Petition pressures Vancouver council to preserve character homes

A group called the Vancouver Character House Network wants the city to adopt a policy of less demolitions, and more renovations.

“The greenest house is the house that’s already there,” said Caroline Adderson, who oversees Vancouver Vanishes, a popular Facebook page documenting the demolition of old character homes.

“All our city policies really prejudice development towards demolition.”

Adderson cited a 2011 study by a London School of Economics professor that claims it takes eight times the resources to build a house compared to renovating it. She also says that every home demolition produces about 50 tonnes of non-concrete waste – and the city should concerned about how much winds up in landfills.

“If anyone’s going to do it, it’s this council.”

Adderson’s group has a Change.org petition with over 2000 signatures to date.

We the undersigned call on City Council to take immediate action to:

1) remove from zoning and building code bylaws any biases favouring demolition and new construction over retention;

2) review and amend single-family(RS) zoning in a collaborative process with affected communities so that retention of pre-1940s homes has significant advantages over demolition and new construction while ensuring the character, scale and fundamental nature of the neighbourhoods are preserved;

3) provide greater review and scrutiny of pre-1940s homes prior to accepting proposed development applications and/or demolitions; and

4) fast-track and prioritize development applications that retain pre-1940s character and heritage housing.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: We the undersigned call on City Council to take immediate action to:</p><p>1) remove from zoning and building code bylaws any biases favouring demolition and new construction over retention;</p><p>2) review and amend single-family(RS) zoning in a collaborative process with affected communities so that retention of pre-1940s homes has significant advantages over demolition and new construction while ensuring the character, scale and fundamental nature of the neighbourhoods are preserved;</p><p>3) provide greater review and scrutiny of pre-1940s homes prior to accepting proposed development applications and/or demolitions; and</p><p>4) fast-track and prioritize development applications that retain pre-1940s character and heritage housing.

However, Vision Vancouver councillor Andrea Reimer, who disputed Adderson’s numbers, says that stopping homes from demolition is easier said than done.

“We don’t have a legal way to stop someone to take down a house so long as they go through the legal process, unless you’re a heritage home.” she said, adding that the city is able to recycle 75% of materials from demolitions.

“A lot of the issue is people want to build housing, and that’s challenging because we have a housing problem in this city.”