I’m reposting this detailed comment from Lee Chappelle, a former property-use inspector with the City of Vancouver, about the Rize development because his post analyzes a key point in its approval. A number of councillors and staff said that the site at Broadway and Kingsway would have been allowed a 150-foot building without a rezoning. […]

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Divorces rise when the economy is bad. I’d suggest the same dynamic is at play among the region’s 21 mayors, who find themselves being squeezed by demand for more transit from residents, resistance to new taxes and fees from taxpayers, and a province that keeps hacking off more body parts in each go-round to find […]

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The Rize tower has been approved, with some conditions, which I don’t have the full text of here. The essence is that the developer has been directed to make a building that looks “ugly” (Andrea Reimer) fit in better. Vision/Council is saying major changes are required. The ever-reliable CityHallWatch is calling them cosmetic. Assessment from […]

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Vancouver city council can approve the Rize tower at Broadway and Kingsway today as is and defend it energetically, saying this is a good design that represents the way future development should be done, if it believes that ultimately people will come to point to the building as a good example. Or it can turn […]

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Those following on Twitter know that I’m in Los Angeles at the moment, a city that I love in spite of all of its problems. This is my fourth trip here in recent years and I discover new things all the time. This time around: Echo Park, the neighbourhood where we’re staying. Yet another of […]

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I’d been asking for explanations of what the limits are on what council can do when it makes its decision about the Rize tower Tuesday. Here is the answer from former senior planner Trish French below. I’ve checked with others too, who remind me that the point of a public hearing is for council to […]

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The Vision council will be making a decision Tuesday, after five nights of public hearings and 130 speakers, what to do about the Rize tower rezoning at Kingsway and Broadway. It was clear from questions put to staff at the end of the last night of public hearings that councillors and the mayor are trying […]

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Just one thing after another at poor old TransLink. Hard to believe how much people loved it during and after the Olympics, when it was whisking around a couple of million people a day. Now it’s everyone’s favourite whipping boy, with lots of blame being heaped on and not much discussion about how this region […]

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Can’t remember the last time I’ve seen the town in such a tizzy over a visiting architect or planner. Danish superstar Bjarke Ingels (if that doesn’t produce some knee-jerk “I hate this guy already” responses, this ain’t the Vancouver I know) will be in town the next two days, explaining his unusual upside-down pointe tower […]

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Hundreds of thousands of British Columbians now live in strata-titled housing. But, since it’s still a relatively new form, it’s not clear to all how those owners are jointly going to decide what to do as their buildings age. I wrote about this issue in Vancouver magazine recently. Now, in one of the cases I […]

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