Douglas Todd: B.C. Conservatives oppose David Eby’s upzoning mandates

With Premier David Eby calling a snap provincial election that coincides with 188 municipal and regional elections, one of the most fiery overlapping political issues is housing affordability.

Many mayors and city council members, as well as the Union of B.C. Municipalities, have been pushing back against Eby’s mandates that force local politicians to upzone virtually every neighbourhood in the province.

The conflict came to a head last week when the outgoing president of the UBCM, Cori Ramsay, said two NDP cabinet ministers had been telling her organization’s members to tone down criticisms of provincial legislation because “we were, ‘Sounding like the Opposition.’ ”

Speaking at the UBCM convention, Ramsay told delegates: “Let me tell you why sometimes the UBCM sounds like the Opposition: The Opposition listens to what we are saying, and they think that what we are saying makes sense.”

The Conservatives, B.C.’s official Opposition, have frequently promised they would respect the autonomy of mayors and councillors on zoning. They have also vowed to repeal some of the NDP’s most dramatic upzoning legislation, which the government instituted in the name of improving affordability by boosting housing supply.

Since the B.C. Tories named MLA Lorne Doerksen as their new leader on Sunday, Postmedia News asked the party for its updated positions on housing, but didn’t receive a reply by deadline. However, the party’s general direction is suggested by statements made in the past two years by prominent MLAs.

The Conservatives, for instance, have said in the past they would scrap the NDP’s Bill 44, which requires municipalities across the province to allow four- to six-unit apartment buildings  on virtually all standard lots. The Tories have encouraged mayors and councils to forge ahead with their own pre-zoning.

The Conservative party has also said it would amend Bill 47, which pre-zones highrises within 800 metres of transit hubs, to also require grocery stores and small businesses within the zones.

While many mayors have protested against the top-down housing decrees from the B.C. government, some cities have put the upzoning requirements in place while saying they’re just doing what they’ve been told by Victoria, while a few have gone further than the NDP required.

Independent housing analysts say Vancouver city council has embraced the high-density initiatives of Eby and Housing Minister Christine Boyle (a former Vancouver councillor with the OneCity party) more than any other municipality.

Virtually the entire city of Vancouver is now upzoned for small apartment buildings or highrises, analysts say, as a result of council unanimously approving five mass upzoning strategies: the Broadway plan, the Jericho plan, the Rupert and Renfrew stations area plan, the citywide Vancouver plan and the 30-year template called the official development plan.