Gentle density in SE False Creek: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it

On Wednesday, October 27^th, Vancouver City Council convened a session of their Standing Committee on Policy and Strategic Priorities to address, among other issues, “The Future of False Creek South: Advancing a Conceptual Development Plan and Addressing Lease Expiries.” In deciding how to move forward on this issue, Council considered a report from the General Manager of Real Estate and Facilities Management and the Deputy City Manager, and viewed a presentation from staff. Council then heard comments and presentations from Vancouver residents. The full session was recorded and is now available on YouTube or skip to 1hr:55min to hear my presentation.

I was very pleased to make the following submission to Council on this serious discussion:

Good evening, Chair and members of Council. I recognize the fact that you have listened over a number of days to a very significant number of submissions. All who have spoken to you know you have listened carefully and intensively to their submission and to over a hundred others.

With that in mind, I seriously considered reducing my submission today to just one sentence: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. However, my significant other advised that you were deserving of something more substantive. And so, I offer just a few humble thoughts.

I start with the 1970s. The Council of the day gazed at what was then industrial land, the southeast False Creek, and it decided not to proceed as a future Council would, with the north side of False Creek. It chose to develop housing with leasehold wherever possible over freehold, an income mix — low/middle/high — over whatever the market would bear, and with as much co-op housing as was feasible.

Leasehold because with leasehold we get our cake and eat it too. The lease payer pays significantly less than the mortgage payer but the city over time receives significantly more from a steady stream of income that never ends than they would ever receive with one-time-only fee simple payment. Income mix because a rope woven with all different incomes becomes a strong rope. Society is stronger with all incomes living and working together. And housing in co-ops because co-ops as a function of their type, create an infinite number of strong relationships between people.

That Council, firmly but politely, rejected Adam Smith’s ‘invisible hand.’

Southeast False Creek became and remains an example that is admired by planners all over the world. That City Council took a sow’s ear and turned it into a silk purse.

Today, that Council is recognized for its vision. That Council put its calculator back into its desk drawer and instead, used its paints to create that vision.

The proposal before you today will fundamentally and negatively affect that vision. Part, but only part of the justification for the plan before you today is the need for increased density in order to reduce urban sprawl into agricultural land. May I remind you that Paris’s overall density is order of magnitude four times higher than Vancouver’s, but with no buildings over five stories other than the Eiffel Tower. Gentle density, which already exists in Southeast False Creek, is the solution.

Jane Jacobs many years ago had an epiphany. She was sitting on her front porch conversing with a neighbour on his front porch. She came to the realization that Adam Smith’s ‘invisible hand’ was incapable of capturing, much less measuring, the worth of her interaction, which would be eliminated with high-rises.

The current City Council, I say with respect, made an honest mistake. It put such an important file in the hands of its Real Estate Department. I must remind you, with respect, that you are not the trustees of a REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust), concerned only with return on assets and return on income. As the mothers and fathers of our city, you must be much more concerned about the impact of the built form on the quality of life.

In conclusion, I offer you two significant requests. One, transfer the file to your Planning Department. Two, appoint a blue-ribbon committee comprised of three or four previous Directors of Planning, such as Larry Beasley and Ray Spaxman, with renumeration for time at $1.00 per year. They will offer their words of wisdom but not direction to your Planning Department.

Madame Chair, your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to ensure that you do not take a silk purse and turn it back into a sow’s ear. Thank you for allowing me to go over time.

Councillor Colleen Hardwick followed up my presentation with the following question:

“One of the key areas of interest is really the role of political leadership in this undertaking, as you know. Originally the South False Creek Committee was created of Council and then an office set up under that to oversee the planning and redevelopment of False Creek so that strong political leadership was assured. My concern, and Council knows that I’ve voiced this since this first started coming up, is that this was not coming from strong political leadership but rather coming to Council to react to. So, what I’d really like to hear from you is your suggestions around that strong political leadership going forward in determining the future fate of False Creek South.”

I responded:

“Well personally, a strong City Council would daylight all the reports that are currently in camera because as I mentioned earlier, this is not a question of ROI — return on investment — or ROA — return on assets. You are not negotiating as a developer or planning as a developer would. Secondly, a strong City Council has the self-confidence to sit down with the residents of Southeast False Creek in an open, transparent way as equals. A strong City Council does not hesitate to sit at a round table with others, all equal. A strong City Council would think outside of the box and appoint the blue-ribbon committee I talked about, that would not instruct the Planning Department but would offer words of wisdom. A strong City Council would turn to the Planning Department and take the job politely but firmly away from the Real Estate Department. A strong City Council would be so visionary that when we’re all gone, 50 years from now in 2070, future generations will look back on you and the rest of Council with the same pride that we look back on the Council of the 70s. That’s what a strong Council would do.”

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Daily atmospheric CO₂ [Courtesy of CO2.Earth]

Latest daily total (Nov. 4, 2021): 414.26 ppm

One year ago (Nov. 4, 2020): 411.15 ppm