 | Saturday, December 18, 2021
Reading this online? Sign up to get this delivered to your inbox every Friday. | | With one year left, local councils running out of time to move on priorities | | |  | | | ‘Tis the season — of local governments, heading into their final winter break before the election, having to show what they are about.
“Not everybody agrees on policy, but at some point, we have to make a decision and stand for something,” said Vancouver Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung during a debate this week centred on the city’s housing policies, after years of studies and consultations.
In this case, it was a proposal allowing for six storey rental buildings to be approved on many major streets across Vancouver without rezoning, and four-storey rental buildings on side streets next to them. And, after much gnashing of teeth, it passed with just one councillor in opposition (Read more in the Vancouver Sun).
It isn’t a monumental shift — four storey buildings are already allowed on most arterial streets, and developers and city staff both said it would only lead to a moderate uptick in rental construction because of how lucrative it still is to build strata condos instead.
But it opens the possibility to more apartments outside major streets, always a contentious issue in Vancouver politics. It’s clear movement toward one side of a housing debate, after years of a divided council unable to give firm direction.
“Council should have the courage of their convictions,” said Kirby-Yung, who added council was “fairly now being criticized for not making movement on housing policy.”
Vancouver wasn’t the only place with big housing votes after years of work this week. Delta approved changes to its community plan for Ladner to promote more density for the neighbourhood centre and nearby waterfront. West Vancouver started to move forward cautiously on its area plan for Ambleside, the densest part of the municipality. And the District of North Vancouver shot down a proposal for a huge mixed-use development a couple blocks from the Second Narrows Bridge.
The choices reflected the political cultures of split councils that don’t always agree on housing in Metro Vancouver. But all of the votes happening this week reflect the fact the time is ticking on this group of leaders.
You can make promises in a 2018 election campaign, pass a motion to have staff study an issue in 2019, get a report back in 2020, and do consultation throughout 2021.
But 2022 is an election cycle. Voters will judge politicians on what they’ve actually done, not what they’ve studied or consulted on.
And council agendas will more frequently reflect that urgency. | | |  | | | 1. Surrey | | | Aside from that, nothing really happened in the last week in local politics, other than that whole “mayor of B.C.’s second largest city criminally charged” thingy. Doug McCallum says he’s not stepping down, that he will charge taxpayers for his legal defense, and that he won’t take a leave from chairing the police board. But with an election 10 months away, a more salient question is whether he will retain enough support to seek re-election.
Read more | | |  | | | 2. More Surrey! | In the meantime, the nuts and bolts of city politics still has to roll on in Surrey, but because it’s Surrey, things are a bit more dramatic than in other places. After weeks of being tight-lipped about when its budget would come out and implying it wouldn’t be until 2022, the city abruptly released it on Thursday, with a 2.9 per cent property tax increase.
Read more in the Peace Arch News | | | |  | | | 3. Penticton | What a difference a week can make: after rejecting a B.C. ombudsperson's recommendation to give more money to a senior who had her property seized after being $10,000 behind in tax payments, council voted to give her an additional $140,922 … though not before the mayor complained about the report coming out before Christmas. Read more | | | | | |  | | | 4. Vancouver | Vancouver’s revised, Indigenous-led pitch for the 2030 games wasn't fiercely debated this week, but will likely become a bigger discussion as the potential of a formal bid grows next year. Meanwhile, Mayor Kennedy Stewart confirmed that he would be starting a new political party to support his re-election bid next year, bringing us to nine(!) political parties already committed to 2022.
Read more in Vancouver is Awesome | | | |  | | | 5. West Kelowna | Finally, a reminder that just because a few cities embrace an idea doesn’t mean that every municipality in B.C. will be on board. West Kelowna has voted against the concept of booze on beaches, with councillors expressing concern about enforcement and safety — despite other municipalities saying their pilot programs have been successful. Read more in the Lake Country Calendar | | | | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
forwarded to you. | | | | And that's it for 2021! We'll be back with the newsletter in the new year. In the meantime, check out the latest headlines at cbc.ca/bc and follow our municipal affairs reporter Justin McElroy on Twitter. And if you have any questions you might want answered in a future mailbag, drop Justin a line at metromatters@cbc.ca. | | | |
