVRD has been used throughout the CityPlan process to compare the amount of change required under each housing choice. CityPlan participants generally supported the region s direction, and chose to cluster new housing in neighbourhood centres, a direction which will provide some rowhouses and other new forms of housing in each neighbourhood. The centres will reduce housing demand elsewhere in the region by allowing some existing residents to stay in their neighbourhood as their housing needs change. The GVRD emphasizes the need for ground-oriented housing; CityPlan suggests that the features people desire can be provided in more clustered forms, so that less single-family areas are redeveloped and change is more contained.

CityPlan generally supports the regional plan but in a way that clearly responds to the needs and desires of Vancouverites.

Challenges (The Regional Plan)
Implementing the GVRD plan depends on partnerships between the GVRD, municipalities, and the Province. Although many CityPlan participants expressed concern about regional issues like sprawl, auto dependence, and air pollution, it will be a challenge for the GVRD and the City to achieve directions which will help preserve the region s and the city s livability in the face of rapid growth.

Questions or Comments? E-mail: cityplan@city.vancouver.bc.ca

© 2003 City of Vancouver