Vancouver’s housing crisis has led to city council voting to review policies that have been in place for decades regarding “view cones.”
View cones have been a critical feature of Vancouver’s development policy since 1989. The cones were designed to preserve ocean and mountain views from 26 specific locations within the city, and have limited the size and location of construction projects.
On Wednesday, council voted to review the policy surrounding the view cones.
It was a motion brought forward by ABC Coun. Peter Meiszner as the city looks to find ways of bringing in more housing amid the serious housing crunch.
“This is really about eliminating those lower-priority view cones that are not visible or don’t make sense anymore due to other development that has occurred, but are actually holding up development around the city,” he said.
The review will be of protection guidelines “to determine the amount of additional housing, job space and public benefits” if various view cones were removed.
“I say obsolete view cones because some of these view cones are very obscured, there are trees in front of them, they’re not visible,” Meiszner previously said.
“We also have some view cones in Vancouver that are only visible from a moving vehicle. Three of those are on the Granville Street Bridge. It’s just a second you can see them.”
Meiszner said he understands people value the city’s views, but argued they need to be balanced with the need for more housing.
City staff will be providing a preliminary report by the end of the first quarter of 2023, followed by a final report in Q2, 2024.
— with files from Simon Little
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