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But rather than consult the country’s energy regulator or the national newspapers, perhaps Eby and Sharma were taking their lead from Steven Guilbeault.
The City of Vancouver is moving forward with a sweeping proposal to proactively rezone thousands of properties in the Broadway Plan and Cambie Corridor Plan areas, as part of an ambitious effort to streamline the development process and boost housing supply near existing and future SkyTrain stations. In next Tuesday’s public meeting, City Council is expected to endorse City staff’s recommendation to refer bylaw amendments to a future public hearing for deliberation and final decision, which would likely be held in September or October — after the forthcoming summer break. This follows City staff’s public consultation beginning in March 2025, when they first announced the proposal. In an interview with Daily Hive Urbanized early this year, Josh White, the City of Vancouver’s general manager of planning, urban design, and sustainability and director of planning, also outlined many of these forthcoming changes. More details have now been released. If approved by City Council later this year, this would introduce standardized zoning for low-rise, mid-rise, and high-rise residential buildings — generally aligning with the existing prescriptions and stipulations of the property’s location under the Broadway Plan or Cambie Corridor Plan, while also considering more recent economic and financial viability factors. Generally, R3 zones would allow low-rise apartments up to six storeys — or eight storeys with affordable housing, and a floor area ratio (FAR) density of a floor area up to three times the size of the lot. R4 zones would support mid-rise buildings, typically around 12 storeys and a FAR density of up to 4.0. R5 zones would permit high-rise towers up to 22 storeys and a FAR density of up to 6.5, depending on the proximity to SkyTrain stations and affordability requirements. It is noted that FAR densities will be retained, but a more generous maximum building height will be considered to accommodate a greater range of design approaches due to varying site conditions and on-site public spaces and landscaping. Through such City-initiated rezoning over large swaths of neighbourhoods, this eliminates the need for property owners, developers, and builders to submit an individual rezoning application for their project. Instead, such projects on a City-initiated rezoned site can go straight to the development permit application, which will save applicants costs related to City fees and hiring architects and consultants to achieve the rezoning regulatory step, as well as reducing opportunity costs and added construction costs from inflation as a result of a longer timeline. City staff estimate that these blanket zoning reforms over the qualifying properties will shave 12 to 15 months off the overall development timeline. As well, this will reduce City staff’s time set aside for reports and public hearings with City Council, enabling them to reallocate resources to other tasks and priorities. So far in 2025, rezoning applications in the Broadway Plan and Cambie Corridor Plan account for about 40 per cent of all public hearings. In sites where a tower form is permitted and complex site conditions also exist — such as tower per block limit policies, building shadowing considerations, and contaminated soils, a “rezoning-to-district” process would still be required. This rezoning-to-district process would be streamlined and shorter than the standard rezoning process. The overwhelming majority of these properties are located within the Broadway Plan area, specifically sites closest to the Millennium Line’s future stations on the Broadway extension, as well as southern areas within the area plan. For the Cambie Corridor Plan area, the properties are clustered near the Canada Line’s Oakridge-41st Avenue Station. In total, the City-initiated rezoning would apply to 4,294 parcels across the Broadway Plan and Cambie Corridor Plan areas. City of Vancouver City of Vancouver City of Vancouver Over the last few years, the municipal government performed some notable City-initiated rezonings of large single-family neighbourhood areas in the Cambie Corridor Plan, enabling more expedited townhouse developments as already prescribed by the area plan. However, the forthcoming changes are the largest standardized rezoning in Vancouver’s history, and align with the Government of British Columbia’s legislated requirements for the City and other municipal governments. This specifically aligns with provincial legislation relating to transit-oriented development at designated Transit-Oriented Areas and other regulatory changes. As well, through these changes, the City will standardize affordable housing requirements using newly enabled provincial inclusionary zoning powers. Additionally, the real estate industry and provincial officials have called individual site-specific rezoning applications as redundant if the proposed uses and built form are already enabled by an area plan. In addition to aligning with the Broadway Plan and Cambie Corridor Plan, the changes also follow the City’s 2022-approved Vancouver Plan. While there was strong support for the initiative during the public consultation earlier this year — especially for its potential to speed up much-needed housing — concerns were raised about neighbourhood character, infrastructure capacity, and construction impacts. City staff responded by noting that all developments will still undergo design review, and there will still be an opportunity for public input at the development permit application stage. Enhanced tenant protections will remain in place for areas with existing rental housing. A time-limited approach will allow current rezoning applicants to transition into the new zoning framework without redoing tenant relocation plans, as long as they submit development permits within one year of bylaw enactment. Currently, there are about 40 in-stream rezoning applications involving Tenant Relocation Plans within the proposed City-initiated rezoning areas. It is noted that some of these project applicants may withdraw their
Clearing out your house can be an exhausting process: so many decisions to make, so much stuff to move around, and so much research into the best ways to donate or recycle your unwanted things. Tackling one room at a time is logical and helps to make things manageable, and there are few rooms that will take more than one day to clear and reorganise. Some people take to decluttering like a duck to water, but others need a little more guidance. As a general rule, we find that if you can’t remember the last time you used something, or if it takes a while to dive down and find that memory, it’s time to get rid of the item in question. We’ve broken it down room by room, so you can follow along with the process, and find tips on the easiest and most convenient ways to get rid of things (if you live in the UK, at any rate). Some general principles Take everything out of the drawer/cupboard/wardrobe before you start sorting and group it. You need to see all your shirts/tins of food/chargers in one place before you make decisions. When you put it back, keep the groups! If all of the same kinds of thing are together, it makes it much easier to keep track of what you have. If you can’t remember the last time you used an item (assuming it’s something functional), or retrieving the memory takes some effort, it’s time to get rid of it. If it’s expired (for food or bathroom products), if it’s been in the freezer for longer than three months (some might say six months), or it hasn’t fit you in the last year, get rid of it. Create seasonal storage, so that winter duvets, woolly jumpers and puffer coats are out of sight when you don’t need them. Underbed boxes are perfect for this. If you have a large house and lots of different places where things could be, it can be helpful to make a map or diagram of where everything is, and keep it somewhere easily accessible. Have a plan for what you’re going to do with unwanted items. It is overwhelming to pull everything out of your cupboards and have no idea what to do with them. Don’t throw things away unless you absolutely have to. Most things can be recycled, and there are more and more facilities to do so easily. As you begin with any given room, set up a box for things to throw away (keep it to a minimum), things to recycle, things to donate, and things to sell. This will make it easier to take action once the room is in order. Setting up a halfway house box in your house can also be helpful for ambiguous items. If you’re hesitating about donating something or putting it in the rubbish, relegate it to the box for a week or two, and then go through the box and see if your feelings have changed. Many retailers have started offering facilities to recycle old electrical items and textiles, or even buy back old furniture, and some offer vouchers in return. IKEA’s scheme to buy back assembled pieces of furniture is particularly worth knowing about, since old IKEA furniture can be hard to shift in other ways, and they will give you in-store credit for new pieces. John Lewis has promised to have similar schemes in place in every category by 2025, and currently recycle small tech appliances. Listing something for free on Gumtree is very often the quickest way to get rid of something. If you’re tempted to list an item for a small sum, but you want to prioritise getting it out of the house quickly, think about giving it away instead. People become remarkably unfussy when something is free, and they’ll come and collect it without a peep. For whole house clear-outs that involve multiple kinds of item (furniture, clothes, books, etc), booking a collection with the British Heart Foundation (which is great for furniture) or icollectclothes.com (which takes clothes, books, toys and small homewares) is a hassle-free way to go. How to dispose of different types of clutter If the thought of lugging old books and DVDs down to the charity shop is a dispiriting one, Ziffit (run by second-hand book moguls World of Books) is an excellent option for disposing of them, and you can regain a few pennies at the same time. Scan the ISBN or barcode with the camera on your phone, and the Ziffit app tells you how much they’re willing to pay you for it (usually somewhere between 50p and £5). You can then package them up, and organise a collection: minimal effort and a tiny bit of money back, hurrah! Electrical and electronic items Small electrical items like hairdryers/DVD players can be a pain to recycle. Looking at your local council website is a sensible place to start, as they will have the location of big recycling centres as well as any nearby WEEE (Waste Electric and Electronic Equipment) bins. These are usually located on major roads or in car parks, and take small devices that plug in. Some retailers also offer WEEE recycling: Currys is one of the best, and will take pretty much anything and give you a small voucher in return. Find out more here. You can also take small
The Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP) is now accepting more applications. Implemented in 2023, the program aims to decrease dental costs for Canadians earning less than $90,000 annually. The federal government says the dental plan will help up to nine million uninsured people get the care they need. Applications opened for eligible Canadians ages 18 to 34 on Thursday. The CDCP will expand eligibility even further later this month, on the 29th, for those aged 35 to 54. “The Government of Canada will send letters to Canadian residents aged 18 to 64 who may be eligible to the Canadian Dental Care Plan (CDCP), based on their 2024 adjusted family net income, inviting them to apply,” reads a government notice. “If you (and your spouse or common-law partner, if applicable) have filed your 2024 tax returns and received your notice of assessment from the Canada Revenue Agency, you can apply once applications open up for your age group, even if you haven’t received this letter.” If you’re already covered by the dental care plan, you’ll need to renew for the 2025 to 2026 period before June 1 to avoid a possible gap in coverage. To do this, you must have filed your 2024 tax return and received the notice of assessment from the Canada Revenue Agency. Who qualifies for the Canadian Dental Care Plan? You must meet all of the following requirements to be eligible for the dental care plan: You’re a Canadian resident You don’t have access to dental insurance through your employer, student organization, a family member’s employer benefits, your pension, or a family member’s pension benefits You’ve filed your tax return Your adjusted family net income is less than $90,000 Canadians who are part of their province’s or territory’s dental program can still qualify for the CDCP if they meet all eligibility criteria. What does the CDCP cover? These are some of the dental services it covers: Preventive services, including scaling (cleaning), polishing, sealants, and fluoride Diagnostic services, including examinations and X-rays Restorative services, including fillings Periodontal services, including deep scaling Oral surgery services, including extractions It expanded the services it covers in October to add the following: Complete specialist examinations Crowns Root canal re-treatments Removable partial dentures, overdentures, and immediate dentures Major surgical procedures Moderate sedation, deep sedation, and general anesthesia The government notes that the dental plan does not directly pay eligible members for the cost of dental care services. Even if you’re eligible, you may still have to pay your oral health provider any amount not covered by the CDCP. This article was originally published on May 11, 2025. It has since been updated.
The multi-billion-dollar project to build a major new container terminal in Metro Vancouver is now preparing to enter the construction phase. Vancouver Fraser Port Authority has announced it will begin the bidding process in July 2025 seeking a major construction contractor for the superport project of building Roberts Bank Terminal 2. The project received key approvals from the federal and provincial governments in 2023, with the federal approval of the environmental assessment outlining 370 legally binding conditions. In 2024, the port authority also submitted an application to the federal government’s Fisheries and Oceans Canada related to fish species at risk compliance, with regulators committed to making a decision by no later than October 2026. The port authority calls this superport a “transformational, nation building project that will support Canada’s economic security and trade reliance.” When operational, it will have the capacity to trade over $100 billion worth in goods each year. The new superport capacity provided by Roberts Bank Terminal 2 will boost Metro Vancouver’s overall container handling capacity by an additional 2.4 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) per year. This also doubles the immediate area’s existing container terminal capacity; Deltaport, the first terminal at Roberts Bank, currently has a capacity to handle 2.4 million twenty-foot equivalent container units (TEUs) per year, following a recent expansion of the intermodal railyard. For further contrast, the Centerm container terminal, immediately north of the Downtown Eastside in Vancouver, currently has a capacity for 1.5 million TEUs — up from 900,000 TEUs prior to the full completion of its expansion in 2023. Preliminary artistic rendering of Roberts Bank Terminal 2. (Port of Vancouver) Preliminary artistic rendering of Roberts Bank Terminal 2. (Port of Vancouver) Preliminary artistic rendering of Roberts Bank Terminal 2. (Port of Vancouver) Preliminary artistic rendering of Roberts Bank Terminal 2. (Port of Vancouver) When operational, the new superport will generate over 17,000 well-paying, long-term jobs, and add over $3 billion in GDP annually. This is in addition to over 18,000 jobs during construction. The procurement process starting this summer will begin with the Request For Qualifications (RFQ) for a contractor to achieve the land reclamation component — the creation of about 450 acres of new land, equivalent to nearly half the size of Vancouver’s Stanley Park. This is an expansion of the existing manmade peninsula, where Deltaport, separately operated by Global Containers Terminal, is also located. But it will be a completely different facility under a separate ownership and operation group. Through the RFQ, the port authority will create a shortlist of three qualified construction proponents, inviting them to participate in the Request For Proposals (RFP) process of submitting a detailed bid proposal. Preliminary artistic rendering of Roberts Bank Terminal 2. (Port of Vancouver) Preliminary artistic rendering of Roberts Bank Terminal 2. (Port of Vancouver) Preliminary artistic rendering of Roberts Bank Terminal 2. (Port of Vancouver) Preliminary artistic rendering of Roberts Bank Terminal 2. (Port of Vancouver) Under a progressive design-build contract, the contractor will be responsible for building the marine terminal landmass, wharf structure, berth pocket, widened causeway, expanded tug basin, and environmental mitigation and offsetting projects. At a later date, the port authority will conduct separate bidding processes for other components of the superport, such as the equipment for the container terminal and the ground transportation access infrastructure. During the federal government’s previous environmental assessment process, the port authority estimated the project could carry a total cost of over $2 billion. Following significant market inflation in the cost of construction materials, equipment, and labour since the pandemic, the cost is now likely significantly higher. If all goes as planned with the procurement process and fisheries application, construction mobilization and early works would occur in 2027, with major land reclamation work beginning in 2028. The terminal would begin its operations in the mid-2030s. New cranes arrive at GCT Deltaport container terminal on April 20, 2025. (GCT) New cranes arrive at GCT Deltaport container terminal on April 20, 2025. (GCT)
Recent legal developments could put the world’s tallest Passive House, planned for Vancouver, in doubt. Daily Hive Urbanized first reported on the development in 2020, when the Vancouver City Council approved a rezoning application by Henson Developments for 1059-1075 Nelson Ave. The project was given the name “Curv” and was planned to be a 60-storey mixed-use green building. The developer behind it is the Brivia Group, based in Montreal. The developer is also referred to as Brivia Family Investments in court documents. Information found in those court documents available on the province’s court registry offers more details behind the recent legal developments that could impact the future of Curv. The BC Supreme Court filings include a petition to the court and notice of application from the Royal Bank of Canada. According to the Notice of Application, the debtors are controlled by the Brivia Group, with RBC serving as the administrative agent, syndication agent, and lead arranger. RBC is now demanding payment of $90 million thanks to a loan that matured on April 30, 2025. The debtors were required to pay an extension fee of $225,000 to the lenders to extend the payment deadline to July 31, 2025; however, the lenders never received the extension fee, leading to an event of default. As of July 10 of this year, the total amount that the debtors owe is just over $91 million. The receivership application will be heard by the BC Supreme Court on July 25, 2025. The Vancouver Passive House was to be built on the same city block as the newly completed Butterfly tower. It would’ve become the fourth-tallest building in Vancouver at 586 feet, slightly taller than the Butterfly, which Revery Architecture says is 556 feet. When City Council initially approved Curv’s rezoning in June 2020, the 60-storey tower was to include 102 social housing units within the lower levels, 50 secured purpose-built market rental units within the middle levels, and 328 strata market ownership condominium homes within the upper levels. City Council later approved proposed revisions, including a cash payment by the developer of $55 million to the City to remove the on-site obligation of 102 social housing units in the tower’s lower floors. Despite all the planning, prior to the legal proceedings, the developer hadn’t yet broken ground on the project. We’ve contacted the Brivia Group for comment.
Article content Vancouver’s “greenest” city plan, approved in 2011 by the city’s then Vision-Vancouver-majority government, set a target of planting 150,000 trees by 2020. According to a 2020 city presentation, 139,000 trees were planted by that deadline — an average of almost 13,900 a year, far more than the recent pace. Article content Vancouver staff said Wednesday that the city’s focus will be not on the number of trees planted, or the number added, but on the percentage of the city’s land mass protected by tree canopy. Article content ABC Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung said she understands the shift to focus on canopy percentage over tree numbers. But she asked staff whether the target of 30 per cent could be higher, or it could be achieved sooner than 2050, considering that canopy cover increased from 21 per cent in 2013 to 25 per cent in 2022. Article content Joe McLeod, Vancouver’s associate director of urban forestry, responded: “I think the last five per cent of this goal is going to be a lot harder.” Article content Article content “The cream has been skimmed off the top, so to speak,” McLeod said. “During the ‘greenest city’ decade, from 2010 to 2020, all the easiest, least inexpensive tree-planting spots were capitalized upon. And now we’re getting into the harder-to-reach areas. … It’s going to be trickier.” Article content Also, the city wants to prioritize adding trees to areas where the need is greatest. Article content During Vancouver’s June 2021 heat wave, vulnerable people living in areas with less forest canopy were at higher risk of death from heat-related illness, this week’s staff report says. Article content The report includes maps that reveal a stark divide between Vancouver’s cooler and leafier — and traditionally more affluent — west side, and the historically lower-income east side, which is hotter and has fewer trees — especially in and around the Downtown Eastside. Article content Tree planting by the City of Vancouver along East Hastings in one of the areas of Vancouver with the smallest tree canopy. Photo by City of Vancouver Article content A similar pattern plays out across the region. A 2021 analysis by Postmedia journalist Nathan Griffiths found that wealthier neighbourhoods were significantly cooler than their lower-income neighbours who were surrounded by more concrete and roads, and fewer trees. Article content Article content It can be more difficult — and expensive — to plant trees in these “very urbanized environments,” McLeod told council. Article content Removing pavement and excavating to create a new tree pit can cost as much as $20,000, he said. Article content “It is a costly endeavour, but it improves the public realm and obviously provides great benefits to the community.” Article content He cited the 700-block of East Hastings as an example where the city has recently been able to add several new trees to a tree-deficient area. Article content ABC Coun. Mike Klassen proposed directing staff to explore innovative ways to reduce urban heat islands in neighbourhoods with less tree canopy cover, including areas where it is challenging to grow trees. Article content Klassen’s proposal, which council supported, mentioned the example of “vegetated shade structures.” These are roughly four-metre-long sail-shaped awnings covered in vegetation, which are designed by a Spanish company and have been installed above urban streetscapes in Spain, England and Turkey. Article content Asked whether ABC’s 100,000-tree campaign promise was unrealistic, Klassen said: “I’ll never apologize for being ambitious.” Article content “I think all innovative solutions have to be brought to bear,” he said. “What’s our goal? Our goal is to create cooler conditions in the face of a changing climate, and we’re using whatever tools are at our disposal to achieve that.” Article content Article content Article content