The British Properties in West Vancouver, like Shaughnessy in Vancouver or the Uplands in Oak Bay, raises a question. When a metro area with a terrible housing shortage has a wealthy and exclusive neighbourhood, is it appropriate for the local government to maintain legal restrictions keeping it that way? Does it make sense to reserve a neighbourhood for the few people who can afford to live in a super-expensive house that consumes a lot of scarce and expensive land?
Of course someone who’s wealthy can afford to have a larger home. What seems unreasonable is for them to use local government to prevent other people from getting together and putting up an apartment building nearby. This imposes costs everywhere else in the region, like pushing down on a balloon: people are squeezed out by the lack of housing, and they bid up prices and rents everywhere else.
An infamous quote during the debate over the Arbutus Corridor, back in 2000:
We are the people who live in your neighbourhood. We are dentists, doctors, lawyers, professionals, CEOs of companies. We are the crème de la crème in Vancouver. We live in a very expensive neighbourhood and we’re well educated and well informed. And that’s what we intend to be.
What’s striking about this quote is that land has gotten considerably more scarce and expensive since then. There’s many dentists, doctors, and lawyers in Vancouver who would not be able to afford a $3M house. (What that gets you in the British Properties: a four-bedroom, 2600 square foot house, built in 1962.) Allowing more density, making better use of the scarce and expensive land, appears to be the only way for even the crème de la crème to be able to afford to live here.
A strong desire to preserve neighbourhood character
From the report:
It is understood that Council members were elected with personal beliefs that single-family neighbourhood character should be preserved. As elected officials, they try to represent their constituents’ goal of preserving the community.
West Vancouver Council is generally supportive of increased densities; however, this support is limited to specific and defined areas. There is minimal support for any increase in density to single-family areas throughout the rest of West Vancouver, which comprises 96% of the developable area of West Vancouver.
And:
West Vancouver has long been considered a stronghold of opposition to increased housing density, with a small but vocal group - the Ambleside Dundarave Residents Association (ADRA). This group, often called the "Status Quo Group", has historically opposed most development proposals, citing concerns over traffic congestion, community character, and view preservation. However, this resistance has contributed to a severe lack of affordable housing, an unsustainable population trajectory, and increased traffic between West Vancouver and North Vancouver due to the absence of housing options within the municipality.
The ADRA leadership actively campaigns against most density-increasing developments, keeping the population artificially low. This opposition fails to consider the economic and social downsides of limited housing, including labour shortages and rising housing costs.
When the only people who can move into your neighbourhood are ultra-rich - much more rich than you were when you moved in - what are you preserving?
The report observes that West Vancouver requires a preliminary project application, which must be approved by council before it can go forward as a formal application.
This unique development review process adds uncertainty, unnecessary steps, and time and costs. In reviewing preliminary project applications over the past three years, of fifteen (15) applications, only one (1) has gone forward as a formal application. Another was withdrawn. The rest are in some process limbo being reviewed by staff, or waiting for developer information.
Land values that don’t support low-density development
An example calculation:
As a rudimentary example, using West Vancouver's current bylaws and assuming a 12-month start-to-finish build, the business case for development on a single-family lot in West Vancouver is:
This $5 million build would likely not sell for more than $5 million. As a rental, the three units would likely be able to net $100,000 / year - a cap rate of 2% per year. Neither of these options would entice a builder to proceed.
The usual rule of thumb is that for a new building, the cost of land is about 20%. This suggests that the appropriate amount of floor space, assuming $1000 per square foot, is about 12,500 square feet - a small apartment building.
Recommendations
High-priority recommendations from the report:
Designate Park Royal / Taylor Way as a transit-oriented development area, allowing more density within an 800-metre radius.
Increase density for the Ambleside local area plan and Dundarave.
Streamline West Vancouver’s uniquely difficult approval process.
A couple points mentioned in passing:
Expand housing areas beyond existing plans, particularly near schools and transit routes, where multi-family developments serve young families best.
Shift away from an overreliance on coach houses, which primarily benefit large-lot owners rather than providing meaningful density increases.
A fictional description of a wealthy and exclusive neighbourhood: Llalarkano in Jack Vance’s science-fiction novel The Face. “The road turned off across a wooded upland, winding among the Methlen homes. Gersen, perhaps prejudiced by his appraisal of Adario Chanseth, had expected splendor and display; somewhat to his surprise he found rambling old mansions built, so it was clear, for no purpose other than to please those who lived there. He glimpsed verandahs grown over with flowering vines, lawns, and pools. Fairy lanterns floated through the gardens; tall windows of many panes glowed golden. The folk who lived in these homes, thought Gersen, would cherish them as if they were things alive. Children would never want to leave, but the eldest son must inherit and, heartsick or not, the others must leave.”
