Mayor Ken Sim in Vancouver on June 27. Mr. Sim has proposed re-examining five key industrial areas in the city for potential residential development.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Vancouver has the second-lowest amount of industrial land in the Metro region, with a greater proportion of the industries on its almost 650 hectares classified as small.
It also has the highest vacancy rate in the region, with the most recent quarterly brokerage reports pegging that at 5.2 per cent.
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim has proposed re-examining five key industrial zones or sites in the city with a view to allowing other uses on that land, particularly residential.
“It’s about taking land that’s very underutilized and revitalizing those areas,” said Trevor Ford, the mayor’s chief of staff, who describes the initiative as his “brainchild.”
But advocates for preserving industrial land say the city’s unique mix of industrial operations − cement plants, wholesale-food distributors, video-game studios, biotech-research labs, chicken-processing plants, caterers (57, at last count in the city’s business-licence database), hydroponics and dozens more – is vital to maintaining a strong city economy.
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As industrial land throughout Vancouver has been converted to residential over the years, some planners, those who run industrial businesses and property brokers warn about the potential loss of irreplaceable sites that support thousands of jobs and a host of services vital for cities.
Reports from Metro Vancouver over the years emphasize that, although industrial land represents only 4 per cent of the region, it is home to 22 per cent of all the jobs – 315,000 in the past census.
While no one expects any smelter operations or warehouse-size distribution centres to move into the central city, they say that there are many new-style industrial operations that need room close to downtown, the port and customers.
“Only 6.7 per cent of the entire city is industrial, but those lands have an important role in serving the city. A well-functioning city needs lots of different land uses,” said Chris DeMarco, a former Vancouver and Metro Vancouver planner who for years has been a fierce advocate for preserving industrial land.
Ms. DeMarco said the need for industrial land in the city will only grow as the city keeps growing.
She warned that the mayor’s initiative, which could see staff start processing non-industrial development applications even before a report comes back in October, risks destabilizing industrial-land uses immediately as potential buyers start bidding up prices.
“Some damage is already being done,” she said.
The sites the mayor is looking at include the former Molson brewery in Kitsilano, next door to the massive Senakw development, as well as land near Marine Gateway in South Vancouver, the Main and Terminal area, Railtown near the port, and the Mount Pleasant industrial area.
Mr. Ford said Vancouver could do a lot of interesting things with the five areas chosen for staff to study, encouraging industrial densification to maintain space for those jobs.
“Marine Gateway is a perfect area for a mix of industrial, commercial and residential. With the Molson site, I’m not saying only do housing. We have to be thoughtful and creative.”
He said some of the sites could combine three- or four-storey industrial on one side, with commercial and residential on the remainder.
And he argued that, even though the region currently has an oversupply of condos and dozens of big housing projects in development, that doesn’t mean Vancouver can afford to stop thinking about where to create more opportunities for housing.
But, he added, the city also understands that it must preserve space for jobs.
“We can’t just be a city of housing. We have to be a city of housing and jobs.”
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Seattle, just south of Vancouver, has been going through a similar tussle over converting some of the land near downtown to residential, to the dismay of the port’s operators and the union representing port works.
Mr. Sim’s initiative has been welcomed by developers and some others in the industrial real estate world, although a few argue that the city could go even further.
At Concord Pacific, the huge company that developed the Expo lands and bought the Molson brewery site for $185-million almost 10 years ago, vice-president Matt Meehan said it’s a smart move.
“We think it’s great. Ken is cutting through red tape that should have been done before. I haven’t talked to a planner or politician who thinks it should be industrial.”
However, Mr. Ford cautioned that the Molson site will require some creative thinking.
“Concord is going to have to industrialize part of it. They’re not going to get just housing.”
Tim Grant, president of PCI Developments, said that although the city revised its definitions of industrial more than a year ago to allow a broader set of uses, it should be expanded even more, especially for digital operations. PCI Developments was successful 20 years ago in getting a piece of industrial land next to the Canada Line station rezoned from industrial to a mix of commercial, office and housing,
Any changes to industrial zoning will need to be approved by other politicians in the region who sit on the Metro Vancouver board.
It’s unclear how that voting might go. The regional district’s current policy allows a limited amount of housing on industrial sites within 200 metres of major transit hubs.
“Metro Vancouver hasn’t evaluated any of these sites and won’t do that until it goes through the city’s process,” said Jonathan Coté, the deputy manager of regional planning for the district.
“But we recognize industry is going to evolve and our member jurisdictions need to adapt.”
Vancouver isn’t even the biggest problem for Metro. That’s Richmond, which has permitted a wide variety of game-style uses, from go-kart tracks to laser tag, in industrial buildings, said Mr. Coté.
“Our biggest concern is the entertainment uses moving onto industrial land.”