What would David Eby say?
There was a difference of opinion between Richmond city council members at Monday night’s council meeting on what the provincial minister responsible for housing would think about the pace and type of development in the city.
At the meeting, Coun. Carol Day wanted to send two development proposals – one in Hamilton and one on Spires Road - to ask developers to create “better” and high-density development.
Day said the proposed townhomes in Hamilton are “very tall and very skinny,” and she opposed having 59 per cent of the units with tandem parking – that is, fitting two cars in one after the other instead of side-by-side.
“I think it’s tomorrow’s ghetto,” Day said about the Hamilton project.
But Richmond Mayor Malcolm Brodie said referring the Hamilton project back to staff could cause up to a year in delay in the project that’s been in the works since 2019.
In fact, he said, one idea being floated around, to speed up the supply of housing to combat the housing crisis, is to give “automatic” approval to projects that comply with the city’s Official Community Plan (OCP), like the proposed development on Smith Crescent in Hamilton.
“I think this epitomizes the problem that the province has talked about and if Minister Eby were here, I believe he would tell us to get on with it,” Brodie told the rest of council.
City staff is currently examining the Spires Road area plan to see if more density could be added to new projects coming online – this is expected back at the council table for discussion within two months.
Again asking to refer the Spires Road project back to staff to make changes, Day said there should be “creative options” to build a denser project, which could include affordable and market rentals, to bring more homes online.
“I believe if Minister Eby were here today, he would say, ‘Whoa, hold on, we can do way more housing because you’ve already got density in that area? That’s worth two months,’” Day said. “That’s what Minister Eby would say if he were here tonight.”
In an interview with Glacier Media, Eby said he expects new legislation around housing will be introduced sometime after municipal elections are held in October.
Coun. Andy Hobbs said he doesn’t want to force the province to make changes to how municipalities approve housing projects so that the control is “less in our hands”
Hobbs claims Eby made it “very clear that supply is an issue.”
“In his words, we need a construction boom,” he said, adding projects like the Hamilton one “are part of the solution for the affordable housing crisis that we face.”
Voting against development projects has repercussions, Hobbs said, delaying the project and adding costs.
“In the end, if (the developer is) in compliance, we also shouldn’t act arbitrarily and capriciously,” he added.
Coun. Michael Wolfe, however, said that, yes, a construction boom was needed, but he clarified it needed to be a "rental construction boom."
The Hamilton project will contribute about $421,000 to the city’s affordable housing fund, and the Spires Road one will add about $350,000.
The Hamilton and Spires Road projects passed with Day and Wolfe voting in opposition to both.
- with files from Castanet
