Kensington-Cedar Cottage
Community Vision Summary
March 1999

What is this Vision? 

This Vision describes the kind of community that people who live and work in Kensington-Cedar Cottage want it to become over the next 10 to 20 years, and how CityPlan directions should apply in KCC. It identifies what people value and want to preserve, what improvements are needed, and how change should occur.

How was this Vision Created 

The program began in January 1997 with community outreach and a weekend Ideas Fair. The heart of the process was a series of intensive public workshops where over 100 people spent many hours developing ideas and options on a variety of topics. From these sessions, Vision directions were created and published in the Community Vision Choices Survey, distributed to all households, businesses, and property owners. Over 1200 people, from every block in KCC, responded to the survey. Those Vision directions supported by the community in the survey were approved by City Council.

A Community Liaison Group, which was composed of a wide range of community volunteers, provided continuity throughout the process, served as a “watchdog” of the process to ensure that community input was carried through, and advised staff on community outreach and other matters.

Emphasis on Community Involvement

Combined action by the community and the City will be needed to make this Vision happen. People in KCC should have more input into City decisions about changes in the area. There should be paid community development workers to support local volunteer actions and existing organizations. In addition, translation and communication assistance should be provided because of the many different backgrounds and languages spoken in the area.

Focus on Crime Prevention 

Community crime prevention efforts should be strengthened and extended into more areas of KCC. Local crime prevention/neighbourhood safety offices should have ongoing funding to ensure continuous operations. There should be more education and prevention programs, and more patrols by police on foot and on bicycle. Special attention should be given to the Broadway and Commercial area and along Kingsway to make these areas safer community places.

Cleaner and Greener Neighbourhoods 

There should be higher standards of maintenance and cleanliness for private and public property, to deal with litter, dumping, graffiti, and neglected properties. Construction techniques and quality of materials should be improved so that new buildings are easier to maintain and look good longer. Streets (especially arterials), lanes, commercial areas, parks, school grounds, and “leftover” spaces, such as under the SkyTrain, should be “greened” and redesigned to accommodate a broader range of activities. Mountain views from parks and streets should be protected.

Taming Arterial Traffic 

The City should do more to make the busy arterials and Clark/Knight truck route safer for pedestrians, quieter, and more attractive. More signalized pedestrian crossings and active traffic speed enforcement should be combined with landscaping and better street design to overcome the impacts of heavy traffic on the many arterials that cut through the area. Traffic calming on local streets is needed to help protect neighbourhoods from commuter shortcutting as well as to control local traffic.

Local Transit Improvements and Benefits

There should be more community input to transit planning, especially for the new Broadway light rail transit line, to help ensure benefits for the local community as well as for the region. There should be more and better bus shelters for the high number of transit users in the area, and bus bulges should be built on key bus routes in KCC to give buses more priority in traffic. The Broadway and Commercial area should become a safer, more people-friendly transit hub.

Getting Around via Greenways and Bikeways 

There should be more local greenways and bikeways to provide safe, attractive routes for walking and cycling between parts of the community and to job centres. Bike parking in shopping areas and community destinations, and public education are needed to encourage more cycling. Traffic calming will make residential streets safer for walking and biking.

Services for a Diverse, Changing Community 

Community services should be easy to get to, well known, and effectively coordinated to serve the diverse and growing population. Especially important are drug and alcohol services, and improvements to the library and community centres to keep pace with this growth and change.

Single Family Neighbourhoods 

Most single family areas should be kept as now, maintaining the sense of community that residents value. In areas with “character” (e.g., pre-1940s buildings), there should be incentives to renovate and preserve. Rental suites are already allowed in all areas, and City regulations should be changed to make them more feasible.

Three Neighbourhood Centres 

The shopping areas at Broadway and Commercial, at Knight and Kingsway, and at Victoria and 41st, should become the three main neighbourhood centres to provide a range of shops, services, jobs, and housing. Each centre should be unique in character. New three to four storey mixed-use buildings, with commercial and housing, will continue to replace older smaller buildings, but the new buildings should be better designed and more neighbourly. These centres should also have safe and attractive pedestrian crossings, landscaping, and other features that reduce the impacts of traffic.

New Housing Choices

In addition to new three to four storey mixed use buildings, mainly along Kingsway and Victoria, there should be new forms of housing around the Knight and Kingsway and the Victoria and 41st neighbourhood centres. This would include rowhouses, four- and sixplexes, and duplexes, and housing designed for seniors, to provide a greater range of housing choices for all ages. This new housing should be attractive and fit into the existing neighbourhoods.

Making the Vision Happen

The Community Vision sets broad directions for the future. Some of these directions will happen almost immediately, others over many years.

The City has a wide variety of tools and programs that can be used to implement the Vision, such as, capital plans, zoning, traffic calming, business improvement area assistance, and bikeways and greenways. The Vision will help to set priorities and direct funds to programs which achieve the Vision over time.

Continued community involvement will be necessary, to set priorities, to monitor progress, and to translate Vision directions into actions and projects where more detailed planning is necessary. Combined action by the City and the community is needed to make the Vision happen.

An Overview of the Community Visions Program and CityPlan

This Vision is based on CityPlan:Directions for Vancouver, which was adopted in 1995 as an overall vision for the city. In July 1996 Council approved the Community Visions Program as a way of bringing CityPlan’s city-wide directions to the community level and reaching all communities within several years. The program Terms of Reference describe the ground rules and process for creating a Community Vision. The program asks each community to apply CityPlan directions in a way and at a scale and pace that suits the community. Dunbar and Kensington-Cedar Cottage were selected through a public forum, and endorsed by Council, as the two pilot project areas for Visions.

More Information

For more information about the Kensington-Cedar Cottage Community Vision and its implementation plans call the City Plans Division at 604.871.6126.

For a copy of the full document, Kensington-Cedar Cottage Community Vision, call the City of Vancouver at 604.873.7344.

KCC Vision Highlights - Mapped