Your City Hall wants more towers in the West End

Alright, let's talk about what happened at City Hall this week, specifically what they're pushing through in the West End. You know, that part of the city where the trees are older than most of our grandparents, and the buildings used to be somewhat restrained.

Council voted on March 12th for a CD-1 Rezoning at 2028-2038 Barclay Street. That's a significant chunk of land. Mayor Ken Sim, along with Councillors Mike Klassen, Peter Meiszner, Lisa Zhou, and Rebecca Bligh, all voted in favour. The decision carried, which means they're greenlighting a new phase of density there. This isn't just a minor tweak; a CD-1 rezoning creates custom zoning specifically for that site, often allowing for much greater height and density than existing rules. It’s how those new, slender towers pop up.

What this means is Vancouver is continuing its push to build up, even in established neighbourhoods. The city issued a building permit today, April 2nd, for a new two-family dwelling with secondary suites at 2793 E 48th Avenue, valued at $810,000. That’s low-density, sure, but the Barclay Street vote signals the bigger direction.

Beautiful out here. Complicated in here. That's the coast.

Kenji Nakashima (@westcoastweird_yvr)

The MiTL Morning Wire crew will be talking about this and more — tune in live at mornings.live.