History and Policy Context
The False Creek North Official Development Plan 
(6.75mb), adopted in 1990, includes various Areas. The Northeast False Creek portion is shown on map 1.
In the 1990 FCN ODP, residential was generally located along the waterfront (Areas 6A, 6C). The areas around the Cambie Bridgehead (Area 5B) and between the Georgia Viaducts (Areas 7A, 7B) were to be primarily commercial. The Plaza of Nations (Area 6B) and B.C. Place (Area 10) were already in place. In 1993 Area 7A was rezoned for GM Place stadium and an office tower (unbuilt). The Plaza of Nations, Area 6B, was rezoned in 1996 to allow sports and entertainment uses and a hotel (unbuilt), and in 2004 to allow casino use.
In 2001, based on an urban design review by staff in collaboration with landowners, Council endorsed the Northeast False Creek Urban Design Plan (15.71mb) which proposed reallocating land use and floor space among sub-areas owned by Concord Pacific, as well as adding potential commercial space in Area 10, around B.C. Place. However these directions were not implemented with changes to the ODP because BC Pavco and Concord Pacific did not want to proceed with the amendments at that time.
Map 1. Northeast False Creek ODP Areas
In subsequent years two major rezonings were approved in Concord Pacific lands. In 2002 rezoning of Area 7B was approved with 136,000 sq. ft of commercial (Costco) and 830,000 sq. ft. of residential (four towers). This was accomplished without changing the floor space and uses allowed in the ODP by means of a “trade” of floor space allocation between Areas 7B and 6C, leaving Area 6C with the approximately 800,000 of commercial formerly located on 7B. In 2004, in the case of the zoning of 6A, its residential potential was increased by transferring about 118,000 sq. ft. of commercial potential from 5B, and converting it to residential. It was understood that the amenity contribution to reflect the increase in residential population in 6A associated with this transfer and conversion would be addressed when Area 5B was rezoned.
Finally, in response to inquiries by the owner of the Plaza of Nations to allow significant residential development on their site, staff undertook a limited land use study of the area around the Plaza and Stadiums. In 2005 Council endorsed a land use policy that confirms the importance of the Plaza of Nations, BC Place and GM Place as entertainment, sport and special event venues, and does not support residential other than in very limited amount, integrated with the stadiums.
Currently, the ODP includes the potential for approximately 1.7 million sq. ft. of development, all commercial floor space, as shown in Table 1 in the Terms of Reference (PDF, 143kb) in Appendix A.
A renewed land use vision for NEFC is very much needed at this time. On the one hand, three of the four landowners have made proposals seeking significant residential development, rather than the commercial potential that is in the ODP. At the same time, the importance of the area for entertainment, special events and sports has recently been confirmed. Furthermore, the Metro Core Jobs and Economy Land Use Plan work has indicated that commercial capacity in the downtown is insufficient to meet anticipated demand from projected job growth. Given these conflicting objectives, there is a need to determine what role this area should play in the downtown peninsula, and define the mix and location of land uses.
Lastly, the Provincial Government has made a decision to refund and rehabilitate the stadium and intends to replace the roof in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics. The BC Pavilion Corporation (PAVCO) needed to have some certainty about the development potential of the stadium in order to know what level of financial return they might have to support the rehabilitation of the stadium. PAVCO felt it was critical to achieve an ODP Amendment for the stadium site by the end of 2008 in order for the Province to commit to funding the BC Place Rehabilitation project. Council agreed to assess the proposal by BC PAVCO in parallel with the Northeast False Creek High Level Review. In October 2008, amendments to the NEFC ODP were approved for adding development potential to the BC Place Stadium Site consistent with the evolving NEFC HLR.
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