Above: A crucial map in the Villages referral report. Unfortunately, staff have neglected to label each “Village.” See full list of 17 of the 25 proposed villages further below. Public will be gagged until July Public Hearing if Council approves planning chief Josh White’s referral report June 2. Many questions and risks merit public and Council attention, all in the midst of FIFA frenzy.

Just as Vancouver citizens are about to be distracted by the FIFA World Cup, graduations, and summer vacation, the city’s Chief Planner Josh White is urging Vancouver City Council to approve his 329-page Vancouver Villages referral report, which was just released on May 28.

We’re preparing this mini-series on Vancouver Villages in a big rush. The report was only made public a few days ago, and we scrambled to get input from experts and conduct research over the weekend. Media coverage of the Villages program has been minimal and incomplete, and previous public engagement has been rather scant, insincere, and featured high-level concepts like “local hubs where many daily needs can be met within a 5-minute walk, roll, or bike ride from home.” This report is a serious and detailed legal document that fills in extensive details.

May 28 was the first time the public and even Vancouver City Council members had an opportunity to see the full report.

This mini-series is a subset of CityHallWatch’s ENDGAME 2026 series, the main thesis is which is that 2026 signifies the endgame in a fundamentally antidemocratic process that weakens and virtually eliminates public oversight and influence in crucial land use decisions affecting everyone. We argue that what is going on is ultimately against the public interest, that it is very late in the game now, but there is still final opportunity to flip the script with municipal elections in October 2026.

Vancouver City Council will be contacted in advance of the referral decision, with  links to this miniseries. That will prevent “plausible deniability” (a social tactic that allows people to deny knowledge, participation, or an active role in carrying out an activity, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plausible_deniability).

In this post we briefly explain the process, then we continue the Villages miniseries with several posts over the next several weeks. Links will be added here:

Miniseries intro to Vancouver Villages program

Villages: Deconstructing the City’s promo video

Villages: Top level concerns

Villages details: Digging into the appendices (Appendices F, G, H, J, M)

Villages risk: Questioning “financial testing” by Coriolis Consulting Corp. (Appendix K). Link – https://cityhallwatch.wordpress.com/2026/06/01/villages-risk-challenging-financial-testing-coriolis-appendix-k/

Villages risk: A “Wealth Extraction Machine” using AI data scraping?

Villages risk: “Villages” as an exit strategy for “Vancouver Model” money laundering?

Case study: 16th and Macdonald “Village”

Case study: Rupert and Renfrew area “Villages”

Intro: Vancouver Villages planning program

Vancouver’s Villages Planning Program affects about 14% of land parcels (lots) in Vancouver, or 13,679 parcels out of 99,449 in total citywide, affecting up to 600 city blocks.

By back-of-the-envelope estimate, this could be home to up to 100,000 current residents of all ages, family types, and tenure (owners and renters in either authorized or unauthorized units).

The planners’ basic concept as presented in the Vancouver Plan (2022) is that “Villages are envisioned as local hubs where many daily needs can be met within a 5-minute walk, roll, or bike ride from home. In the future, these areas will have a variety of small shops, services and a mix of housing up to six storeys.”

What we are seeing now in June 2026 is the planning department’s delivery. This Villages concept was requested not by the public. It is entirely a product of the planners, and it has vast implications.

Council meeting

At a 9:30 am meeting on Tuesday, June 2, 2026, Vancouver City Council is being asked to approve a staff recommendation to accept a “referral report” and send the Vancouver Villages program forward to a Public Hearing in July. Besides 13 actual rezonings to be approved by Council (with Public Hearings prohibited), this referral report is one of 11 staff want to see go forward to a Public Hearing.

Here is the agenda for that meeting.
Link: https://council.vancouver.ca/20260602/regu20260602ag.htm

It is a packed agenda on June 2, 2026.
Referral Report 1. “Villages Planning Program – Villages Plan, City-initiated Rezoning and Vancouver Official Development Plan Amendments”
Referral Report (link, warning large file 329 pages, 37 MB): https://council.vancouver.ca/20260602/documents/rr1.pdf

Reference – ShapeYourCity page: https://www.shapeyourcity.ca/villages

Official wording on ShapeYourCity

The Vancouver Official Development Plan identifies 25 Villages envisioned as vibrant hubs with diverse housing options and essential shops and services within a short walk, bike, or roll. The Villages planning program is an 18-month process that focuses on 17 of these Villages.
Through phase 1 and 2 of the planning program, we heard things people loved about the Village they felt most connected to, and we shared emerging directions and draft land use plans for these areas. The feedback received, together with additional analysis and technical work helped shape the Draft Villages Plan, which is now available. You can also watch a short presentation video summarizing the plan’s main components here.
Next steps
The Villages Plan, along with the associated City-initiated rezoning and Official Development Plan (ODP) amendment, is scheduled to be considered at the Council meeting on June 2, where Council will decide whether to refer the proposal to a Public Hearing in mid-July (exact date to be confirmed).

The first time for Council and the public to be able to see the report was the morning of Thursday, May 28, allowing just three business days before Council is expected to judge if it’s ready for a Public Hearing.

Not a member of the current City Council has formal education in urban planning, so they rely completely and absolutely on staff judgement and advice. Once this referral report is adopted, the City will (wrongly but effectively) block all communications from citizens of Vancouver to our elected officials.

This series is to put a stake in the ground.

Council will receive these links prior to making a decision, so the public knows that our elected officials have this information and can reflect upon it before the public hearing.

In terms of integrity and fairness, the timing of this major rezoning initiative going to a public hearing seems improper.

With Council and the public distracted by graduations, FIFA world cup, and then being in the midst of summer. This timing is for the benefit of industry and planning staff, not for the public.

If you haven’t heard about the current engagement on Villages program, don’t be surprised. Media coverage has been minimal. One article was in the Globe and Mail, albeit for subscribers only (“In Vancouver, planners say it takes a village to grow a city” by Kerry Gold, Globe and Mail, 10-Dec-2025).

Have residents in the affected areas been directly and duly notified of what’s going on?

How much of Vancouver is in the proposed 17 Villages?

Based on a previous query to the City’s planning team, the current proposal accounts for 14% of land parcels (lots) in Vancouver, or 13,679 parcels out of 99,449 in total citywide. By back-of-the-envelope estimate, this could be home to up to 100,000 current residents of all ages, family types, and tenure (owners and renters in either authorized or unauthorized units).

It’s not clear how broad the awareness is regarding the 17 Villages currently being proposed, but here is a list. See the maps 1 to 17 of Schedule A of the referral report.

Macdonald Street and West 16th Avenue

Macdonald Street and West King Edward Avenue

Mackenzie Street and West 33rd Avenue

Mackenzie Street and West 41st Avenue

Angus Street and West 57th Avenue

Granville Street and West 41st Avenue

Oak Street and West 49th Avenue

Oak Street and West 67th Avenue

Heather Street and West 33rd Avenue   

Fraser Street and East 33rd Avenue

Knight Street and East 33rd Avenue

Commercial Street and East 20th Avenue

Victoria Drive and East 61st Avenue

Nanaimo Street and East 1st Avenue

Nanaimo Street and East Broadway

Wales Street and East 41st Avenue

Kerr Street and East 54th Avenue

Previous coverage on CityHallWatch.

At many of the public engagement events, attendance was reminiscent of a ghost town.

In coming posts we’ll do case studies, particularly of the 16th and Macdonald, and Rupert and Renfrew areas.