{"id":93320,"date":"2025-08-24T10:27:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T10:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/93320\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T10:27:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T10:27:08","slug":"vancouvers-plan-to-rezone-industrial-land-risks-shrinking-areas-for-businesses-advocates-warn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/93320\/","title":{"rendered":"Vancouver\u2019s plan to rezone industrial land risks shrinking areas for businesses, advocates warn"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

It also has the highest vacancy rate in the region, with the most recent quarterly brokerage reports pegging that at 5.2 per cent. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about taking land that\u2019s very underutilized and revitalizing those areas,\u201d said Trevor Ford, the mayor\u2019s chief of staff, who describes the initiative as his \u201cbrainchild.\u201d <\/p>\n

But advocates for preserving industrial land say the city\u2019s unique mix of industrial operations \u2212 cement plants, wholesale-food distributors, video-game studios, biotech-research labs, chicken-processing plants, caterers (57, at last count in the city\u2019s business-licence database), hydroponics and dozens more \u2013 is vital to maintaining a strong city economy.<\/p>\n

Rezoning Vancouver industrial lands will cost jobs and economy, planners say<\/a><\/p>\n

Public hearings show tension over Vancouver\u2019s push for density<\/a><\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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 \u2013 315,000 in the past census. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

\u201cOnly 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,\u201d said Chris DeMarco, a former Vancouver and Metro Vancouver planner who for years has been a fierce advocate for preserving industrial land. <\/p>\n

Ms. DeMarco said the need for industrial land in the city will only grow as the city keeps growing. <\/p>\n

She warned that the mayor\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n

\u201cSome damage is already being done,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

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. <\/p>\n

\u201cMarine Gateway is a perfect area for a mix of industrial, commercial and residential. With the Molson site, I\u2019m not saying only do housing. We have to be thoughtful and creative.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said some of the sites could combine three- or four-storey industrial on one side, with commercial and residential on the remainder. <\/p>\n

And he argued that, even though the region currently has an oversupply of condos and dozens of big housing projects in development, that doesn\u2019t mean Vancouver can afford to stop thinking about where to create more opportunities for housing. <\/p>\n

But, he added, the city also understands that it must preserve space for jobs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t just be a city of housing. We have to be a city of housing and jobs.\u201d <\/p>\n

Vancouver tries to get a handle on its empty-building problem<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u2019s operators and the union representing port works. <\/p>\n

Mr. Sim\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n

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\u2019s a smart move. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe think it\u2019s great. Ken is cutting through red tape that should have been done before. I haven\u2019t talked to a planner or politician who thinks it should be industrial.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Mr. Ford cautioned that the Molson site will require some creative thinking. <\/p>\n

\u201cConcord is going to have to industrialize part of it. They\u2019re not going to get just housing.\u201d <\/p>\n

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,<\/p>\n

Any changes to industrial zoning will need to be approved by other politicians in the region who sit on the Metro Vancouver board. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear how that voting might go. The regional district\u2019s current policy allows a limited amount of housing on industrial sites within 200 metres of major transit hubs. <\/p>\n

\u201cMetro Vancouver hasn\u2019t evaluated any of these sites and won\u2019t do that until it goes through the city\u2019s process,\u201d said Jonathan Cot\u00e9, the deputy manager of regional planning for the district. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut we recognize industry is going to evolve and our member jurisdictions need to adapt.\u201d <\/p>\n

Vancouver isn\u2019t even the biggest problem for Metro. That\u2019s Richmond, which has permitted a wide variety of game-style uses, from go-kart tracks to laser tag, in industrial buildings, said Mr. Cot\u00e9. <\/p>\n

\u201cOur biggest concern is the entertainment uses moving onto industrial land.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Mayor Ken Sim in Vancouver on June 27. Mr. Sim has proposed re-examining…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93321,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,45,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-93320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-business","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93320"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93320\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}